I moved to India 3 years back, and I had my spiritual awakening in a place called the Parvati valley at the doorstep of the Himalayas, where Shiva and his wife Parvati are said to be residing.
I was not spiritual at all, even less religious. I believed in God and i would deal with Him when I'll die. I didn't like religions at all but i have been fascinated by them at the same time.
So there at this parvati valley, i felt inhabited by the goddess parvati and i could feel shiva in my boyfriend's body, it lasted a couple of days. i thought i was crazy or something.
but after that my spiritual initiation started extremely fast, with things falling into places so that i can continue on my path to God. It was extremely powerful and i wondered why me?
i'm not a hindu, but some practices in many religions are attracting me. i just follow what my heart urges me to follow.
Now about Rudraksha seeds, they are very powerful, but there are a lot of fakes.
If you have a good rudraksha necklace and that you just wear it, it gives you protection, and you can actually feel some very nice energy when you wear it. people use it to chant their mantras too. rudraksha necklace should be made of 108 beads for chanting.
Now you have many types of rudraksha, and the price varies according to the number of lines in each bead, because then it has different power. a bead with a unique line on it can be worth 2000$ for example
i don't know too much about it, but i had 2, and i really liked the effect it had on me.
you can find more information on rudraksha on internet i think. there's a website called rudras life or something. :)