Soma
Tools of the Path => The Journey, the Adventure [Public] => Topic started by: Jennifer- on February 04, 2007, 12:54:15 AM
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(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/40416/sadutrek.jpg)
(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/33767/dsc_4141a-1.jpg)
I find the people most interesting within the current photo site Im looking at. (thanks V for sharing it)
(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/2837/the_du_sadu3.jpg)
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:( All Im seeing is the little red x
Will someone let me know if they can see the photos, Ill wait and see it corrects itself before removing them.
(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/2837/sadu_de_varanasi.jpg)
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(http://www.sights-and-culture.com/India-Varanasi/Varanasi-bath-in-the-Ganges.jpg)
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In the pre-dawn chill of February we walk along the banks of the river Ganges. A dinghy is tied up against wide stone steps (known as 'ghats') and Ashok, our guide, helps our group aboard. The eastern sky, swathed in a chiffon-like mist, is pale mauve, but the waters below our boat are dark and mysterious. The morning air smells of wood smoke, cow dung, human ordure, spices and marigold flowers. In the distance a jackal yowls, and closer at hand, just beyond the ghat steps, a blind beggar sings plaintively.
We are in Benares (now known as Varanasi) a city which embodies the spiritual soul of India, and whose beginnings over 2,500 years ago, are steeped in Hindu mythology. The Ganges, or "Mother Ganga", India's holiest river, flows past Varanasi in the course of a 2,600-mile journey-from the remote fastness of the Himalayas, across the fertile northern plains of India, to the Bay of Bengal.
The Ganges is a paradox, both beneficent and destructive by turns. It provides sustenance for countless millions of people who live along its banks, but it also inflicts merciless flood damage during the monsoons. At Varanasi, it is polluted by raw sewage and charred, putrefying human and animal remains which swirl and float on its surface. Yet, for thousands of Hindu pilgrims who come here daily to bathe, to chant devotional hymns and to scoop its waters in their palms and drink it like a libation, it is a river as pure and ancient as faith.
Our boatmen take up their oars and, as we pull away from the shore, Ashok invites us to join him in a mantra to the dawn. We hold small clay cups filled with lighted wicks, and at the appropriate moment we set them afloat on the breast of the river. They stream away like a procession of tiny exclamation points bobbing on the dark waters. It is a moment as sacred as the hush in a vaulted cathedral.
The sky grows lighter and the mist begins to dispel. Brazening over the horizon a blood-orange sun turns the river molten and suffuses the city in a golden sheen. As they have done for millennia, devotees gathered at the waters' edge burst into chanting, their cymbals, drums and conch shells exuberantly heralding the gift of a new day.
The ghats become a shifting pointillist painting, dotted with thousands of people: women bathing fully attired in colourful saris, muscular men stripped to G-strings performing Yoga exercises, naked fakirs (holy men) in pretzel-like poses of meditation, pot-bellied business men clad in white loin-cloths dipping into the waters. Vendors selling chai, cold drinks and hot-gram weave through the crowds. Further upstream, washerwomen exchange gossip and banter, while whacking garments against the stone steps, and laying them out to dry like patchwork quilts at the water's edge.
Varanasi is a city which celebrates death as no other city in India does. For a Hindu to die in Benares, and to be cremated here on the banks of the Ganga, is to be absolved of karma, freed from the wheel of reincarnation and absorbed into the Infinite.
As we approach the sombre Marnikarnika burning ghat, we stow away our cameras and video equipment as photography is prohibited. Sandalwood fires glow and grey smoke smudges the sky. White clad figures-priests and male members of the family- surround the pyres. No weeping here, as this would retard the soul in its journey to fuse with the Ultimate. The ashes will be scattered onto the waters of the Ganges.
We disembark at the main Dasaswamedh Ghat steps, and from the austerity of death, we are plunged into seething life: the lanes of the old city. Some of these are no wider than two people walking abreast, and we shoulder our way past goats, stray dogs dozing in the shade and phlegmatic cud-chewing holy cows. Women carrying baskets move between the crowds collecting the fresh cow-dung patties to dry and use as fuel for their cooking fires.
The lanes are honey-combed by stalls selling silk carpets, Varanasi brocade saris, brass vessels, fine-spun gold jewellery as well as flower garlands, vegetables, fruit and spices. Sadhus, mendicants, vendors and citizens churn against bemused looking tourists. The clamour and smell of humanity throngs the senses.
Like India itself, Varanasi is bewildering. It is mystical and mundane. Harmonious and discordant. Fascinating and repulsive. A place where the pulse of eternity throbs to the rhythm of an ancient culture. Deeply moving and unforgettable.
Margaret Deefholts
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My interpretation of all that is through my beliefs, and those are typical of most Americans. You know, the right/and wrong, dirty/clean, health, religion, and all that. But, behind all that is a feeling, something deep and beyond my beliefs. It's a fatigue and a tiredness in my essence. I've had enough of those experiences. Other folks haven't had enough, and that's okay. I'm tired of it, though.
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My interpretation of all that is through my beliefs, and those are typical of most Americans. You know, the right/and wrong, dirty/clean, health, religion, and all that. But, behind all that is a feeling, something deep and beyond my beliefs. It's a fatigue and a tiredness in my essence. I've had enough of those experiences. Other folks haven't had enough, and that's okay. I'm tired of it, though.
I personally dont have the same beliefs.. or perhaps I strive to have none at all... Id far rather explore that "deep feeling" beyond them.
Things simply 'are'
Expanding Love, Jennifer
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Naga babas Hari Giri and Ramnath Giri
(http://www.adolphus.nl/sadhpix/2187.jpg)
In appearance sadhus try to resemble the gods as they are known through ancient myths and popular legends, especially Shiva; for sadhus he is the Master of Yogis.
Following his example, quite a few sadhus walk about n‰ked, symbolising their renunciation of the world of mortals, and rub their body with ashes of their holy fires, symbolic of death and rebirth.
Many sadhus wear extremely long hair (jata), again in emulation of Lord Shiva, whose long strands of hair are regarded as the 'seat' of his supernatural powers.
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(http://www.samoppenheim.com/faces/nagababa.jpg)
Naga Babas, Ascetics at the Kumbha Mela
(http://www.samoppenheim.com/faces/kutchiwoman.jpg)
Kutchi Woman Carrying Dirt
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(http://www.samoppenheim.com/faces/yamunotrisadhu.jpg)
Sanyasin Climbing to Yamunotri
(http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9iby4FnscRF9V4BmVSjzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=11r59ta8k/EXP=1170604775/**http%3A//www.adolphus.nl/sadhpix/3410.jpg)
Even in absurdity, sacrament. Even in hardship, holiness. Even in doubt, faith. Even in chaos, realization. Even in paradox, blessedness
(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39876000/jpg/_39876493_sad.jpg)
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A Sadhu, or Hindu holy man, plays a drum at the Ardh Kumbh Mela, or Half Pitcher Festival in Allahabad city January 5, 2007. Nearly half a million Hindus braved near-freezing temperatures to wash away their sins in the icy waters of the Ganges river in northern India on Wednesday, the first day of a six-week festival. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (INDIA)
(http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20070105/i/r1991223174.jpg?)
Check out that drum!!!! ;D
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(http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20070105/i/r1919317025.jpg?x=380&y=247&sig=40YNKU3O0Y9WpZZSpx2DGw--)
Ardh Kumbh Mela : Indian Sadhu Yogiraj Srikant, performs yoga after taking a dip at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, during the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. (AFP/Stringer )
(http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20070110/capt.sge.gpx39.090107232426.photo00.photo.default-337x512.jpg?x=226&y=345&sig=DlqiDS71v9WNtMYpWjO.zw--)
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(http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9iby6EDt8RF05QAdnmjzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=12j69n8bd/EXP=1170606211/**http%3A//d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20070103/i/r3802708718.jpg)
Notice the date... this is while M was there... or close...!!
A Naga Sadhu, or holy man, reacts to the camera after taking a dip in the Sangam, the confluence of three rivers, Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati, during Ardh Kumbh Mela or half Pitcher festival in Allahabad January 19, 2007. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi (INDIA)
(http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20070119/i/r3976720690.jpg?x=380&y=266&sig=OZghkjDvgfyF8SLeA1ST7w--)
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(http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9ibyiHvuMRFRNMAmhCjzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=13qbcuaqn/EXP=1170606703/**http%3A//us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070119/capt.xas10401190758.india_hindu_festival_xas104.jpg)
Holy man : An Indian sadhu (Hindu holy man) takes a bath at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers in Allahabad, during the Ardh Kumbh Mela festival (Half Pitcher festival). (AFP/Manan Vatsyayana)
(http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20070116/capt.sge.itr90.160107213229.photo00.photo.default-357x512.jpg?x=240&y=345&sig=WzBHt_VlYIupBwcVhz63mA--)
Hindu devotees offer evening prayers in the foreground of a Trident, on the banks of the River Ganges at the Ardh Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad, India, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2007. Nearly 70 million Hindus are expected to participate in the weeks-long festival, one of the largest regular gatherings in the world, and wash themselves in the waters of the Ganges believing that it washes away their sins and ends the process of reincarnation. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
(http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070120/capt.all11001202334.aptopix_india_hindu_festival_all110.jpg?x=380&y=253&sig=0c5liE1kH2gaBP.fjrVDFQ--)
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Some more good photos from Varanasi
Poor beggar
(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/3116/_mg_1364-web4.jpg)
Strong mother
(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/41553/265295081_df702c5f40.jpg)
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At the river
(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/43511/india-0526web.jpg)
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Evening prayers : Indian Hindu devotees offer evening prayers on the banks of Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers in Allahabad during the Ardh Kumbh Mela festival (Half Pitcher festival).
(http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20070120/capt.sge.kdh65.200107235052.photo00.photo.default-512x317.jpg?x=380&y=235&sig=SyDps_At3.US514VWyCVWg--)
(http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9iby4GzusRF72wB3BijzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=13qli0ruo/EXP=1170607155/**http%3A//us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070119/capt.all10601190950.india_hindu_festival_all106.jpg)
Children take a holy dip as a woman waits with the clothes in the confluence of the Rivers Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati in Allahabad, India, Wednesday,Jan. 24, 2007. Millions of devotees and Hindu holy men are participating in the 45 day long pilgrimage 'Ardh Kumbh Mela' with the intention of washing away their sins. (AP Photo/Mustafa Quraishi) Email Photo Print Photo
(http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070124/capt.xmq11001240845.india_hindu_festival_xmq110.jpg?x=380&y=242&sig=1ljyiBtNNEGdlr0TVwLmJQ--)
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Siesta
(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/28450/india_04b.jpg)
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Ash smeared Naga sadhus or naked Hindu holymen take out a procession at Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati on Vasant Panchami day, in Allahabad, India, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007. Vasant Panchami marks the last 'shahi snan,' royal bath in the 45 day long pilgrimage 'Ardh Kumbh Mela' in which millions of Hindu devotees and holy men participate with the intention of washing away their sins. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
(http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070123/capt.rks10401230605.india_hindu_festival_rks104.jpg?x=380&y=253&sig=xcZj8sdrPegT7uGKmIJWxQ--)
Come on.. tell me that doesnt look like fun!
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Not fun at all - just crazy.
Enjoy Coca Cola
(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/27925/02_benares_026.jpg)
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(http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9iby4Atv8RF2FwBiTOjzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=127vcjhrh/EXP=1170608301/**http%3A//static.flickr.com/29/60794664_69055c011a.jpg)
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Not fun at all - just crazy.
It makes my heart race just looking at the them, crazy is good sometimes.
(http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070123/capt.rks10401230605.india_hindu_festival_rks104.jpg?x=380&y=253&sig=xcZj8sdrPegT7uGKmIJWxQ--)
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Toward a tooth brush?
(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/3984/varanasi_child_on_stairs_01.jpg)
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And finally ... we found the Light!
(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/30430/nightghats.jpg)
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(http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9iby6L9xcRFvQ0AgmqjzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=120ajvo05/EXP=1170610045/**http%3A//www.tantra.us/graphics/kalishrine.JPG)
(http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9iby4XkxsRF6AoAW3SjzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=12ol8bc2t/EXP=1170610276/**http%3A//68.166.190.115/Beatscene/Assets/images/sm_kali_puja_72dpi.jpg)
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(http://images.worldofstock.com/slides/TAN1332.jpg)
(http://galenfrysinger.us/india/varanasi145.jpg)
(http://galenfrysinger.us/india/varanasi148.jpg)
(http://galenfrysinger.us/india/varanasi149.jpg)
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I personally dont have the same beliefs.. or perhaps I strive to have none at all... Id far rather explore that "deep feeling" beyond them.
Things simply 'are'
Expanding Love, Jennifer
Indeed. ;D I'm just noticing my beliefs and my reactions to those pics, and the deep feelings I feel.
They just are.
*smiles*
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(http://www.wendellphillips.com/images/india/India%20women.JPG)
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(http://galenfrysinger.us/india/varanasi028.jpg)
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Indeed. ;D I'm just noticing my beliefs and my reactions to those pics, and the deep feelings I feel.
They just are.
*smiles*
I actually misread or rather misunderstood what you said. :-\
:-* Jennifer
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(http://galenfrysinger.us/india/india294.jpg)
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yes guys, that's it alright. That last one from V is the main street - looks great at night with all the lights.
This is a wonderful place.
Julie is really pissed off because she has a cold and is holed up in the room. I am off to the drum factory today, to see if I can get a good Mridangam drum.
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My interpretation of all that is through my beliefs, and those are typical of most Americans. You know, the right/and wrong, dirty/clean, health, religion, and all that. But, behind all that is a feeling, something deep and beyond my beliefs. It's a fatigue and a tiredness in my essence. I've had enough of those experiences. Other folks haven't had enough, and that's okay. I'm tired of it, though.
not sure you have got that right there todd. i'd guess the first part, 'typical of most Americans' is the more accurate part. so i would ask, are you an 'American'? i mean in your essence?
it reminds me of gurdjieff, who went to egypt because of the possibility he 'would become someone different'.
i suspect the fatigue is more about not wanting to go through the agony you know is in store in crossing those boundries of your identity. and let me assure you, india means agony. so i feel you know well what is in store for you.
but let me say, india has little to do with it - crossing the borders always means agony. someone recently said i believed east was better than west, but that is not true - i love east because of a personal quirk. any world will do, as long as it isn't yours.
as you should know, it is the space inbetween worlds that is what we seek.
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Heya Michael,
I am glad your trip is really special for you.
A little context for the statement you quote may help. It was in response to the first pic of all the people on the ghat, in the river. As I watched the pic, abstractly my AP went there. I felt the automatic responses to those feelings of being there, and I noticed them. I traced them back to their belief systems I was raised with. Obviously, I still hold them, to some extent. To a great deal, though I don't still hold to those beliefs. I still have some of the resulting automatic responses, even if I don't act on them, and even if they don't have power over me, the urges are still there. The programs don't actually run, but the data is still on the disk, so to speak. It's like when you delete a file on a disk, you still haven't erased it until you write over it.
not sure you have got that right there todd. i'd guess the first part, 'typical of most Americans' is the more accurate part. so i would ask, are you an 'American'? i mean in your essence?
No, I'm not an American, in essence. I'm way, way more than that. I was raised in America, and inculcated in those American beliefs, especially those of the upper middle class. That's my experience in this focus, in this present now, but in essence I'm much more than that. That's something I'll never get all of, either, which is the exciting part.
it reminds me of gurdjieff, who went to egypt because of the possibility he 'would become someone different'.
That's the funky part of identity in consciousness. We are never who we were a moment ago, and we are not the future probabilities we create in the now, either. But, we are. *smiles*
i suspect the fatigue is more about not wanting to go through the agony you know is in store in crossing those boundries of your identity. and let me assure you, india means agony. so i feel you know well what is in store for you.
You speak as if the fatigue is something in store for my future. I speak of it as something in the past. You haven't the benefit of my recapitulations of my many other focuses. Nothing wrong with that. For example, the pic of the people on the ghat and in the river reminded me of agony of being there, and experiencing that. Those feelings were contrasted in energy with the feelings of my beliefs in my present American focus. In essence, it felt like the fatigue of age, when you know it's time to move on.
east was better than west, but that is not true - i love east because of a personal quirk. any world will do, as long as it isn't yours.
*smile* I agree with this--nothing's better than anything else. It's all preferences and choices and experience. Oh, how that makes people twinge!! That's okay. Made me twinge, too. Still does every time I'm reminded after I forget.
In my present now, I'm crossing the borders of my inner worlds. Some are agonizing, some blissful. So I wouldn't say that agony of crossing borders is an absolute. In my past, I've crossed physical borders, and some I found blissful, some fearful, some agonizing, some fun. I think the fear of crossing borders comes from making an absolute truth of the belief in "normalcy" and unacceptability of differences. It's been agonizing in the past so it MUST be agonizing in the future. Incorrect. That is not an absolute.
BORDERS Those are unique places and only the most accepting of people can experience them fully. I don't think I expressed my feeling there accurately. Words draw boundaries, and there are none in the spaces between worlds.
Namaste'
Todd
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I am off to the drum factory today, to see if I can get a good Mridangam drum.
Soooo... did you find a new drum??? :) :) :)
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yes, I'm buying a Mridangam. i hope it arrives safely - I've left off some of the payment till after delivery. these people look like a good source, so if anyone wants a sitar or tabla, i will give the address, but lets see if what i get is a good one - the one i saw was great.
Mridangam is like a tabla in sound structure but a single double sided drum, so I can strap it around my neck and play horizontal strokes - means I can dance while playing.
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Excellent!
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Jennifer, one day I'll accompany you to Kashi...