Parmarth Niketan Ashram & Ganga Aarti

Swami Shukdevanand ji Maharaj registered the Swami Shukdevanand Trust in 1942 to house Parmarth Niketan, and under his successors the ashram grew from a modest riverside retreat into the sprawling campus it is today, expanding its room count well past a thousand to accommodate the volume of pilgrims, students, and long-term residents it now draws. Swami Chidanand Saraswati took over spiritual leadership in 1986 and, alongside long-serving teacher Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, built the ashram's international profile through its yoga instruction, environmental campaigns focused on the Ganga, and an annual International Yoga Festival that Parmarth Niketan has hosted since 1999, drawing teachers and practitioners from dozens of countries each spring. The evening Ganga Aarti, now the single most photographed ritual in Rishikesh outside Haridwar's Har Ki Pauri, grew alongside this expansion into a nightly public ceremony rather than a private ashram observance, with the 14-foot Shiva statue on the ghat added as a fixed point for both worship and photography.

Parmarth Niketan enforces the same dress and conduct code as the rest of Swarg Ashram: modest clothing covering shoulders and knees, no alcohol, no meat, and no smoking anywhere on the grounds. Shoes come off before entering the temple hall and the ghat's inner platform, with a free rack provided at both points. Seating for the Ganga Aarti is on the ghat's stone steps and is unreserved except for a small area kept for ashram residents and officiating priests; arriving after the yagna has started generally means standing at the rear. Flash photography during the core aarti sequence is discouraged, since it disrupts both the priests and the hundreds of phones already recording, though photography itself is welcomed. Donations are accepted at marked boxes but are never solicited directly from visitors during the ceremony.

Parmarth Niketan's ghat sits a short walk from Ram Jhula's eastern approach, making it easy to combine with Beatles Ashram or a Swarg Ashram bazaar walk earlier in the day before returning for the evening aarti. Marigold-and-diya floats sold by vendors just outside the ghat, at roughly ₹20–30 each, are the traditional way to participate directly, releasing one onto the Ganga as the ceremony reaches its peak. Visitors planning a longer stay should book ashram accommodation well ahead of the International Yoga Festival, usually held over several days each spring, when the entire Swarg Ashram area fills to capacity. For a quieter alternative to the crowded aarti platform, the ashram's upper terrace and temple courtyard offer a clear view of the ceremony with considerably more breathing room.