Copper Plate Revealation
The magic of India... and our lives... reveled!
After driving for two hours outside of Orissa, down small... bumpy... country roads flanked by the poetry of the India countryside, content farming villages, filled with smiling faces and glistening eyes... did we come to meet the simple soothing of Parthe Baba.
After sitting meditativly on the floor of his waiting room with scores of hearts coming from all over India to have his blessing.... he called us in to his stark and rudimentary adobe chamber. Sitting on his grass mat in front of a small table upon which lay his Master in the form of... A Stack of Copper Plates and a Small Rectangular "Chalk" Tablet on a Copper Plate! Om Tat Sat!
After his Invocation and small ritual consisting of his asking us our names and writing it with the "Chalk" on his table... Invisibly!... he asked us to hold the chalk against our foreheads and to think of 4 question that we wanted to have answered about ourselves. We then placed that "Chalk" on the stack of Copper Leaves and seperated the stack to choose a particular Blank Empty Clear... Copper Plate. When Parthe Baba removed the particular chosen plate from the stack.... Low and Behold... upon it appeared Letters of Living Fire that could be seen by us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... and were read by Pathe Baba... that reading being a precise answer to our thought questions... that he never heard uttered from out lips!!!! And... he speaks only scant english, making this even more amazing. His answer clearly translated to us by Rajiv.Very Insightful!
This was not an ordinary experience, but truely a Gift given us by Mother India in preparation for even more mystical experiences to be grocked later in the trip!
Dancers
As we walked from our Restaurant in Konark down the one main street to the open air dance theater... the sites and sounds overwhelming... thousands of lanterns hung in the trees over the street speaking of the light that this City of the Sun is qualified with, admixed with the shouts and laughter of the citizens, the bubbling of motor bikes, the sounding of hornes of ever size and sound from passing vehicles and rikshaws.
And then... the theater open to our regal gait up a path of splendor to its stage revealing the Sun Temple of Konark glowing above it in this warm coastal city night air.
Having barely gained back our wits from "The Copper" and the light and sound spectical of this ancient sea side place of pilgramage... from the most artistic annals of times forgotton... the tabla, the flute, the sitar and a voice so lyrical as to defy the imagination introduces dancers of Orissian and Katak dance... lyth and supple in all the sensual and mystical frankness that could precipatate to our senses.
It was here that we lost our Memory Disks with all our pictures on them (having just backed them up in the morning we still have the images) but regained the MEMORY of a CULTure that will forever animate our hearts, minds and imaginations till the day of our emacipation from this earth!
Navagraha Temple next to Konark (the Sun Temple)
After the stunning experience of this Monument Erected in Hommage to The One Sun God.. we repaired to this small temple holding ground to the side of Sun City.... A temple so sweet and filled with forgiveness and hope as to cancel every doubt! This... the Temple to the Navagrahas... the Nine Planets ...the Lords...of Karma.
Each Planet Honored for it's Mirrow Like Wisdom of overcoming. Here, after puja, we sat quietly on the floor feeling the wirling and humming of the solar system of our beings giving us our initiations and blessing... our Victory... Jai, Jai, Jai, OH Buddha (Mercury), Shukra (Venus), Mangala (Mars), Guru (Jupeter), Sani (Saturn), Rahu (North NOde), Ketu (south Node)... feel here the fire of our hearts!
Konark - The Sun Temple
We had no idea of the scope of this monument as we entered its precincts. Above us like some Master of Eternity stood Surya the Sun God built into ever stone of this megalithic temple!We surveyed the grounds of the Temple and its City from the dias of the Dancers Podium, one of several buildings in this complex. From here the majesty of the society that had in it's daily life this noble ritual of worshiping the One God as the Sun... the Source of all creation... the way of transmutation of the grahas pull... became apparent as the grandure of Life's Procession!
Sri Yuteshwar's Asharm and place of Mahasamadhi
HOw could we have know that we would have an opportunity to visit this MahaSamadhi of Shri Yukteshwar... the guru of Paramhansa Yogananda! And moreso... how would we have figured that of all the places and all the tour guides we had during our trip that Mahapatra would have had intimate connection with members of Yogananda's community at Ananda Village in Northern California... a place that Gregory had spent much time with much spiritual significance in his life! between the serandipity of standing on the very beach where Yoganandaji swam in between session with his Guru... the picture of where I am buying a coconut... and the noble discourse from Mahapatra about the "Dynamic, resonant, protective force generated from the momentum of devotion!" we too entered the very Same Samsdhi as did Yogananda and his beloved Guru!
Beach at Puri
We walked, swam and danced down the beach in Puri... the same beach that Yoganandiji walked, swam and ran on as he earned his degree in Samadhi from his Guru Yukteshwarji.
Ashok - Shiva Nadi Astrologer
The last night of our trip we were truly blessed to meet with Ashok - a Shiva Nadi astrologer who is superbly trained in the art/science of locating a person's "life record" written on a palm leaf through the identification of one's thumb print! During the course of the evening hours, Ashok revealed to us how the balance of our life would unfold - year-by-year!!! This was a once in a lifetime experience/opportunity that we will never forget.
The ancient city of Shiva worship - Varanasi! And Sarnath - where Buddha preached his first sermon of Enlightment
After the medical camp, we traveled by car to Varanasi - a very old and ancient city of Lord Shiva. It is the dream of all Hindus to die at the banks of Ma Ganaga here in Varanasi where bodies are being cremated around the clock by the river. We partook in the evening Aarti by boat (picture 1) and then visited the nearby Ma Ganga Temple (picture 2).
We heard many stories about the sacred cows of India but still it amazed us to find a bull sleeping in a clothing shop (picture 3). Later we learned that this bull leaves the shop every night upon closing and returns in the morning when the shop keeper opens the front doors!!! Only in India ... :))
Just 30 minutes outside of Varanasi is the Buddhist town of Sarnath - where Buddha gave his first lecture after Enlightenment (picture 4 & 5)
The Erotic Temples of Khajuraho
Khajuraho is the site of several ornate, erotic temples built by the Chandela dynasty in 1000 A.D. On the inside Lord Vishnu and is 9 incarnations are worshiped .. on the outside the temple is covered with hundreds of thousands of tantric figures of man, woman and animal embraced in love making.
Lord Ganesha and the People of India
A few pictures of the people of India - and Gregory dancing with a local dancer!!!!!!!!!!!
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Site of one of the 12 sacred Joytirlingams - Omkareshwar
The most mystical and magical place to date on our journey was Omkareshwar (picture 1) where a vedic priest performed a puja in the famous Joytirlingam Temple (Shiva Lingam) (picture 3) on our behalf! From there we traveled up the hill top to an ancient vedic school where vedic mantras and fire ceremonies were being taught to young boys. To our wonderment, a fire ceremony (picture 6) was performed for us and we had the opportunity to meet the senior yogi and his disciple (pciture 7)! We also took part in a Ma Durga Temple (picture 5) ceremony at the vedic school!!
Before leaving Omkareshwar, we purchased a beautiful black Lingam (last picture).
Ujjain and Indore
Once every 12 years the Kumbha Mela is hosted on the banks of the river in Ujjain (picture 1). In the nearby city of Indore, Gregory purchased a Navagraha (9 Graha Ring) (picture 4) and I purchased a lovely emerald ring (picture 3).
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