No ashram for Julia Roberts

Oscar winner Julia Roberts will reportedly not shoot Eat, Pray, Love in the original ashram (retreat) where author Elizabeth Gilbert stayed for about four months a few years back in India, trying to find her spirituality.

Instead, Roberts reportedly will be shooting in the third week of September in another ashram on the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway 8, very close to Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, while staying at a hotel near the airport.

Reports say that as Roberts works 12 hours a day, she would like to stay close to the shooting venue.

Indian American leader Rajan Zed has urged filmmakers to show sacred ashram and Hinduism concepts-beliefs-objects in an authentic manner in order to avoid misrepresenting the already misunderstood religion, which is oldest and third largest in the world.

Although Gilbert did not disclose the name of the guru or the ashram where she stayed in her book, but it is widely guessed that she stayed at Gurudev Siddha Peeth at Ganeshpuri (Thane district) in Maharashtra and her guru was Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, a Siddha guru and follower of Swami Muktananda (who passed away in 1982).

The goal of the Siddha Yoga path which this ashram follows is: "Self-realisation -- the unceasing experience of unity with God". Quoting Swami Muktananda: "Honour your Self, Worship your Self, Meditate on your self, God dwells within you as you." The Siddha Yoga teachings spring from Kashmir Shaivism, Vedanta, and from the experience of Siddha masters.

Zed urged Roberts to explore Hinduism further and visit some Hindu temples. He said that a deeper study of Hinduism would complement her interest in yoga and other things Indian.

Eat, Pray, Love, directed by Emmy nominated Ryan Murphy and produced by Columbia Pictures, Plan B Entertainment and Red Om Films, is aiming at a release in 2011.

Besides Roberts, it also stars Oscar winner Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men), Oscar nominated Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Oscar nominated Viola Davis (Doubt), Golden Globe winner James Franco (Pineapple Express), Billy Crudup (Almost Famous), etc.

Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters