On The Path To Moksha

 

“The longing for Paradise is man’s longing not to be man.”
(From “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera)

This picture was shot at Manikarnika Ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) where Hindus are cremated hoping to receive moksha, freedom from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth.
Moksha allows one to see the truth and reality behind the fog of ignorance and reach a state of knowledge, peace and bliss…

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In The Dense Atmosphere Of The Living

“I tell you once and for all— in front of the angel pictures
on the wall, that I am not a host to load-bearing ghosts or headyentities, and if I was ever holy, I have fallen far
into the dense atmosphere of the living.”
(From ” Drum Machine” by Kristen Henderson)

This is a street near Bari Bazar Road where I often go to my weavers worshop, this place always bring me back to the dense atmosphere of the living…

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The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer.
You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things.
But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.”
(David Bailey – English fashion and portrait photographer, b.1938)

This picture was shot in a little village near Varanasi (Benaras) where a few workers of the Red Haloteam live.
When I come and visit the families I enjoy taking pictures of the ordinary countryside life which I find extraordinary as it reminds me a few images from old Indian movies I used to watch when I was a teenager.
Time has passed living fragments of nostalgia and the illusion that hours, months or years could stop over there…

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From The Soul

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
(Jalal ud-Din Rumi known as Rumi – Persian poet and theologian, 1207-1273)

Early in the morning, I met these two young men who were washing their garments in the holy waters of the Ganges at Lal ghat in Varanasi.

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Planet of the Apes

“That perfected machines may one day succeed us is, I remember, an extremely commonplace notion on Earth.
It prevails not only among poets and romantics but in all classes of society.
Perhaps it is because it is so widespread, born spontaneously in popular imagination, that it irritates scientific minds. 
Perhaps it is also for this very reason that it contains a germ of truth.
Only a germ: Machines will always be machines; the most perfected robot, always a robot.
But what of living creatures possessing a certain degree of intelligence, like apes?
And apes, precisely, are endowed with a keen sense of imitation.…”
(From “Planet of the Apes” by Pierre Boulle)

Someone dropped by chance a rice packet in a gali leading to the Ganges and in a jiffy many monkeys came down from almost every rooftops to collect the precious cereal grains.
They were absolutly naughty and very noisy so most of the people had to turn back trying to find other ways to reach the ghats…

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Coming Further In

“I have come home at last!
This is my real country!
I belong here. 
This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now…
Come further up, come further in!”
(From “The Last Battle” by C.S. Lewis)

In Varanasi (Benaras) there is a temple between Scindia ghat and Manikarnika ghat which is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
This temple doesn’t look like any other in the city because of its amazing sculptures with angels which are all around the shrine.
Those angels are musicians and they all play a different instrument.
Each time I come, there is no one, then I am alone in this dreamy atmosphere.
I know it is a kind of gate to after death as just nearby funeral pyres burn day and night at the cremation ghat which is underneath.
However this is not the reason why there are angels here.
I became close to the priest and his family who are keeping this sanctuary, sometimes he is making a puja for me and each time we meet he applies a refreshing ointment on my forehead made of eucalyptus and turmeric…

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Wearing A Throw

“Wearing A Throw”

“It wasn’t easy looking dignified wearing a bed sheet and a purple cape.”
(From “The Son of Neptune” by Rick Riordan)

Anand is wrapped in a throw made of pure linen with a aari embroidery.
(style “Akbar” – 150×200 – 100% linen – Col. Grey – Collection RED HALO))

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

“Like” the RED HALO page on Facebook and join this amazing human adventure in Varanasi,www.facebook.com/redhalo.in

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https://www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography

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A Statue Inside

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”
(Michelangelo – Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance, 1475- 1564)

Woolen throw with an aari embroidery.
(Throw style “Saawan” – Col. Ice – 150×200 – 100% Wool – Collection RED HALO)

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

Visit and join the RED HALO page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in

Join the photographer at
www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
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The Power Of Celebration

“People of our time are losing the power of celebration.
Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained.
Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation.
To be entertained is a passive state–it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle….
Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions.”
(From “The Wisdom of Heschel” by Abraham Joshua Heschel)

This was shot from the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) during the celebrations of Dev Diwali on the occasion of Kartik Poornima.
The festival of Lights is a mark of welcome to the Gods as it is believed that they descend on earth on that special day.
In the evening under the full moon reflecting in the holy waters each ghat is performing Ganga Aarti with vedic hymns chanted by priests in order to please and welcome the Gods.

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© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
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Sacred Moments

“A ritual becomes the match that lights the kindred celebration candle of sacred moments long ago… tantalizing these entombed spirits to surface again.”
(Wes Adamson)

This was shot from a boat on the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) during the celebrations of Dev Diwali on the occasion of Kartik Poornima.
The festival of Lights is a mark of welcome to the Gods as it is believed that they descend on earth on that special day.
In the evening under the full moon reflecting in the holy waters each ghat is performing Ganga Aarti with vedic hymns chanted by priests in order to please and welcome the Gods.

Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.