Wild Mountains To Serene Sea

My House from Jogiwara road (yellow building right middle)

Dharamsala view from Bagsu Road .

I had to take some parting shots . Here are some of the images I left behind before the descent into the Delhi heat . I found that once I arrived there it was not as bad as I thought it would be , I had some resilience that I had from previous journeys when I lived in the Lucknow heat , which can be appalling .

An Aghori Baba

HH. Dalai Lama Coming and Going

Now I have returned from Dharamsala and the bustle of mad hot Delhi . I had to make sure I got out as there were riots on the outskirts of the city and I was'nt so sure I would make it , the Gujjars (a tribal group) were fighting for recognition from their government . But I got through , unfortunately my camera batteries where out so I could'nt catch the wild and screaming protesters as we drove past their burning effigies.

(Only joking ) .........But they did actually talk and come to a resolution as I left in the taxi . It seems that my timing was good.



From Zero point



As for Perth ... well here it is . The birds are chirping outside and the sea is ever present for me to walk upon like Jesus did . After coming back I had so much energy I could fly across the sands , I was running for a hundred meters and just amazed myself . When was the last time I did that ???

It is a bit strange being here after all the human contact I had in India . Because all of a sudden it is vanished in the totality of spaciousness or a solitary quietness.I have taken the task of minding a mean looking Rottweiler who is very kind .I am taking her for long walks.Yes this is my lot for Karma Yoga ! I found myself in a house by the sea , a big empty house with a lap top to play plenty of movies .














Being surrounded by this space is overwhelming at first and even bringing up some dreadful feelings in the morning . Reading Ranjit Maharaj; he says you have to make it dance on your little finger . "Take the world as a joke, your joke. Then make that joke dance on your little finger ". So From high up in India to sea level ! Nice to see the sea again and to walk on the coast .

Scrolling Down?

NOW!
Here is the Gap I cannot get rid of.........scroll all the way down for the NEXT post !

How to get rid of this gap ???? It's sooooo black .......I guess it means there is light!

If your scrolling up

Here comes the Gap again !

Waking UP

ARISE Oh Wanderer!

These last days are coming closer to the back trip to Delhi . Of all places the one place to avoid like a plauge (it is very hot there); but I'll only be there for a night and then heading out for the late night flight .

It has been very good for me here , and now I am ready to see what unfolds in the next part of the journey .I feel this place has encouraged me to look deeper . If not deeper than just to see as it is is, already. A complete and open seeing in my everyday place with every order of thing here . It has secretly been revealing in some formidable way for which I cannot tell you .
Bhagsu Shrine

Because I am in this place where you can only see through the lens of a camera , with these pics I take . Certainly experiencing a place like this is something which reminds me of being in Arunachala .But it of course is not the external appearance but the Isness which is the power of yourself which is seeing Itself as Itself .This is being revealed , but I tell you nothing is really happening!

The bird and the tree spirit.(Look carefully for the face in the Bark)

When asked about being with U.G. I often comment without hesitation that "something has been removed , but what it is , I have no Idea " . That is still with me even though I have surrounded my self with this culture rich in gods , meditation , and spiritual yearning . At first I came to see beautiful and a somewhat distorted relationship with a girl and a friend and that now has disappeared into a space where I am looking at everything with a smile . Plunging into the Self is seeing you as you are and seeing this can be absorbing as you see that all around you is included in the source .

Images and movement.

All the images and movement appearing in the mind arise and disappear , what remains is the stainless and pure awareness .Now decribing it becomes a point in the past but allowing it is living proof of its aliveness in everything .Allowing means including all the points in the moving appearance as Awareness .Awareness means allowing yourself to rest in that place of no images or quietness .The movement is no longer separate from Awareness . The bridge is seen but no one is crossing over .

Morning Tulsi Tea.

I have noticed that Russell has struck me from his links and so no one has been coming here to see the latest ( Oh what a mean man he is ) .It was through his page that I had some visitors . I must say I was slack on this page before I ever started to get involved again ......So I am writing to no one . While he is busy being happy with a fat Swami ,I am being busy enjoying my balcony scene over Dalasani village . Oh well .......as I listen to Loreena Mckennit another image amongst others I will enjoy just sitting here and enjoy the blessings of this place .


The Blessings of THIS Place .Is equal in all things !

Haro Hara

Theerthananda

Well this is my first entry since leaving Perth for Tiruvannamalai unfortunately I did'nt bring a digital with me but have taken a few photos with ye old camera from the first week when I went up to the cave on the other side of the mountain and had a bath in one of the pools left there by the rains , when you float in the pool all the little tadpoles come and nibble and have a meal of your skin ,and did I laugh when they all had a go at me .

Yesterday was Deepam which is a huge event here attracting many people and I had the good fortune to witness a beauty on top of mount Arunachala . A light is blazing on the mount and tonight with the weather clearing out we will have more of the fire to see against the night sky .To walk around the mountain with the people is so strong , boys running in groups shouting "Haro Hara !!!! " which is the chant when the fire is lit and other groups of men walking fast and chanting out to Shiva, women holding hands sing 'Arunachala Shiva' continuosly . . Sadhus smiling ,Sadhus begging , Sadhus with pierced tounges ,deformed people lying on the road with a rag for people to drop rupees in , old men and women walk the distance and of course there is the famous chai stop . A good rest makes you realise how strong this Pradakshina is , it is so strong, it is like being inebriated . Literaly as if the road is starting to disappear under your feet and suddenly you are walking in space . A good rest to the phenomenon you are experincing is just to have a chai !

Chaibas

Then you pick yourself up and enter the stream of bodies venerating a mountain in the form of Shiva . When we completed the walk muscles where sore but the rest I had was good .
People say "why worship a mountain? You don't have to go to India for that" . They say this with the viewpoint that You yourself are more important than searching and wandering India . but this (travelling) is still in the play of conciousness and to be in a place of your inner most self is a blessing; Arunachala invokes this in you! It is a living power of Shiva and Shakti that stirs up all the devils and brings them into light so they may be freed . So where else does such a place exist for just this ?

Tiruvannamalai

Soon I leave for the dusty temple town , where Shiva is celebrated upon the dry and rocky soil of Tiuvannamalai .Where people come to walk reverentially around a holy place such as Arunachala . The mountain is said to be Shiva , and sign of his manifestation . The sacred story goes that A subtle light ,a pillar that stretches into infinity reaches from this place and aligns with the constellation of the Paladies (karthik) in December ,which will be directly above it when throngs of people (up to 2.5 million ) will gather to light a flame of large proportion to blaze for ten to thirteen days during which there is celebrations of processions dancing and singing . To walk around the mountain is said to be wish fullfilling and granting ones desire to be liberated Eternally.

A place of Tapas, (Ganapati Sastri (also called Ganapati Muni) had visited many sacred places in India, and had learned to repeat mantras and to perform tapas (asceticism). He was not satisfied, and so he asked Ramana what tapas was. Ramana replied that if one observes the source where the notion ‘I’ arises, and the source where the mantra is produced, and if the mind is absorbed into that source, that is tapas) it can be a catalyst for burning up latent tendencies that may arise.

To sit on the mountain is good , it is a quiet and solitary place to spend some peaceful solitute before returning to the town and traffic which winds it's way around the mountain . I like to walk up to Skandashram which is a 45 minute walk up steps to a cave where Ramana Maharshi sat for a number of years . Here it is like a shade of oasis and silence , and definitely a place conducive for meditation . I find it much easier to slip into deep states of absorbtion in these places , if one can rest then the rest can be profoundly deep . Below it is another cave said to have been inhabited by the Sage Virupaksha whose remains are there within the lingam made by Ramana himself .A place that is potent with silence it is also a sauna to sit in and sweat .

In the town itself is the main temple of Arunachalaeshwara and is where the Fire lingam is presented to devotees . Tiruvannamalai has the lingam for the fire element , and so you see why it can be experienced as a place where latent tendencies can be burnt!The other places of the remaining elements are : Kalahasti - Vayu or Wind element said to be the father of Hanuman , Kanchipuram - Earth lingam said to be the place where Bodhidharma came from .Sresialam - Water lingam .There is also a lingam for Space in Chidambaram of course there is no lingam because it is full of space .

During the festival once I was in the town for the celebrations and followed the procession of the gods who were being paraded by the many people out of the main temple, caught up in the excitement of the crowds we ran down a lane way barefoot and climbed up these steps, as this is where they mounted the deity onto the giant raths or chariots which they pull around the entire temple complex . There were so many coconut husk on the ground from the offerings that I was literally walking over one vast coconut mat . This small place on the left is were I climbed to watch the procession to mount the gods into the raths .

Sacred Sound

Can you hear the secret

Voice of angels all around

Lift you up with wings of love

Revere the sacred sound!

We go about each day

Busy in the doings

That we have to do .

And every second is a chance

To listen to the Sea of Quietness,

Just here in the busy market.

Like bubbles we play

Everyday.

See we are embraced

In a sea of clear beauty,

So quiet.

In That,

Angels will hear our quietude

And sing us songs.

Copyright m.m.