Blessings of Love

 

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“A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.”
(Andre Maurois – French author, 1885–1967)

 

This picture was shot along the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) where a new-married couple was getting the blessings from the groom’s mother.
This ceremony happens the day after the wedding, early in the morning when the couple is coming to seek blessings from the Goddess Ganga.

 

Between Destruction and Creation

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“Without an understanding of myth or religion, without an understanding of the relationship between destruction and creation, death and rebirth, the individual suffers the mysteries of life as meaningless mayhem alone.”
(Marion Woodman – Canadian author, b.1928)

Manikarnika Kund is a sacred pond located next to Manikarnika Ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
Each year in November it is dug out from the dirt which covers it up from the holy river floods of the rainy season.
This large rectangular structure, with surrounding steps is mythologically related to Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva.
The Chakra-Pushkarini Kund or “Discus Lotus-Pond” is said to be so ancient that it was present before King Bhagiratha brought the Ganges to Varanasi and is supposed to have been dug by Lord Vishnu at the time of creation with his disc.
The word “Manikarnika” refers “Jeweled Earring” and this name was given because Lord Shiva’s earring fell into the well when it was a very large lake.
This historic place symbolizes creation, and the cremation ghat next to it is all about death, the hot ashes of the burnt bodies nearby makes one remember the inevitable destruction of everything in the world.
Many pilgrims take a bath here after performing the rituals of cremation. It is also said to be lucky for couples to take a bath together in this well.

Compassion For All Life

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“What could have saved Indian society from the ponderous burden of omnifarious ritualistic ceremonialism, with its animal and other sacrifices, which all but crushed the very life of it, except the Jain revolution, which took its strong stand exclusively on chaste morals and philosophical truths?
Jains were the first great ascetics and they did some great work.
“Don’t injure any and do good to all that you can, and that is all the morality and ethics, and that is all the work there is, and the rest is all nonsense.”
And then they went to work and elaborated this one principle all through, and it is a most wonderful ideal: how all that we call ethics they simply bring out from that one great principle of non-injury and doing good.”
(Swami Vivekananda – The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 3, Buddhistic India – Lecture delivered at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, on February 2, 1900)

Jainism is one of the oldest religion, it prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings, its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation with compassion for all life, human and non-human.

Digambara monks and nuns practice strict asceticism and strive to make their current birth their last, thus ending their cycle of transmigration.
They wear no clothes, following the practice of Mahavira, they do not consider themselves to be nude.
Rather, they are wearing the environment, that is the quintessential, akasha or space.
Digambaras believe that this practice represents a refusal to give in to the demands of the body for comfort and private property.
Digambara ascetics have only two possessions: a peacock feather broom and a water gourd, they walk barefoot and sweep the ground in front of them to avoid killing insects or other tiny beings.
They practice non-attachment to the body and hence, wear no clothes, travel on foot and do not use mechanical transport.

This picture was shot along a road located in the center of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh where several devotees were waiting for those monks.
Some were walking with them for a while, others were seeking for their blessings and spreading a devotional atmosphere everywhere.

Uncommitted Sins

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“Oh, Lord, it is not the sins I have committed that I regret, but those which I have had no opportunity to commit.”
(Mirza Ghalib – Indian Poet, 1797-1869)

This was shot at Raja Gwalior Ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).

Moving Water

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“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.
When actions come from another section, the feeling disappears.
Don’t let others lead you.
They may be blind or, worse, vultures.
Reach for the rope of God.
And what is that ?
Putting aside self-will.
Because of willfulness people sit in jail, the trapped bird’s wings are tied, fish sizzle in the skillet.
The anger of police is willfulness.
You’ve seen a magistrate inflict visible punishment.
Now see the invisible.
If you could leave your selfishness, you would see how you’ve been torturing your soul.
We are born and live inside black water in a well.
How could we know what an open field of sunlight is ?
Don’t insist on going where you think you want to go.
Ask the way to the spring.
Your living pieces will form a harmony.
There is a moving palace that floats in the air with balconies and clear water flowing through, infinity everywhere, yet contained under a single tent.”
(“Moving Water” by Jalal ad-Din Rumi – Persian poet and Sufi mystic, 1207-1273)

Those moving waters take a spiritual veil whenever they flow along the banks of Varanasi (Benaras), the Eternal city.
The holy waters of the Ganges for eternity, infinity and harmony…

A Human Adventure

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“The tricky part of the human journey is to transform ourselves continually as our life directions change.”
(Donna L. Friess – American teacher & author)

“LIKE” our new Facebook page for RED HALO and join this amazing human adventure in Varanasi.
You just have to follow this link, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Then you will see the collections but also what happens behind the scenes and meet some members of our team…

RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi – India) providing work to people living with difficulties and education to children.

On this picture Jai Prakar is doing a Aari embroidery on a linen throw with our “Lodhi” design, following the design transfered with the lime plaster application.
His hands are moving according his inspiration and brings a particular touch to each piece, making it unique…

“Come, come…”

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“Come, come, whoever you are.
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come.”
(Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, known as Jelaluddin Rumi – Persian Sufi Mystic poet, 1207–1273)

This lady came to perform a puja at Vatsyaraj ghat where there is a little temple along the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
She was cleaning each item in copper used for this pupose, repeating gestures done by her elders in order to uphold traditions and culture…

Being Happy

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“When all your desires are distilled you will cast just two votes: To love more and to be happy.”
(Hāfez – Persian lyric poet, 1325-1390)

This young man was bathing in the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
The turquoise blue shades of Lal ghat were reflecting in the sacred river, calming down the deep greens and gold of the stream…

Devotional Water

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“Whatever I am offered in devotion with a pure heart – a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water – I accept with joy.”
(Bhagavad Gita)

There is a little temple under the akhara at Jatara ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) where a priest offers water to the statue of the deity every evening.
It is a long ritual where he has to fill several times a bucket with the holy water of the river.

Treading on my Dreams

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“HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.”
(“He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven” by William Butler Yeats, 1865-1939)

This picture was shot in one of the oldest part of Varanasi (Benaras), the place where souls sometimes resides.
Those men were cleaning garbages in a narrow street…lights and shadows…Kashi…”being poor”…”only my dreams”…treading on my dreams…