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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Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
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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.

A Second’s Encounter With Eternity

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.
And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”
(From “Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho)

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.

A Solitary Tear

“The Taj Mahal rises above the banks of the river like a solitary tear suspended on the cheek of time.”
(Rabindranath Tagore – Indian Poet, Playwright and Essayist. Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, 1861-1941)

There is nothing left to take away to this solitary tear which reflects on the Yamuna river.
In this cruel and imperfect world, the Taj is the proof that Love can still create perfection…”Dilruba”…

For all the Taj Mahal lovers, this is the new commercial by Guerlain for “Shalimar”, the unforgettable scent since the 20’s…
youtu.be/vL6XJw8Oe5M

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© 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.

With A Sprinkle Of Golden Dreams

“Are you looking for gold, friend?
Look around you; anything useful to you is pure gold, pure silver!”
(Mehmet Murat ildan – Turkish author, b.1965)

This picture was shot at Scindia ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
Two friends were finishing their daily yoga exercises in the river.
It was at dawn when reality is still foggy with a sprinkle of dreams and allows the holy waters of the Ganges to become gold…

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© 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.

Ageless, Outside of Time

“There is a certain part of all of us that lives outside of time. Perhaps we become aware of our age only at exceptional moments and most of the time we are ageless.”
(From “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera)

Sometimes I walk in the maze of the galis, the narrow lanes making the old Varanasi (Benaras), while I am simply following the scent of a deep incense.
I meet pilgrims, beggars, sadhus, lost foreigners and cows along my way who make the essence of the oldest living city in the world…
There is no use to daydream anymore among those ubiquitous little beams of magic soaked in nostalgia…

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© 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.

The Desire to Fall

“Anyone whose goal is ‘something higher’ must expect someday to suffer vertigo.
What is vertigo?
Fear of falling?
No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling.
It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves.”
(From ” The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera)

Sometimes daydreaming along the Ganges provides a sensory disorder or a sensation of being off-balance and then a strong desire to fall.
To fall and forget everything, to confide in the holy waters like this young man diving at Scindia ghat in Varanasi (Benaras)…

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With Gold At Both Ends

“Dare to love yourself
as if you were a rainbow
with gold at both ends.”
(From “The River of Winged Dreams” by Aberjhani)

This young man was diving in the river of golden dreams at Scindia ghat in Varanasi (Benaras)…

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Poetry in the city

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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.

“I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung up and ready to pounce, determined to ‘trap’ life – to preserve life in the act of living.
Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.”
(Henri Cartier-Bresson – French photographe, 1908–2004)

This picture was shot in Kalkaji in the garden which is at the corner of the place where I stay whenever I am in Delhi.
By chance I saw this beautiful horse grazing the grass among the tropical plants and the benches and bringing poetry to the city…

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“Clash of the Titans”

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“We enjoy playing with each other, which I think is a pretty important part of this.
If we didn’t, we’d have given it up a long time ago.
The idea when we started was to take five people and keep ’em together no matter what and see what we could get out of it, and we’ve pretty much stuck to that plan.”
(Tom Petty – American Rock star, Guitarist and Singer (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) b.1950)

Tom Petty facing Steve Ferrone while performing on stage.
Those legends of Music gave an outstanding concert…

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