Being with John David feels like coming home. Through clear and powerful presence, I found a deeper connection to life. The joy and openness of the community helped me open up.
JayaUkraine · Paradise Retreat
1–20 January 2027
Arunachala Pilgrimage India Retreat
Early Bird until 15th Nov save 400€
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Video archive
Satsang on film
Short films and full Satsang meetings, free to watch. Come with a question, or simply sit in the company of the teaching.
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I am here to offer my Whole-Hearted Support for those who want to Transform their Life and Become Free in Every Aspect of their Being – My work is to help you become Who You Truly Are.
– John David
John David’s teaching is rooted in the Advaita tradition of Sri Ramana Maharshi and his own Master, Papaji. After fifteen years with Osho, he met Papaji in Lucknow in 1992, where he experienced a profound awakening. He remained with Papaji for five years, allowing this recognition to deepen and take root in everyday life.
Sri Ramana Maharshi, Papaji’s Master, first entered John David’s life through a photograph during his Osho years, and became an enduring inspiration. His deep connection to Ramana has drawn him back to Arunachala for more than thirty years. There, he has led twenty-five retreats in homage to Ramana, inviting others to discover the simplicity of Self-Enquiry, Surrender and Inner Stillness.
Two houses, and a meeting that needs no house.
The latest issue is in front. Older ones wait beside it.
With John David
Moments from Satsang and retreat. Tap a photo to see another.
Experiences
Being with John David feels like coming home. Through clear and powerful presence, I found a deeper connection to life. The joy and openness of the community helped me open up.
The special ambience and energy in the retreat allowed me to recognise the paradise in myself. John David picks people up where they are and brings them to silence.
John David has a huge heart and shares a boundless love in a deeply intuitive passionate and profoundly supportive way. I have been so deeply nurtured and nourished by your devotion to the truth of being as you are.
I liked the depth of the retreat, the liveliness of the group, the beauty of the place and the Mantra chanting.
The atmosphere of the community invited me to open up and experience completely new, lively, and fresh ways of connecting with others. John David, in a very simple and human way, met the structures and obstacles we encountered — always fresh, present, and remarkably clear.
I got to know John David in his special depth, honesty, generosity, seriousness and lightness. Deep gratitude for what is happening in me and all the things he could show me.
Film
In a self-inquiry exercise the sense of “I” fell away. What remained was love, laughter and joy, even when someone was crying or angry. He wishes everyone could see, once, what life is truly about.
Film
His first summer retreat with John David was the most transformative he has known. The meetings were deep, and the truth, power and love felt real. Support was there for the difficult moments too.
Film
The retreats are not only teaching, meditation and yoga. Tantra, mantra, heart dance, theatre and karma yoga are there so the teaching can move into ordinary life, held by the community from the first day.
Film
Looking into John David’s eyes brings a burst of energy. Mantra singing opened the heart. The meetings can be direct and tough, and that helped this person set down a lot they had been carrying. They left more settled, grounded and calm, and would come again.
Newsletter
News of events, retreats and the teaching.
John David
John David is a spiritual teacher, author, filmmaker, painter, architect and world traveller. For more than 25 years he has accompanied people on the way to inner freedom and self-realisation. His whole life has been a journey of awakening, a rich unfolding that he shares so others can find their way back to their true nature.
Trained as a civil engineer and later working as an architect, he left a successful career in London to follow a deep inner call.
His search led him to Japan, where a spiritual awakening began, and then to India. He spent 15 years with his first master, Osho, and then 5 years with Papaji, a direct disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi. His interviews with Indian masters brought him lasting friendships. These meetings shaped his understanding.
Today he shares this through Satsang, books, films, painting, and his living international centres for inner transformation, Open Sky. The communities in Spain and Germany offer a supportive place for deep inner work, creative expression and silence.
John David’s teaching is simple, direct, and free of religious or ideological concepts.
His warm presence, his down-to-earth manner and his humour make the teaching easy to meet, for people from every part of life, whatever they already know.