the way of the dark clouds

[boudhinette]

this place is pretty inspiring, as a matter of fact there are many westerners giving teachings about all sort of things, yoag, hindu phylosophy, chi kung massage etc.. but nothing is free
  this is an exemple of the many proposals for worshops of all kinds

some ask around 100 euros for a few days training, chich is a month salary of a low scale worker. i'm a bit upset about all this business, especially that what is taught is indian culture most of the time, so what are these westerners doing making money with taht 
that's why i think it's crucial for us to maintain this ethic of free healing and humility, even though it's a bit difficult ofr us we must stick to it, and try to get our expenses covered no more 
no business and especially spiritual business is a big market
yesterday we went to see a guru which happened to be around, we had spotted him with his retinue of four beautifll women    in the gardens of Ramanashram, then we saw some posters and so went to visit. well the guru is good looking, dressed in silk, pretty smart and funny.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=1vKtBl0jXpc
his ashram is in Auroville and they give sessions of yoga, permaculture, ayurvedic health care and... a special intense course for enlightement
 
we didin't ask the price but next day we met a guy who told us this guru is a crook his real name is Sri Vast and he's nicknamed Sri Waste11 
his web site if you want to check for yourself! now he is coming to Va,ence on the 4th of june, let's go and have some fun, he IS a funny guy anyway
hopefull there are some authentic teachers around. this morning we went to see a very nice lady called Sivashakti, on old indian practionner who stayed years iin caves and so on. she's giving darshan (blessings) silently and has a soft yet powefull energy, and the ability to share a state of bliss, at least that's what i experienced. nothing spectacular, just being very content and happy with just being there at this moment, all thoughts gone and a great sense of deep peace, yet when she glanced at me it was kali i saw!
not so frail this grand mother!!
here a pcik and article about her
http://www.gurusfeet.com/guru/sri-siva-sakthi-ammaiyar
and her web site 
http://www.sivasakthiammaiyar.com/index.html
now is the time when even silent gurus have their web site! it's indeed the way of the dark clouds gathering above this kal yuga : the dark ages

[boudhinette]

in the evening i went out with my drawing book in order to copy out some of these wonderfull mandalas women are drawing everyday on the door way. I did a couple, of course since it is India everybody was looking at what i was drawing and then the women started to show me how to do. it seems that they are learning from family lore and each one knows some different ones. it's very deep, it uses dots as a frame and numerology and geometry. it has a sacred meaning and aims at protecting the house and so on.

some are really amazing

i found a nice web site gathering women knowledge about it
http://www.ikolam.com/
the name of these is kolam, from wikipedia :
Kolams are thought to bestow prosperity to homes. Every morning in southern India, millions of women draw kolams on the ground with white rice powder. Through the day, the drawings get walked on, rained out, or blown around in the wind; new ones are made the next day. Every morning before sunrise, the floor is cleaned with water, the universal purifier, and the muddy floor is swept well for an even surface. The kolams are generally drawn while the surface is still damp so that it is held better. Occasionally, cow-dung is also used to wax the floors. Cow dung has antiseptic properties and hence provides a literal threshold of protection for the home. It also provides contrast with the white powder.

Decoration was not the sole purpose of a Kolam. In olden days, kolams used to be drawn in coarse rice flour, so that the ants don't have to work so hard for a meal. The rice powder is said to invite birds and other small critters to eat it, thus inviting other beings into one's home and everyday life: a daily tribute to harmonious co-existence. It is a sign of invitation to welcome all into the home, not the least of whom is Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of prosperity. The patterns range between geometric and mathematical line drawings around a matrix of dots to free form art work and closed shapes. Folklore has evolved to mandate that the lines must be completed so as to symbolically prevent evil spirits from entering the inside of the shapes, and thus are they prevented from entering the inside of the home.

 
The ritual kolam patterns created for occasions such as weddings can stretch all the way down streets. Patterns are often passed on generation to generation, from mother to daughter.
it was a very nice moment of sharing and having fun with the women, too bad the language here is tamil, i don't speak a word of it, and they speak no english at all!

[boudhinette]

yesterday morning we went up to the top of the mountain. we started before 7 AM, yet when starting the steep slope to the top with the sun just in front we were panting and sweating. it's only a two hours climb though, and the cool breeze at the top soon made us forget the heat stroke we nearly had!
the view is magnificient, the top of the mountain is indeed like the tip of a lingam1

once a year at DEepam, festival, they light a huge flame up there so the tip is all oily, black and slippery
check the whole pics gallery 
http://sss.vn.ua/india/tamilnadu/tiruvannamalai/arunachala_top_en.htm
we then made our Mahakala puja under the shade of a friendly bush, the priest in charge of the offerings at the top were a bit speedy at the beginning but as e stayed and did our things they got friendler and showed us a nice secret cave at the north. maybe the special place wher shiva resides as a siddha! 
there is also a small path circumbulating the top, a bit frightening with steep cliffs overlooking the valley below.
 for the way down we chose another path less steep and easier for the knees. yest it was mid day and the sun was scortching. we had a good meal and a good nap afterwards 

[boudhinette]

this morning , a monday, shiva day, we went to the main temple. it lays at the foot of the holy mountain. it is huge, something like 1 or 2 km on the longest side. there are four courtyards on inside another, i don't know for you, but it reminds me very much of a maya temple  

what is clear is that numerology geometry and astrology are very much used here! for exemple the complex is oriented to the rising sun and the santo sanctorum the place where the main lingam is in, is situated at the 2/3 of the distance from the main door to back door
getting into the temple through the main gate

there is an anti terrorist scan, but the main purpose is obviously to checks those people like us who try to hide their slippers in their bags so to be able to get out from another gate  
but no way!they had a good laugh at us!!!
then we went to the patal lingam where ramana Maharshi stayed when he first arrived, he was a teen ager,
completely absorbed in his experience so people would tease him, bother him or chase him away. so he took refuge in this unkept part of the temple complex and remained there for weeks utill he was found all bitten by bugs, pus and blood oozing from his sores...

from then on people started to look after him for food, shelter and protection from the unwanteds
 
the complex is magestic

but as always the brahmin priest caste control the offerings business here. they even sell tickets, for general , special to VIP darshans!  
that means the more you pay the nearer you get to the lingam!
this is the main lingam, i couldn't take pics but one finds anything with google
 

i'm not too much into this priest business anymore,they are usually rather fat and arrogant

darshan is everywhere here, one needs no brahmins lead one to the sacred.
the temple is a beautifull piece of architecture and a magical antenna connecting to cosmic forces. all great spiritual places follow a similar type of cosmic architecture, there is a kind of common knowledge to it, some would point that it accounts to an extra terrestrial origin of it  

[samolwein]

this place is pretty inspiring, as a matter of fact there are many westerners giving teachings about all sort of things, yoag, hindu phylosophy, chi kung massage etc.. but nothing is free
  this is an exemple of the many proposals for worshops of all kinds

some ask around 100 euros for a few days training, chich is a month salary of a low scale worker. i'm a bit upset about all this business, especially that what is taught is indian culture most of the time, so what are these westerners doing making money with taht 
that's why i think it's crucial for us to maintain this ethic of free healing and humility, even though it's a bit difficult ofr us we must stick to it, and try to get our expenses covered no more 
no business and especially spiritual business is a big market
yesterday we went to see a guru which happened to be around, we had spotted him with his retinue of four beautifll women    in the gardens of Ramanashram, then we saw some posters and so went to visit. well the guru is good looking, dressed in silk, pretty smart and funny.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=1vKtBl0jXpc
his ashram is in Auroville and they give sessions of yoga, permaculture, ayurvedic health care and... a special intense course for enlightement
 
we didin't ask the price but next day we met a guy who told us this guru is a crook his real name is Sri Vast and he's nicknamed Sri Waste11 
his web site if you want to check for yourself! now he is coming to Va,ence on the 4th of june, let's go and have some fun, he IS a funny guy anyway
hopefull there are some authentic teachers around. this morning we went to see a very nice lady called Sivashakti, on old indian practionner who stayed years iin caves and so on. she's giving darshan (blessings) silently and has a soft yet powefull energy, and the ability to share a state of bliss, at least that's what i experienced. nothing spectacular, just being very content and happy with just being there at this moment, all thoughts gone and a great sense of deep peace, yet when she glanced at me it was kali i saw!
not so frail this grand mother!!
here a pcik and article about her
http://www.gurusfeet.com/guru/sri-siva-sakthi-ammaiyar
and her web site 
http://www.sivasakthiammaiyar.com/index.html
now is the time when even silent gurus have their web site! it's indeed the way of the dark clouds gathering above this kal yuga : the dark ages

You`re realy a great visionarry. It`s a pity you don`t ask money for that. You`re loosing your life. 

[boudhinette]

I don't have so much time to teach around and make a living out of it!
these days i've been helping a bit in a team cleaning up the mountain. one of the indians working with me said
"this mountain is my heart, it breaks when people litter it"
we discussed about educating pilgrims to bring back their stuff but he says they have " a monkey mind" 
all this plastic is new, down south they only had banana leaves and used newspapers packaging, as well as steel water countainer, now it's bottles and wrappings all over 
Religion is still very much alive here it has different levels like always
there is the folk worshipping of tress, springs, stones and rivers such as this family tree


then there is the naga cult, a very old worshipping of snakes, both animals and mythical creatures one is better off to propritiate in order to get their riches and not their poison!

then there are the millions gods and godesses of the hindu pantheon, but here is a Shiva placed so there are shiva temples everywhere  like this one just in front of our place. see the tridents with lime plucked inot the three spokes

and nandi the bull in front of the altar chich is most of the time a lingam on which  priest pour milk, water and coconut milk
then you have all the renunciants, begging wanderers such as saddhus


scholars like panditas who study the philosophy, swamis who arfe the equivalent of monks and practice yoga and meditation, priests like the brahmins who perform the rituals and even a few living masters... here the impact of ramana mahashri is enormous! one story, when they wanted to make a picture of him so they asked a procfessional photographer to come over to the ashram, the master said to him, sould not we move to a place where there is more light? and the photographer to answer
"no, bhagavan, YOU are the light" so he took this picture

i'm slowy getting to be deeply touched by this place, the master 's teachings and the holy mountain

they told me there was a whole town underneath the mountain, that many people got lost and some never came back, no remains was ever found either1 
it is just said that they have been "abosorbed into Arunachal"
some did come back and told incredibles stories of how the mountain appeared to them in forms such as animals or deities and gave tehm midn blowing or life changing teachings.. any way, jsut working in this mountain picking up the garbage i started to developp a personnal relationship to the place and this kind of staries do not seem so foolish any more
a pound at the foot of the mountain,  which is supposed to be an old volcano and of the nature of fire

[boudhinette]

today is a special day so we went to a place in the mountain and did guru rimpoche practice. it was under a rock that looked just like a lingam and is overlooking the temple on one side and beneath the pick on the other.
we tend to develop a daily routine, breakfast at home then move around before it gets too hot, walk up the mountain or to the caves and so on. Or do some yoga, eat later and go to darshan or teachings>>
then banana leaf lunch for me (sam is not too found of south indian food and eating with one's hands  ) then a nap during the hot hours, then at around 2.30 pm we go to the ashram and sit in this lvoely meditation hall, people from all over the world gather here to meditate, it's pretty powerfull, and there are many indians too! 
at 5 pm we do mahakala puja on the roof top in front of Arunachal mountain, birds such as peacocks, parrots, king fisher  and many others gather , there are colourfull flowers all around, it's a wonderfull roof top 
then i do a tai chi session as it slowly gets dark and the evening stars start to shine in the indigo sky. then we have some food and sometimes sit in one of these coffee shop around. they usually have roof tops with thached roofs, paintings and the one next to us has some events hapenning such as poetry, music and so on...
we go to sleep very early because it's nice to wake up at dawn 5.30 am when it's still fresh 

[boudhinette]

this moring we went to the eastern side at the foot of the mountain, it's a cool grove with big wells

many small temples and ashrams with practitionners. these small eare rather kitsch like most of the newer temples, with bright colors and manys sculptures

there is also another cave where Ramana maharshri came when it was getting too hot in his other cave. it's true taht this area is well shaded and nice and cool

the cave was a durga temple, the embodiment of mother godess in her wrathfull form. i don't know if i have a special connection with this ten armed godess but during the short while we spent inside, i had the feeling to chnage dimension, as if the outer world was shaking and getting blured while inside i felt like a tunnel of energy lifting me upward 
a few meters away is a kartikeya temple, he is another son of Shiva (the other being.... Ganesh of course) he is also a warrior god with a spade such as one you see beside Sam

then we went down through the village, with traditionnal houses in front of which there were superb kolam today

then diving into the bazar and the great temple

[samolwein]

then there is the naga cult, a very old worshipping of snakes, both animals and mythical creatures one is better off to propritiate in order to get their riches and not their poison!

It is very instructive to observe here that in the hindouism tradition as in bouddhism tantric, taoist and all the shamanic traditions, there is a respect to the powers of the inner land who is the power of mother earth herself. In opposite to the christian tradition who is based on the illusions that we can teame these powers as symbolised by Mary who put her right foot on the head of a snake and by Michael killing the dragon.
These powers were feminine in essence. In Ramana Manarshi library we consult a book written by a french woman traveler in eighteen century. It show women dancing in the main temple of Tiruvanamalai. A note said that these danses have been interdicted one hundred years later due to british puritanism.
Sorry for my poor english.
 

[boudhinette]

this is the strength and glory about hinduism, it integrates all the manyfold aspects of truth seeking. it doesn't despise simplier or more ancient ways of worship towards natural forces and so on, it just allows anyone to look for his own path. of course there is as elsewere in those dark ages a rise in fanatism, there is a hindu party with a pretty violent armed wing connected to it, but this is NOT the traditional hindu way. it even integrates other religious system within it's all inclusive phylosophy : look at this altar of a restaurant we went to eat today. there is Sai baba at the middle and then the dalai lama jesus many great hinu saints some muslim callygraphy and a very nice pic ofMother Mary dressed as a hindu goddess 

 
today is full moon and people have been preparing the whole day for the big pradakshina, which means going around the mountain clockwise in honour of shiva, the mountain being the lingam
beggars have gathered, sellers such as coconuts, drinking water, flower garlands and  oillamps for offerings.
now the moon have risen and thousands, i should say hundreds of thousands are walking around the mountain



this morning we met an authentic teacher giving very clear and direct to heart instructions on spiritual enquiry
just drop in, it's good stuff
 
http://www.mooji.org/home_fr.html
http://www.mooji.org/
he is jamaican and was a street artist, underwent all sorts of hardship before gaining some understanding of the naure of mind
he owns a coffe shop in england and gives some questions/answers sessions here and there

[boudhinette]

I did the walk around the mountain next morning there were still thousands of pilgrims going around. it had a eerie feeling of one of our parties in the early morning, when night birds are a bit stunned by the day light, people crahed everywhere, and morning arisers starting afresh... organization workers cleaning up, chai and coffee being made etc.
only that the feeling of trance is completely natural here, no shilum smokers around to be see  stange for a shiva place 
it's a three hours walk, the hill is full of temples, it is actually built as a mandala with a lingam at each of the 8 directions

it was a great inspiring moment to loose oneself in this vas, calm silent flow of barefeet pilgrims

amazing mountain indeed

[boudhinette]

just a few picks from around here
the most sacred place of a temple : in front of the siva lingam

a pound around the mountain and it's lion gate

a small shrien on top of a big rock


today i met a women who spoke some english and she told me a bit about her life. she was married young and didn't have much to say about this arranged marriage
her husband is not so bad, he works and brings back money, but he drinks sometimes and goes to other women. that's universal isn't?? but at least he doesn't beat her up. she had four children one boy died, her elder daughter is married and has a restaurant.the other one is working and not yet married, the lsast one had a brain fever when baby and is mentally retarded. she is not particularly poor nor unhappy but she is kinda trapped in this women life, no choice.even now that she has raised her children she has to take care of her handicapped daugher and of course, if she divorced she could not make a living on her own. the new generation is looking to love marriage and a career in order to be self sufficient. let's see how long it will take 
untill then everyday life of house wives in rural India involves a lot of domestic chores ; wter, fire, cooking for family and little time for oneself, but now most houses have electricity and.........TV so guess what they do in the morning when everyone is gone... sitting down and watching stupid commercials 
so progress means access to some facilities and consumer goods, not equality of genders nor more freedom
 

[boudhinette]

Sam met a friend he knew around 25 years aga in kagyu ling, a buddhist center in france, he is called jaques an older artist and practitioner who came in the sixties to india as he was 18 and found the ramana maharshi ashram when it was still very little known in the west, he comes here every yea, rents a little flat ans spend a few months painting (non figurative very colorful oil works) he makes argentic pictures he develops himself and meditates at the feet of the ever present guru : sri ramana
this morning we went together for a walk round the mountain again but this time through the inner path, in the wild!
her is jaques, a pilgrim from the early times

a beautiful, peaceful path with lontar palm trees, agava, full tree size cactus and red earth

here and there a small pound filled with monsoon waters where magik birds come to drink and buffaloes to bathe

a path taken by few but well marked and even broomed in some sections so one can walk bare feet an feel the warmth of mother earth on one's sole

one always has one' right hand towards the pick, it's a way of paying homage!
after some times one arrives at the out skirt of the town where stand a curious temple with it's powerful guards just under the pick

they are huge and pretty wrathful

inside the priest was chanting a melodious and sad melody of praise, some beautiful women were making offerings of flowers fruits and coconuts incense and sweets. after a symbolic offering to the deity they  are then given back to the people present and it's called : prasad
then we came back through the back streets of this traditional little town ; tiuvanamalai
south Indians love colour!
look at tis truck with Ravana mask to award accidents

and what about this turquoise and orange house
 

the old man selling ognions was pretty proud of the pick!

[boudhinette]

these past days have been easy going, spending some times at the various roof tops around 
yoga on our roof top in the early morning, it feels good to do some postures after so many years, i'm still flexible but need to strengthen some parts and loosen some others... a question of balance as always
and then tai chi in the evening after mahakala puja that we do at 5pm when the mountain gets red and the birds start to swirl around the deep blue sky
then going some times to satsang at mooji's roof top. a satsang is a hindu way of teaching based on questions and answers of a particular person in front of the assembly. this intense exchange with a teacher can sometimes trigger root understanding or at least point out the enquiry into one's true nature of mind. because it is not done privately it's much stronger for the person and also many people can benefit, and because it is nevertheless a teacher/pupil exchange he or she gets the mind transmission
this is mooji's roof top, a cool place to sit with many truth seekers of all ages, different backgrounds  and all countries. many nice looking people too 

saturday night was a concert of some mooji's student, brazilian guitar player, italian percussionist and a very good bamboo flute player. beautifull chill out music, all acoustic and all 'spirtually" oriented 

some days ago i met an old friend of mine, franz a guy from Berlin whom i met 25 years ago in Thailand. he taught me over the years tai chi and some chi kung and, more than the mere exercices, a way of being. keeping with the flow, not resisting nor clinging to anything, the way of Wu wei the "non doing"
franz learned his art some 35 years ago directly from a chinese taoist master and though you would have by now understood he is in his late 50ies, he is really fit and didn't change so much in all these years.
the chi powa 
to tell you how fit he is, he got caught in the tsunami at the beach in mahabalipuram, grapped a coconut tree and made it through
    
he is currently teaching chi kung here so i'm taking a week worshop with him at some friends of his roof top, here he is standing giving some advice to this british fellow

a nice roof top with a direct view of my beloved mountain Arunachal

it's gettign a bit warmer, today i went barefeet to the skanda cave, a 30mn walk up the nountain on a cool path, but coming back at midday i completely burned the soles of my feet, the rocks are so hot! 

[boudhinette]

last night w went to atted a (video) teaching from eckart tolle

Spiritual Teacher and author was born in Germany and educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. At the age of twenty-nine a profound inner transformation radically changed the course of his life. The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating and deepening that transformation, which marked the beginning of an intense inward journey. Later, he began to work in London with individuals and small groups as a counselor and spiritual teacher. Since 1995 he has lived in Vancouver, Canada.

he's a nice person and obviously speaks from his experience, it's not a mere wrapped up spiritual talk. actually it seems that he had this flash of understanding ans was so moved he left everything and stayed in parks as a beggar, gradually he started to speak and  tried to understand his experience from different backgrounds
he's humble and funny, and have some nice projects
check his web site
http://www.eckharttolle.com/eckharttolle
many of his talks have been translated into french, but honestly i found this stuff pretty boring until i "met" him through this video last night. have a look of the guy, he is no one special, not good looking, not charismatic just being himself 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j42cTkiGdXY
it's rather amazing all these people having spontaneous awakening experience
something is happening for sure, it's as these dark ages are at the same time the sprouting field for many higher personnalities. exactly as from garbage rottening into compost from chich most delicate flowers bloom!
 

here shiva Ratri is getign nearer, many saddhus are gathering, these are the wandering hermits of india, begging their food out of shop keepers or being fed by ashrams as here