Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

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“Vakratunda Mahaakaaya Suryakotee Sama Prabhaa.
Nirvighnam kuru mey deva
Sarva kaaryeshu Sarvadaa..”
(O Lord with twisted trunk and massive appearance whose splendor is aqual to a million suns…
Please bless me such that I do not face any obstacles in any of my endeavors, anytime. )

Lord Ganesha is addressed through this mantra, popularly known as the vakratunda mantra.
Ganesha can be viewed as a symbol of that energy which can help us overcome the obstacles in our path to spiritual growth and enlightenment.
The chanting of mantras is believed to invoke a connection to the particular energy associated with the deity that is being addressed by the mantra.
Ganesha is the ruler of the mooladhara chakra, located at the base of the spine, and is also known as the root chakra.
Hence, “Ganesha is invoked as the starting point of the ascent to awareness, as the one who causes that energy to rise up, which leads the seeker to a union with the divine”.

Ganesha Chaturthi, the great Ganesha festival starts today, it is celebrated by Hindus around the world as the birthday of Lord Ganesha.
This is a picture of a clay Ganesha murti worshipped during this festival and which normaly goes to the holy waters of the Ganges, however this one never leaves me since a few years…

May Lord Ganesha bestow success, happiness and prosperity upon you all.
Happy Ganesh Chaturthi 2011…!!!

Om Namah Shivaya

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“Namaḥ Śivāya is the most holy name of God Śiva, recorded at the very center of the Vedas and elaborated in the Śaiva Agamas.
Na is the Lord’s concealing grace, Ma is the world, Śi stands for Śiva, Va is His revealing grace, Ya is the soul.
The five elements, too, are embodied in this ancient formula for invocation.
Na is earth, Ma is water, Śi is fire, Vā is air, and Ya is ether, or Ākāśa.
Many are its meanings.

 

Namaḥ Śivaya has such power, the mere intonation of these syllables reaps its own reward in salvaging the soul from bondage of the treacherous instinctive mind and the steel bands of a perfected externalized intellect.
Namaḥ Śivāya quells the instinct, cuts through the steel bands and turns this intellect within and on itself, to face itself and see its ignorance.
Sages declare that mantra is life, that mantra is action, that mantra is love and that the repetition of mantra, japa, bursts forth wisdom from within.

 

The holy Natchintanai proclaims, “Namaḥ Śivāya is in truth both Āgama and Veda.
Namah Śivāya represents all mantras and tantras.
Namaḥ Śivaya is our souls, our bodies and possessions
Namaḥ Śivāya has become our sure protection.”
(The meaning of the Namaḥ Śivāya mantra explained by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami)

 

This student from the Sanskrit University, trained to become a Hindu priest, was performing the daily Ganga Aarti at Dasaswamedh ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
This religious ritual ceremony worships the elements and it is easy to make a link to any faith.

 

 

Splendour & Beauty

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“Because God created it the human body can remain nude and uncovered and preserve its splendour and its beauty.”
(Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, 1920-2005)

When I reached the little akhara (gymnasia) which is lost in the fields near Sakalhida, a village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, I first saw this pelhwan (Indian wrestler) who was outside with a gada.

A gada is a large round rock fixed to the end of a meter-long bamboo staff which is lifted and swung for exercise.
It may weigh as little as five or as much as fifty to sixty kilograms.
In the Ramayana and Mahabharata the gada is often mentioned as a weapon.
In popular religious art and iconography Hanuman is almost never depicted without one. It is not only the symbol of his strength but also of his countenance. The gada he carries is highly decorated and made of gold. At championship bouts wrestlers are awarded gadas made of silver. The gada is, then, clearly the mark of a wrestler’s prowess. Given the preponderance of phallic symbols in the akhara and the gada’s general shape it is evident that swinging a gada has clear symbolic overtones of sexual potency and virility.Each time the gada is swung it is brought to a balanced position, erect from the wrestler’s waist.The phallic aspect of the gada is also evidenced by its association with snakes. In the Harivamsa Akrura dives into the serpent world where he sees Ananta asleep on top of a mace…
In shape a gada resembles the churning stick used to make butter and buttermilk. A parallel between churning and sexual energy has been drawn above. By swinging the gada one might say that a wrestler is churning his body to increase his store of semen.
(“The Wrestler’s Body: Identity and Ideology in North India” by Joseph S. Alter)

“Vanity is so secure in the heart of man that everyone wants to be admired: even I who write this, and you who read this.”
(Blaise Pascal – French Mathematician, Philosopher and Physicist, 1623-1662)

This image was shot at Scindia Ghat along river Ganga in Varanasi (Benaras).
This young man was striking several poses in order to catch my attention so I could take a few snaps of him but I was pretending not to see him as I am mostly working on natural poses.
It was a Sunday afternoon before sunset and he came there to wash his laundry, his attitude was amazing, full of narcissism, each of his gesture was carrying vanity and pride…
After a while I couldn’t help laughing and I took a few pictures, in fact he knew that I was leaving the akhara nearby where I often take pictures of the pehlwani (wrestlers).

The pillar on the left belongs to the remains of a massive palace which used to stand on Scindhia ghat.
The entire structure has sunk several feet into the earth since its erection and is still gradually and slowly sinking.
Sometimes in the winter when the holy waters of the Ganges come very low it is possible to see it otherwise most of the time it stays underwater.

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“Heaven on Earth, we need it now
I’m sick of all of this hanging around
Sick of sorrow, sick of the pain
I’m sick of hearing again and again
That there’s gonna be peace on Earth…”
(“Peace on Earth” by U2)

This picture was shot along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
This man was praying in the holy waters.

This is for those who are fighting for democracy in the world tonight.

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Strings of Tension

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“The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.”
(Ralph Waldo Emerson – American Poet and Essayist, 1803-1882)

This is a close-up of the foot of a Sanskrit university student, trained to become a Hindu priest, while he was performing a religious ritual ceremony in order to worship the elements at Dasaswamedh ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
At that time he was manipulating a heavy “Aarti lamp” making a tension on his foot while he had to twist his body in clockwise manner.
Marigold petals were spread all around the platform.

Dum Spiro, Spero

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“Dum spiro, spero (Latin), “While I breath, I hope””
(Latin Proverb)

This is a picture of a student from the Sanskrit University, trained to become a Hindu priest, performing the daily Ganga Aarti at Dasaswamedh ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
This religious ritual ceremony worships the elements and it is easy to make a link to any faith.

“While I breath, I hope”…prayers for all of us…special prayers for Japan.

Light in Darkness

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“God be prais’d, that to believing souls, Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair”
(William Shakespeare – English Dramatist, Playwright and Poet, 1564-1616)

This is a picture of one of the students from the Sanskrit University performing the daily Ganga Aarti at Dasaswamedh ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
After a few years they will become Hindu priests and they will be sent anywhere in the world.

 

To an Imperfect Sight and Hearing

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“God speaks to me not through the thunder and the earthquake, nor through the ocean and the stars, but through the Son of Man, and speaks in a language adapted to my imperfect sight and hearing.”
(William Lyon Phelps – American Educator, Journalist and Professor, 1865-1943)

This picture was shot during the Ganga Aarti at Dasaswamedh ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
Each evening along the holy waters of the Ganges, a few students from the sanskrist university, trained to become Hindu priests, perform a religious ritual ceremony in order to worship the elements.
It is called Ganga Aarti.
This picture shows the opening with flames which is supposed to acquire the power of the river Ganges as Goddess Ganga, it is accompanied by the singing of songs and bells from the audience.
Whatever people’s beliefs can be it is easy to make a link between the essence of that piece of humanity that we all share and the powers of nature.

The world is in pain, this is an image of all who are suffering tonight…

The Serenity to Accept

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“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
(Reinhold Niebuhr – American theologian, 1892-1971)

Each evening some students from the sanskrist university, trained to become Hindu priests, perform a religious ritual ceremony along the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) in order to worship the elements.
This Ganga Aarti accompanied by the singing of songs and bells from the audience symbolises the five elements: ether (akash), wind (vayu), fire (agni), water (jal), and earth (pruthvi).
It is dedicated to the river, personified as a goddess.

Faith in Small Things

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Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
(Mother Teresa of Calcutta – Albanian born Indian Missionary and Founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity. Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979. 1910-1997)

Every evening, Sanskrit university students, trained to become a Hindu priests, perform a religious ritual ceremony in order to worship the elements at Dasaswamedh ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).

This is a Hindu Ceremony however anyone can feel a connection to his own faith.
The oldest living city in the world is one of the holiest places and targets of pilgrimage for Hindus.
As the place where Siddhārtha Gautama gave his first sermon to his disciples, Varanasi is the city where Buddhism was founded.
It is the birthplace of Suparshvanath, Shreyansanath, and Parshva, who are respectively the seventh, eleventh, and twenty-third Jain Tirthankars and as such Varanasi is a holy city for Jains.
Guru Nanak Dev visited Varanasi for Shivratri in 1507 and had an encounter which with other events forms the basis for the story of the founding of Sikhism.
The city has a sizeable native Muslim population and shelters many sanctuaries, it hosts the Roman Catholic Diocese of Varanasi, and has a significant Jewish expatriate community.
The city is a place of pilgrimage for many faiths.