Shiva Temple Thiruvannamalai

Sathya took us to the Shiva Temple, which Marty had been talking about going to since we were in Nepal. As non-hindus, we weren't allowed to go inside the depths of the temple in Kathmandu, but Marty insisted we'd be able to in Tiru. He was right and it was a powerful experience.

Outside of the temple on the ground were many designs, which I learned were called rangoli, traditionally created by women out of colored rice powder that decorate homes and temples as a form of thanksgiving, an adornment of the earth that nurtures us.

The Shiva temple is over 1000 years old and is carved in solid rock ornamented with hundreds of figures of gods, people, animals and plants. There are towers outside for the lower castes to who weren't allowed to enter the temple itself, but could worship from the outside.

We passed through a number of pillared halls called mandapam, to an inner sanctum (Marty says think of Indiana Jones with flaming torches for light) where the temple's main deity is housed. We were able to easily pass through the line, as we were with a Brahmin.

In this temple there were two inner sanctums, one with a Shiva lingam (a phallic shaped stone which represents the very instant of creation, or rather of regeneration, when the perishable regenerates itself in another form) and another inner sanctum where worship to the "mother goddess" was going on.

In in each tiny inner sanctum there were four or five priests elaborately adorned and covered in ash, performing rituals, offering, and chanting in front of each deity. It was dark, hot, stuffy and wild in there. And the energy was palpable. That's why the video camera was so shaky!

We weren't allows to photograph inside the temple so this is a scene from the outside (though inside the grounds.) Just to put it in perspective, the temple itself has an 20' high and 6' thick outer wall that runs 1/4 of a mile by an 1/8 of a mile. It is a huge space. In the video, you'll see the temple's elephant, Rukmini, whose mother had killed someone the day before Marty happened to visit the temple before in 1993. He was a bit fearful of getting near the elephant, and this video captures his relief and almost ecstatic smile after his darshan with the elephant.

The temple's cowshed housed many baby cows ( I suppose they use the milk the mothers for the services). I loved feeding them, some of them were only a week old. Their sweet demeanor and big brown eyes truly reminded me of my dog TT who passed a few days before we left on this trip.

We're currently posting this from London. We leave for Amsterdam this morning. We have a lot of great video from the Ganges river in Rishikesh. If we have the opportunity, we'll post it before we get back to Arizona. Here's a photo from our room in Rishikesh. More later.

Ramana's Ashram

We caught a ride from Sparsa in a tuk tuk about a mile to Ramana's ashram. We passed an array of monkeys, dogs, and sadhus (covered in sacred ash in a variety of ways), worshippers of Shiva. They lined the roadsides and, napping just about anywhere.

We spent the afternoon at the ashram. It's very peaceful and in addition to the many Indian pilgrims, the ashram we saw many Americans and Europeans. People can stay there for a period of up to two weeks. Ramana's ashram provides a daily free meal to the sadhus, so they line up outside of the ashram gates, waiting.

The routine there consists of Brahmin boys chanting vedic mantras around Ramana's burial site (in the temple) and people circumambulate the shrine. In the video you'll see a very small room where Ramana actually died, or took mahanirvana. We found that we preferred meditating in the old hall where Ramana sat when he wasn't walking around the mountain (Mt. Arunachala) in his later years.

Like Nityananda's, Ramana Maharshi's appeal crossed numerous cultural and religious boundaries. So even though their temples are Hindu based, the teachings transcend any religion. It's the discovery of the Self that is the main emphasis.

Ramana's Enlightenment Experience at the Age of 16

Ramana Maharshi was an Indian Sage (1879 – 1950) best known for his teachings of self-inquiry. The most popular book he wrote was called Who Am I?

Ramana was born to a Brahmin family in the state of Tamil Nadu. At the age of 16, he had a life changing experience during which he spontaneously initiated a process of self-inquiry that culminated, within a few minutes, in his own permanent awakening.

He left his home for a mountain named Arunachala in Thiruvannamali where he lived in a cave for many years. He radiated a powerful silence which attracted followers and quieted minds. When asked for advice, he recommended self-inquiry as the fastest path to liberation, or moksha. His primary teaching is associated with Vedanta, and Jnana Yoga, and he recommends a variety of paths and practices.

Below is the video of his words as they are posted on the wall in the ashram. The sounds you hear as you read it are the sounds of the peacocks that surround the ashram.

Here is the transcript:
"It was in 1896, about 6 weeks before I left Madurai for good (to go to Tiruvannamalai - Arunachala) that this great change in my life took place. I was sitting alone in a room on the first floor of my uncle's house. I seldom had any sickness and on that day there was nothing wrong with my health, but a sudden violent fear of death overtook me. There was nothing in my state of health to account for it nor was there any urge in me to find out whether there was any account for the fear. I just felt I was going to die and began thinking what to do about it. It did not occur to me to consult a doctor or any elders or friends. I felt I had to solve the problem myself then and there. The shock of the fear of death drove my mind inwards and I said to myself mentally, without actually framing the words: 'Now death has come; what does it mean? What is it that is dying? This body dies.' And at once I dramatised the occurrence of death. I lay with my limbs stretched out still as though rigor mortis has set in, and imitated a corpse so as to give greater reality to the enquiry. I held my breath and kept my lips tightly closed so that no sound could escape, and that neither the word 'I' nor any word could be uttered. 'Well then,' I said to myself, 'this body is dead. It will be carried stiff to the burning ground and there burn and reduced to ashes. But with the death of the body, am I dead? Is the body I? It is silent and inert, but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of I within me, apart from it. So I am the Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the spirit transcending it cannot be touched by death. That means I am the deathless Spirit.' All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truths which I perceived directly almost without thought process. I was something real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with the body was centered on that I. From that moment onwards, the I or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of death vanished once and for all. The ego was lost in the flood of Self-awareness. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time. Other thought might come and go like the various notes of music, but the I continued like the fundamental sruti [that which is heard] note which underlies and blends with all other notes."

Next Stop: Ganeshpuri

We arrived in Ganeshpuri, a small village that sprouted up around a guru named Nityananda (1897? - 1961). It was said that he went there because of his arthritis and there were mineral hot springs right next to the temple. If you've been to our home in Sedona, you might have seen a large bronze statue in Marty's office. That is one of Nityananda which Marty had made on his last trip to India. Nityanada is best known as the guru of Swami Muktananda. To get a real flavor of Nityananda and who he was, read about Muktananda's The Play of Consciousness.

The small village of Ganeshpuri is now a pilgrimage site and you'll see in this video the temple, his home, and the place where he took mahasamadhi (died) in 1961. That was the place we sat and meditated after putting in our feet in the hot springs.

It's said Nityananda's mother abandoned him and he was found/adopted by a woman who worked as a servant. Even as a child, stories report that Nityananda seemed to be in an unusually advanced spiritual state, which gave rise to the belief that he was born enlightened. As a young man, he became a wandering yogi, spending time on yogic studies and practices in the Himalayas and other places.

Nityananda gained a reputation for affecting miracles and wonderful cures. He said, "Everything that happens, happens automatically by the will of god." He built an ashram in Kerala, and then wandered through the Maharastra state. In 1936 he went to Ganeshpuri, a tiny village with hotsprings and a tiny Shiva Temple (5' x 5'). The family that looked after the temple built a hut for him, the recognized him as an advaduta, (a person absorbed in the transcendental state.)

Nityananda didn't teach verbally: he was mostly silent. Some believe that he transmitted spiritual energy (shaktipat) to people. He could also be extremely fiery and intimidating in his behaviour, even to the point of throwing rocks - his way of deterring people who were not serious in their spiritual aspirations, or who came to him with ulterior motives.

Valentine's Day in Rajasthan

Valentine's day dinner was ours at the Lake Palace Hotel in the light of candles, surrounded by fresh flowers, exquisitely served by men with turbans. We felt, once again, that we were having our own personal concert, this time with music from a tambura (a long-necked instrument with four or five wire strings, plucked one to create a harmonic drone) and a sitar (pictured here - made famous by Ravi Shankar in the movie The Concert for Bangladesh, 1971.)

We ate a traditional meal of basmati rice and dahl, nan, followed by a coconut creme dessert. No word, no pictures even (too dark). It was our first real Indian meal (outside of the pretty good food they serve on airplanes here).

After breakfast the next day (see the blog entry below), we checked into the "other" hotel by the lake (this one is on the shore), the Oberoi Udaivillas. The Lake Palace hotel is said to be the most romantic hotel in the world, and according to Travel and Leisure, the Oberoi is ranked as the #1 hotel in the world. It's only 6 years old and no expense was spared building the hotel of 87 rooms. We had a room with a semi-private pool. This is not your father's Buick, nor the India that Marty and I remember from years ago.

When we checked in we were greeted by yet another security check through the luggage, our taxi, and our bodies, and once we passed, we were greeted and adorned with a bindi (sandal paste on our third eye) by a woman dressed in a beautiful sari. We were served my favorite new drink, a pink iced tea that tasted like rose petals. I found out it was made with rose syrup. I will be serving this at my home this summer.

We wanted to play the Om Mane Padme Hum recording we brought with us from Kathmandu. In our room there was a combo TV, DVD, CD player. I turned it on for the CD, and who was on the television? Yup, in his ruby-studded glasses, there was Deepak Chopra talking about non-violence. And his vow of non violence. (Most people I run into don't know who he is - though keep in mind I meet mostly service personnel.)

When I first heard about the vow of non-violence, we were leading a meditation Radiance Retreat in Sedona in November. Could I honestly take the vow of non violence in thought, word and deed? I know I can't control ALL of the thoughts that I hear. It's not that I am particularly violent, but it can be a reaction in my mind when I encounter a story or see people hurting each other or animals for no good reason. I often meet these thoughts with inquiry, and eventually experience the sense of non-violence, but nevertheless, these thoughts do occasionally arise without my permission, so to speak. But as I listened in my hotel room in Rajasthan, Deepak clearly said it's a vow of non-violence in speech and actions. I can do that.

Welcome to India's Rajasthan

We left Nepal,flew into Delhi and connected to Udaipur, a sweet colorful town of the state of Rajasthan. We arrived at a time of many weddings, it was an astrologically auspicious time, Friday the 13th. And the weddings here go on for days. We caught some of the fireworks one family had set off for their newlyweds. You'll see that in days to come.

India has many a palaces, this one is set amidst Lake Pichola. It was heavenly. The Lake Palace hotel has been featured in magazines and travel books and for years I had hoped that I'd visit it. Then there we were for Valentine's day. It wasn't the India I remembered from my trip in 1997, this was a fantasy India experience: clean, easy, quiet, and set to the most beautiful soundtrack of birds singing, and sitar playing.

The Buddhist Temple Experience

Meditating at Zojoji. Finally able to upload the video, some of which I talked about in the prior post.

Tokyo - Ginza, Jizos at the Zen Temple & The Heart Sutra

We have landed in Hong Kong and after an amazing ride from the airport - (more on that later)we've arrived in our suite at the Penninsula and I don't want to give too much away about where we are. You'll have to wait for the video, which isn't ready yet. I worked on the videos from Tokyo on the plane. So here is one of them.... Actually two of them. From a visit to a shopping district (I'm not a big shopper but the shopping here BLOWS the shopping in the Ginza district in Tokyo away) and a jaunt to a Zen Buddhist temple.



I have been trying to upload a video from the Buddhist Temple near our hotel in Tokyo.