the way of the dark clouds

[boudhinette]

this morning we went downstream and saw the old Beatles Ashram, you know the beatles came here in the seventies and met with Maharishi mahesh yogi the founder of transcendental meditation, they stayed here in this place which is now abandonned. a new ashram has been built above, but closed to visitors
apparently carlos santana also came here.

a very cool mango grove above the river

[rajshasha]

yes it s the same place...may be it s same baba 
i stayed lot of times in this shanti place

[boudhinette]

we just spent the time with some babas in a cave above nilkanth Mahadev. the cave is one hour walk from the village, we went with some friends from all other ; israel, spain, belgium portugal and us canada and france with a jeep. the way up was very pleasant, along Ganga river first and then into deep gorges with light green fields and small peacefull villages, Indian villages are the container of traditional live, which is disapearing so so fast in the cities!
we were bringing quite a lot of offerings to the saddhus as well as sleeping bags and blackets, it's quite higher then Nilkanth which is already 1500m above sea level
here is this magical cave, like a vagina opening up from mother earth, deep, welcoming  and cosy 

we got a very good feeling right from the start so we began the afternoon by doing Mahakala Puja with the group of foreigners, the belgium guy : micael was playing flute and his partner : mahobi was playing hand cymbals a traditional instrument for devotional singing in India>
 the guruji was somehow a little bit wandering what it was all about , yet respectful. after the puja we talked with him and a cloe disciple who is a learned pandita and he was much more interested about the practice. you know, there is an aspect of Shiva which is called mahakala, and this is a shiva place, look at  the beautifull dhuni (sacred fire) and the tridents symbolizing Shiva

so they were able to categorize us as practitioners, having a guru, doing a regular practice, it was a mutual recognition and respect, a very deep experience
 
he accepted our gift of champ and we started a very friendly afternoon drinking chai and the rest 
they stay around the sacred fire most of the time, talking quite a bit, joking and teasing and giving informal teachings to the pilgrims or truth seekers dropping by> as the trip was deepening he really enjoyed being at the same time the guruji, the teacher of theses 4 followers and a mischievous funny old man having fun!
later they shifted to a inner fire and started cooking, the guruji checking everything, from the inner attitude of the people around to down to earth issues of how much salt to put or how to fry the oignons!  as a matter of fact he was the chief and cooked every with maestro, interrupting the process to do more chai, coffee and so on 
then they did the arati which is the hindu equivalent of the tibetan rituals, ie a kind of magical ritual calling the gods with lots of music, drums and bells ringing, then some prayers and reciting matra, the principal one being shiva mantra
on namah shivaya
at the end all the disciples get a personal blessing from their teacher, I must say that it was pretty powerful and i had a vivid vision of lord Shiva appearing from the sacred fire, as words of praise in my mother tongue spontaneously came out of my mind> i remained in awe the whole ceremony
then we ate together ; vegetables and butter chapati, quite good1
after a short while we went to sleep, they arranged us a cosy place so we didn't get cold at all! but for sure the place was so powerfull as well as the trip so we hardly slept! just when i was starting to get into deep leep, the baba came and woke us up, it was 6 o clock, time to start another day!

[LIPO]

   that's it!
I spend 2 days in this doona,
the feeling was so spiritual and full of love!
"inoubliable" 

[boudhinette]

i can imagine you had an unforgettable time1 and how long ago was it/ the main baba passed away three years aga so you probably met him

they made a statue of hum to worship, maybe you ca see it in the back
the present baba is funny, talkative a bit speedy and he loves nasha : sacred drunkeness 
the small cave besid

[boudhinette]

after 48hours of buses and train we finally arrived in mahabalipuram, it's a village by the seaside with many ruins of temples dating back from the 6th to the 8th century, we had decided to have a stop here in order to rest from the trip (which was rather cool as a matter of fact) and to acclimate a bit to the change of climate. it's tropical here, around 30 during the day and 20 at coolest, 10 degres latitude. we found a pretty good place to live beside too families with a small backyard/garden with banana trees and flowers. after a good nap we went out to do mahakala puja on the beach were the famous shore temple stands

the tsunami hit strongly the whole site but the temple had been protected by the rocks built previously to protect it from the salted winds, as a matter of fact, the tidal wave undug some remains of hidden temples and statues.

this is a fisherman village where travellers, tourists and indian tourist come to visit these famous ruines of the pallava dynasty> these people were very open and hindus, buddhists and jains practice freely. it was a civilisaiton dedicated to arts an culture, particucarly music and dance.
it  was great to do the puja in front of the open sea,

this was the harbour from were these people went as far as thailand, indonesia and cambodge, they were the ones who spread indian culture to south east asia.
later when we came back to the market we saw some dance festival in front of a very impressing carved bas relief commemoreting the descent of Ganga, now we are precisely coming from rishikesh, and this sculpture depicts the place perfectly, with yogis in postures, elephants going to drink in the ganga, gods and semi gods and so on. a kind a special link from the himalayas to here!

i didn't take pcitures of the show because i must admit that we sneaked in from the nearbye temple and wathced some of it with the indians without paying entrance.
here is a beautifull shiva nataraj instead!

[boudhinette]

last night i had a very bad dysenteria with the whole stuff. vomiting, loose bowels and fever! welcome in india, so this mornign i was not precisely very active i went to a nearbye dyspensary founded by a french doctor, got some stool test, a visit with a very nice looking indian doctor  (female i have to say0 and got some mdcine straight away ; bacterial dysenteria and probaly parasites too...
when feeling a bit stronger we went to explore a bit the site. it's a trong telluric places where rocks have been carved as temples since early times, now these temples are not worshipped but the place is still pretty strong
my battery is out, i'll upload some pics tom :lol:orrow

[boudhinette]

under some cool trees rocks have been carved into temples from the early ages

it's an impressive site, full of quiet spots for a small sitting practice or a nap 

it's very hot at the middle of the day, one has really to get away from the sun.
it's a different country altogether in soth india, language is different so is the script, they eat only rice, no chappattees, and the meal is served on a banana leaf, one eats with the hand, it takes a bit of practice to use ones fingers as a spoon 
temples too are differents, they have high towers with psychedelic statues of the many gods, courtyards and some are even like small cities
here some goats having a nap on a rock and behind, the village's temple which is right in front of the bus stand 

now the village is pretty cool, it's a kind of holiday resort for young indians who want to spend a night with their girl friend, for travellers and also for straight tourists visiting the ruins
our hotel is not so bad with a roof top facing the sunrise and the beach

there is even a psychedelic ganesh painted by locals 

but it's a bit pricy and I prefer the banana leaf meals!!! 

[boudhinette]

in the morning the tide is going down, fishermen come back from their trip and push up their boats

in the vback one can see the shore temple which guards the gulf of Bengal since many centuries
in their nets there are some small fishes,sea ursins, moon fishes (not good for eating) and other animals which i can't name in english but are discarted, to the great pleasure of crows and dogs 

the remains rot away untill the high tide cleans a bit! the beach is unfortunately also the local toilet for the fishermen so early morning sees a line of shit along the beach... this is India what to do 
in the morning also, women paint in front of the house gateway an intricated mandala, either white, made of rice flour or even in color. the meaning is to protect the house and to bring good fortune for the day. each house makes a different one. some look like glyphs from western magical lore, anyway it is pretty magical

morning is a good time to go to the beach, it's great to do some chi kung and tai chi in front of the ocean and then have a dip in the waves!
we do tara puja and then around 11am, it's time to eat a masala dosa; it's a kind of thin pancake made of rice flower stuffed with vegies and it comes with a coconut based sauce and sambal a kind of pusles soup. the perfect brunch1
then one has to go to a cool place under the fans

[boudhinette]

one thing is curious , on the left side of the shore temple there is the fishermen vllage and the westerners, doing yoga, meditating and reading spiritual books such as those two having good time 

 

 
and the other side the indians come to have a drop out from the city life, bathe in full dresses even if the ocean is pretty strong!

the young couples walk hand in hand or even arm around waist which was impossible a few years ago1
they are living what western countries experienced in the es, sexual opening (i'm not talking about liberation yet  ) a release from family and religious pressure and an opening to different values and culture. which in a way, is a good thing! on the other hand, because this happens with global capitalism and the new technologies, this also means that they have nowadays the possibilities to contaminate their environement to a degree unheard off untill now, litter is a huge issue here. just the drinking water probelem with all theses plastic bottles lying around...it's also a cultural issue since upper and medium class indians consider that picking up garage is not their job but the sweepers or lower caste duty! everyone cleans very carefully their own house, and pushes the litter in front of their door  it will take some time to change mentality, the problem is that they are one milliard here!

[boudhinette]

yesterday I watched dances in front of the carved rock, it was a company from Tamil nadu and the dance was Bharata natyam, south indian style.
the first set was a folk dance which was actually a trance danse performed by priests, a young man getting into trance and the priest honouring him as the embodiment of a deity, it somehow reminded me of balinese trance danse (kechak because of the use of knifes, but the music was very different : drums and a kind of strange horn. the next set was classical dance performed by young women  and even teen agers. all stories of gods from the epics, I was particularly impressed by the dance of Shiva with many postures of shiva nataraj, the dancing shiva.
but most of all I was in awe at the ram standing still the all performance (around two hours) on top of the rock overlooking the scene 

this morning Sam who had another bad night  slept and rested so I sneaked into the 5 Rathas compound. this is a set of  temples of the 6 and 7th centtury, I was not ready to pay the entrance ticket but there is always a way around 
they are rather different from the "usual" south indian style, but I prefer temples still worshipped and honoured

they form a mandala :
ladies first : durga
then brahma the creator
vishnu the sustainer

lord shiva the destroyer
and finally Indra a god of ancient India which is not so much worshipped anymore and was the master of thunder and (I guess) rain

and fia

[boudhinette]

it's a small laidback village, the fishermen quarters were rebuilt after the tsunami, nice houses with bright paintings

the shore temple is seen from both beaches, and gives a memorial touch to this sleepy beach resort

today we met a french fellow who leaves here since 15 years and is married to an indian lady. he was abashed when I told him i came 30 years ago! and a bit upset when i compared the place to Les Saintes maires de la Mer!! but it has this feeling!!!
he has a nice restaurant where marcel ate a great piece of rosted fish in order to get over his cataclysmic dysenteria 
he lost around 4kg!!!!
this WE is independance day, many Indian tourists, but for our routine not mushc change, we spend early morning at the beach, do yoga or tai chi or chi kung, do our morning puja with the drum and cymbals (indians love it) then when it gets hot at around 10 o'clock siesta, meditation, banana leaf lunch  to come out again at 4 when the sun goes down. we'll leave shortly to tiruvanamalai as soon as Sam has completely recovered

[boudhinette]

today we met a stone carver from sweden. this place has an age long tradition of stone carving. it has even an university nearbye, some most ancient statues are 2500 years old he said! he explained more or less where to find them and after a bit of hide and seek, I sneaked in a private courtyard to discover theses 7 kanis (the 7 maidens)
 

now the tsunami unearthed some remains 50AD and this guy also told us that there is an whole city lying under the see, he saw the sketches of if from diving explorations.
then there are theses huge rocks carved with sometimes funny scenic such as this cat in yogic posture surrounded by mice and rats dancing 


there are also stone carvers all around the place, one gets used to the tap tap noise of the tools carving, (but not so much to the electric saws grinding sound), before electric tools everything was done by hand, it took 2 years to carve a big statue!!

theses families come from an unbroken lineage since those early times

this is one thing about India, fast growing and consumer oriented, but yet preserving the cultural and religious lore
for how long???? I have the insight than when this will be lost or on the way, the world will be in a bad shape as India is a kind of mother of us all 
locals make also naive paintings all around, on the house walls or on this restaurant

then later we met a french fellow who does puppet show and is going around meeting puppet makers and performers, today he met an old guy from a village around, but he lost all his puppets in the tsunami  it's very sad because they came from his grand father and also he is one of the few remaining puppet performer of Tamil Nadu. I'm talking about shadow puppets shows. The main inspiration is the Ramayana such as in all south east asia but the old man alos performs in local projects for beaten women and AIDS programs, using the puppets as an entertaining tool to convey the message>
this french guy is very friendly and I hope we can collaborate later
please check his web site
http://ombre.chinoise.free.fr
this was our last day here
bye bye mahabalipuram

 

[boudhinette]

after a morning bus ride thorught magnificient landscapes we arrived in Tiruvanamalai, found a cheap and rather nice hotel and had a meal in the nearbye coffeshop which is rather roots 
we then went to ramanashram, the palce where the great saint Ramana maharishi stayed many years and died in 1950. 
the place is really peacefull, they have not fallen in the usual trend of building sky scrippers type of kitsh ashram, everything is as it was, the gardens with peacoks musing, the small houses where he and his disciples used to stay, with lots of fowers and huge trees... 
i had a meditation session with suche a deep feeling of peace that i fell asleep 
later we did mahakala puja on the roof top in front of this incredible mountain
 

[boudhinette]

the Arunachal mountain is said to be a emanation of Lord Shiva as a lingam
you know what is a lingam (check in the post about shiva if not  0
and sure this 800m high pick is just like a lingam

but this is the physical form, he is said to abide in his sidhha form in a cave nearbye the top of the mountain
this morning we went to the veda chanting at the ashram. they made a shrine around the saint's tumb which is called a samadhi, samadhi means deep meditation and describes the realization transcending self boundage. ramana was apparently a simple person, not a shcolar. he attained spontaneous liberation at the age of 16 and then he came to the holy mountain and stayed 54 years at different places such as caves and the place at the foot of the hill which was to become his ashram. this is the little hut where he passed away, such a simple place yet very powerfull

he loved animals and they have made shrines for the tumbs of his favorite friends
laksmi the cow
the blessed crow
the deer and
jackie the dog 

one feel this love and ease flowing all around with the peacocks and all the birds callint eache others in this cool grove of enlightenment

alter we went to the caves where he stayed when he was young. just simple rocks shelters where he himself built a small house around. this is one of the two caves where he stayed yearsand the other one was also a place where another saitn stayed 400 years before
nice spots to sit around enjoying the deep shadow of mago trees coconuts or shiva tree