Garden
April 30, 2007
“May the great wind breathe purification upon you,
May the Waters rain immortality upon you,
may the Sun warm your body with blessing, may Death
show you mercy! Do not perish!
Japanese Garden
April 29, 2007
“Oh truly conquering, curse averting powerful plant, backward turned, you and all plants have I invoked…” -Atharva Veda
Buddha
April 28, 2007
One of my favorite lectures on spirituality is Alan Watts who once stated that Buddhism can be viewd as Hinduism prepared for export. All the rituals and complications were pared away leaving just the essence. I’ve always liked that perspective and I think there is a great deal of truth to it.
This Buddha in is the Japanese Garden in San Francisco and I photographed it during a recent visit.
Chandi Path
April 26, 2007
The main piece of traditional literature for Durga is called Chandi Path; about 700 verses that tells the story of Durga. It contains many famous mantras and is in its entirety considered to be one big long mantra.
In this temple in Varanasi you see the Chandi Path enscribed on the walls of the temple…a feature not seen in any temple in South India that I have ever visited. I suspect the reason is that there is no light colored stone like marble in the south. Most temples are created from a dark greenish granite. Personally, I find it strikingly beautiful.
Durga and the Tiger
April 26, 2007
Durga always rides on a tiger, whom you see poking his head out on the left. Traditionally, Durga is powerful and she holds weapons in two of her hands, while two others offer blessings and protection.
Symbolically, she represents purity because she was created from the combined power of all the gods and goddesses. But her fierce nature suggests that those who wish to develop purity have to be prepared to change for the cause of developing purity.
Durga Aarti
April 25, 2007
This photo was taken at the end of a five day yagya for the ten forms of the Divine Mother (Dasa Mahavidhya). The murti is that of Durga who exemplifies both power and purity.
After Abishekam
April 24, 2007
The final part of the abishekam involves pouring scented sandalpaste over the small murtis and then they are decorated with fresh flowers.
Feeding Brahmins
April 24, 2007
I know that i have posted before on the importance of food and particularly the feeding of Brahmins as a part of every yagya. So recently we sponsored a rather huge event at a school for young brahmin priests. In most cases becoming a priest is a family tradition although not all male members of a family are required to become priests.
Typically they join a patasala like this one at around the age of ten and stay until they finish their basic training in their late teens or early twenties. Their life is a communal one and in this image you can see the stacks of mats on which they sleep, stacked in the back of the room.
The boy work hard and by one account, their day starts each day between 3 and 4 AM! But they are well cared for. The meal that we served is most likely to be viewed as a specail treat with extra dishes and lots of sweets. In any case, it makes for a nice day for them and their faces seem to show it.
Five deities
April 23, 2007
Some traditions that date back to the saint Adi Shankara focus on the worship of five deities; the Sun, Moon, Ganesha, Vishnu, Shiva, and the Goddess. In the following photo taken at the conclusion of an abishekam, you see a crystal Shiva lingam in the center, and a crystal Ganesha in the upper left. The clear gem in the lower left is for the Moon and the black stone (called a shaligram) is for Vishnu. The goddess in the rear on the right is Annapurna and she is seen holding a spoon as is traditional for her because she is the goddess who feeds the world. The second photo gives you a sense of scale. Not all murtis have to be big!
Prayer
April 22, 2007
