Gaura Gopala, one of the devotees at the Kaliya Mardana Krishna Ashram offers prayers during a Bhajan (religious sermon) session at the Kaliya Mardana Krishna Ashram in the coastal town of Mulki, just north of Mangalore, Karnataka, India. ..Krishna devotees in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism, they are known collectively as the "surfing swamis." The "surfing ashram" is growing in popularity and surfing here is a form of meditation, a spiritual practice leading to heightened states of awareness.