The Humanity Of The Moment

“Black and white are the colors of photography.
To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.
Most of my photographs are of people; they are seen simply, as through the eyes of the man in the street.
There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.
This kind of photography is realism.
But realism is not enough–there has to be vision, and the two together can make a good photograph.
It is difficult to describe this thin line where matter ends and mind begins.
(Robert Frank – American photographer and filmaker, b.1924)

This sadhu was walking at Scindia ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras), it was after sunrise and he was holding a traditional tiffin-box containing a meal prepared by some generous soul…

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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.

 

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Everlasting Beauty

“It`s not how old you are, it`s how you are old.”
(Jules Renard – French author, 1864–1910)

This lady came from South India in order to worship the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
After taking a bath in the holy waters, she was styling her long white hair under the sun.
The quintessence of femininity was visible through her graceful gestures…she was beautiful…

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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.

Out Of The Depths

 

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.
These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.
Beautiful people do not just happen.”
(Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Swiss American psychiatrist, 1926–2004)

This man was enjoying the first monsoon rain nearby Raj ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
I thought that there was a real elegance coming from his attitude, the kind of elegance which belongs to those who know the depth of life…

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

A Revealed Paradise

“It is this admirable, this immortal, instinctive sense of beauty that leads us to look upon the spectacle of this world as a glimpse, a correspondence with heaven.
Our unquenchable thirst for all that lies beyond, and that life reveals, is the liveliest proof of our immortality.
It is both by poetry and through poetry, by music and through music, that the soul dimly descries the splendours beyond the tomb; and when an exquisite poem brings tears to our eyes, those tears are not a proof of overabundant joy: they bear witness rather to an impatient melancholy, a clamant demand by our nerves, our nature, exiled in imperfection, which would fain enter into immediate possession, while still on this earth, of a revealed paradise.”
(Charles Baudelaire – French poet, 1821-1867)

This amazing mansion gathering classical Indian and European styles stands at Rani ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
This ghat is far from the center, in a very quiet place away from the noise and the turmoil of the city.
On this side of the river many other buildings recall the splendour of the past which once made the renown of the City of Lights…

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Many Ways to Worship

“I’ve learned much from the land of many gods and many ways to worship. 
From Buddhism the power to begin to manage my mind, from Jainism the desire to make peace in all aspects of life, while Islam has taught me to desire goodness and to let go of that which cannot be controlled. 
I thank Judaism for teaching me the power of transcendence in rituals and the Sufis for affirming my ability to find answers within and reconnecting me with the power of music. 
Here’s to the Parsis for teaching me that nature must be touched lightly, and the Sikhs for the importance of spiritual strength….
And most of all, I thank Hinduism for showing me that there are millions of paths to the divine.” 
(From “Holy Cow” by Sarah Macdonald)

This is a close-up of a part of the Dhamek Stupa in Sarnath located at 13 km away from Varanasi (Benaras).
The Dhamek Stupa is said to mark the spot of a deer park (Rishipattana) where the Buddha gave the first sermon to his five disciples after attaining enlightenment, “revealing his Eightfold Path leading to nirvana”.
In its current shape, the stupa is an impressive cylinder of bricks and stone reaching a height of 43.6 meters and having a diameter of 28 meters (128 feet high and 93 feet in diameter).
The basement seems to have survived from Ashoka’s structure: the stone facing is chiseled and displays delicate floral carvings of Gupta origin. 
The wall is covered with exquisitely carved figures of humans and birds, as well as inscriptions in the Brāhmī script.
This picture was shot at the time of a visit of his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

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Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
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Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat

“…Is jagaa hum mile phool dil mein khile
Kya khabar, kya pataa hum mein tum mein ho kya
Baaton baaton mein kabhi, aankhon aakhon mein kabhi…”
(…We meet in this place and flowers bloom in my heart
Who knows what there is in you and me
Sometimes in words, sometimes in eyes…)
(From the song “Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat”)

This picture was shot in the Lodi Gardens in Delhi where I saw this couple in love enjoying a moment of cool breeze before sunset…

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

“Knock, And He’ll open the door
Vanish, And He’ll make you shine like the sun
Fall, And He’ll raise you to the heavens
Become nothing, And He’ll turn you into everything.”
(Rumi (Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi) – Persian poet and Sufi mystic, 1207-1273)

This picture was shot at the entrance of a little temple which is on the last floor of the massive palace standing at Balaji Ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
I was standing at the end of a long dark staircase where I could listen to some bat echolocation calls providing a mysterious atmosphere and suddenly a man opened the door.
The shrine was absorbed by a warm light, there was a feeling of deep quietness and devotion, maybe it was led by the breath of the Divine.
Then from nothing everything became possible…

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Forgetfulness

“What is a man’s life but a prelude to his death?
And what is death but a long sleep, a most welcome forgetfulness.”
(From “Ophelia” by Lisa M. Klein)

This young man was not dying like Shakespeare’s Ophelia, he was simply doing yoga in the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) and was floating as quiet and still as possible for deep relaxation.
This picture was shot early in the morning at Scindia ghat.

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

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“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.
When actions come from another section, the feeling disappears.
Don’t let others lead you.

They may be blind or, worse, vultures.
Reach for the rope of God.
And what is that ?
Putting aside self-will.
Because of willfulness people sit in jail, the trapped bird’s wings are tied, fish sizzle in the skillet.
The anger of police is willfulness.
You’ve seen a magistrate inflict visible punishment.
Now see the invisible.
If you could leave your selfishness, you would see how you’ve been torturing your soul.
We are born and live inside black water in a well.
How could we know what an open field of sunlight is ?
Don’t insist on going where you think you want to go.
Ask the way to the spring.
Your living pieces will form a harmony.
There is a moving palace that floats in the air with balconies and clear water flowing through, infinity everywhere, yet contained under a single tent.”
(“Moving Water” by Jalal ad-Din Rumi – Persian poet and Sufi mystic, 1207-1273)

Those moving waters take a spiritual veil whenever they flow along the banks of Varanasi (Benaras), the Eternal city.
The holy waters of the Ganges for eternity, infinity and harmony…

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