From Arrival to Present

On our arrival , Sven and the Ashram dog .

Mani one of my friends working on the hill

Morning News at Joyti's.

I spotted this man in dirty garb and thought of the Avadhuts that keep to themselves, he appears to be partly blind .He is constantly doing Girivalam .

Bumping into Mooji on Pradakshina route .

At the Bangalore road turn off . Behind the Ganapati shrine .

Sadhu and white dog at Sani Theertha , next to Niruthi Lingam



The lotus Lake we came across on the 120 km bike trip I did .




One of the fields looking up to the hills .




It was very bumpy on my Kinetic but I got to see this !

Gunatita

View from Kannapa shrine at sunset

She moved holding a pair of small green crocs . I stood up abruptly and exclaimed "are they yours?!" The round ball like figure turned daintily with big eyes as my finger pierced the moist air . "No " she said as she pointed to another lady . "there hers!", her quivering voice said in return. My eyes landed upon the woman in question , her jet white hair falling neatly up to her shoulders , her eyes, openly shimmering came with a broad pearl white smile . She looked like someone lost but very happy as she meet my inquiring barrage of questions one after the other . It was an accident !! Oh now was it ? I then told them how I had just written the story below . The first lady carrying the crocs then said " Was it good ?" ,
"No it was not good ! ", as I then explained how I had just travelled into town to purchase a pair of cheap Indian strap ons . Their sorrowful expressions of regret filled the air as I told them of the consectutive losses I had to go through . The motherly look shone and melted away all confusion and disease . Once again I was happy without a care , and I was given due directions to an ashram where my crocs lay .

Gunatita : Beyond all three.

This Grandmother has turn my three bitches into the unknown quality , that of Gunatita . Beyond all three gunas , the qualityless . Which leads me onto another aspect of this journey which has unfolded in a magical Tantric way , and not as I have at all expected . For that I have to thank the feminine principle , which is formidable here in the Shakti shrines that I have come across .But more about this in another post.

Shakti Devotees during Girivalam.

I have been going through alot of fire in the last weeks having given up smoking and just seeing the flames lick up all the deep feelings as they come to drag me into another drag !
A walk up the mountain !

Leaving Your Mind where You Left Your Chappals

Thiruvannamalai town with Arunachaleshwara temple in foreground.

Tiruvannamalai- the dirty dusty feet are pickeled with the sandy road particles as I make my way to the mechanical beast that zips me around the fast, dodging traffic . I jarred at the sight of missing chappals , my serene detattched elegance is dramatically altered to one of slight panic and dismay at the pair of inferior rubber sandals left in there place ,grudgingly a hole merges out from underneath it's sole . The advantage of a thief is in the carelessness of the owner . "Trust! and be okay , but don't curse that stranger who slyly took your precious footwear" or.......... is it "Trust in Allah and tether your camel" .

Diabolo

The formless ghost speaks so holy and molely! Then a moment later the Diabolo comes and says "May they have a sprained ankle in the next 15 minutes!!! . Imaginary things that appear real creating a devil in reaction- "thats okay , really okay ". I dance gingerly along towards my kinetic beast machine, remembering the clear elagance that enlightened me before the grand dissolution . "Rascal! " as I dangerously drive looking at the feets of every passer by , feet, feet, feet and more feet ! I certainly can sense this capper from another angle; it is if I am space and there on the screen is the movie of "The Lost Chappals" ,

seeing the Persuing soles

this character has become the "chota" mad wandering Burmese Italian, perusing every sole for the liberation of his bare soles. Oh! As he feels the sweeping curtain fall over this search .He resigns..... and heads home , left with what is considered to be ugly- blue Crocs.

I'm gonna catch em

Feeling their snugglingness I race from and into town with the plumber , from shop to shop , his voice a distant echo . "Slow down ! slow down, slow, slow, slow !!" As I apply the brakes I begin to see how much easier it is , yet realise I just want to get the plumber out of the way . It is just dangerously unpredictable having a plumber and electrician to taxi to and fro. It gets very tiring not knowing when they are not going to finish.Pass buses that jive and careen with an aftermath of blasting particles; spewing an invisible plethora of grime and sandpaper grazing face polisher!My squinting eyes will always open up after and my crouching form straightens up for the clear view of old women , cows , bycycles and rickshaws moving around, in and away all at once . Finally the electrician and plumber leave , as they sit on my toilet and wait for the glue to dry around the pipe that has been leaking , yes they said they were going to finish an hour ago . I have tried my best to make their stay as fun as possible by playing a remix of Sarah Mc Laclan , also tried some Indian music but it was more in style with North Indian Bhajans. Even tried a little pink Floyd but I think they felt stranger with every track I had in mind for them . So I settled for a nice Ram Bhajan and started to sing along while they inhaled poisonous glue which was amazingly toxic , still they wanted to change the music. I then tried to placate this potency with some very beautiful sandal wood incense but the music did'nt work for them , they needed Tamil music.

I tried to placate them .

I try to buy a CD on the way from the Temple and the body feels drained at each step through the bustle and racing pace of town . So quick action means to take the shortest route back to my room. Sorry chaps , I pay for the work, better to be finnished with it all .

Better to be finnished with it all .

I wander half sleepy, brain drained , probably from inhaling the glue and sit on Tasty (restaurant) roof almost emotionlessly dry and disinterested, as three women sit in front of me animatedly chatting about something; their voices are just a jumble way , a mumble and a fumble. As I reach into my bag , a lucky dip for my phone . The skinny Indian one gets up and places her hands on her chest as she looks to me and smiles , then the pretty one , a Mooji lover with smooth olive skin and beautiful black abundant hair catches my admiring glance - her eyes look down revealing her pleasantness in secret. The third is a fat momma looking a little like my Nonna and decidedly South American, her scrappy t shirt makes her look like she did'nt care , pounded away . I wait and feel the tiredness sink in and realise that I have been invited to sing out on the Bangalore road somewhere. With a full effort , pretty much like an astronaught I rise and pay the bill. There is a jumble of slippers and shoes one has to walk over and through, somewhere lies the only pair of Crocs I have .But in their place is only confusion and darkness. Within me I hear the word "bitch !" emerge like a gigantic whore, the elegance of my tiredness slipped into a mount Vesuvius as I see a smaller pair of Crocs which my shrek like feet cannot fit into! Hands waving like a hundred windmills , as if all my ancestors gesticulate with what is missing from the Pizza. I exclaim my disapointment more with sharp like staccato "bitches!" , I then remember God is in a bitch and he is a bitch .

God is a beautiful bitch

I now patrol the streets looking for that stupid bitch who took my Crocs . Is she the good looking one , the ugly one or the disgusting one ? How about miss Sattva, Rajas and Tamas ? I will soon know as the hunt for my crocs continues and I become the hunter ready to shoot down my prey . Or possibly love them for maybe it is a sign to start walking instead.Today I will ride in to town to get new chappals .The rest is to be revealed.

The rest is to be revealed .

Flying to Bharat

I have returned just for a little while now . As I have been working in the early hours of the morning and it really put a stop to almost everything such as blogging . Here is somehing new since I became inactive . I leave for India again , and will tread the dusty path of Arunachala and just to give you an idea of the people I meet and what it is like to travel in Tiru and what I see in India . I decided to put some film I took on my last trip together . Soon I will be really into taking photos and gathering footage for more work later on down the road . Who knows where this next trip will take me , I am having thoughts to wander of the beaten track and see other places that I have heard of . Like a geomancer feeling the ley lines in the ground I feel the God vibe magnified in certain places . But that does not mean the God vibe (Brahman) is not here with us now . Forever undefined and more present like the sky and clear as "the gooseberry in the palm of our hands " is Self, itself .

Thiruvannamalai Karthikai Deepam

This film really shows how it is like during Deepam in Tiru. I have been to three festivals but am not ina hurry to go for another . So many people chaos . I almost died after the last Deepam falling of a scooter . always a strong time to be there to walk around Arunachala.

Papaji Ramana Song ; One Day Harilal

This is a song I wrote before a celebration of Ramana Maharshi in Lucknow .I just started to weave words to the music as if telling a story and for a while I only had two verses. Then one day I wrote the third after Papaji left the body . His love of Krishna inspired this and my love of Poonja inspired to write about his meeting with his Master .

Ramana Maharshi's Home - Arunachala

Shiva Shiva
Mahadeva
Mahadeva

A Brilliant Appearance

Flower along the trail

This entry is an extension from the quote I have given from Yoga Vasistha in the post below. I wrote this the following day after I thought I lost that entry .

Kumbh Mela

One of the scriptural texts I re-read, a unique work that is highly respected for it's practical mysticism is said to be like nectar by Siddha's . The Yoga Vasistha is the teaching of sage Vasistha to Lord Rama . It is a clear understanding about the creation of the world , that all is Consciousness, including the material world that we see.That this is nothing but Leela or a play of Consciousness.

Leela

Upon looking carefully at this picture which is spread before us everyday, we can percieve a pure and untainted screen of Awareness pervading all images and movements which appear as the world, Consciousness. In our daily life it is in all the activities we undertake to get things done , the mind battling backwards and forwards (like a doer or karmi does) and especially in believing it to be super real we cannot see it as a super imposition .

Like Indra's Net

Upon investigation we will see that everything is merely a reflection of Awareness!If this has gone over your head, a good analogy is a mirror . When we look into a mirror it reflects back an image , upon wakeing we see an entire creation ,sea,sky,people,children, stars, valleys and mountains reflected .If you get a mirror and smash it into a million pieces , you will see your image a million times reflected from one mirror . This world appearance is the reflection (Consciousness or existence appearing) in the clear mirror of Awareness. Consciousness appearing in Awareness is pointing to our existence or non existence. We see and say , "That's me, that's you , that's a table " and in this is the begining of the investigation, this knowledge is there to inquire. One day the question is bound to arise "what is all this ? why am I here ? for what purpose is this life for?" etc .There is some intelligence reflecting saying

Beyond the cockatoo's

"Look!" and like looking into a mirror or a still lake we will see that BEYOND all the images and BENEATH all the names , is a spacious clarity.Untouched like the mirror unattached to our reflection, a clear ocean of unfound Awareness.This Awareness is even empty, of space and time and it cannot be separated from any image or imagined being -- there is not even a BENEATH to define. Even the beingness that we are, is empty if you just turn your attention towards yourself ,so even this Consciousness is empty of itself! Yet it is appearing in Awareness which has no condition . The conditioned appears within the unconditioned as world appearance and gives way to infinte diversity like many different clouds appearing in the spacious clear sky.


Many Clouds in Space

To the religious it is the same as saying God . But this is not a God that is personal , sitting over our heads in judgement or hiding somewhere seeing everything that we are doing , though that was taught to me in school in some clever way to control and manipulate . This cleverness is a way to make us believe we are really doing good and right and not wrong and bad, we conform to what others are telling us to do .

Presently Unconditioned

Unconditioned and without any quality is Awareness ,single and together , together without being single, with the other yet full of both and no other.This can only be understood if you see for yourself,by yourself , and in seeing for yourself you see that you have no understanding,that you cannot attain understanding whatsoever.Here in lies something that I can never understand at all! HA HA ha hahahaha:D!

Mahasamadhi

Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Swaha !

Gone , Gone , Gone Beyond, Completely Gone Beyond Enlightenment, Hail!

Neither Bondage Nor Liberation

The Yoga Vasistha is a book that I continually return to read . It has been the only book that I have for contemplative reading . It is esentially the record of dialogue between Lord Ram and his Guru Vasistha , who is always telling him what the nature of Self is .

I am what I am

"the mind itself gets involved in this world appearance by entertaining countless notions (like "I am weak, unhappy. foolish, etc).When the understanding arises that all this is the false creation of the mind , I am what I am - then the peace of the supreme arises in ones consciousness.

There are no waves in the ocean

The mind is like the vast ocean with infinite variety of creatures within it,on the surface of which ripples and waves of different sizes rise and fall . The small wave thinks it is small ; the big one that it is big . The one that is broken by the wind thinks it has been destroyed. One thinks it is cold, another that it is warm . But all the waves are but the water of the ocean . It is indeed true to say that there are no waves in the ocean ;the ocean alone exist. Yet , it is also true that there are waves !

Infinite faculties appears as the infinite diversity

Even so the absolute Brahman alone exist. Since it is omnipotent , the natural expression of its infinite faculties appears as the infinte diversity in this universe. Diversity has no real existence except in ones own imagination. "All this is indeed the absolute Brahman"-remain established in this truth. Give up all other notions . Even as the waves , etc . are non different from the ocean, all these things are non different from Brahman. Even as in the seed is hidden the entire tree in potential, in Brahman there exists the entire universe forever .Even as the multicoloured rainbow is produced by sunlight, all this diversity is seen in the one .Even as the inert web emanates from the living spider, this inert world appearance has sprung from the infinite consciousness.

All this diversity is seen in the one

Even as the silk worm weaves its cocoon and thus binds itself , the infinite being fancies this universe and gets caught in it . Even as an elephant effortlessly breaks loose from the post to which it is tied, the self liberates itself from it's bondage. For , the self is what it considers itself to be . In fact , there is neither bondage or liberation for the Lord. I do not know how these notions of bondage and liberation have come into being!There is neither bondage nor liberation , only that infinite being is seen :yet the eternal is veiled by the transient, and this is indeed a great wonder (or a great illusion) .

Outside Vasistha's Cave

Though revolving thus in the wheel of ignorance and delusion , when one steps on to the wisdom concerning the supreme truth he is instantly redeemed . "

Still Place Within

Greeting the Balga spirit .

I decided to try my luck at some photo work , it looked like rain was coming and would love to catch the glint of shining beads resting on the plants out there .So I ventured down a trail that I have just started to get to know more of. I don't think I got a lot of interesting shots so here are some . I got a soaking and met up with a park ranger on the way through , was curious to know where the firebreak was going to . These dark trees are called Balga bush and have medicinal qualities but I can't recall what for . Anyway I love them .It gets very quiet out there and still. Only the flight of silver eye darting from bushes and kookaburra's slicing the air catch my eye. Ants show me their wonderful circular entrance holes and a rabbit hurry's past like he's late . I missed capturing the silver beads resting in the sunlight .The green paths did'nt let me in the rain .

This Balga is very very old and has seen many bushfires.

Looking up on this grass tree I came up with this info :

Xanthorrhoea drummondii shrumbs called grass trees rise above the sand plain. Aborigines named them balga, meaning "black boy," because fires often burn away the bottom leaves, leaving a humanlike silhouette. Usually balgas grow little more than an inch a year; after a fire, they can grow almost five inches in a season. The shrubs are old; they were dominant Australian vegetation when dinosaurs roamed the continents.

I just love them .

Taking a corner .

I lay under this dead tree and watched passing clouds.

Last few days Rainbow came .

A mobile of shells hanging in space .

At home .

The Moon hangs like a Chinese painting .