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.

 

 

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.

The Dawning of Knowledge

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“No man can reveal to you nothing but that which already lies half-asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.”
( Kahlil Gibran – Lebanese born American philosophical essayist, novelist and poet. 1883-1931)

This picture was shot a few hours ago near Vijayanagaram ghat along the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
Today the oldest living city in the world was celebrating Dev Diwali, it was an opportunity for many to come to the river in order to persue their quest of wisdom.
Here and there some people were worshipping while others were dancing and having fun with a loud music in front of funeral pyres reminding the circle of life and the meaning of what we are.
Those young bramhans were happy to be there at a few steps of their school, they allowed me to carry on my attempt to capture a few colours of the human soul…

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The Purpose of Learning

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“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live.”
(Mortimer Adler – American Philosopher, 1902-2001)

This young boy was following a teaching among a large class of young Bramhan pupils at Vijayanagaram ghat along the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).

Free and compulsory education to all children up to the age fourteen is constitutional commitment in India.
The Parliament of India has recently passed Right to Education Act through which education has become fundamental right of all children of age group 6-14 year.
The Article 46 of the Constitution of India holds that:
“The State shall promote, with special care, the education and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of social exploitation”.

Attaining Truth in His Own Way

 

“Religious faith in the case of the Hindus has never been allowed to run counter to scientific laws, moreover the former is never made a condition for the knowledge they teach, but there are always scrupulously careful to take into consideration the possibility that by reason both the agnostic and atheist may attain truth in their own way. 
Such tolerance may be surprising to religious believers in the West, but it is an integral part of Vedantic belief.”
(Romain Rolland – French Nobel laureate,1866-1944)

Every evening there is a Hindu ritual at Dasaswamedh ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
It is called Ganga Aarti and it is performed by students from the Sanskrit University who will become Hindu priests like this young man.

The purpose of performing aarti is the waving of lighted wicks before the deities in a spirit of humility and gratitude, wherein faithful followers become immersed in God’s divine form. 
It symbolises the five elements: 
space (akash), wind (vayu), light (tej), water (jal), and earth (pruthvi).