South India once more

My goodness Sunanda 😮 - what an experience :speechless-smiley-0 - and thank goodness the fire was put out in time!:) Please take care of yourself ...;)

Love and Light

Oo the priest on your right Sunanda is a bit of a dish! 😀

Gosh it looks so lovely and warm - I can just feel those soft breezes blowing gently against your skin - not like the arctic blasts we're getting here again. Brrrr. First snowdrops are out though which is always a special sight.

I've loved reading your diaries Sunanda but gosh, I'm pleased that you were extinguished! (or at least your flames were) Sadly, in the state she's in I can't cross examine my mother about the suttee - but she and Dad were often in very rural areas and as you know, there may be laws (like no honour killings, especially in Pakistan) but they get ignored.

I was thinking about suttee and when my dear old gardener in Norfolk died, he was from a gypsy family, all very close knit and had 13 children. There was an outpouring (a wailing actually) of emotion I've never seen or heard before in any funeral. As his coffin was being lowered into the pit, one of his daughters who was quite hysterical tried to throw herself in but was fortunately grabbed by a couple of her brothers and restrained. (I in turn had to comfort the vicar who was devastated)

So what's this to do with suttee? Well, if the women were allowed to join the funeral procession and the widow either was overcome with emotion like that, or felt that life with her parents-in-law wouldn't be worth living, I can imagine the scenario of the suicide of the widow like that. However your saying that the women stay at home doesn't tie in with it. Who knows?

Glad you're having such a good time. I think we should be honoured that you still come back here to speak to your friends and aquaintances, old and new, some of whom may have gone away but come back again. :p

Love

Judy

Both those priests are totally dishy, Judy. I love them dearly!

Hey everyone, sorry for the long hiatus without writing. I am back in Tiru at the foot of the mountain once more, having spent three days a little further up the Kerala coast from Kovalam at another tourist resort called Varkala. I loved it there and was reunited with old friends from Tiru whom I'd not seen for ten years. He, an Indian from Kerala, was my yoga teacher when I first came to Tiru in 1998. She, a young Russian girl, was my great friend. They fell in love and married ten years ago, since when I'd not seen them. They now have two beautiful daughters and it was a joy to see them once more.

Meanwhile, in Tiru I have better internet facilities than anywhere else (unlimited wireless access in a lovely rooftop cafe) and a great place to write offline in my room with a mountain view through the window, so I should be able to keep in better touch. Apart from that, I'm only here for another two weeks (oh how hard it will be to leave) so I hope Jack Frost is going on vacation!

I keep getting messages from my computer that one of my hard drive partitions is getting full and needs emptying (what's that all about, I don't have so much stuff - no movies or anything). Anyway, while going through my documents, spring cleaning, I found a post I'd written about the Kali festival in Kovalam and then apparently not posted. I certainly can't find it anywhere on last year's thread. So I thought I would post it here anyway as it almost applies to this year too. If I'm mistaken and you've read it before, please tell me and I'll delete it. It's a bit long, sorry:

Well, time seems to have overtaken me: it seems only yesterday that I was planning in my head to describe the sweetness of Sivasakthy Amma's darshan in detail to you. Anyway, time has moved on and I also moved, first to the Mookambika temple in Karnataka. There my camera was stolen from my bag while I meditated inside the inner shrine. Somehow I was not captivated as I had been in the past - shall we say the scales fell from my eyes and I saw clearly how that temple runs entirely on money - but conversely with a healthy dose of devotion also! While there (and I stayed for a fortnight, longer than ever before) I no longer had to rush to be at the front for the aartis. (Partly because I could no longer stand the ringing of the fourteen large bells which could go on for 20 minutes right beside your head!) Sri Mookambika still did it for me but I could detach a little from the daily madness of the devotees, whose place in line depended on how much money they gave the priests, none of whom seemed to pay more than lip service to the goddess. (Maybe I do them a disservice but I don't think so. I was told that they take home an average of R10,000 a day and I never saw them do a puja except by rote.)
So from Mookambika I shifted once more to the depths of the secular: Kovalam beach in Kerala, where it all began for me in January 1996. My encounter then with the Goddess Kali and the spontaneous partial kundalini awakening that she inspired changed my life and set me on this path. So, tourists or not (and we are talking about two week Daily Mail reading charter tourists without a clue about Indian culture or the faintest idea that Indian people may be traumatized by the sight of so much bare flesh and indiscriminate affection) Kovalam will always be a kind of home to me. I go there to participate in the annual temple festival where I first met Kali Ma. The difference now is that I play a part in that festival: the people know me and treat me as one of the family. I am neither deferred to nor dismissed, but I realised this time that my participation over the years and my gradual encroachment on to traditionally male territory has empowered the women to no small degree. When I first saw the festival the women stayed back: the men got the good views. Now the women have crept forward and will go on creeping.
Some years back I told a guruji in Tiruvannamalai that I just loved to do pujas. Well, she said, no problem, puja will drop away in good time and you will be left with the formless. It seems that my desire for puja fell away this year in Tiru and at Mookambika but it remained strong in Kovalam. The pujas started each morning at 6.00am (5am on the first morning) with a Ganapathi homa (fire puja to Ganesh to begin the day and overcome obstacles). I would sit with the visiting pujari, the overseer of the festival, Jayan, who, though young has enormous presence and power and grace, and focus on the fire. As he fed fruit and various types of wood and spices into the fire along with his mantras, I would visualise all negativity being consumed by the flames. At the end there came a lightness of being, a feeling of weight having been removed from the shoulders. Throughout the day more pujas took place, always over a huge and beautiful mandala made of coloured sand by another of the visiting priests. Each of these pujas would have been paid for by a local person, with a particular end in mind, a plea to the god or goddess invoked. Often these people didn't even attend the puja, so I would take their place. I fell in love with this kind of worship at Amma's ashram years ago. There we were encouraged to meditate and lend our energy to the ceremony; it's a powerful thing to do, perhaps too powerful for the local people. A friend of mine commented that it's a bit like the Catholic church, where most people let the priests conduct the rituals while they stand back. Anyway, I always pay for a puja to the Goddess, 'Bhagawathy seva', and this took place on Saturday evening. The mandala was especially beautiful and the lamp which is the focus of the puja had been adorned with flowers and dressed in a sari as it symbolises the Goddess herself. I gathered a group of women around me: the widow whose little guesthouse I always stay in, her sister and niece and the niece's infant daughter, and another friend, the wife of one of the hoteliers whom I've known for many years and who is devoted to the Goddess too. This time three priests chanted mantras in unison. It was full of wonder.
On the last morning a special snake puja took place. This was the first time it had been performed at this festival. Two women and four men came from another town, miles and miles away, and spent hours making a huge picture of a cobra on the floor, from coloured sand. (All these pujas take place in the open air on sand - it's an open air temple.) Two local children, a boy and a girl, were chosen to stand in one place and in front of them a 20 year old boy, Vishnu, who was the priests' assistant and general runaround (although for the rest of the year he works in 'aluminum fabrication' and studies in the evenings.) He's aged 20 but looks younger. Then there was an older woman who I was told later 'has done this sort of thing before.' After a few preliminary rituals, the visitors started to play music on two seemingly home made stringed instruments and started singing. The first couple of songs were pleasant enough but I began to wonder if that was all that was going to happen. Suddenly the old woman started dancing and shouting. My friend's 15 year old daughter started weeping and we were encouraged to start ululating in the case of the women (a very liberating thing to do!) while the men and boys shouted encouragement at Vishnu who, along with the two children, was still standing where he had been placed, the three of them covering their faces with palm fronds. I noticed that one of the musicians had moved to stand next to Vishnu and was singing and playing in his ear. All at once I realised that the main attraction was supposed to be Vishnu going into trance but at that point it looked as though it wasn't going to happen. Gradually though his back started to bend and then his face contorted and before we knew it he was down on the ground and writhing. He became a snake, crawling along the ground, over the coloured sand and then raising up, using both hands to make the cobra's hood. There is no question in my mind but that this was genuine. Afterwards when he had become himself again and had been taken off by the men to be given a bath, I learned that he had had no idea what was going to happen. Even Jayan, the chief priest, confessed that he had never seen this puja before and was 'worried' during the 'performance'. But at the end, the snake gods were propitiated, Vishnu was his usual sweet and smiling self and we were all left with the feeling that something profound and intense had taken place. I was honoured to have witnessed it.

This year's festival was even better than last - though the snake puja was not! The final evening was awesome but I'm sure you don't need any more to read now!

xxx

Well, I've only a week left here and I am not looking forward to the cold - or the possibility of more snow! Actually this post very nearly went into the Healing and Prayers forum as I have been sick for a day and a half. Heaven knows what bug I got - I felt weak and shivery, joints were achy and I didn't want to eat, though I didn't have D and only a little V last night. Basically I just wanted to lie down all the time which was very boring. I felt very sorry for myself but was not particularly cared for by friends as the prevailing philosophy here is 'we are not the body!' My Indian friends called it viral fever and all wanted me to go to the doctor and get an injection (unspecified) but I was sure it would go away of its own accord and after a comfort lunch today of a chapatti with a hard boiled egg, plus two cups of weak tea followed by a long siesta, I'm happy to report that I feel a lot better.
One thing that is super at the moment is the climate - it's really quite cool at night and not overwhelmingly hot during the day. Very pleasant. And what a contrast it's going to be with England!

xxx

I don't actually think anyone is reading this any more! Not to worry, I'm back to the snow on Tuesday. Here's a pic which kind of sums up modern India. It was taken on the road which runs around the holy mountain. Look at the ad on the pole.

Sunanda - I am - but just made no comment!! Love your picture - makes me feel homesick for Africa - similar trees and street layout - but without the advert!!!

It's perishing cold here today, so do make sure you have plenty to wrap up in when you get back. Took the dog for a walk at lunch-time and nearly froze to death in the north wind, in spite of being well wrapped up.

You have obviously had a wonderful, fascinating trip - lots of special memories to bring back with you - so precious. Maybe one day I shall follow in your footsteps - maybe .....

I don't actually think anyone is reading this any more! Not to worry, I'm back to the snow on Tuesday. Here's a pic which kind of sums up modern India. It was taken on the road which runs around the holy mountain. Look at the ad on the pole.

Can't really miss it, can you! 😀

I too have been reading and enjoying your posts, and hope you're feeling better now 🙂

The BBC's weather forecast is for it remaining cold, unfortunately, but there has been some lovely sunshine ... and the days are getting longer

Holistic

I've been reading Sunanda :), but missed the post about you not feeling well. Hope your on the mend now..Hopefully you will have missed the worst of the weather on your return..and the remining season will be a regular winter, before spring arrives good and proper..

As many of you know, I have been coming to India for 14 years now. I first came for a beach holiday in January 1996, encountered the Goddess Kali and, as a result, met my guru, Amma. From that time on I started to spend six months of each year in India. In November 1998 I got brave and ventured across the country to the state of Tamil Nadu (first train journey, first bus journey, first arrival alone in a new place) and reached the temple town of Tiruvannamalai, home of the holy mountain Arunachala. This place still has the ashram of one of India's greatest sages, Sri Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi, who left the body in 1950. Tiru became my home from home. For five or six years, I rented a little bungalow and lived so happily, cooking, meditating, doing yoga. If I felt like company I only had to walk out to one of the chai shops on the main road to bump into one of my Tiru buddies. I felt so blessed to have discovered such a beautiful unspoiled place, where the local people seemed oblivious to the financial opportunities that westerners might bring.
All that has changed though in recent years. Tiru has seen whole new suburbs grow as local landowners throw up buildings for western occupation. Prices have skyrocketed, and though that can be put down to inflation, it's also true that the local people have woken up to how much money rich westerners are bringing in. Those same rich westerners have begun to build luxury homes; there's a new resort hotel which cost $100 a night. It has a swimming pool where lithe western women cavort in bikinis beneath the sacred mountain. (You can probably hear the grumpy old woman breaking through there!)
The resident western community has become very organised: the new (and very lovely) wireless internet cafe has a real capuccino machine and serves baguettes and salad. Western therapists are offering massage (at 50% more than I paid at Kovalam tourist beach) and every other therapy you can imagine and Western gurujis and teachers are arriving with their devotees for month long retreats and daily satsangs. I have a photo of one wall in my much loved Manna Cafe which is just covered with adverts for satsangs, therapies etc....I joke with my friends that we really need to stick our pictures on a poster and maybe they'll start throwing money at us.
Anyway, this year I'm in India for a shorter period than usual. So I divided my time thus: one week in Tiru, basically to touch base with friends and to collect my saris and various other items of clothing that I'd stored here, two and a half weeks in Kerala to include participation in the annual Kali festival at Kovalam and a couple of days further up the coast at Varkala and then a final two and a half weeks in Tiru. That's the point I've reached now.
I had such a wonderful time in Kerala, and felt so healthy and strong and energised while I was there, that I returned to Tiru wondering if I should accept that Tiru has lost its juice for me. Is it time to move on? At first it seemed not. I loved being back. But after just a few days I became sick and although that fluey bug seems to have dissipated, it's now metamorphosed into a chesty cough and a tightness in my lungs that makes it painful to be anywhere near the main road. It is sooo dusty and polluted here, both by traffic and noise, that I've come to the conclusion that this is my answer. Many of you know that I have a chronic and incurable lung disease (pulmonary fibrosis) which, thankfully, has been stable since it was diagnosed seven years ago. It seems now glaringly obvious that I am not doing myself any favours by living in such a dreadfully polluted place. The answer appears to be, yes your time in Tiruvannamalai is over, Sunanda. Kerala is the place for you next time.

This year will see me celebrate my 60th birthday so it feels very much like a year of transition and change. All I need is the faith and confidence that nothing needs to be done, that all shall be well. And the body will go where it needs to go. And on Tuesday of next week it obviously needs to be back in London!!!

One more thing - today is supposed to be Mahasivaratri. We have been telling people all week to head for the Big Temple in town at 5pm to see the magnificent and huge pictures made on the ground out of coloured salts. Well, apparently, although it's Mahasivaratri everywhere else in India, Tiruvannamalai is going to be celebrating it next month on March 13th!

Hi Sunny

Before you leave, go to bless Kali for your 60th birthday. I don't know much about this Goddess but in the Eastern Calendar, this will be your 5th cycle and as such is an important one. This would be a great opportunity to give a gift to her for this special year.

Have a safe trip back.

Love

That was really interesting Sunanda. Thank you for telling us all this. Do wrap up for your homecoming - the weather has been miserably cold here - you need to protect your precious lungs!

Love and Light

Thank you Sunanda for all your marvelously observant memories that you've shared with all of us. I've loved it. kerala is one part of India I've never been to, but so many friends have said what a wonderful place it is and their favourite in India.

Today we had a bright start and a bright end (won't describe the in-between bit) but it was still light at 5.30 and that was fantastic! Bitterly cold though - let's hope it will start to warm up after you get back.

Love

Judy

Hi Sunny

Before you leave, go to bless Kali for your 60th birthday. I don't know much about this Goddess but in the Eastern Calendar, this will be your 5th cycle and as such is an important one. This would be a great opportunity to give a gift to her for this special year.

Have a safe trip back.

Love

It's the other way round, Sue, it's Kali who blesses me! And actually that's what I've been doing ever since I got here. What do you think the Kali festival was all about? Kali is my patroness, my Mother...I love her dearly. And as for giving her a gift, she already had two new silk saris out of me for the festival. (Here in Tiru, the Kali temple is not so inspiring but this Kali has had flowers for Rog's mother too!) There are plans afoot to have a special puja done in the Kali temple in Kovalam for my 60th birthday. Now if only Ernie Premium Bond would arrange for me to be able to fly out for a week, that would be perfect!!!

Just read this thread and your observations are delightful to read.

Look after yourself on your return here to the UK as it is very cold.

Fudge

I believe your are back today, Sunanda Tuesday reading back a few posts?

Hope you have a safe landing me dear....and a brolly at the ready,,,it's been chucking it down in my neck of the woods anyway :rolleyes:

Ooohhh, brrr, shiver etc. This is me, this is I am going to keel over soon but am dosed up with coffee now, so will try to get as far into the evening as poss before I fall into unconsciousness. The flight was particularly dreary for various reasons which I haven't got the energy to go into now. But at least I've been out food shopping (and eaten!) so now I just have to change the bedlinen. (Again, don't ask.) Is it good to be back? What do you think?
xxx

Hiya Sunanda

Welcome back to this cold ole UK.:) Did you pack any sunshine for us?? We sure could do with some.:D

:nature-smiley-008: :nature-smiley-008: :nature-smiley-008: :nature-smiley-008:
That will have to do for now.:)

Big hugs from
Moonfairy
xxxx

Welcome home Sunanda. Hope you keep warm and dry! Look forward to catching up with you when you've recovered from the journey.

Love and Light

Well Sunanda, we did warn you! 😉 But look on the bright side - it could be worse - it could be snowing! (Mind you, that's a possibility tonight.) 🙁

Actually, we were watching a programme about Darjeeling last night and during all the time that the camera crew were there (I think several weeks) not once was there even a glimmer of sunlight - most of the time they were enshrouded in low cloud. I said to Ian, "No matter how beautiful it is, I couldn't live there" and then we go and have a grey day here.

Have a good rest and just take of yourself for a few days, then start looking for the promises of spring!

Love

Judy

Thanks everyone for welcoming me back. And thank you God for sending out the sun...what a blessing, it's an absolutely beautiful day today. I slept for a very healing 11 hours last night (East West one's own bed has to be best!), got myself to a well needed yoga class, dropped into a friend to really ground myself....and lo, it's just glorious. I'm sorry but I'm taking the credit for this!
(Boredom has not yet and hopefully will not put in an appearance.)
xxxx

Just to put this thread to bed, I have to tell you that I've been persuaded (didn't take much!) to upload some photos into an album. So if anyone would like to have a look, make your way to my profile....

xxx