A woman chanting loudly in unison with the priests performing ritualistic mantras and nitya carried a baby squirming and crying in her arms. It seemed that this place, walls reverberating with the intensely loud crowd of people pressed should to shoulder and clanging bells, was a less-than-ideal place for a young child. But more shocking than the child was the obvious fact that she was not Indian, but a light-skinned woman from the West. A quick scan around revealed that the entire Ashram enclosed more Westerners than Indians.This makes sense because the Sri Raman Ashram is a popular tourist location for seekers from all over the globe to come and experience spirituality. Our host at Quo Vadis informed us that the site welcomes people, religious and not, to open their minds and souls in the environment–the Ashram’s website, too, boasts visitors “do not need to adopt any belief system, or worship anyone…to experience this transmission of bliss and clarity.” The Ashram houses the remains and teachings of Ramana Maharshi, a 20th century Indian sage who experienced an ego death and spiritual awakening at a very young age. His message focuses on encouraging people to look inward at the self to realize that real happiness comes from within, not from the material and continually changing world. We experienced an interesting dichotomy at the Ashram: after weeks of being in India as strange Americans continuously approached for selfies, it still felt odd even when surrounded by people that looked like us at the Ashram; it felt as though the authenticity and sacredness of the site was compromised because of our and the rest of the Westerners’ presence.