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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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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Magnificence and Rats

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“Evermore in the world is this marvelous balance of beauty and disgust, magnificence and rats.”
(Ralph Waldo Emerson – American Poet and Essayist, 1803-1882)

Those words could echo in a few streets of Varanasi (Benaras) but the dreams always overpower for those who want to see the stars through the souls of those who walk there…
I always enjoy to see this building which has an amazing architecture blending so many influences whenever I go from Hathua Market to Nai Sarak in Ramakant Nagar.
There many houses and constructions like this one are holding traces of the splendor of the past when the Eternal city was bathing in opulence and magnificence…

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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.

“While the Unbelievers got up in their hearts heat and cant – the heat and cant of ignorance,- Allah sent down His Sakina – tranquility (sakīnatahu) to his Messenger and to the Believers, and made them stick close to the command of self-restraint; and well were they entitled to it and worthy of it.
And Allah has full knowledge of all things.”
(The Qur’an [48:26])

Sukaina is the Spirit of Tranquility, or Peace of Reassurance it’s also a shortened form of the original word “Sakina” which is mentioned in the Quran as having descended upon the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the believers as they made an unarmed pilgrimage to Mecca, and were faced with an opposing military force of the Quraysh, with whom the Prophet struck the Treaty of Hudaybiyah.
“He it is Who sent down the sakina into the hearts of the believers that they might add faith unto their faith”.
(The Qur’an [48:4])
The sakina is related to the Hebrew Shekhinah, the term for God’s presence in the world.
The root of the word is sa-ka-na which means “dwelled” or “remained in place”.
This further supports the association with the Shekhinah as “indwelling”.
Sufi writings, in expounding the inner peace of Sufi contemplation, which dwells in a sanctuary or in the heart, confirm the association with both Sakina and the Shekhinah.
Sufi reference to sa-ka-na as meaning both stillness and habitation adds to the identity with Shekhinah’s indwelling nature.
Another Quranic association with the concord of dwellings in peace coincides with the attribution of the Shekhinah to matrimonial concord under the tent of Sarah:
“And God gave you your houses as a quiescent place (sakanan).” (The Qur’an [16:80])

This is a close-up of the bulb roof of the Chhota Imambara, also known as Hussainabad Imambara or the Palace of Lights, located in Lucknow, the city of the Nawabs in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.Built by Muhammad Ali Shah, The third Nawab of Avadh in 1838, it was to serve as his own mausoleum.

Over All Things

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“Surely those who believe and those who are Jews and the Sabeans and the Christians and the Magians and those who associate (others with Allah) – surely Allah will decide between them on the day of resurrection; surely Allah is a witness over all things.”
(The Qur’an [22.17])

“Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.”
(The Qur’an [2.62])

Islam is not a new religion, but the same truth that God revealed through all His prophets to every people.
According to those verses of the Qur’an, mentioned above, if you are Jewish or Christian you are Muslim as long as you do God’s will.
A Muslim is an adherent of Islam, it can be translate by “one who submits (to God)”.
Muslims believe in a chain of prophets starting with Adam and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, John the Baptist, and Jesus, “peace be upon them”.
The ten commandments from the Torah are in the Qur’an, and Islam holds the belief that Mohamed was the one Jesus predicted would finish the prophesies (temple and Kaaba) that where expected of the Messiah, himself, although Judaic prophesies disagree with any mesiah who performed miracles.

For a fifth of the world’s population, Islam is both a religion and a complete way of life.
Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness and the majority have nothing to do with all events which have come to be associated with their faith.

This is a close-up of a wall painting at the entrance of the Chhota Imambara, also known as Hussainabad Imambara or the Palace of Lights, located in Lucknow, the city of the Nawabs in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Dreaming by Moonlight

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“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”
(Oscar Wilde quotes – Irish Poet and Novelist, 1854-1900)

Following the birds which belongs to some kind of ethereal dreams, this is now the Asfi Masjid (mosque) which is one the largest places of worship in India.
It is in the Bara Imambara (also called the Asafi Imambara) complex in Lucknow, the city of Nawabs, built by Asaf-ud-daulah, Nawab of Lucknow, in 1784.
Bara means big, and an imambara is a shrine built by Shia Muslims for the purpose of Azadari.

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Dreaming the Past

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“I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time.
It expands later, and thus we don’t have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.”
(Virginia Woolf – English writer, 1882-1941)

This is a view of the Chhota Imambara, also known as Hussainabad Imambara, which is located in the city of Lucknow, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Built by Muhammad Ali Shah, The third Nawab of Avadh in 1838, it was to serve as his own mausoleum.
It is also known as the Palace of Lights.
Thousands of labourers worked on the project to gain famine relief.

This picture was shot at the time of sunset, the monument was reflecting in the waters and there was a kind of magic all around the place, it was easy to feel how the past could have been beautiful in the City of Nawabs.

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