~ Seven Hills of Realization ~

I have dreamt of you Venkatesha. Most of this life. Where were you oh grandeur of existence; With the holy namam showing the third eye. Where were you remover of sorrow; tester of time. Consort of the holy divine feminine - shri who you have kept in your child like heart.

Once so alone and distant - I thought that I was done for; I remained aloof and almost defiant. I thought that the sweet lord of the seven hills was not worth bowing down for. For which god I thought asks from devotees ornaments and prayer, this egoistic material thought was something which kept me back for such a long time.

And all the while Remover of sorrow and fear kept me safe and together near his heart like goddess shri.

I had the oppertunity to go to Tirupathi - arguably the most crowded and impressive temple/place of worship in the world recently with my folks. I have been there innumerable times in my life - but the difference being that this time I wished to be there. I wished to bow and pray and spend my life in sweet melody of his ways. Lord and sustainer of the universe. The keeper of heart, testing many on the way so that they can change as and where needed - to reach the feet of the primal consciousness - Narayana - beckoning each individual every moment.



The journey from hyderabad to tirupathi - overnight by train and pretty comfortable - we reached to a misty mountain bop kind of weather and remained in lower tirupathi the first day - resting and looking to make our move towards the abundant temples present in lower tirupathi.

Our first stop is the temple town of Kalahasti which is some 50Km off from tirupati. The temple is located in Tamilnadu and is a very ancient Chola/Pandya architecture; beautiful and one of its kind. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva - and is considered important across the country as remedy from Rahu and Ketu - the head and tale of a demon - which in astrology corrospond to the lunar and solar nodes (eclipses) which affect in turn the mind and body of a person in his life.

The thing is that since young - I have been wanting to see the temple and for one reason or none - never been able to make it. My folks know how many times I have bugged them in this regard, and never got to see the site. This was my time - we reached quickly enough and the beautiful thing being - that it was pouring ney downpouring in between as my mother was chanting shiva strotras and stopping with some beautiful intermittent sunshine - what a wonderful life!

The temple is very commercial with little or no respect to the archaelogical/cultural/mythical aspects of the site left anymore.

The temple runs on the rahu ketu pooja which brings in loads of people and big business over the year, I ofcourse am no better - My rahu is placed in a predicament in my natal birth chart - in the XII house - which hosts the collective unconsious/subconscious worlds. Thus, this means that my life would be tainted at times with some mental problems (which I have been facing on and off) – and the only teaching this would lead to is, is to have faith and not take things so seriously that they impair life itself to progress towards eternity.



We waited for a long time for the pooja to happen – and it kept raining intermittently and heavily the whole time (the temple has many inlets from the roof through which rain kept sizzling down and refreshing us with its view). Finally post the small ritual – we went to see the grand and beautiful kalahasti lingam.

The mythic story goes something like – three animals in present life (Elephant / Snake / Spider) all were shiva devotees in previous life – taken birth to worship this elusive and beautiful lingam. So the elephant used to offer bilva leaves while the snake would guard the lingam and the spider would put a net around it to protect it, and all three used to invariably get in each other’s way. And one fine day in anger – all three killed each other (Spider kills elephant who kills snake who kills spider!)

Shiva is very happy for some reason for them to kill each other (kidding!) but rather with the extreme levels of devotion each one shows and stills in this place as the great Vayu Lingam (This is one of the elemantal temples as well – for the element of Air). Hence the lingam is very thin and very tall (almost more than 7 feet up) and looks magnificent even from a far off distance.

I had a grand darshan along with my family and felt extremely satisfied (at heart) to have made the journey to see what I had been in my mind and soul wishing to see for such a long time. We headed home and called an early day with some good tamil dinner by the side (Tamil meals are probably the best in the world in terms of spice and condiments)



The next day we headed for the local temples present in tirupati – all old and now taken care of to some extent due to the beautiful site present on top of the hill (otherwise like most other indian temples – they would be relics only known to the locals and not taken care of even then).

I went to the beautiful Manga Rama and Kodanda rama temple – the former being at the periphery of the town (which has become very very big as on date – commercialization of gods and men rampent like no place in the world as in india). The manga rama temple is where Vishnu comes as a bachelor and stays and prays to the lord of wealth – Kubera for help to marry his grand beautiful gentle consort – Lakshmi. Kubera then lends him dowry cash for a successful marriage and to repay the amount with interest – the lord of all takes rest on top of the hill where he wishes his devotees well and in return gets sums unthinkable by any to be given to an idol! (it is now the second richest temple/place of worship – post discovery of his counterpart mode – Lord Ananta – padbanabhaswamy in trivandrum who has amassed secret treasure through his devotees with time!)

The other temples were equally beautiful – the Kapila temple dedicated to lord shiva and goddess kamakshi – where these two come to bless and marry the beautiful couple into union, located on the slope of a natural flowing waterfall coming from the top (and perennially), the place looked powerful – but dismayed with the human dirt which has accumalated in the water pool with time – spent time here getting restored before going to the ISKCON conning temple for some food and then headed back for rest time.,

The next day early morning we set out to the top of the hill on our cab – we picked a guy who works with the TTD office and who would help us with a quicker darshan than possible (as we were leaving on the same day and a six to ten hour wait is simply impossible – for my folks). The ride up was extremely serene – the hill is taken care by TTD and also forest department and forms part of the nallamalai ranges (dark forests of Andhra Pradesh). We reached and changed quickly into our dhotis (I did not wear anything to cover my chest – and found out that I was perhaps one in a million who had nothing to cover myself on the cold mountain )

The wait lasted for three hours where my parents and I stood patiently and talked and discussed life as well as others who were there in the line (most of the folks dedicate their hair to lord venkateswara – as a symbol of offering their head and their most respected part of body to the god as a token of their love!) So these folks of course look pretty funny and our conversations continued as we inched (literally) towards the beautiful sanctum sanctoram.



The temple is small in area and has history of being a Lakshmi temple before hand – the idol of the lord is around 11 feet high and there is no confirmed sculptor for the same – the story is that it was found in this manner at a site which is couple of kilometers from the present day temple. The god materialized his form into stone and the same was found by a shepard – till date the shepard family is the one who is authorized to open and close the temple gates though the priests are the ones who do the formal pooja and the informal looting of the cash.

Till recently tirupati was the richest and even after padbanabhaswamy’s treasure discovery it remains in the top richest in the world – but unfortunately a lot of money and beautiful jewellery has gone missing over time and recently discovered findings speak that the mukut and the precious jewels adorning the lord’s face had been stolen and replaced with less costly imitations in the past 10-20 years. Shocking as this god is one who takes such matters very very seriously and attracts punitive action to those concerned. There is not a single person who comes in his presence who does not ask for something in turn – and once delivered – what we had promised to give balaji must be done and promptly – he is one who takes our tests all of our lives – giving us misery and love at the same time. He makes our life complete – with constant trials and tribulations – with victory in humility at his feet and unbounded love in the heart. Such a god is a rarity to find!

The temple still looks the same – but when I entered the inner sanctom with the pushing and what not happening (you do not need to use your own force once you enter the temple premises – you will be whisked away by the pressure of men women children behind) I saw the god and he was looking a bit lack lustre – perhaps because the previous day was deepawali and might have included extended ornamentation. But thankfully got to see the lord for a long time (don’t think much – long time means maximum 5 seconds in front of this beautiful idol!)

Came out and took prasad and then moved on to the the place where the lord descends and sends forth the idol to be worshipped – this is unique as there are 2 stones touching each other – which forms an arch structure – even more unique is the fact that these are sedimentary and igneous rocks together – and only 3 of such kind are present in the world! This is the arch through which the lord manifests himself, a bit further away is where his footsteps were once found in stone (but unfortunately through rampant carelesseness by devotees – the original stone has got disfigured – the photo of which remains, the place is called Chakra Padam). The feet of the lord like stature seem to be over 15 inches or more atleast. Huge feet !

From the arch like structure – I moved forward and making my mother rest at a comfortable place went downhill on foot where in between the jungle – a small rivulet cuts through – thought to be very holy water – people drink and spray it on themselves to cure diseases and misfortune, the other side rises again and one can goto visit a secret small shiva temple which really looks secluded and pretty. My father and I went and spent a moment in peace before returning to get my mom and leave via cab down hill.

Down hill the journey was mellow with the one stop at the beautiful iconic idol of Hanuman – the entire hill is extremely beautiful to say the least. Even if completely rummaged with human beings.

I had a beautiful darshan and the lord blessed me with his presence - this was not some form of superstitious belief or blind faith but an understanding of the power of the lord who removes his lover's sorrows.

Go towards the divine hills - discover and rejoice, there is no place like it, there is no time standing still like my beautiful lord of the seven hill!

Peace and Love

Land of Lakes–Warangal Oasis (Kakatiyan despair!)

 

The central part of India – called Deccan plateau – a flatbed with few high rising hillocks is one of the prettiest and perhaps underexplored parts of the country (cause well its so accessible, no one bothers visiting it). Being close to Hyderabad, had an opportunity to drive down 150 odd km to the former capital of kakatiyas – Warangal. Now in telengana district and laid to ruins, the place in former days was the seat of human power and surrounded by thick semi arid forests of lore.

Visiting the beautiful old Jain temple on the way (dedicated to Lord neminath and adinath) with a stopover, finally reached Warangal on a sultry hot day (pre-monsoons Indian subcontinent is one pile of sweat). Put up in a government lodge and freshened up to go out and check out the beautiful ruins within the city. Could see the thousand pillared temple and other artefacts (but none of them looked really glorious to be frank – especially compared to other parts of fame in India); and before I knew it – it was evening time.

Headed to the the large (and perhaps man made lake) called Durgam Cheruvu – where on its banks lies the beautiful and powerful shakti pith for mother goddess – patron goddess of Warangal and kings. The deity looked so immense and beautiful, I was really without any words; one of the largest deities in size I have seen; covered in vermillion and yellow sari. She looked divine and powerful. Saw that in front of her there is a small Shri Yantra – and it struck me that perhaps Adi shankara would have been there – to install the same. Checked with the temple priest and he confirmed that it was not perhaps adi but one of the shankaracharya’s and currently the temple was overseen by adi shankaracharya.

Spent the evening twilight in peace and some meditation (albeit with the mosquito biting furiously). My mother and I felt very happy – and I particularly that I was with my own mother in a power place witnessing a beautiful sunset on the lake. We saw many a fisher folk on the lake – working together to try to net – to catch some fishes (but I really couldn’t see any one of them get any – perhaps cause they were laying the nets – or perhaps they were all drunk and there were no fishes in the lake!)

Had an early local dinner at our hotel (cause Warangal is really not well known for any tourist amenities – like hotels/restaurants etc). The food was spicy telugu rice material (as this area is mainly non-vegetarian and I am not!) and I gulped it down with loads of water and went for an early night’s rest.

Spent the next day travelling to close by lakes of lore – first visiting the very famous Ramappa temple – which is one stand alone temple very far inside and away from Warangal. The temple was of great importance in the past and the black marble idols looked glorious (even today ramappa is the host for famous dance festivals in the region; as it was in the distant past during kakatiya dynasty’s rule)

The temple is in ruins – and it looked initially like cause of an earthquake (it was confirmed by the priests that invasion after invasion and an earthquake and of course the unmentioned neglect of the locals was the reason). It was a hot day but still could spend time to walk barefoot and check out the various compartments within the temple premise before packing off and moving another 20km in our car to see the ramappa lake. The lake is humongous – and a forest lake lodge made by government stands for folks who want to stay there – the place looked pristine but like a ghost town – no one was living there – and I really wouldn't say its the safest vacation getaways – with the naxal and unemployment influence. No one was inhabiting any of the 10 huge beautiful lodges on the banks of the lake – and even the restaurant was barren.

We saw a beautiful ruined temple on one its banks and I spent time to see what the interior looked like – it was a smaller replica of the ramappa temple – same style of sanctum – even the gandharvas and idols mapped on the stone pillars were same! All in ruins, I was tempted to take a small souvenir for myself – but remembered that these are objects and experiences of blessings and curses. Better to be left unto themselves. Walked around the back of the temple – and saw a wonderful grand reservoir – where water was flowing nay gushing out at incredible speed from the lake – perhaps a dam, for the water to be pushed into a particular direction. Wonderful to see water flowing at such maddening pace! Chaos amidst perfection. Never to be missed i must say!

We travelled from here another 40 odd kms to the next biggest lake in the region – called lachnavaram – truly a delight if not for the hostile looking environments and people around – our car was temporarily stopped by little kids – who were imitating their jobless seniors in a mock way – stopping the road with a block and trying to throw stones on the car – and our driver was indeed a bit shaken up. The lake is deep within jungle – and is surrounded by naxal influence. We didn't spend much time – but the lake had a number of small islands in between connected by bridges – the place is well known for migratory birds which come from as far as Siberia during the Indian winters – to nest and chill.

We spent some time in the hot mid day sun appreciating the natural wonder of a lake and started off on the long way back to hyderabad. Journey back uneventful but overall a beautiful getaway at minimum turbulence – to see the once mighty empire fallen unto dust – as usual; as always.

Peace

 

Slow Down

(The way up a hill/a path/towards heaven is always by slowing down!)


I have spent some time in HK, where I used to live close to a hillock (upper wanchai area). The place is one of the most serene locals I have seen till date, relatively posh and hence free of the hustle bustle market streets which HK is generally known for. 

The way up to the hillock used to be from real close to my apartments, and hence I would on a daily basis see tons of old folks climbing up and coming down. I myself over time spent many a day walking up this hillock (and its really worth it). The climb up is one of the steepest I have seen in my life - for a walkers route. Its at least at a 60 degree angle up hill all the way to the summit. 
The hillock at the top is intertwined and interlinked with all the other hillocks around that area, and hence a path is made for walkers to walk in divine quietness midst peaceful greenery. The place used to be indescribable to say the least. 

But what used to strike me even more awe filled was the way that these old folks used to walk up all the way in one go, I was around 10+ and full of energy and I used to walk and stop and almost die in the process; It used to take me as much if not more time to walk up - than these old people (who would on an average look like they were 60 - none would know their real age of course). 
So now I am a big fan of walking - for many years on; I like the pace at which I can travel and see surroundings and also give some thought to my inner being so as to speak - and while I was walking the other day at night (thats generally when I walk around my neighboring areas - to find a new direction so as to say) and this beautiful imagery of these old folks walking up struck me. And I understood something finally

I must also mention - I am a very quick walker at worst, and find my way generally with ease and speed; but in recent times - I have deliberately started walking at a measured pace with a poised gait; which will help me relax forcefully while walking lol. 
So this forced slowness was the same thing which these chinese old folk were doing when they were climbing up this steep un-climbable sort of hill. They were doing an initial forced measure - which will slow down their mind and the body - followed by a sense of meditative ness - which would remove the distractions the mind would create due to the artificial slow ness induced. 
This is generally achieved via breadth control as well. You can control the pace at which you breathe and this would affect every other part of the organizam. 

What is the effect of inducing such an artificial slowness; well for one you can easily climb fucking tall mountains! This kind of tai-chi/prana/hatha techniques are very easy to know and very difficult to practice and once conquered - extremely beneficial in all sense possible!
The slowing down of breath or pace at which one goes about their walk or thoughts or words or everything, creates a sense of space in our minds, the minds relax - free from one imposing thought over another all the time. Creating lower frequency waves - emanating from the mind - theta waves - which create the will to take over (as it is), but not shrouded by blinding and confusing mind thoughts. Creating splendor of being as it is said - extraordinary fitness for the body and longevity, extremely young and naive mind - capable of multiple processes and perceptions possible. A strong Heart which will stand through any perceived adversities and always provide inclusiveness - all this by changing the way one walks? I would have to say yes here. 
Many people across the world, now practice walking and dancing meditations - slow and sure, the motor activity is so strong - that it takes over the entire activity and the brain does not have to provide any cognitive inputs - it is not imagining here anymore (though that is what practically and most probably takes place), but imagination too shall take a break given practice - and then the mind itself becomes awakened while being subdued. Again a cool dichotomy but a fact. These are the effects which I have encountered while doing a measured walk with a poised gait. Gait creates the sense of attention - and where it is being directed. If its wayward gait, then the energy too shall not be stable and shall dissipate, otherwise if the gait is kept strong - which only the individual will be able to realize - then the walk becomes empowering and meditative, providing kind of limitless energy for realizing tasks. 

But this is enough non-sense for now, the fact remains that till date I do not believe I have met anyone who would be as strong with stamina as to climb the hill like the myriad old people from HK used to (the youth used to stop and walk just like me - everyone except some really old people could not climb the hillock at one go~!). Their never stopping and never giving up attention gait and walk was something which our generation (the current one), has never learnt; had the inclination to learn and most probably never learn cause now we do not get the opportunity to walk! 
I still try to walk as much as I can, cause I have experienced its direct benefits - its sense of slowing down - creates a greater harmony within the body and mind and more peace definitely any which day. 

Peace

The Calling to Ma Vaishno

Thats what popular slogans say about a journey up to vaishno devi.
If she has not called you; then you may not go. ("Bulawa aaya hai Mata Rani ka" - The calling has come finally from mother queen!)

Vaishno devi is in north state of Jammu/Kashmir in India and is one of the most crowded hillocks in the world. The number of people which climb this ancient hill to view 3 rock formations inside a small cave is un believable.
In north India one of the popular cults is of the 9 different forms of mother goddess - each present in a different place (and generally all are natural rock formations). The nine temples are spread across punjab, Himachal, Jammu. They to me; are all power centers where natural power was felt by our ancient travelers.

The nine temples are :
Mansa Devi/ Jwalamukhi/ Chintpurni/ Naina Devi/ Vaishno Devi/ Chamunda Devi/ Baijnath/Lakshmi Narayan and one more.

But the most famous ofcourse if Devi Vaishno. She is visited by immense number of people all through the year (except peak winters where it becomes difficult for people to climb up).
I undertook the visit some time back, after perhaps I got my calling with my folks. We took a train up to a small town in Jammu before taking a vehicle to the base of the hill.
I was sorely disappointed intially (well cause I thought naively that the hill climb would be a purificatory journey - which it is intended to be). The hill has been destroyed by rampant capitilism - stores selling all types of crap like audio / video what not; apart from eating and resting joints.
If a person does brisk walk it will take him close to 3 hours to climb up, and if one decides to cut through the path - then the journey might be even shorter in time.
The entire way is littered and chaotic with tons of people of varied age and cultures - apart from the locals who make a damn good business taking people up down on their ponies/donkeys what not.
We wanted to walk up the way; and we did in our good time. My mother cannot walk up hill for a long duration and we had to stop many times over before we reached our destination.
The queue for visit is another thing all together, people wait as much as 12 odd hours in damp dingy little rooms made on top of the hillock to get a 2 second darshan of the beautiful rock formations inside a very small cave. The entire way leading up to the cave is a queue - which is extremely crowded and chaotic to say the least. My parents and I cannot generally stand crowded religious areas and we decided to get one of our contacts to help us get the first evening darshan possible.
So we get freshened up in a small ashram close by (which is not least bit hygenic, but in the name of religion and love for goddess - dirt and purity have no or equal value!)
We wait until the evening deeparadhana - arthi is over and then we are huddled and pushed in a single row file to the temple. The entire way is controlled by army personnel due to the extreme risks present in having so many people on a small hill top at any given point)
So these guys push people in and out of the hill, cause no one would otherwise probably come out. The cave is very small (I had to bend to walk in and stay like that), and just when my annoyance with the army guys was coming to a peak - cause of their incessent pushing; I see the 3 small rock formations and before I could take a closer look - an army guy pushes me out of the cave lol. I really did laugh out loud and people would have mistaken my demenour for some sort of religious ecstacy - well it was just that ! What was I hoping to find, some beautiful power center untouched and untapped by people? No that would be too easy, maybe a reminder that energy is present abound here as it is everywhere else - yes but I already knew that. Maybe that many journeys do not have any purpose or goal and they exist cause they have to exist. That would be bettter.
I did not get an oppertunity to visit the famous bhairava temple present closeby - shiva is present everywhere his consort is, his conscious full power nature helps dispel any sort of malign ego intentions which might hamper a full vision of cosmic power at any of the given power places. This is across india and only for goddess temples.
People say that it is not good or the journey is not complete if you do not visit the Bhairava temple after visiting goddess, but my folks and I were extremely tired after the entire ordeal of walking waiting and getting pushed around, and to top it all the crowded hilltop started getting cold drops of rainfall which was going to intensify any moment - and as we did not have any staying place on top (our hotel was at the base), we decided to take couple of horses and head back down in the least bit of time affordable.
Well the horses are another story, the thing with these horse headed beings lol is that they can see single line of sight - and they follow the path closest to the edge - the edge here is a steep bloody drop and it is absolutely no fun riding along looking all the way down all the time - I got a funky alpha male horse who was on full strength to go down flying or dying, but it suited me just fine (apart from my posterior - which got a beating sitting on the horsey!)
We reached back and spent a quiet evening looking at the hillock (our hotel was atleast having the right view of the blessed hill).
I would think that many many years back, people would come with steep devotion to climb this steeper hill and sit at the head of power, of natural organic biological power mixed with the ancient rocks - which have been capturing and amplifying solar energy for eons before any human walked this earth.
Unfortunately now people with their negative energies go to such pretty little shrines and rampage it with their need and greed! How could that ever work!

I would wish everyone a good ardous and meditative journey to Mata Vaishno - if she does not call you - do not worry - you can call yourself on her behalf and take the journey without a point.

Peace and Bliss

Dancing Amidst White Snow

This is awhile back, but its as fresh as anything that ever is in my head.
I travel to the hills, starting with a pit stop in chandigarh; where I pick up my friend and we await another who is traveling up north india for business. We spend some time in peace and catching up; and I personally spend these precious moments re-visiting my once peaceful home in panchkula where I stayed for more than a year. We start up early in the morning from the sector - 40 bus stop where inter state buses align continously for himachal. Our destination is a distant place called Rampur - the last stop in the shimla district (or so I remember). This is the last village also bordering with the manali district of humachal. We have a common friend up there who we are to catch up with; who will show us some nice places. The travel up is as usual, slow yet exciting; as the weather cools and the scenery beckons, we all lose our sense of tiredness and catch up less sleep and more sights and before we know it- we are in shimla. We get off and take some time off roaming the empty streets at six in the morning and refresh with some hearty hill breakfast.
We get on the next bus towards narkhanda - the highest point in the shimla region. Its a quiet destination for many a honeymooners and travelers, I personally have been there more times that I care to remember. We get off at narkhanda and head of for the HP guesthouses; where we have some light lunch and sip on mountain wine. This is where the unthinkable happens, after drinking a couple of bottles my friends and I take a walk on literally the edge of the mountain and before I know it, I fall some 10 feet down on a pile of dung. Am drunk at my stupidity and laugh uncontrollably. So do my friends, and the sense of numb pain in my left leg starts shooting up one neuron at a time in my head. It hurts real bad. I cannot put my weight on it and I have ruined my trip for myself. My friends help me get some pain killers and I rest my weight on their shoulder and we catch the next bus as we move off to our destination - some 3 hours away, the small town of rampur. Little to say, I could do nothing, I could neither go this way or that. Going back home to delhi was a distant option and I was anyway not in a mood for it. So I take my friends advice and sleep in the bus with the help of some strong painkiller in the hope that the pain and hurt would subside. It wouldnt, my leg is swollen up and it is a bad sprain - which would take atleast a month to heal/ I could tell just by looking at it. But that was not my worry; it was what I could do as a vestigial person on the trip which killed me from inside. I keep hope none the less and we reach as I open my eyes, my friends tell me that I drooled like a kid and fell over all my fellow passengers on the way, not that I care to remember.
We are greeted by our friend who has booked us a moderate hotel in the vicinity. The view is amazing, there is a small river which seperates the village of rampur from the starting of Manali district. The river is small in breadth and great in respect of the ferociousness it shows. It is clearly impossible to cross, and the locals have built a beautiful little wooden bridge to cross it. The dextirity and simple inginuity of village folks especially on hills never seems to stop amazing me. I spend the night with my friends as well as our common friend who in his best efforts tries to do hot and cold compress on my leg, all i need is some shut eye time and a lot of healing. But that is very difficult to do when you are with friends on a trip. And I am not one to crib or cringe cause of pain (atleast not all that much). My friends take a midnight stroll on the river side and the bridge as I sit on my beautiful little balcony in silent meditation looking at the fast moving body of water. There is a sense of peace in the pain none the less.

The next morning, we decide to head back, the trip has been shortened due to my condition and I am not really one to complain, the pain has not subsided and the swelling has just increased, it is impossible to put any weight on it, and I have to take my friends help or the help of some sort of support to make the simplest of steps happen - on a hill this is never a good thing. We take the bus and head back to narkhanda - the place where I got my swollen foot due to my callousness.
There is a very famous temple at the top most point of narkhanda - known as hatu devi. I have been to this temple once before and I must say, the scenery and serenity from the height is simply out of this world. There is no feeling to describe it. It is sheer delight. And we all were in deep wanting to see it once again. This was winters falling and the truck drivers who generally ply people up and down in summers were all huddled up not in any sort of inclination to take us up, they told us that the road was snowed in more than 10 feet in height not far away, but the sheer thought of mountain of snow made us want to see it even more! idiotic city folk is something that would have struck these village folk at the earliest. One of them did oblige ofcourse for a handsome price, and took us up through the narrow winding roads - made mostly for people to walk ( and not cars to drive). He stopped at a place, where there was a little lake formed besides and a thick tall mountain of snow on the road and everywhere in front. We were breathtaken; in sheer awe at the beauty and serenity of nature's pure white. It was out of the world. Simply brilliant. We all got out of the car, and took some time to sit in freezing temps. My leg was far beyond numb and I had to frequently come inside the car to refresh it a little, yet I would walk out and walk in the snow, time soon came where existence would have no meaning but snow falling on our heads and all around. And so it did! I started dancing little by little at the delight I felt in my heart, so did my dear friends. We were taken back at the beauty of this event. We had no words to ever descibe it even to each other, and only the satisfaction on our faces was the clue that something had been fulfilled. We stayed in the snow fall for over an hour and then made our way down to catch the last bus from narkhanda - which would take us all the way down to chandigarh.
I was in incredible pain throughout the journey, yet the simple dance in snow made me realize I am not the body, just the attachment to it and its sensations makes me feel that I am only the body. The pain and indeed the sensory otherworldy pleasure is enough to make me realize that true clarity and beauty was outside the realm of sense belonging. Maybe just a simple hint through the delight of senses was enough to make me see that.
The journey back was painful to say the least, i had developed a very bad stomach ache and with the pain in my leg - it was impossible to sit 8 hours in the himachal roadways bus - which drove at crazy speeds meandering down the hills. By the time I reached back to chandigarh and crashed at my friends place - I had been done over and re-made. I can still probably never forget this bus journey (like many others), I just could not sit through this one. Stomach trying to make push me into some other realms and the leg keeping me here with the pain!
The trip was not at all a success, we could not spend any time in peace and mostly because of my injury, yet the small stopover at the high point of that area had beckoned us to dance like sufi maniacs. Rejuvenated and rested our souls indeed!
Peace and dance forever~

Mountain Abu Splendorous Ambaji

Travelogue:

I had the good fortune to see and travel to Mount Abu where I could spend a week of my time. I traveled from New Delhi taking an overnight train to the base station at abu. Mt. Abu is one of the few hill stations present in the desert state of Rajasthan. The place is quite a hub for young crowd from mumbai and other places to visit throughout the year.

I arrived early morning twilight; got off from the train to take a cab to start the ascent upwards towards abu. The mountain or rather hillock has a very gentle slope and it takes close to hour and half without hassles to reach the top. The air was fresh indeed, though the hill station is not on a great height. The city was just coming to life with the first light of morning sun hitting this quaint hillock.

The hotel which I was to stay was pretty decently ranked; yet I found it not too hospitable. One thing to remember while going to abu is the water. The water is in short supply and the drinking water is extremely contaminated. I myself fell sick the very second day over there, and suffered a bad bout of diarrhea and had to heal myself using anti-biotics. The bad water is well known and even the locals would not encourage you to consume non-filtered water.

Mt. Abu is a thriving tourist and religious hub for the many lakhs of people who come to visit and rejuvenate themselves throughout the year. There is an approximate city center, which is thriving with local touristy and religious gifts.

There is a main lake which is atop this hillock; its called ‘Nakki Lake’ and its a huge formation. I found myself every evening by the banks of this beautiful lake formation... most people sit at the enterance of this lake; but there is a path which goes around the whole lake, and I took advantage of this, abu also attracts many sadhus; and there are various little hamlets and natural formation inside which you can find scantily clad and at times naga sadhus.

Unfortunately my camera (it was a reel camera), gave up on me for some reason and I was unable to take full advantage of the scenic beauty present in and around abu. But the impressions remain clear and consistently beautiful in my mind till this day.

The nakki lake is overlooked by the Kings palace of the regions known as Achalgarh fort. I was able to see the fort for a brief period of time only as I had quite a number of places to see under my itinerary with limited time as always.

One of the places I decided to check out was the famous Brahamakumari headquarters located here itself. The place they have invested in is a huge sprawling land atop Abu, which has loads of places for people to stay; big seminar and conference halls and of course a massive ‘Divine Egg’ which is their symbol.

I do not know much about this con, but like most other cons I know enough; during my undergraduate days, I have spent time in brahamakumari meditations and more often than not had great fun and laughter posing malicious spiritual questions to their so called master. But as always the most interesting and therapeutically funny part of their operations is their symbol. A chickens egg symbolizing the divine cosmos or some shit similar.

I also took time to go to couple of nearby temples. There is a shaktipith (so called-cause now many temples are simply called that to attract attention), I do not remember what the goddess is called as here, but this is where her lips fall, there is a 20 minute climb by steps and one reaches the top where a beautiful serene view waits for them. The goddess is svayambhu here coming out from inside a natural cave structure. One has to bend down and go inside to see the goddess a part of the wall. The entire temple was extremely serene and emanated a certain peace. Even the pandits were not resembling anywhat like vultures and they left me alone to explore.

There is also the awe-inspired divine Dilwara temples closeby, and I will mention them seperately in a later post.

I also traveled from abu to the rajasthan-gujrat border; where I saw another famous shakti-pith, this time it is supposedly where the goddess’ heart fell. The place is called ambaji; and I landed on a friday and had to face a lot of local crowd comprising of women. Being the heart center, it is extremely crowded; and people asking in turn for matters of heart always visit this area. The entire temple is in marble and the white everywhere gives some hope for such purity to arise in the heart as well. I collected a suveniour from one of the local temple shops (I always like to see these shops whenever I visit a religious center, mainly cause they have some funky representation of the god/goddess in manner of photos or paintings which I like to collect more often than not!)

Ambaji was not exactly specatcular; maybe the crowd and people turned it off for me, or maybe i could not witness and source of power or divinity but overall I enjoyed crossing over the border and seeing how cultures completely change. Rajasthanis and gujrati dressing food and religious beliefs vary widely and how!

I spent a day in Abu visiting the famous Guru Shikhar. This is the highest point in Abu and many religious visitors throng this place for it is supposedly where avadhoota/natha Dattatreya stayed and meditated. There is a steep climb to reach the top (it is easy to climb for steps are plenty but elderly people might find it a bit more difficult) and from there an enduring and perfect scenery ensues. There is no question why dattatreya might have chosen this point to perfect his meditation, in his place today; there is a shiva linga installed and a small temple carved inside a vertical cave structure which is present at the top of the hill (It gets very difficult to navigate inside if the crowd sizes become massive).

There is also an Indian astronomy institute present right next to this location and its quite breadthtaking to see the big radar equipment which is installed nearby. Though I was not able to gain some peace and quiet here, cause of the number of tourists yet I was very very enthralled by the weird and alien landscape that deserts create. While climbing down in my cab from guru shikar; I took a lot of off time; where I stopped the cab and trekked hills closeby, there was a a particular place where an oasis surrounded by hillocks and flanked by a temple were present. It was thoroughly desolate and I spent some time just checking out the rocks and water body. The wind which in the first place has been responsible for these weird rock cut outs to be formed was as strong as ever and it helped me become one with the region and its entitites. (such places are surely not desolate by night, I talked to one of the locals and even he affirmed that this place was holy and required one to visit only by daytime, by night it was quite powerful and required tremendous will to sustain... there are also wild animals which roam this area at night- and hence most locals will not be here)

I also took the cab to some 50 kms away from abu, by now I do not remember the name of the place correctly; but it was below the hill. Situated in a valley and I went there to see an ancient shiva temple. The temple is located in one corner of a Little town which has developed only because of the temple. The shiva-linga is almost non-existent, because there is a small estuary/spring which comes from where the shiva linga is present, it actually inundates the temple coming from the shiva linga. The water of course without mention is considered to have curative properties and the temple boasts of being extremely old (I found very very ancient rock cut outs of gods, shiva lingas half or completely broken and figures which do not conform to the stereotypical Hindu mythology there). I spent some time of mine meditating and enjoying the peaceful village scenery before returning back to abu.

The entire region of Mt. Abu glows in some form of weird energy. The water is toxic, the place is harsh and the temperatures soar or dip to extremes. The elements have played here for time immemorial and at the same time many enlightened folks have come here and set shop (other than the brahmakumaris I mean to say!). It is now a low end budget holiday location for many Indian families and hence even more frustrating for a traveler or seeker to see in peace. Yet I encourage everybody to go there and indulge themselves in the lakes and hillocks, the weird wind and water as well as the age old wisdom they are trying so hard to impart.

Happy Traveling.

Peace

The cursed city

An awesome place to visit near delhi, is Bangarh. It is near sariska forest sanctuary in Rajasthan and hardly half a days drive from the city. Bangarh and the close by ajabgarh (which I wasn’t fortunate enough to visit) are old archaeological sites discovered by the ASI, Bangarh is a whole city by itself, with a king’s castle, two temples (one dedicated to Krishna and the other to Shiva), a whole town- and many more delights. The entire spread has a magical tint to it, as most of the structures are without roofs (and possibly renovated by the ASI from rubbles).
The city has a haunted touch to it by itself, over and above that many people believe that after dark; the entire city comes alive of the inhabitants of the days when the city was thriving. The reason being the instant death of the whole city supposedly by a tantric (in some cases the tantric was a lover to the queen, and other stories suppose that the tantric was the queen herself), who went ahead to curse the city causing instant death to the entire set of inhabitants there. The souls perhaps are still not at peace, and many people (whom I talked with-locals) there still believed that after dark, it was not a place to be taken lightly.
One of the guards animatedly and point of fact also told me that the ghosts are not souls and are ‘djinns’ and they meet every Saturday in the temple area. While I also met local shepherds (one of the shepherds who I could speak with was an old man smoking his hookah and tending his animals)- he said that after dark there were wild animals in the vicinity who come to drink the water from the central Jharna/Fountain area – formed between the city.
The palace of the king is on the side of a mountain and built on it as well, the inner city (for the king or the prestige of the time) is surrounded on all sides behind by beautiful mountains- perhaps a strategic move to build the city in such a location- where attack was least possible. There is also the highest point which would have acted as the watch point/tower for seeing the land beyond- located way above the palace’s height on the same hill. I could not reach till there for I had time constraints but I could explore the palace in length and also get some photos of the scenery and landscape of the expanse- very pretty indeed.
The location of bangarh is not close to any major cities of Rajasthan- it is in the pretty rural portrait of the royal land and the mighty aura of the desert envelops everything in its path in this region and the entire location looks haunted by day and most certainly by night and also enchanting or bewitched. An entire ruined abandoned city in the middle of such a landscape is pretty and eye catching to say the least.
I went during a local state conflict and hence found reaching this location harder than usual, had to change roads and even take the village roads to reach this place which otherwise is very well linked by major roads- but the ongoing gujjar reservation or Arakshan as its called had caused major standstill during this time, we found even getting petrol to be an almost impossible task as all the major roads were blocked and hence no sort of road or rail movement was taking place inter/intra state.
The Shiva temple built near the central city fountain is very peaceful and inspiring, I don’t know how it would look after dark but the central linga- made most probably in marble (white color) looked somewhat powerful, though it was almost an abandoned temple with little or no worship taking place.
The place is a cool and relaxing visit; if you choose to live within the sariska sanctuary with many resorts offering the lap of luxury, also alwar is another good option as the nearest biggest town with its own set of tourist locales to visit (i chose to stay in alwar as I am accoustmed to the place- and wanted to visit the location again)
Hope everyone has a happy travelling year ahead, exploring uninhibitedly and with awe.
Peace

Perfect Getaway

Landsdowne is a place inspired by heavens serenity. Its about 250 km away from my experience of hell on earth (delhi). A quiet tucked away head quarters of the garhwal regiment of the army; Its free from pollution, even noise pollution (no mobile connections allowed).
Like any hill station, it has a small market owned/used by locals. A small tip-n-top point which is the top most point of the hill. The colonial left overs in the form of churches and local constructions and a recently made pond by the army for boating and relaxation (a temple dedicated to the goddess made/taken care by army as well)
One needs to break free from the madness which is the perennial problem of indian cities like mumbai delhi and bangalore. There is no relief in such places (atleast delhi has vast open spaces where one can get away to one's own peace but cant say the same about other metros). But lansdowne really came as a surprise to me. I thought delhi-ites would be infesting the place but except weekends; the place remains almost empty, and the locals are without mentioning of course as simple and helpful as one can expect from any hill folk.
I spent a weekend (though thoroughly unwell), in this beautiful landscape to be completely rejuvenated and free my ears from the noise that us city folk are used to. Its a wonderful place to getaway and get back to ones self, through walks; books or just spending quality time with loved ones.
Around 40 km one way from lansdowne lies the famous temple dedicated to shiva, Tarakeshwar mahadev. The route on the hills winds up and down before reaching the serene location (and how serene it is has to be experienced personally). The temple is tucked in between thick pine growth, and its completely un touched (or so it looks) from the external world. The temple gets snowed in during winters, and the linga is supposedly beneath the ground. There is a standing idol of shiva (most probably as bhairav) and it seemed to me that perhaps the original temple might have been destroyed or eroded; replaced by this simple and elegant construction. I was really touched by this site, for most temple do not offer any peace to meditate; there is constant interference in the form of people supposedly showing their devotion to the idol, but this was refreshingly different. There was no hustle from devotees (there were none except my family and I). There was a completely indifferent pundit (probably not used to the corruption of money) and such natural surroundings that even the most astute materialists would contemplate on nature's glory if not the godhood energy that is the source of everything.
I spent merely a fraction of my waking life in that space and was so spaced out; it felt so good to be living a simple life. The stress, tension and awkward chemical lives we live in cities; just seemed of no use. Man is born an animal with the capability of realizing and even perhaps understanding the power and glory that is nature. We 21st century animals are running away from what is our bounty. We seemed to be uncomfortable or in some sort of false notion that what we have created to sustain us through life *our lifestyles*  is actually more useful/better than what nature gives us for free and forever. Tarakeshwar might be taken as a place where such notions could be removed from ones head.
The roads linking lansdowne to neighboring parts of garhwal are very well made courtesy our army, and the place's serenity and cleanliness is subtly taken care by our jawans. The entire place is the perfect getaway for tired folks living miserable routine lives in cities.
Anyone who has a touch of romance in their lives could undertake this small journey *alone or with loved ones* to experience the state of godliness in truly the land of gods (garhwal). A 10/10 recommendation for the perfect getaway!
Peace

Marooned......

There is a soul stirring song by pink floyd (division bell)- marooned, since i have been hearing it for past so many years, it always sets a mood for being in solitude, in the middle of no where, and at peace with oneself. 
What we choose so well, that kind of happens to us at some point in time, When i went to andaman islands- i got that serene marooned feeling which i had been searching for so long. There are innumerable islands which constitute andaman and nicobar, one of them is called baratang islands- these are extremely famous for the mud volcanoes (perhaps the only volcanic activity attributed to india- the last activity in 2005), and also amazing stalagmite caves. 
The journey takes a long time from port blair, taking almost 5 hours by road- traveling through reserved forest areas- which holds one of the rarer aggressive tribes of andaman (these people were not in outside contact till a decade back, and they only started interacting due to increase in illness among their children- taken care by doctors in the reserved forest areas), the jungles are deep and i got to see the tribals in many places, mostly onlooking us as we were staring at them. 
The journey ends with us taking 2 ferry rides to reach the baratang islands. the ferry rides at are so relaxing, with backwaters seeping in from the ocean and thick jungles on both side for quiet comfort. the un inhabited islands (and so many of them)- are mesmerizing, it feels so out of the world, to come to such places- where there might be still unexplored and hidden natural mysteries lurking. 
After 2 ferry rides, the authorities (forest officers)- set people up in little boats which take them inside the mangrove ridden forest cover- to these islands hidden for ages from sight of the modern human being. I had a gala time, entering and walking 3 odd kilometers to the site where beautiful stalagmite caves are present for time immemorial. 
The thing that happened while our group (consisting of around 20 people) where checking out these caves, is the tides receded suddenly and way off, leaving the small boats which had brought us deep inside baratang, completely useless. We were stranded, marooned and how!
No food, no water, no cellphone and definitely no housing, our group spent some 5 hours in the middle of baratang, which was almost 7-8 hours from port blair which was so far away from my home in delhi. It was a wonderful feeling from inside, i tell you. for no one to come and rescue, no one to do anything but wait for the tides to come back and put water beneath the rudders of the boats!
The time to be spent while waiting was for most of desperation- families and older people, were desperate, the thing is, the forest reserve road through tribal areas is closed at nights, and if someone doesnt make it through by sunset to check post, then one has to spend the night near baratang- which has no hotels, and very few eateries. 
I didnt think much, and spent much of my time exploring this hidden world, its a pain in the sun i admit, especially tropical sun, but i loved it none the less. the feeling coming back... of being alone, no technological and human interference, and mostly no mundane tasks to be held. Freedom had a new name in me; down in andaman with the blue blue sea :)
We did manage to reach back by late night to port blair; the tides helping us, the guides and the forest officers helping us (i managed to help some in my group as well, without sounding too modest!), and i had a gala time. Something which i felt for, all through this "ordeal" was for the forest officers, i interacted with them loads and found out that they lead a meager existence without food all day, helping tourists and such to come to baratang. They were not even provided walkie-talkies, which could have been life savers of sorts that day. But all said and done, even they like us, were exasperated with the events. We at the end of the day, had a good laugh and shared food with each other (when we reached the mainland), and forged strong bonds- with each other (not only the guards, but with each other- in the group as well)
I strongly recommend, going all the way to islands beyond horizon, plonking oneself in the middle of the Indian ocean and watching the serenity each and every day. 


Peace

Another Chance Received-II

So, this is another blunder committed (and this could be a repentance in the form of inflicting pain to any/all who read this lol )
The setting is manali, some 6 years back... traveling with my folks and seeing that beautiful heaven on earth first time. We stayed back in old manali, in a beautiful resort in the winters and the entire time the place was snow struck. something so beautiful; always under appreciated with words. Over the course of a week, i traveled in kullu valley, from roerichs residence (who is a powerful painter- and some of his paintings are kept in this summer house of his) to various old temples in old manali, to rothang- till the point snow covered the entire road. The journey in kullu valley with the beas flowing so serenly everywhere- its definitely should be on everyones travel list while in india/visiting india.
Anyways, one of the days we got out with our driver and went to look for some pretty temples, en route we stopped over near the road; to catch up a little wood temple which looked pretty old. The caretakers there (who also lived there), were gracious people- entertaining us with the myth of the temple and serving us tea (mountain people- none so gentle/innocent as them). They told us about a cave which resided at the top of the mountain behind the temple. There was a proper trekking route which also lead to arjuna gufa, as they put it. This is where the pandavas roamed around extensively before they ascended to heaven from kedarnath- arjuna spent some time in the cave at the top of the hill, in summers many people ascended to sit and meditate in the cave (with goat/sheep hearders as well), but winters was more of a downtrodden affair.
All i can justify myself with is that i was young and naive and most probably blown stupid out of my head :D
So i take leave of my folks and gracious temple people, and start up on the small un walkable route which led up to the cave, though i thought i might not be able to make it all the way up; yet there was enough in me to get me to a beautiful height, and if i did it have in me, i could be the only one in a cave so far away from the existence i knew. This is what propelled me up at incredible speed. I was wearing sandals with socks, and they didnt have the best grip i do believe. But these trivialities didnt strike me then.
I climb for some 45 minutes without a break, the path is hardly a water stream (which is how the path had been formed i guess), and extremely steep and ofcourse extremely dangerous, i am a mountain kid (or so i would like to believe), and i liked the challenge, when i take to a mountain- i like to climb it, no other way about it. The power of the mountain propels me upwards, till i reach the summit. this was the case here as well.
I reach a greater height, and i see that there is ice (not snow) all over the path in front- the small path is convoluted, and now there is no mud to grip, only ice. This is where i admit i make a mistake, i should have slowly turned around and descended, i try to climb on th ice, and i go some 2-3 steps on the incline, and i slip (as if that was not on the cards), and fall on my ass and slide on the iced water stream path- i forgot to tell, that the path is on the edge, a single slip and you fall all the way down to the temple (a long way down i say), and thats how i almost slip and fall, i slide, and my legs are hanging over the edge, il tell you (as this is a repentance of sorts lol )- the way i did not actually fall down that day, is i grabbed a small twig - plant (the only one present where i fell as i remember), and held it to hold my weight, it did and i didnt fall off the cliff.. i am deeply thankful for that plant and for the energies on that hill which didnt see my arrogance in trying to climb to the meditation place as so bad as to kill me off (this is factual- the mountain dont like you- it will throw you down. i have understood that much atleast)
I take a moment, and breathe, atleast i am not sliding anymore, i use the same twig, to climb some steps down, and then hold on and wrestle with the mud around the ice, to bring my feet back to non-iced ground. I silently make my way back down. I return, and this time i do need that delicious cup of tea. I sit and look up to see where i was, it was a very long distance up. and of course would have been a very swift free fall.


Love and Peace 

Another Chance received

This happened while I was in manipal- second year or so, and it was such a surprise (to say the least).

This was the second time i was traveling to gokarna, which I personally understand as heaven on earth, i remember that I (accompanied with alap)- left on a saturday evening- taking the train, and had the mind to just chill out at the beach for some hours and catch the late night(early morning) train back to manipal - the distance being meager at just 2.5 hours odd by train. It was the perfect chill out scene, we boarded and reached gokarna stataion, in time- this is around 16 or more kilometers from the small religious town. We took a share cab to the town, where we headed to the beach- i took some time off to goto the precious beautiful gokarna-ishwara temple. We took upto a shack on the corners of this beautiful beach- i remember it was around holi, as soon we saw (almost ethereal looking) group of firangs; with long matted hair coming- playing flutes and little guitars asking all the shack owners for bhang and bhang related drinks lol :). Holi being the only time across india, where this product is freely available and accepted. We relaxed for a long time and struck up a conversation with the shack owner, the asswipe realized that we had come for no good reason- to chill out and (him) being drunk, started going off tangentially to different topics ranging from how unsafe gokarna was, and how deaths to tourists were common, and that; if we were to head back late at night to the station, should take an auto et all back. He takes initiative and goes gets another drunk person (pretending to be an auto walla)- who further start threatening and such. So we cut our party short, give some assurance that we will be back later to take the auto, and head off. These guys are piss drunk and pissed for not making us a bakra- and we get the intuition that this auto person goes to the auto stand, and tells all the drunkards there that we didnt cooperate in getting our money swindled by them. Autos kind of (as we imagine atleast) start following us through the town, and we are pretty unnerved, so we head to the bus stop- and there are no buses late night as we find out. We didnt have the mood to take a share auto-cab, cause we really didnt have any idea of what the scene in small towns like these is (sometimes there are pretty strong mafias- in hippie towns like gokarna et all... something which i have witnessed in goa as well- almost anywhere where foreign currency is valued more, and hence foreign skin as well). We start our walk back in the night- all the way back to the gokarna road station. I must tell you, the walk back in the night over some 16 km- through thick wild western ghat jungles- mixed with hills and lakes and what not- is very haunting, it was good that alap accompanied me, cause all through the journey we encounter some thousand odd house dogs, who run right in the middle of the road with teeth jarring out ready to mince meat us; alap is bloody psycho- he barks and shows his teeth back to these dumbass house pets, and they actually get freaked out. lol :) I actually cowered the entire journey behind the freak, so that dogs wouldnt bite me - something i dont think i will forget ever. We reach the station at some 12-1 at night, there is not a single soul alive anywhere for kilometers at end, the western ghats become very haunted at night, they are sparcely populated- lack of light and human habitation and very very weird vibes from the jungles abound. Something very intriguing indeed. I remember we complete the walk in one go, no rest anywhere (except at the start)- we were tired, and just shocked at the incidents preceding the walk. something to keep us alert till the time we reached back to the station. 

The gokarna road station is very peculiar, it is a side road extending deep into jungle for 2 odd kilometers diverted from the main road, its desolate is an understatement. Its haunted, and the station is barren, no night keeper or anyone. Most trains dont stop here, and hence no need for a station attendant. The night is young and we realize that we need to get some sleep before the train (scheduled at around 4 in the morning came). Alap dozes off on the platform floor (another feature of the stations which come after maharashtra- on the west coast all the way to kerala is- their abundant cleanliness, their quite charm.. out of the world) and in sometime even i hit the floor (quite literally) putting my knapsack behind my head for some cushion and hit dreamland,

now this is where the fun comes in, I suddenly get up with some weird loud noises out of hell marching through my ears, my head and soul. as soon as i come back to reality, the first thing i notice is that alap is also in the same condition some distance away from me, and both of us were some 2 odd feet from the platform end-tracks- where a huge fast bogey train (carrying supplies) runs at incredible speed. We actually slept quite a far distance away from the platform end, and both of us somehow in our stupor sleep slipped up to very close to the tracks-very very close, a foot closer (my head was actually at the platforms end-so horrible i tell you, even today when i remember it) and i would be crushed beyond belief by the goods train. I get up to my feet before i can even remember anything else, and run away from the monster. 

We catch our scheduled train two hours later (the train was very late)- and reach back to our hostel beds just in time for some more sleep. The night just went by, and so did the days after this trip till one day i realized that i was actually very close to my death, something which didnt hit me till a long time after. Its been very nice to be given another chance, for i alone know (dont know about alap really) that this was such a close close call for my head and my life. 

Peace.

K`avadi

I took a kavadi recently up a hill. and it brought me never ending joy.
The setting is panani. Near kodaikanal hills (which are around 50 kms from there). Panani lies in the southern state of tamilnadu. I travelled from chennai to a place called erod; from where I was to goto panani the next day; needless to say while travelling to spiritual sights I was accompanying the civa-shakti couple par excellence (my folks !).
Most people would have not heard of erod; I had ( I dont know how-not that I know anyone from there). We reached erod late at night and the road trip had nearly killed us due to exhaustion.
The roads in TN are amazing; thanks to the last transport minister who happened to be from TN. The scenery as expected in rural areas of india are beautiful to say the least. The roads wind up and down and all around and you get to see the power places if you scan while driving with extreme caution.
Erod being a very small yet old town, boasted of a pretty big town square as well as many cheesy hotels, we had booked the best place in town for the night and it was pretty wallet friendly. That didnt mean the room was really upto mark compared to city hotels. yet it was the best and we were too tired to notice. No food available and so we make did with some basic stuff for the night.
We slept peaceful.
come morning and we took out to the road once more to reach panani which was around 30-40 kilometres from there.
Panani is one of the six hills in TN which are dedicated for lord Muruga. or kartikeya. he is the older son of civa-shakti union. He is adept at astrology; boasts of infinite beauty and wisdom. He is a andi. Meaning that he is a sadhu. shaved hair and always seeking solitude (hence the mountains). He is a power by himself. He is also the guru of his own father; learning the wisdom of the mystic word Om. He was the one who teaches the lord civa himself... his own father.
Panani is also the place where lord siddha boganatha, or as he is kindly referred Bogar resides in living samadhi. He is present under a special linga (whose constituents I forgot) in a small cave like structure outside Kartikeya sanctum. Bogar is very old, one of the oldest siddhas of India. He is the great guru of siddha baba Naga raja. He is the one who had come to panani and made the idol of lord kartikeya here. The idol is not stone, instead it is made of what is called Nava-Pasha. Nine poisons to be more precise. The real constituents by the way are till date not known; for a majority of the experiments done on the residual contents of the abhishek products from the idol through spectral analysis have never yielded any elements of the idol. The idol is small, around 5 feet perhaps in length, and in this place the lord is andi- he comes to this place supposedly when there is a fight between him and his folks regarding a test which his parents ask him and his brother ganesha to undergo. The test was simple, the two sons had to go around the world three times, and whoever went fastest would win the apple of knowledge (or something to that effect).
Lord ganesha being a cute little elephant went around his folks three times acknowledging that the whole world to him meant only his parents, and lord kartikeya taking the task literally sat on his vehicle (which is a beautiful peacock) and went around the world. When he came back he saw that lord ganesha had already eaten the fruit. Infuriated he leaves the world in a fit, and shaves his head, leaves his ornaments and clothes and becomes a mendicant. he comes here; to panani where he resided on top of this pretty little hill and does penance; meditation for enlightenment.

We reach panani in the middle of the day, the town is biggish, and ofcourse due to the insurgence of devotees at all times of the year, it is mostly a temple town. there is a beautiful heart shaped lake in the city near the hill as well. I had only wished for one thing when I went to see the lord, that I might have some peace while seeing him, that i might not be hurled away from his presence due to the sheer magnitude of crowds of people.
And I have never been disappointed when i ask the lord. There was not a single soul in sight, mind you that this town hosts days and nights where lakhs upon lakhs of people piled upon each other come to see the lord for a minute second or even less.
This was a miracle by itself. I take up a kavadi from a shop and take off my shirt. This is a milk kavadi, bathing the lord in milk would be awesome my heart resounds out loud!
There are around 400 or more steps to be climbed and the heat is on. The steps are hot yet the lord keeps the strength that I dont even feel them. My father keeps me company and my mother takes up the easier way to come up using a udhan kathola (flying saucer ;) )
We reach up and we take up a ticket which by chance and by amazing luck lets us see the lord while his afternoon abhishek takes place for a good half hour. I can see well and i never let the kavadi down. I want to thank the presence for everything this life and this being called I is.
For it is I and the lord which finally make up this life and its experiences and its results and Its being. So thank full ness in full.
I become calm and loving in the presence of andi. The eternal sadhu, teaching the ways of detachment and love at once. That all things are transitory and constant at once. That time will stand still and disappear to the ones who stand all ways before the lord kartikeya.

A kavadi is an ablution to the lord. A state of giving and receiving at once. A state where one is at peace. That state is always present. That state is the always given present.

Peace and Love from the Lord of Panani.

Paradise

On this distant shore; one last glimpse we seek of paradise.
Paradise I have noticed, from far and near. Seeking its beat, crying out~

Everpresent life filled with notions of nightmares; unstable look, a piercing shout
Eagles bind the sky; circling away my notions of what life is or may be.
This is paradise, where the shores cut by deep rocks on both sides shelter nomads.

Climb over five hills and see the sunset, as I did. Each walk the path winds towards the serene drop of the oceans perfect unstill.
Gokarna is the place where I lost myself time and again. Lifting up the spirits from the sky
noticing those glances from the sky. Ever benign.

I have seen the dance of the flute with the tabla on rapture; these long haired gods coming together for the evening serenades on the tip of the Om beach. where all concept of there away disappear with the music.
Sleepless shores these are, for not the faint hearted for as the night comes on paradise takes on this notion.
Where the sounds of the waves merge with pure wizzy noises.

Look paradise is in you. Where shall you look? for this path that Natha has provided will be experienced. Savoured with the supreme. Divine and time less.
Paradise is not a back alley for the sane. It is the path to the divine. It is the way off this beat ridden madness which you call a life. I prefer to call it a lie.

Come and drink the wine under the moonlight sky my love! Sleep under the stars and stillness.
Tides rise and we submerge to see the underwater. Look up at times and we notice the moon wavering with the tides.

Power takes on different connatation here; My life comes here a full circle as I fall into the same place where I met god. Where I saw the reflections changing. Disappearing and re emerging.

Lo~ Paradise is here and now. Taking and giving your soul into this ,
Is presents itself in entirety. Take a sip. Thou shall not be disappointed my union.

Krait My Mind

This is spirit manifestation. Nothing more or less can ever be thought of it.

The fires of the early sunrise melt with the smack snack on the base track.

Lowers into the pit where reinventing of mould into soul takes place.

This took place when I was in the holy city of earth (bhuvan ishwara). My favourite haunt in the night with my alternate states of being came always in full view at the chandi temple at the edge of this so called town. The small hill where there was goddess shrine installed, without her companion nama civa present. She is ever active when she is on the hill. She is ever powerful and furious. For blood and redemption. There is never anything which could stop her.
I rise on this particular night, slow with music for company, music which calls out in divine love for grace from devi. There are two hills here, one where the shrine is present along with a small place to sit a bit away from the temple, from here one can see the whole city on one side and entire fields of elephant refuge of nandankanan on the other side. The night I remember is sombre, no moon. darkness engulfs.

The other small hillock is where the goddess is walking around. Its difficult and alone almost impossible to reach there. I have always required group attention and will, to go to the top of the other hillock. There is a lone tree there. Always amidst thick wind. To stand there, is a power trip of purification with the wind by itself.

I goto the seating place and take out some substances which alter my sense of space and time. These internal configurations change in "me" as time itself pours out and changes, moment to : moment.

There has been the presence of rain since past couple of days, though the skies on this night were fair and clear. There was a puddle of water formed on the hill top rock where I choose to sit, I sit and start meditating on the energies which are forming and dissolving here all the time. at no time.

Time passes on for long, must be an hour almost and I am deep in meditation, I suddenly start feeling a gnawing on my tee shirt, I get the sensation that it is a small frog near the puddle of water formed which is jumping on my shirt to try and get forward. I pay no attention for couple of seconds, and then it gets a bit annoying, in my daze I stand up and take couple of steps behind hoping to be behind whatever was near me, I have a small lighter with a torch in the back, which i take out from my pocket and flicker it on the ground. I see to my beautiful stoned amazement that it is none other than a long slender black and white striped snake. It was an Indian Krait, there is another snake which looks the cousin to these special species, but they are bluish in color, there is no mistake that this one is young and sheer black and white. It was behind me, kissing my spine. A serpents kiss is no mistake. it is a sheer sign of power. Suddenly it slithers away into the undergrowth and that moment I get a blast in my mind, of fear and anxiety as if my mind was fathoming the whole hill of these dangerous snakes. I run without much thought to the temple and climb the stairs, I see the goddess first time late this night and seek grace and seek the power.

The krait is a special snake. it is a very shy creature and being diurnal, it is active most of the times of day and night, but there is a special characteristic to it, it becomes a lot lot more aggressive at night, and rather than being defensive, it becomes aggressive beyond belief, actually hunting and attacking. I have seen these creatures in cages and in day time and they seem so timid as if they were incapable of hurting anything; but mind you a bite from these snakes and death is inevitable in an hour. It has the strongest neurotoxin venom of the Indian sub continent, and death mostly is inevitable with lung collapse.

I sit in the temple for longer and see a tribe of students or so come to the temple this late in the night. another first this time, i have never seen anyone venturing to this place at this time so late in the night. they all freshers from some company, most probably tcs who had come here un aware what this place holds, and what this place can possibly do.

I rest further and wait for the mob to recede. I go back in a darker and deeper mood. Let off and given a chance to live, this is the most beautiful demonstration of grace of maha chandi.

Peace.

Yaksi

A Yakshi, is a female entity, a kind of a spirit. in some parts of this country she is called as chudail. She is generally naked, decapitated or otherwise, with long flowing hair, and ofcourse a monstrous persona. I understand that there are levels of these natural entities, energy residues which move inside deep jungles and crematories.

Anyways, This is a recount of once when I saw this deeper truth. Perhaps

We were on way to kotachadri, which is the tallest peak in karnataka, we started off from manipal in the evening, with 3 bikes carrying six people, i rode with my roomate patel on his yamaha. We cruised for a long time. stopping for the usual change of mood we reached almost half of our distance in time, now the jungle patches started up and the towns became scarcer, the western ghats are truly holy and haunting at the same time in the night, i forgot to mention we were going to trek this beautiful hill at night. Though not completely insane, we chose this because it coincided with a full moon :) this we found out ofcourse only when the moon rose :)

Patel and I were on the lead most of the time, as the driver is insane, and I could not help the wind on my face. We stopped one final town before the thick thick jungles really started up. we had a smoke i remember, and then sat on with my ass on a bruised end, We rode.

We had left the other two bikes way behind and the darkness was immense, the light from the bike was the only illumination at this point of the night, it was around 11 in the night, sometime before we could see the moon, suddenly we both see a naked old haggard woman with long white hair walking on the side road, you must understand that this was at very quick speed, patel was cruising at more than 60 on that desolate lonely shadow of a road. and we see this, we both freak out in a second, and I instinctively tell patel to slow down, not that I am a moron, but i wanted to see an apparition of freak nature.

Patel speeded like a demon before I could even voice out myself, his ass in his mouth, I look back i remember and i can only see the pitch black of night.

There was not a town, not even a single blood ridden blood in any distance for eons at stretch. There was nothingness imparting itself on anything in those thick forests. Thick infested western ghat jungles,

I get hysterical in some time and start telling patel to turn around, chill out and finally I give up and start telling him bad horror stories, pattu is holding the bike atleast together I say. hahahahaha

A yakshi mesmerizes I feel, and thats what it is said about her, there are many practices in tantra which use these devis, these powers. They arent considered bad in higher powers. They impart material and spiritual wisdom, They can appear as young children, beautiful nymphs or haggard old women, there power is unquestionable for most. They hypnotize, they triumph.

Our trek in turn was perfect, and we reached the summit with the full moon beaming down upon us, beating down leaches we headed straight for our liquor to drown those highs into deeper highs.

Peace

Mukteshwara: DreamReality

There are two parts to every story, if you care to look at it closely enough. Most of us see half a picture and move on to the next frame, mechanical almost, but when something (I personally just call it power or life energy) makes your head turn and take notice; then we cant be foolish enough to ignore it once more.

Well enough bull crap, This story starts up in a dream, which I had somewhere early in 2008, In the dream, I am with a group of people, perhaps trekkers or campers or such and we are going to a hill station or something like that. We go and check in to some hotel or such which I remember and then we set out to go and explore, I remember that we go down hill at first and then start climbing, in the next scenes I am alone and I am somewhere which I know distinctly, before this dream I had seen a place which I wanted to visit.. a temple on a hill station, on tv or perhaps read about it, this temple hill's name is un clear to me after this dream event. Anyways I am walking on the path which leads to this hill temple in the dream now alone, and there is a slight incline and it leads to this temple. Now I wake up. 

Some months after this dream, I guess perhaps 2-3 months later; my folks start up to a trip with my visiting relatives mainly my dubai mama and his family (mami and shreyas). We head out to naukhuchiataal in uttarakand where we planned to stay for around a week in solitude. This is mountain region but is relatively low, hence it is a haven of lakes nestled in between hills. Naukhuchiataal is such, close to which are bheemtal, sattal and the very famous nainitaal. We over the course of week visited all these places. The relative quietude which one gets next to a body of water, is immense especially for city folks like myself. 

On the last day of our visit, we start of for mukteshwar.. This is at a great height, there is a very famous shiva temple as the name points out, which is on the mukteshwar peek. The height of this hillock is around 2300 mts up in the air. It takes us around 3 hours to reach this place. There is a small town in the vicinity of the temple, and a animals research institute as well, the temples entrance is blocked with the government school and there is a small winding upward path which leads from next to this school to the very top of this hill where the temple is situated. We get whored by youth from the village who in the season time generally make some money by showing people the temple and the adjacent attractions, but I am never in a mood for such indulgence, preferring to explore any and all places by myself with my own senses. 

But older and lesser patient people are never in such a mood so we end up taking a dick who just speaks about day to day events of mukteshwar and hasn't any intelligent answers to intelligent questions :)

We take off our shoes and make our way upwards, I am at side of my mother who finds it a bit difficult to walk up hill. There is a small shrine before the main temple, The main temple itself has a very small sanctum, its basically a small village shrine, which due to its power has got famous, well the view from this height is awesome as an understatement, there are hundreds of bells tied together outside the sanctum, I enter the temple and see a pandit (who looks like from kashmir) saying beautiful mantras towards the shiva linga, the linga is white stone and is very small. mukteshwara deva looks peaceful and powerful. I along with my family sit and meditate for a long time, then take due exit and explore the surroundings of this hill top. We click a lot of beautiful photos as well... 

There is a small hut just below this temple and we see that there is a lady talking to a relatively old baba. I pay little attention and see the place to do it full justice, soon my folks and relatives have crowded next to the baba ji, and as true peaceful Indians, paid obeisance and started polite conversation.. 

I arrive later and see that the young lady who was discussing something with the babaji take leave, apparently she had come from muzzafarabad to this place to seek a cure for some illness which her husband had been suffering from, babaji was famous. 

He was perhaps bengali by his accent, in his late 60's of good height and a very very very jovial natured face. He was resplendent with a permanent glowing smile. He gave us some sweet prasad to eat and he discussed what my family and its members did for a long time, we were impressed.. each and every working mind of my family was impressed with his love perhaps. His being. 

He was a disciple of Nagaraja Babaji, who is true love incarnate as it is said, he had a book in hindi about babaji which he showed to my father and I, he invited us inside the kutiya and told that there was another beautiful photo of his guru there, which when I entered saw. He had a little cot and small insignificant articles, There was a deepish hole in one end of the room through one of the walls. Babaji kindly explained with deep smiles that every night he entered this hole and went kilometres below to patala loka. He was very very happy and I loved his being for that. 

He talked about the end of the world and how he knew who the perpetrators of this were, he said it was a secret and whether we wanted to know who would cause the end of the world, we were very inquisitive but he never let out the secret as you would expect a good jnani to do:))

Now to the interesting part, when he met me this babaji told me that he had seen me before, and he asked me very diligently whether I had been there and then he affirmed yea son you had come here.. I looked and replied that when he said he has seen me, then he would not be wrong. 

Later in conversation when we were almost about to depart, he again said that I had visited here before, but that the last time I had come there to this temple, I was afraid and I didnt visit him properly and that I ran off. When he uttered this, something struck in my mind, though I didnt say anything to babaji, but while returning down and putting on my shoes, I told my mother about the fact that I had a dream in the recent past. Perhaps babaji was awake doing sadhana in the night and saw the dreamer had wandered over to the temple, and before I could do my sadhana there for mukteshwara, I woke up. By fear of the vividness of the dream... 

There is always two sides to a story, A dream and A reality. The point is to figure out which is which.