Elvis Aaron Presley[a] (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), often referred to mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to both great success and initial controversy.

 

Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on rhythm acoustic guitar, and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. In 1955, drummer D. J. Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage him for more than two decades. Presley's first RCA Victor single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. Within a year, RCA would sell ten million Presley singles. With a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records, Presley became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll; though his performative style and promotion of the then-marginalized sound of African Americans[6] led to him being widely considered a threat to the moral well-being of the White American youth.

 

In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender. Drafted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. He held few concerts, however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. Some of his most famous films included Jailhouse Rock (1957), Blue Hawaii (1961), and Viva Las Vegas (1964). In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii. Years of prescription drug abuse and unhealthy eating habits severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42.

 

Having sold over 400 million records worldwide, Presley is recognized as the best-selling solo music artist of all time by Guinness World Records. He was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, rhythm & blues, adult contemporary, and gospel. Presley won three Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. He holds several records, including the most RIAA-certified gold and platinum albums, the most albums charted on the Billboard 200, the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, and the most number-one singles by any act on the UK Singles Chart. In 2018, Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

 

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Vernon Elvis (April 10, 1916 – June 26, 1979) and Gladys Love (née Smith; April 25, 1912 – August 14, 1958) Presley in a two-room shotgun house that his father built for the occasion. Elvis's identical twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley, was delivered 35 minutes before him, stillborn. Presley became close to both parents and formed an especially close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God church, where he found his initial musical inspiration.

  

A photo of Elvis's parents at the Historic Blue Moon Museum in Verona, Mississippi

Presley's father Vernon was of German, Scottish and English origins. He was a descendant of the Harrison family of Virginia through his ancestor Tunis Hood. Presley's mother Gladys was Scots-Irish with some French Norman ancestry. His mother and the rest of the family believed that her great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was Cherokee. This belief was restated by Elvis's granddaughter Riley Keough in 2017. Elaine Dundy, in her biography, supports the belief.

 

Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, showing little ambition. The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of altering a check written by his landowner and sometime-employer. He was jailed for eight months, while Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives.

 

In September 1941, Presley entered first grade at East Tupelo Consolidated, where his teachers regarded him as "average". He was encouraged to enter a singing contest after impressing his schoolteacher with a rendition of Red Foley's country song "Old Shep" during morning prayers. The contest, held at the Mississippi–Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on October 3, 1945, was his first public performance. The ten-year-old Presley stood on a chair to reach the microphone and sang "Old Shep". He recalled placing fifth. A few months later, Presley received his first guitar for his birthday; he had hoped for something else—by different accounts, either a bicycle or a rifle. Over the following year, he received basic guitar lessons from two of his uncles and the new pastor at the family's church. Presley recalled, "I took the guitar, and I watched people, and I learned to play a little bit. But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it."

 

In September 1946, Presley entered a new school, Milam, for sixth grade; he was regarded as a loner. The following year, he began bringing his guitar to school on a daily basis. He played and sang during lunchtime and was often teased as a "trashy" kid who played hillbilly music. By then, the family was living in a largely black neighborhood. Presley was a devotee of Mississippi Slim's show on the Tupelo radio station WELO. He was described as "crazy about music" by Slim's younger brother, who was one of Presley's classmates and often took him into the station. Slim supplemented Presley's guitar instruction by demonstrating chord techniques. When his protégé was 12 years old, Slim scheduled him for two on-air performances. Presley was overcome by stage fright the first time, but succeeded in performing the following week.

 

In November 1948, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. After residing for nearly a year in rooming houses, they were granted a two-bedroom apartment in the public housing complex known as the Lauderdale Courts. Enrolled at L. C. Humes High School, Presley received only a C in music in eighth grade. When his music teacher told him that he had no aptitude for singing, he brought in his guitar the next day and sang a recent hit, "Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers Off Me", to prove otherwise. A classmate later recalled that the teacher "agreed that Elvis was right when he said that she didn't appreciate his kind of singing". He was usually too shy to perform openly and was occasionally bullied by classmates who viewed him as a "mama's boy".

 

In 1950, he began practicing guitar regularly under the tutelage of Lee Denson, a neighbor two and a half years his senior. They and three other boys—including two future rockabilly pioneers, brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette—formed a loose musical collective that played frequently around the Courts. That September, he began working as an usher at Loew's State Theater. Other jobs followed at Precision Tool, Loew's again, and MARL Metal Products. Presley also helped Jewish neighbors, the Fruchters, by being their shabbos goy.

 

During his junior year, Presley began to stand out more among his classmates, largely because of his appearance: he grew his sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil and Vaseline. In his free time, he would head down to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis's thriving blues scene, and gaze longingly at the wild, flashy clothes in the windows of Lansky Brothers. By his senior year, he was wearing those clothes. Overcoming his reticence about performing outside the Lauderdale Courts, he competed in Humes' Annual "Minstrel" show in April 1953. Singing and playing guitar, he opened with "Till I Waltz Again with You", a recent hit for Teresa Brewer. Presley recalled that the performance did much for his reputation: "I wasn't popular in school ... I failed music—only thing I ever failed. And then they entered me in this talent show ... when I came onstage I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering and so forth, 'cause nobody knew I even sang. It was amazing how popular I became in school after that."

 

Presley, who received no formal music training and could not read music, studied and played by ear. He also frequented record stores that provided jukeboxes and listening booths to customers. He knew all of Hank Snow's songs, and he loved records by other country singers such as Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Wills. The Southern gospel singer Jake Hess, one of his favorite performers, was a significant influence on his ballad-singing style. He was a regular audience member at the monthly All-Night Singings downtown, where many of the white gospel groups that performed reflected the influence of African-American spiritual music. He adored the music of black gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

 

Like some of his peers, he may have attended blues venues—of necessity, in the segregated South—only on nights designated for exclusively white audiences. He certainly listened to the regional radio stations, such as WDIA-AM, that played "race records": spirituals, blues, and the modern, backbeat-heavy sound of rhythm and blues. Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African-American musicians such as Arthur Crudup and Rufus Thomas. B.B. King recalled that he had known Presley before he was popular when they both used to frequent Beale Street. By the time he graduated from high school in June 1953, Presley had already singled out music as his future.

 

Graceland is a mansion on a 13.8-acre (5.6-hectare) estate in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, which was once owned by the rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. His daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited Graceland after his death in 1977. Following Lisa Marie Presley's death in 2023, the mansion is to be inherited by her daughters. In addition to being the final resting place of Elvis Presley himself, the property contains the graves of his parents, paternal grandmother and grandson, and contains a memorial to Presley's stillborn twin brother. In addition, Lisa Marie Presley will be buried there.

 

Graceland is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the Whitehaven neighborhood, about nine miles (14 kilometers) south of central Memphis and fewer than four miles (6.4 km) north of the Mississippi border.[5] It was opened to the public as a house museum on June 7, 1982. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991, becoming the first site recognized for significance related to rock music. Graceland was declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006, also a first for such a site. Graceland attracts more than 650,000 visitors annually.

 

Graceland Farms was originally owned by Stephen C. Toof, founder of S.C. Toof & Co., the oldest commercial printing firm in Memphis. He worked previously as the pressroom foreman of the Memphis newspaper, the Memphis Daily Appeal. The "grounds" (before the mansion was built in 1939) were named after Toof's daughter, Grace. She inherited the farm/property from her father in 1894. After her death, the property was passed to her niece Ruth Moore, a Memphis socialite. Together with her husband, Thomas Moore, Ruth Moore commissioned construction of a 10,266-square-foot (953.7 m2) Colonial Revival style mansion in 1939. The house was designed by architects Furbringer and Ehrman.

 

After Elvis Presley began his musical career, he purchased a $40,000 home for himself and his family at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis. As his success and fame grew, especially after his appearances on television, the number of fans who would congregate outside the house multiplied. Presley's neighbors, although happy to have a celebrity living nearby, soon concluded that the constant gathering of fans and journalists was a nuisance.

 

In early 1957, Presley gave his parents, Vernon and Gladys Presley, a budget of $100,000 and asked them to find a "farmhouse"-like property to purchase, with buffer space around it. At the time, Graceland was located in southern Shelby County, several miles south of Memphis' main urban area. In later years, Memphis would expand with residential developments, resulting in Graceland being surrounded by other properties. Presley purchased Graceland on March 19, 1957, for the amount of $102,500.

 

Later that year, Presley invited Richard Williams and singer Buzz Cason to the house. Cason said: "We proceeded to clown around on the front porch, striking our best rock 'n' roll poses and snapping pictures with the little camera. We peeked in the not-yet-curtained windows and got a kick out of the pastel colored walls in the front rooms with shades of bright reds and purples that Elvis most certainly had picked out." Presley was fond of claiming that the US government had mooted a visit to Graceland by Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, "to see how in America a fellow can start out with nothing and, you know, make good."

 

After Gladys died in 1958 aged 46, Presley's father Vernon remarried to Dee Stanley in 1960, and the couple lived at Graceland for a time. There was some discord between Presley and his stepmother Dee at Graceland, however. Elaine Dundy, who wrote about Presley and his mother, said that

 

"Vernon had settled down with Dee where Gladys had once reigned, while Dee herself – when Elvis was away – had taken over the role of mistress of Graceland so thoroughly as to rearrange the furniture and replace the very curtains that Gladys had approved of." This was too much for the singer, who still loved his late mother deeply. One afternoon, "a van arrived ... and all Dee's household's goods, clothes, 'improvements,' and her own menagerie of pets, were loaded on ... while Vernon, Dee and her three children went by car to a nearby house on Hermitage until they finally settled into a house on Dolan Drive which ran alongside Elvis' estate."

 

According to Mark Crispin Miller, Graceland became for Presley "the home of the organization that was himself, was tended by a large vague clan of Presleys and deputy Presleys, each squandering the vast gratuities which Elvis used to keep his whole world smiling." The author adds that Presley's father Vernon "had a swimming pool in his bedroom", that there "was a jukebox next to the swimming pool, containing Elvis' favorite records", and that the singer himself "would spend hours in his bedroom, watching his property on a closed-circuit television." According to the singer's cousin, Billy Smith, Presley spent the night at Graceland with Smith and his wife Jo many times: "we were all three there talking for hours about everything in the world! Sometimes he would have a bad dream and come looking for me to talk to, and he would actually fall asleep in our bed with us."

 

Priscilla Beaulieu lived at Graceland for five years before she and Presley wed in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 1, 1967. Their daughter Lisa Marie Presley was born on February 1, 1968, and spent the first years of her life on the estate. After her parents divorced in 1972, her mother moved with the girl to California. Every year around Christmas, Lisa Marie Presley and all her family would go to Graceland to celebrate Christmas together. Lisa Marie often returned to Graceland for visits.

 

When Elvis would tour, staying in hotels, "the rooms would be remodeled in advance of his arrival, so as to make the same configurations of space as he had at home – the Graceland mansion. His furniture would arrive, and he could unwind after his performances in surroundings which were completely familiar and comforting." 'The Jungle Room' was described as being "an example of particularly lurid kitsch."[

 

On August 16, 1977, Presley died aged 42 at Graceland. The official cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, although later toxicology reports strongly suggested that polypharmacy was the primary cause of death; "fourteen drugs were found in Elvis' system, with several drugs such as codeine in significant quantities. Presley lay in repose in a 900-pound (410 kg), copper-lined coffin just inside the foyer; more than 3,500 of his mourning fans passed by to pay their respects. A private funeral with 200 mourners was held on August 18, 1977, in the house, with the casket placed in front of the stained glass doorway of the music room. Graceland continued to be occupied by members of the family until the death of Presley's aunt Delta in 1993, who had moved in at Elvis's invitation after her husband's death. Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited the estate in 1993 when she turned 25.

 

Presley's tombstone, along with those of his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, and his grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, are installed in the Meditation Garden next to the mansion. They can be visited during the mansion tours or for free before the mansion tours begin. A memorial gravestone for Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon, is also at the site.

 

In 2019, the owners of Graceland threatened to leave Memphis unless the city provided tax incentives. The Memphis City Council subsequently voted on a deal to help fund a $100 million expansion of Graceland.

 

Constructed at the top of a hill and surrounded by rolling pastures and a grove of oak trees, Graceland is designed by the Memphis architectural firm, Furbringer and Erhmanis. It's a two-story, five-bay residence in the Colonial Revival style, with a side-facing gabled roof covered in asphalt shingles, a central two-story projecting pedimented portico, and two one-story wings on the north and south sides. Attached to the wing is an additional one-story stuccoed wing, which was originally a garage that houses up to four cars. The mansion has two chimneys; one on the north side's exterior wall, the second rising through the south side's roof ridge. The central block's front and side facades are veneered with tan Tishomingo limestone from Mississippi and its rear wall is stuccoed, as are the one-story wings. The front facade fenestration on the first floor includes 9x9 double-hung windows set in arched openings with wooden panels above, and 6x6 double-hung windows on the second floor.

 

Flanked by two marble lions, four stone steps ascend from the driveway to the two-story central projecting pedimented portico. The pediment has dentils and a small, leaded oval window in the center while the portico contains four Corinthian columns with capitals modeled after architect James Stuart's conjectural porticos for the "Tower of the Winds" in Athens, Greece. The portico's cornered columns are matched by pilasters on the front facade. The doorway has a broken arched pediment, full entablature, and engaged columns while its transom and sidelights contain elaborate and colorful stained glass. And above the main entrance is another rectangular window, completed with a shallow iron balcony.

 

Graceland is 17,552 square feet (1,630.6 m2) and has a total of 23 rooms, including eight bedrooms and bathrooms. To the right of the Entrance Hall, through an elliptical-arched opening with classical details, is the Living Room. The Living Room contains a 15-foot-long (4.6 m) white couch against the wall overlooking the front yard. To the left are two white sofas, a china cabinet and a fireplace with a mirrored wall. The painting that hangs in the room was Elvis' last Christmas present from his father, Vernon, and also displayed are photographs of Elvis' parents Vernon and Gladys, Elvis and Lisa Marie. Behind an adjoined doorway is the Music Room, framed by vivid large peacocks set in stained glass and contains a black baby grand piano and a 1950s style TV. And the third adjacent room is a bedroom that was occupied by Elvis' parents. The walls, carpet, dresser, and queen size bed are bright white with the bed draped in a velvet-looking dark purple bedspread along with an en-suite full bathroom done in pink.

 

To the left of the Entrance Hall, mirroring the Living Room, is the Dining Room, headlined by a massive crystal chandelier. It features six plush chairs in golden metal frames set around a marble table, all of which are placed on black marble flooring in the center with carpet around the perimeter. Connected to the Dining Room is the Kitchen, which was used by Elvis' aunt Delta until her death in 1993 before it was opened to the public two years later.

 

The original one-story wing on the north end of the residence includes a mechanical room, bedroom, and bath. In the mid-1960s, Presley enlarged the house to create a den known as the Jungle Room which features an indoor waterfall of cut field stone on the north wall. The room also contains items both related to and imported from the state of Hawaii because, after starring in the tropical film "Blue Hawaii" (1961), the musician wanted to bring some memorabilia from The Aloha State to his mansion, which gives visitors the same feeling. In 1976, the Jungle Room was converted into a recording studio, where he recorded the bulk of his final two albums, From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee (1976) and Moody Blue (1977); these were his final known recordings in a studio setting.[27] During the mid-1960s expansion of the house, Presley constructed a large wing on the south side of the main house that was a sidewalk, between the music room in the original one-story wing and the swimming pool area, that connected to the house by a small enclosed gallery. The new wing initially housed a slot car track and to store his many items of appreciation, but was later remodeled to what is now known as the Trophy Building, which now features an exhibit about the Presley family, and includes Priscilla's wedding dress, Elvis' wedding tuxedo, Lisa Marie's toy chest and baby clothes and more.

 

The Entrance Hall contains a white staircase leading to the house's second floor with a wall of mirrors. However, the second floor is not open to visitors, out of respect for the Presley family, and partially to avoid any improper focus on the bathroom which was the site of his death. Still, it features Elvis' bedroom at the southwest corner that connects to his dressing room and bathroom in the northwest. His daughter Lisa Marie's bedroom is in the northeast corner, and in the southeast is a bedroom that served as a private personal office for the musician. The floor has been untouched since the day Elvis died and is rarely seen by non-family members.

 

Downstairs in the basement is the TV room, where Elvis often watched three television sets at once, and was within close reach of a wet bar. The three TV sets are built into the room's south wall and there's a stereo, and cabinets for Elvis' record collection. And painted on the west wall is The King's 1970s logo of a lightning bolt and cloud with the initials TCB, both of which represent 'taking care of business in a flash'. And the last room in the mansion opposite of the TV room is the billiard room; an avid billiards player, Elvis bought the pool table in 1960 and had the walls and ceiling covered with 350–400 yards of pleated cotton fabric after the two basement rooms were remodeled in 1974. The pool balls are arranged just the way they were in the musician's final days along with a strict warning sign to visitors that says "Please Do Not Touch! Thank You!" in capital letters. And in one corner of the pool table, there's a rip in the green felt, which was caused by one of Elvis' friends in a failed attempt of a trick shot.

 

Critics such as Albert Goldman write: "Though it cost a lot of money to fill up Graceland with the things that appealed to Elvis Presley, nothing in the house is worth a dime." In chapter 1 of his book, Elvis (1981), the author describes Graceland as looking like a brothel: "it appears to have been lifted from some turn-of-the-century bordello down in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Lulu White or the Countess Willie Piazza might have contrived this plushy parlor for the entertainment of Gyp the Blood. The room is a gaudy mélange of red velour and gilded tassels, Louis XV furniture and porcelain bric-a-brac..." And he dismisses the interior as "bizarre," "garish" and "phony," adding that "King Elvis's obsession with royal red reaches an intensity that makes you gag."

 

In similar terms, Greil Marcus writes that people who visited the inside of Graceland—"people who to a real degree shared Elvis Presley’s class background, and whose lives were formed by his music—have returned with one word to describe what they saw: ‘Tacky.’ Tacky, garish, tasteless—words others translated as white trash."

 

According to Karal Ann Marling, Graceland is "a Technicolor illusion. The façade is Gone With the Wind all the way. The den in the back is Mogambo with a hint of Blue Hawaii. Living in Graceland was like living on a Hollywood backlot, where patches of tropical scenery alternated with the blackened ruins of antebellum Atlanta. It was like living in a Memphis movie theater... Diehard fans are sometimes disappointed by the formal rooms along the highway side of Graceland. They’re beautiful, in a chilly blue-and-white way, but remote and overarranged." The Jungle Room's "overt bad taste" lets nonbelievers "recoil in horror and imagine themselves a notch or two higher than Elvis on the class scale."

 

After purchasing the property Presley spent in excess of $500,000 carrying out extensive modifications to suit his needs including a pink Alabama fieldstone wall surrounding the grounds that has several years' worth of graffiti (signatures and messages) from visitors, who simply refer to it as "the wall". Designed and built by Abe Sauer is the wrought-iron front gate shaped like a book of sheet music, along with green colored musical notes and two mirrored silhouettes of Elvis playing his guitar. Sauer also installed a kidney shaped swimming pool and a racquetball court, which is reminiscent of an old country club, furnished in dark leather and a functional bar. There is a sunken sitting area with the ever-present stereo system found throughout Graceland, as well as the dark brown upright piano upon which Elvis played for what were to be his last songs, Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and "Unchained Melody".

 

However, reports conflict about which one was the last song. The sitting area has a floor-to-ceiling shatterproof window designed to watch the many racquetball games that took place there when Elvis was alive. In the early hours of the morning on which Elvis died, he played a game of racquetball with his girlfriend Ginger Alden, his first cousin Billy Smith and Billy's wife Jo before ending the game with the song on the piano before walking into the main house to wash his hair and go to bed. Today the two story court has been restored to the way it was when Elvis used the building.

 

Elsewhere on the estate is a small white building that served as an office for Vernon, along with an old smokehouse that housed a shooting range and a fully functional stable of horses.

 

One of Presley's better known modifications was the addition of the Meditation Garden, designed and built by architect Bernard Grenadier. It was used by the musician to reflect on any problems or situations that arose during his life. It is also where his entire family is buried: himself (1935–1977), his parents Gladys (1912–1958) and Vernon (1916–1979), and grandmother Minnie Mae Hood (1890–1980) while a small stone memorializes his twin brother Jesse Garon, who died at birth thirty minutes before Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. In late 2020, Lisa Marie's son Benjamin Keough was laid to rest on the opposite end of the Meditation Garden after his death from suicide in July of that year. Lisa Marie Presley died from sudden cardiac arrest in January 2023 and is buried next to her son.

 

After Elvis Presley's death in 1977, Vernon Presley served as executor of his estate. Upon his death in 1979, he chose Priscilla to serve as the estate executor for Elvis's only child, Lisa Marie, who was only 11. Graceland itself cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Elvis's and Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie's inheritance to only $1 million. Taxes were due on the property; those and other expenses due came to over $500,000. Faced with having to sell Graceland, Priscilla examined other famous houses/museums, and hired a CEO, Jack Soden, to turn Graceland into a moneymaker. Graceland was opened to the public on June 7, 1982. Priscilla's gamble paid off; after only a month of opening Graceland's doors the estate made back all the money it had invested. Priscilla Presley became the chairwoman and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises, or EPE, stating at that time she would do so until Lisa Marie reached 21 years of age. The enterprise's fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million.

 

An annual procession through the estate and past Elvis's grave is held on the anniversary of his death. Known as Elvis Week, it includes a full schedule of speakers and events, including the only Elvis Mass at St. Paul's Church, the highlight for many Elvis fans of all faiths. The 20th Anniversary in 1997 had several hundred media groups from around the world that were present resulting in the event gaining its greatest media publicity.

 

One of the largest gatherings assembled on the 25th anniversary in 2002 with one estimate of 40,000 people in attendance, despite the heavy rain. On the 38th anniversary of Elvis's death, an estimated 30,000 people attended the Candlelight Vigil during the night of August 15–16, 2015. On the 40th anniversary of Elvis's death, on August 15–16, 2017, at least 50,000 fans were expected to attend the Candlelight Vigil. No official figure seems to have been released, maybe because, for the first time, attendees had to pay at least the lowest tour fare, $28.75, to cover the extra security costs due to a larger than usual crowd.

 

For many of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Graceland each year, the visit takes on a quasi-religious perspective. They may plan for years to journey to the home of the 'King' of rock and roll. On site, headphones narrate the salient events of Elvis's life and introduce the relics that adorn the rooms and corridors. The rhetorical mode is hagiographic, celebrating the life of an extraordinary man, emphasizing his generosity, his kindness and good fellowship, how he was at once a poor boy who made good, an extraordinary musical talent, a sinner and substance abuser, and a religious man devoted to the Gospel and its music. At the meditation garden, containing Elvis's grave, some visitors pray, kneel, or quietly sing one of Elvis's favorite hymns. The brick wall that encloses the mansion's grounds is covered with graffiti that express an admiration for Presley as well as petitions for help and thanks for favors granted.

 

The Graceland grounds include a new exhibit complex, Elvis Presley's Memphis, which includes a new car museum, Presley Motors, which houses Elvis's Pink Cadillac. The complex features new exhibits and museums, as well as a studio for Sirius Satellite Radio's all-Elvis Presley channel. The service's subscribers all over North America can hear Presley's music from Graceland around the clock. Not far away on display are his two aircraft including Lisa Marie (a Convair 880 jetliner) and Hound Dog II (a Lockheed JetStar business jet). The jets are owned by Graceland and are on permanent static display.

 

In early August 2005, Lisa Marie Presley sold 85% of the business side of her father's estate. She kept the Graceland property itself, as well as the bulk of the possessions found therein, and she turned over the management of Graceland to CKX, Inc., an entertainment company (on whose board of directors Priscilla Presley sat) that also owns 19 Entertainment, creator of the American Idol TV show.

 

Graceland Holdings LLC, led by managing partner Joel Weinshanker, is the majority owner of EPE. Lisa Marie Presley's estate retains a 15% ownership in the company.

 

In August 2018, Gladys Presley's headstone, which contained the Jewish star of David on one side and a cross on the other and was designed by Elvis himself, which become publicly displayed when it placed in Graceland's Mediation Garden after being stored for many years in the Graceland Archive.

 

Lisa Marie Presley's estate, which is being held in trust for her daughters Riley Keough and Harper and Finley Lockwood, retain 100% sole personal ownership of Graceland Mansion itself and its over 13-acre original grounds as well as Elvis Presley's personal effects – including costumes, wardrobe, awards, furniture, cars, etc. Prior to her death in 2023, Lisa Marie Presley had made the mansion property and her father's personal effects permanently available for tours of Graceland and for use in all of EPE's operations.

 

According to Elvis Presley's Enterprises, staff at Graceland informally kept a list of celebrities who had visited in the first years following Elvis's death. This practice was not formalized for a decade. Muhammad Ali was an early celebrity visitor in 1978, as was singer Paul Simon. He toured Graceland in the early 80s and afterward wrote a song of the same name; it was the title track of his Grammy-winning album Graceland.

 

During the Joshua Tree Tour in 1987, U2 toured Graceland. The footage was filmed for the film Rattle & Hum. During the visit, drummer, Larry Mullen Jr., sat on Elvis Presley's motorcycle -- against the rules for Graceland visitors.

 

On June 30, 2006, then US President George W. Bush hosted Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for a tour of the mansion. It was one of the few private residences on United States soil to have been the site of an official joint-visit by a sitting US president and a serving head of a foreign government. On August 6, 2010, Prince Albert II, Head of State of the Principality of Monaco, and his fiancée (now Princess of Monaco) Charlene Wittstock, toured Graceland while vacationing in the US. On May 26, 2013, Paul McCartney of The Beatles visited Graceland. Prince William and Prince Harry, while in Memphis for a friend's wedding, visited Graceland on May 2, 2014.

 

The home has also been visited by former US President Jimmy Carter; the late Duchess of Devonshire, the sitting ambassadors of India, France, China, Korea and Israel to the United States; as well as several US governors, members of the US Congress, and at least two Nobel Prize winners, namely singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, a Literature Prize laureate, and the former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, a Peace Prize honoree, who visited it on October 10, 2001.

 

In May 2016, Graceland welcomed a newlywed couple as its 20 millionth visitor.

 

In June 2022, actors Austin Butler and Tom Hanks visited the mansion and were interviewed virtually by the Good Morning America news program from the Jungle Room to talk about their biographical film Elvis.

 

In popular culture

Paul Simon named an album Graceland, as well as its title track. The song won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1987.

The song "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn mentions Graceland; in the second verse, he refers to the mansion and the Jungle Room. This song was later covered by Cher and Lonestar, among others.

The film 3000 Miles to Graceland is about a group of criminals who plan to rob a casino during an international Elvis week, disguised as Elvis impersonators. No scenes take place at or near the estate.

The film Finding Graceland stars Harvey Keitel with Johnathon Schaech. Keitel is an impersonator who claims to be the real Elvis after Schaech picks him up as a hitch-hiker.

In the rock music "mockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap, band members gather around Presley's grave at Graceland and attempt to sing a verse of "Heartbreak Hotel".

Pop punk group Groovie Ghoulies have a song called "Graceland" on their 1997 album Re-Animation Festival.

In the movie Zombieland: Double Tap, the protagonists venture to Graceland in hopes of shelter during a zombie apocalypse, but are distressed to find it in a ruined state.

During the credits of Lilo & Stitch, there's a photograph of Lilo, Nani, David and Stitch visiting the front gates of Graceland. Almost 20 years later, the original painting of that shot was put on display as part of the traveling Walt Disney Archives exhibition at Graceland.

In the season three episode of American Dad “The Vacation Goo”, Steve Smith asks Stan Smith if they can go to Graceland for their next vacation and Stan says “Steve, if you want to pay your respects to a fat man who died on the toilet, we can visit your Aunt Mary’s grave.”

Phoebe Bridgers has a song "Graceland Too" on her second studio album Punisher.

In the third episode of National Treasure: Edge of History, "Graceland Gambit," the main protagonist, Jess (portrayed by Lisette Olivera) is on a treasure hunt that leads her and her friends to Graceland.

Florence + The Machine reference Graceland and Elvis in their song "Morning Elvis" on their 2022 album Dance Fever.

A Tory wearing a monocle, spats, and a top hat with \Tariff Reform\" written on it.

 

Hong Kong students are fighting for democracy.

 

Monday 29th of September 2014.

Copyright 2005 Ron Diorio

 

Photography Now 2005

Center for Photography at Woodstock

May 7 - June 19

 

L'amore è intrepido.

 

Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi, cap. XXV, rigo 340

Water & Light at Sassi Mazar Balochistan May30, 2015

 

SUN SHINES IN THE NIGHT

Sassi punnu mausoleum got Solar Energy

Every year thousands of peoples from various parts of Sindh, Baluchistan and Punjab gather at the shrine of Sassi and Punnu in Singher village to attend a 3 days carnival. Singher village is , 52 Kilometers away from Hub town. Singher means chain, as the village is surrounded by the chain of hills where it is believed that Sassi and Punnu were buried under a landslide.

Before the monsoon a carnival organizing committee receives donation from the Baloch tribal chiefs of Sindh and Balochistan to bear the expenditures of the event. Collected funds are mostly used for providing food, water and accommodation to all the devotees there. Sufi Faqirs (singers) from Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab travel to perform songs on the occasion to pay homage to Sassi Punnu, the popular tragic romance of Sindh and Balochistan. Besides folk songs, a traditional Sindhi game malakhro similar to Japanese wrestling sumo also attracts a large number of the people to come there.

 

Lands from mountains with old graves scattered in the area and rainy water ways are quite difficult to cross for the travellers. Despite this, devotees, males and females, travel long distance to visit the site the entire year. For the local people, camel is the only means of transport and people gather there during the occasion.

 

There is only one well, which is useful for the communities otherwise the entire area underground water level is unsafe for human consumption. In case the area receives monsoon rains the people use rainy water from ponds.

 

For the benefit of peoples living in surroundings as well as devotees who visit during carnival and over the year, Masood Lohar, country Manager UNDP, GEF small grant program decided to use solar energy for providing clean and safe water and lighting on the mausoleum.

 

On 30th May 2015, Shaan Technologies Private Limited installed a 3 HP Solar Powered pump on a 250 ft deep well that is located near the tomb. Operating on a 3 kilowatt solar panel bank this pump provide 30 Gallon water per minutes & eliminates requirement of diesel generator operated pump that organizing committee previously used to supply water during the festival.

 

Now solar pump serves as a continuous source of clean water without any additional cost. A water tank is provided to store pumped water. This tank helped as a 24 hours ready source of water for the local people.

 

In addition to that 2 solar powered floodlights were also installed in front yard of tomb. These 14 watt LED lights runs on a 35 watt solar panel that provide sufficient power to run LED lamps up to 12 hours. Dusk to Dawn photo sensors is also used in the system that automatically turns on the light just before the sunset and turns off at dawn. This project was financed by the UNDP GEF Small grant program. Lodhie foundation contributed 10% cost of the project under its poverty alleviation initiative.

  

Project Summary

 

Location: Sassi Punnu Moseleum, Singher Village, Near Hub Dam, Baluchistan

Coordinates: 25°18'41"N 66°53'21"E

Nearby cities: Karachi, Hub City, Sonmiani / Winder city

Initiated By: UNDP, GEF Small Grant Program in association of Lodhie Foundation

Implemented by: Shaan Technologies Private Limited Karachi

Implantation Date: 30Th May 2015

Equipment installed:

(1) One 3HP DC Submersible water pump with 3KW Solar panels and Pump Controller

(2) Two Solar Powered LED Floodlights

Beneficiaries: Up to 2500 people living in the Singher village and surroundings

    

Folktale of Sassi & Punnu

 

Sassi Punnu is a famous folktale of love told in the length and breadth of Sindh, Pakistan. The story is about a faithful wife who is ready to undergo all kinds of troubles that would come her way while seeking her beloved husband who was separated from her by the rivals

Sassi was the daughter of a Brahman Hindu Rajah from Rohri . Upon Sassui's birth, astrologers predicted that she was a curse for the royal family’s prestige. The Raja ordered that the child be put in a wooden box and thrown in the Sindhu, present day’s river Indus. However, she was saved by a washer-man belonging to Bhanbhor, near Gharo district, Thatta . The washer-man raised her as his own daughter.

When Sassui became a young girl, she was as beautiful as the fairies of heaven. Stories of her beauty reached Punhun a prince from Kech Makran Balochistan and he became desperate to meet Sassi. The handsome young Prince therefore travelled to Bhambore. He sent his clothes to Sassi's father (a washerman) so that he could catch a glimpse of Sassi. When he visited the washerman's house, they fell in love at first sight. Sassui's father was dispirited, hoping that Sassi would marry a washerman and no one else. He asked Punnhun to prove that he was worthy of Sassui by passing the test as a washerman. Punnhun agreed to prove his love. While washing, he tore all the clothes as, being a prince, he had never washed any clothes; he thus failed the agreement. But before he returned those clothes, he hid gold coins in the pockets of all the clothes, hoping this would keep the villagers quiet. The trick worked, and Sassui's father agreed to the marriage.

At last Punnu (Punhoon) married her. However, his father, Ari, the King of Ketch, did not like his son getting married to a low-caste girl, so he instructed his other sons to go to Bhanbhor and bring back Punnu at any cost. They visited Punnu as his guests and during the night they intoxicated him and his wife. Later, they put their brother on one of the camels and left. When Sassi woke up in the morning, she was shocked to find Punnu missing and all his brothers gone. She understood their trickery. She left Bhambhor immediately to Kech Makran on foot in search of him. The Kech Makran is located along the Makran Coastal Highway in Baluchistan, Pakistan.

After crossing Pab Mountain, she reached the Harho range. She could not proceed further when her path was blocked by the Phor River. So she started retracing her steps. Soon she was accosted by a beastly goatherd who intended to molest her. Sassi prayed to God for protection. Immediately the ground below her feet started caving in like quicksand and she disappeared within seconds. Seeing the miracle, the goatherd repented sincerely, and to make amends for his misconduct, he made a grave in the site and became its custodian.

Punnu found no peace of mind at Kech. He languished and soon became an invalid. Under the circumstances, his father allowed him to return to Bhambhor.

During his return journey, Punnu happened to pass by the site where Sassi had met her death. When the goatherd came to know his story, he told him as to what had happened to Sassi. Punnu was beside himself on hearing the horrible news.

He prayed to God to unite him with Sassi. Again the ground became quicksand and he soon disappeared into the bowels of the earth. So came to an end the tragic love story of Sassi and Punnu. The legendary grave still exists in this valley.

The famous Sufi saint and poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai sings this historic tale in his sufi poetry “Shah jo Risalo” as an example of eternal love and union with Divine.

Sassi’s resting place is said to be about 45 miles away in the Pub range to the west of Karachi. A local man of some importance constructed a simple mausoleum in 1980 over the joint grave of Sassi and Punnu. It is often visited by tourists.

I passed him walking while hitchhiking. See his strange cap and coat, his stick with a wheel on the end for a toy, and his black eye. He didn't move or say anything when I said hello or tried to get a reaction and stood completely still just like this while I walked toward him a bit, took out my camera and took this photo. And he looked so sad. I think he'd been abused. I wish I'd looked for a neighbour to at least ask about him and his black eye.

 

- From Putna monastery (which I toured after taking this, later that same day and the next morning), I hitched or walked up to the 2E and then SE @ 40 km.s to the city of Suceava (Soo-cha-va). I don't recall but according to the map I passed through the town of Rădăuți whose "Princely Church [in Bogdana Monastery there] is the [2nd] oldest standing religious bldg. in Moldavia (@ 1360) and which contains the graves of Bogdan I [founder and 1st Voivode of Moldavia], his son Lațcu, Roman I [and all of Bogdan's successors, Voivodes/Princes of Moldavia,] to Alexandru cel Bun [the Good]. The graves were attended to, and marked properly by Ștefan cel Mare." (Wikipedia) What a miss, and I passed through. (Get a good guidebook!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeHM-SoNql8

- The first stud farm for the famous Huțul or Hutsul horse (which likely descends from the Dacian draft horse) was established at Rădăuți in 1856.

 

- Suceava (Soo-cha-va) had a population of @ 100,000 in 2000. Almost 3 x the size of Sighet, it was the largest city that I would tour in Romania until Sibiu in Transylvania, and the 4th largest in my 30 days in the country. "/B/ 1388 and 1564, it was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia, and the residence of the Moldavian princes." (In 1564, the seat moved to Iași.) From 1775 until after WWII it was within the Habsburg's 'Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria', then the Austian empire, and then the Austrian portion of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and then the newly enlarged Kingdom of Romania. It grew ten-fold during the Communist urbanization years until 1989.

 

- One prime attraction in Suceava which I toured well is a ruined medieval fortress or citadel (late 14th cent, fortified in the 15th with a concentric fortress surrounding the original, all surrounded in turn by a huge moat or ditch), the Cetatea de Scaun a Sucevei www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEAF9grNPjs , which served as the princely residence from 1388 to 1565, and which, under the leadership of Ștefan cel Mare, famously and successfully withstood and repelled a siege by the Turks led by none other than 'Mehmet the Conquerer' in the summer of 1476, 23 yr.s AFTER he had conquered and captured Constantinople on May 29, 1453. Constantinople fell to Mehmet but Suceava didn't.

- The fortress was then refortified and withstood 2 further sieges in 1485 and 1497. It was taken by Suleiman I ('the Magnificent') with an Ottoman force of 200,000 in 1538, which then pillaged Suceava and plundered the region. (It's said that boyars disaffected with Petru Rareș assisted Suleiman and "handed him" the fortress.) It was taken again in 1563 following a 3 month siege by hetman Ștefan Tomșa, and by Wallachian prince Mihai Viteazu w/o a fight in 1600, and again a few mos. later by a mixed army of Cossacks and Poles who then invested Ieremia Movilă as ruler of Moldavia. It was the scene of "many devastating battles" in the 2nd 1/2 of the 17th cent., incl. a siege and a battle in 1653, and a 6-month-long battle /b/ "a Polish garrison installed by Ștefan Petriceicu, and Turkish forces". The latter won. And in 1684, a huge earthquake left the structure in ruins." roamingromania.com/fortress-of-suceava/#:~:text=Fortress%.... Very much DNA has been spilled there.

- There was a museum in the dungeon in 2000 which I don't recall but I think I toured, and a chapel built by Ștefan cel Mare which had been restored in the 60s.

 

- Ștefan is the most celebrated figure in Romanian history. Nothing succeeds like success, nor like winning 34 out of 36 battles, defeating 'Mehmet the Conqueror', building many of the country's most celebrated monasteries and churches, and defending a Christian Europe from the infidel Turks, earning rare praise from R.C. pope Sixtus IV (rare for any non-Catholic) as 'the Athlete of Christ'. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5gS7KW5kHA He was also the first cousin and sometime (but inconsistent) ally of Vlad III Dracula, 'Vlad the Impaler', Voivode of Wallachia. Vlad was released from captivity in Hungary at Ștefan's request in 1475, and Ștefan helped Vlad take the throne of Wallachia in 1476.

- theibtaurisblog.com/2013/08/27/draculas-perfect-cousin/

 

- I spent some time one day at the Mănăstirea Sfântul Ioan cel Nou ('of St. John the New') (1514-22). "Construction was begun by voivode Bogdan III the One-Eyed, following the destruction of the Mirăuți Church (the former metropolitan cathedral of Moldavia) in 1513, and was completed by his son, Ștefăniță. The monastery church served as metropolitan cathedral of Moldavia until 1677. ... It has some exterior frescoes, but which are barely discernible. The monastery is dedicated to 'St. John the New of Suceava', a local monk who preached during Turkish occupation and was martyred in Cetatea Albă, present-day Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in Ukraine. Alexander I of Moldavia brought his relics to Suceava, to this church, in 1402. The complex includes a bell tower (1589) built during the reign of Peter the Lame, and a chapel founded in the 1620s." (wikipedia) This church is one of the 8 Moldavian monasteries designated together as Unesco world heritage.

- I toured the church and the complex well enough, but my most memorable experience in Suceava was some time I spent people-watching at this monastery. I stood and watched as supplicants standing in a queue met individually with a local bearded monk (or priest?). The monk and the attendee would kneel together, the monk would spread a cloth or veil over both their heads, they'd remain kneeling together veiled in that position for several minutes, and would then stand up, that supplicant would leave and the monk would then meet the next in line, kneel with him or her, and repeat. Now this monk was an extraordinarily handsome young man. He seemed to know it, as he should. One of the attendees was a beautiful, shapely but svelte young woman, well-coiffed (in 1940s style), impressively dressed and done up for church in her best knee-length skirt, gloves, stilettos (!), and with bright red lipstick. When it came to her turn, she and the monk both kneeled and remained together under the veil for @ 10 min.s or so, and when they stood up, she was in tears, thanking him, and he nodded and smiled. If she didn't have a crush on him, I couldn't be blamed for thinking she did. I'm advised that this ritual, with the veil and the kneeling, is the Romanian Orthodox confessional, and so she was dressed to the nines just to attend to meet with and to confess to him.

 

- Suceava has at least 4 museums: history, village, ethnographic, and natural history. I don't recall it but I know I toured the history museum as I took a photo of a group of wax figures standing in royal robes in a 'throne hall', incl. Ștefan cel Mare, his queen Maria Voichița, and Prince Bogdan-the-One-Eyed, all with their heads tilted slightly back so that they look up and away in noble fashion, and the men with hippy-length hair. This scene is of "an allotment of land for peasants, reconstituted on the basis of medieval documents and frescoes." (Wikipedia) I don't recall if I toured the Biserica Sfântul Gheorghe, aka the Mirăuți church (1390, rebuilt in the 17th cent.), "the Metropolitan cathedral where early Moldavian princes were crowned, incl. Ștefan cel Mare."

 

- From Suceava, I hitched the 12-15 km.s to the Dragomirna monastery (a convent) and back. "Massively walled like a fortress, the Dragomirna monastery was founded in 1602, and is dramatically proportioned at 42 m.s high but only 9.6 m.s wide, with cable moulding @ the exterior." It's so tall, narrow and unusual that I don't think I've seen another building like it. easterneuropeeastereggs.wordpress.com/dragomirna/ At the time it reminded me of a battleship, although it might remind one of the Flatiron bldg. in NYC or the Gooderham bldg. on Front st. in Toronto.

- "The octagonal tower, set on 2 star-shaped pedestals, is carved with meanders and rosettes. Inside it has an unusual star-shaped vault and a very ornate, baroque iconostasis. ... The solid walls and towers of the complex were added in 1627 owing to the threat of foreign invasions. These were so frequent that wooden village churches were sometimes mounted on wheels so that they could be towed to safety. [!]" (RG)

- "During the Habsburg and later the Communist purges of the Orthodox church, Dragomirna remained inhabited. The dying wish of Bishop Crimca was that a day should not pass without prayers being said in his monastery. Thus 7 elderly nuns defied Communist orders and remained at the monastery throughout the 1960s and 70s. Today more than 60 nuns call Dragomirna their home."

 

- Leaving Suceava, I hitched SW on the 17 to the 2E and then north to Cacica (Ca-chee-ka). I'd heard or read about the salt mine there, a subterranean work of art in salt, and seeing as I hadn't managed to cross into Poland from Bardejov 2 mos. earlier and so missed the world-famous Wieliczka salt mine, I went out of my way to visit Cacica's contribution. There was a photogenic communist-era complex of bldg.s there above-ground, but I don't recommend Cacica. What little art there was in the mine was unappealing and seemed cheesy, although it does have a couple of plain chapels and a 'ball-room'. I might appreciate it better today, but w/o any expectations. I don't think I've toured a salt mine before or since (although the world's largest is in Goderich, ON - !, a 'Sifto salt' mine), and according to the captions in the video in the next link, the rooms in the mine were important to the life of the local mining community in the 19th cent. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqmTa4c4X2A The mine was established by Austrian authorities in 1798 who brought in Poles from Galicia to work it. These Poles "named the village after wild ducks found nesting in nearby swamps." (RG) (Today @ 20% of the town's population is Polish.)

 

- I'd considered hitching a little further north to Arbore, to tour yet another painted monastery, but I headed south instead down the 2E and 15C to Targu Neamț, south of southern Bukovina, and a 10-15 km. jog west to the 15th cent. Mânăstirea Neamț (Nee-amts), which was recommended.

- One miss in Targu Neamț was a well-preserved fortress from the days of Ștefan cel Mare, more intact than the one in Suceava.

- If I'd continued 50 clicks, another hour, down the twisty 15C to Piatra Neamț I could've toured the Ba’al Shem Tov synagogue, one of a very finite number of wooden synagogues which still stand in Eastern Europe today where there had been hundreds. This 'jewel-box of Judaism' dates in part from 1766, and could be the oldest standing wooden synagogue anywhere. (At least it's older than any that remain standing per this incomplete list on Wikipedia, which omits it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wooden_synagogues?msclkid=0... ) So that was a miss. www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2000/02/26/jewel-box...

 

- Neamț (Nee-amts) is the oldest and largest of Moldavia's monasteries, housing 70 monks and dozens of seminarians. "Originally a 12th cent. hermitage, it became a monastery under Petru I Musat (1376-92) and was rebuilt and fortified by Alexandru cel Bun (1400-32). The [sturdy, central] 'new church' was built by Ștefan cel Mare in 1497, following the Moldavian victory in battle over King John I Albert of Poland, and became a prototype for Moldavian churches throughout the next century [although it has no exterior frescoes, apart from a series of saints in small niches]. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXHoeAypzWw www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D8Xl9lXuro Neamț resembles a fortress, with high stone walls and one remaining corner tower. On the wall of the bell-tower, a painted 'Eye of the Saviour' sternly regards the monks’ cells." (RG) That eye was the most memorable feature of the monastery for me for some reason. www.capper-online.de/Travel/Romania/assets/images/19_Neam... I'll scan a photo.

- This was the most spacious and the busiest of the monasteries I toured in Romania. It was wet when I was there and I toured it in the rain. I was the guest that evening of a monk in his room or 'cell' in which I slept on a pull-out bed. He was a smart, well-informed man and we spoke @ international politics at some length. More wonderful hospitality.

- The monastery has a rich history (which I'll write more about in this space sometime, it was a centre for transcription and for printing) and a suitably rich museum which I toured but don't recall. There's a large Agheazmatar bldg. (1836-47) on the grounds for 'the blessing of the water' which is a library today (with over 18,000 volumes, many of them unique), and which is mostly dome, somewhat resembling a huge, chocolate covered marshmallow cookie. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neam%C8%9B_Monastery#/media/File:Ma...

- One miss was an ancient ossuary under the monastery (which might not've been open to the public in 2000), the largest monastic ossuary in Romania with 530 interments, and with ancient writing painted on the domes of the skulls of interred monks indicating their names, significant dates, etc. www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3bp1W25XqE

- There was more exceptional hospitality the next day, for as I was heading down the road just beyond the monastery en route, a group enjoying a feast on picnic tables (for some occasion) called me over, asked where I'm from, and invited me to join them, and tuck in. :)

 

- From the Neamț monastery, I hitched SW on the 15B, and up the 17B and E58 to the 1200 m. Tihuța pass (Ti-hootsa) where I said goodbye to Moldavia and hello to Transylvania at the site of the cheese-fest which is the Hotel Castle Dracula (1983), located at that pass. The Tihuța pass is the Bârgau (Boar-go) or 'Bârgaului' pass of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, where Jonathan Harker embarked in Count Dracula's carriage to be taken to his castle on a bloodcurdling journey into the Bârgau valley. (I read the novel when I was home sick one week from school in grade 5, and I've just reread parts of chap. 1 now for the first time since.) It's an inspired choice as a setting for the castle, as "the surrounding mountains harbour more bears than any other part of Europe, as well as boars and WOLVES [emphasis added]." (RG) www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPHTi7Ja44Y (Murnau, 1922)

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU3t_9TdbE8 (Coppola)

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZwL_PXdEy0 (Herzog with Kinski, 1979)

- I entered the said hotel to have a look and to ask about the place, and don't recall what I was told, but the fun-loving concierge asked cryptically if I suffered from any form of heart disease ("Nope. ... ?"), and then suggested I follow his colleague downstairs into the basement. I was taken down a flight of steps /b/ walls painted to look like they were built with large, old, brown blocks of cut stone or field-stone, to a small, dark room in which all the walls were painted with murals of scenes in which Dracula, dressed like a cross /b/ Bela Lugosi and John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever, and Elvira-type female vampires run @ the countryside under a full moon with all their cleavage and their fangy mouths open. There was a coffin to one side in the room, and its lid flew open to reveal a snarling, hostile character in a cape and a rubber mask of a bald, white, fanged Nosferatu. Later I was told by hotel staff that they would put on this little show quite often for tourists and patrons until several years earlier when an American died of a heart attack after the coffin jump-scare.

  

- The author of this article refers to claims that Ceaușescu had banned the name 'Dracula', and states that the novel wasn't published in Romanian until 1990. !! www.historytoday.com/grand-tour/hotel-castel-dracula

 

- Rereading chap. 1 of 'Dracula', I've found some entertaining and surprising moments and elements in the setting of the Bârgaului valley that I'd forgotten and which have been ignored in all the many films. (The fun, interesting portion of the novel is the 1st 3rd, set in this valley and in the castle in the valley; the rest, most of which is set in England, is dull by comparison.) The old landlady at the hotel in Bistritz (Bistrița), where Jonathan Harker spends his last night before heading out for the valley and the castle, implores him not to go, warning him that it is May 4, "the eve of St. George's Day. ... [T]onight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things of the world will have full sway. Do you know where you are going and where you are going to?" All the movie scripts get it wrong when Harker arrives at the pass and the carriage driver won't dare stay and scoots off after leaving him there. In the novel, the driver arrives after dark but early and just before Dracula's calèche appears, and says “There is no carriage here. The Herr is not expected after all. He will now come on to Bukovina, and return to-morrow or the next day; better the next day,” seeking to persuade Harker to continue on to Bukovina, but just then "the horses began to neigh and snort and plunge wildly" and "amongst a chorus of screams [!] from the peasants [fellow passengers] and a universal crossing of themselves" Dracula's calèche with 4 "splendid, coal-black" horses arrives. The driver of the calèche, whose gleaming eyes "seemed red in the lamplight", but whose face cannot be seen in the dark beneath the brim of his hat (and who could have been the Count), says “You are early to-night, my friend.” The carriage driver responds in a stammer “The English Herr was in a hurry,” to which the calèche-driver replies: “That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift.”

- Once Harker boards the calèche which sweeps "into the darkness of the pass", things get interesting.: "The carriage went at a hard pace straight along, then we made a complete turn and went along another straight road. It seemed to me that we were simply going over and over the same ground again; and so I took note of some salient point, and found that this was so. ... By-and-by, as I was curious to know how time was passing, I struck a match, and by its flame looked at my watch; it was within a few minutes of midnight. ... Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road - a long, agonized wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which seemed to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp it through the gloom of the night. At the first howl the horses began to strain and rear, but the driver spoke to them soothingly, and they quieted down, but shivered and sweated as though after a runaway from sudden fright. Then, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each side of us began a louder and a sharper howling - that of wolves - ... the horses ... reared again and plunged madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them from bolting. In a few minutes, however, ... the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able to descend and to stand before them. He petted and soothed them, and whispered something in their ears, as I have heard of horse-tamers doing, and with extraordinary effect, for under his caresses they became quite manageable again, though they still trembled. The driver again took his seat, and shaking his reins, started off at a great pace. This time, after going to the far side of the Pass, he suddenly turned down a narrow roadway which ran sharply to the right. [It's fair to assume that he made that turn shortly after midnight.]

- "Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over the roadway till we passed as through a tunnel; and again great frowning rocks guarded us boldly on either side. Though we were in shelter, we could hear the rising wind, for it moaned and whistled through the rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as we swept along. It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery snow began to fall, so that soon we and all around us were covered with a white blanket. The keen wind still carried the howling of the dogs, though this grew fainter as we went on our way. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer and nearer, as though they were closing round on us from every side. ... The driver, however, was not in the least disturbed; he kept turning his head to left and right, but I could not see anything through the darkness. Suddenly, away on our left, I saw a faint flickering blue flame. The driver saw it at the same moment; he at once checked the horses, and, jumping to the ground, disappeared into the darkness. I did not know what to do, the less as the howling of the wolves grew closer; but while I wondered the driver suddenly appeared again, and without a word took his seat, and we resumed our journey. I think I must have fallen asleep and kept dreaming of the incident, for it seemed to be repeated endlessly ... Once the flame appeared so near the road, that even in the darkness around us I could watch the driver’s motions. He went rapidly to where the blue flame arose - it must have been very faint, for it did not seem to illumine the place around it at all - and gathering a few stones, formed them into some device. Once there appeared a strange optical effect: when he stood between me and the flame he did not obstruct it, for I could see its ghostly flicker all the same. ... Then for a time there were no blue flames, and we sped onwards through the gloom, with the howling of the wolves around us, as though they were following in a moving circle.

- "At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses began to tremble worse than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether; but just then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its light I saw around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. They were a hundred times more terrible in the grim silence which held them than even when they howled. ... All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had some peculiar effect on them. The horses jumped about and reared, and looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to see; but the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side; and they had perforce to remain within it. I called to the coachman to come, for it seemed that our only chance was to try to break out through the ring and to aid his approach. ... How he came there, I know not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious command, and looking towards the sound, saw him stand in the roadway. As he swept his long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves fell back and back further still. Just then a heavy cloud passed across the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness. When I could see again the driver was climbing into the calèche, and the wolves had disappeared. ... The time seemed interminable as we swept on our way, now in almost complete darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon. We kept on ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in the main always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky."

Chapter 1 ends there. See? The Bârgau valley's quite a place in the wee hours after midnight on May 5.

 

- In Chapter 2, in the course of a discussion Harker asks Dracula as to the blue flames that he'd seen the night before. "I asked him ... why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue flames. He then explained that it was commonly believed that on a certain night of the year - last night, in fact, when all evil spirits are supposed to have unchecked sway - a blue flame is seen over any place where treasure has been concealed. “That treasure has been hidden,” he went on, “in the region through which you came last night, there can be but little doubt; for it was the ground fought over for centuries by the Wallachian, the Saxon, and the Turk [!]. Why, there is hardly a foot of soil in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men, patriots or invaders. In old days there were stirring times, when the Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out to meet them - men and women, the aged and the children too - and waited their coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. [Note that according to Dracula, the Hungarians were not the 'patriots'. Is he referring here to Wallachians {Romanians} or Szekelers or both?] When the invader was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been sheltered in the friendly soil.”

“But how,” said I, “can it have remained so long undiscovered, when there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look?” The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely; he answered: - “Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames only appear on one night; and on that night no man of this land will, if he can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even if he did he would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you tell me of who marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in daylight even for his own work. Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to find these places again?”

“There you are right,” I said. “I know no more than the dead where even to look for them.” Then we drifted into other matters. ... "

Stoker's other-worldly Bârgau valley is a mystical Oak Island. As to the legend or tradition that on St. George's eve "all evil spirits are supposed to have unchecked sway," it seems that Dracula arranged for Harker to arrive and attend at his castle on that particular night, and that the local 'peasants' knew that he'd done so, and it seems that his calèche had been driving back and forth or up and down until just after midnight when it could then (and only then?) turn "sharply to the right" down "a narrow roadway ... hemmed in with trees ... arch[ing] right over the roadway" as if it was "a tunnel" with "great frowning rocks guard[ing] boldly on either side" beneath "branches of trees crashing together" in the "moaning, rising wind." Now I wish I'd reread Dracula before that trip, or at least the first few chapters. I would've liked to have asked the locals about St. George's day and the treasures under the blue flames. And to think I was in Romania ON St. George's eve and St. George's day .

 

- It's known that Stoker had read 'Transylvanian superstitions', a remarkable and entertaining article written by Emily Gerard which includes the following: "Perhaps the most important day in the year is St. George’s, the 23rd of April (which corresponds to our 5th of May [?]), the eve of which is still frequently kept by occult meetings taking place at night in lonely caverns or within ruined walls, and where all the ceremonies usual to the celebration of a witches’ Sabbath are put into practice. The feast itself is the great day to beware of witches, to counteract whose influence square-cut blocks of green turf are placed in front of each door and window. This is supposed effectually to bar their entrance to the house or stables, but for still greater safety it is usual here for the peasants to keep watch all night by the sleeping cattle. This same night is the best for finding treasures, and many people spend it in wandering about the hills trying to probe the earth for the gold it contains. Vain and futile as such researches usually are, yet they have in this country a somewhat greater semblance of reason than in most other parts, for perhaps nowhere else have so many successive nations been forced to secrete their riches in flying from an enemy ... Not a year passes without bringing to light some earthen jar containing old Dacian coins, or golden ornaments of Roman origin, and all such discoveries serve to feed and keep up the national superstition.

- "In the night of St. George’s Day (so say the legends) all these treasures begin to burn, or, to speak in mystic language, to ‘bloom’ in the bosom of the earth, and the light they give forth, described as a bluish flame resembling the colour of lighted spirits of wine, serves to guide favoured mortals to their place of concealment. The conditions to the successful raising of such a treasure are manifold, and difficult of accomplishment. In the first place, it is by no means easy for a common mortal who has not been born on a Sunday nor at midday when the bells are ringing, to hit upon a treasure at all. If he does, however, catch sight of such a flame, he must quickly stick a knife through the swaddling rags of his right foot, and then throw the knife in the direction of the flame he has seen. If two people are together during this discovery they must not on any account break silence till the treasure is removed, neither is it allowed to fill up the hole from which anything has been taken, for that would induce a speedy death. The lights seen before midnight on St. George’s Day, denote treasures kept by benevolent spirits, while those which appear at a later hour are unquestionably of a pernicious nature." www.gutenberg.org/files/52165/52165-h/52165-h.htm

 

- I've read more than once that Stoker didn't know much about Vlad III Dracula, that he had initially planned to set his novel in an uncanny Styria (in Austria), as Le Fanu had done with 'Carmilla', as the interest in Eastern European vampires in the west had begun with reports from Serbia (newly incorporated into the Austrian empire following the ouster of the Ottomans) in the 18th cent., investigated and debunked by Austrian authorities. In Chap. 18, Van Helsing says this of the Count.: “He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land”. But in a discussion with Harker, the Count reveals that he was a Szekeler (ethnically Hungarian or Magyar), very much unlike the Wallachian Voivode, and gives the following, impassioned, (very) lengthy speech.: “We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from Iceland [Northern Russia or Siberia?] the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them [?], which their Berserkers [Vikings] displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, ay, and of Asia and Africa too [? Ugric tribes weren't Viking/Norse, but often suffered and were slaughtered in that "display of fighting spirit"], till the peoples thought that the werewolves themselves had come. Here, too, when they came, they found the Huns [the Skelelers claim descent from Attila], whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living flame, till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood of those old witches, who, expelled from Scythia had mated with the devils in the desert. Fools, fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great as Attila, whose blood is in these veins? ... Is it a wonder that we were a conquering race, that we were proud, that when the Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured his thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? Is it strange that when Arpad and his legions swept through the Hungarian fatherland he found us here when he reached the frontier, that the Honfoglalas was completed there? And when the Hungarian flood swept eastward, the Szekelys were claimed as kindred by the victorious Magyars [the best current evidence is that the Szekelys WERE Magyars], and to us for centuries was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkeyland. Aye, and more than that, endless duty of the frontier guard, for as the Turks say, "water sleeps, and the enemy is sleepless." Who more gladly than we throughout the Four Nations received the 'bloody sword', or at its warlike call flocked quicker to the standard of the King? When was redeemed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent? Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground? [Vlad III Dracula. He seems to be discussing himself in the 3rd person.] This was a Dracula indeed! [See?] Woe was it that his own unworthy brother ['Radu the Handsome'], when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkeyland, who, when he was beaten back, came again, and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! They said that he thought only of himself. Bah! What good are peasants without a leader? Where ends the war without a brain and heart to conduct it? Again, when, after the battle of Mohacs [the 2nd battle of Mohacs, Aug. 12, 1687, a victory for the Habsburgs and a defeat for the Ottomans under Mehmed IV], we threw off the Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders, for our spirit would not brook that we were not free. Ah, young sir, the Szekelys, and the Dracula as their heart's blood, their brains, and their swords, can boast a record that mushroom growths like the Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach. The warlike days are over. Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace, and the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told."”

 

- If Stoker had seen any reproductions of images of Vlad III in any of the books he'd been reading at the British museum, that might account for the Count's "aquiline" face "with [its] high bridge of the thin nose"; "bushy", curly hair; long, heavy moustache (while otherwise he's clean-shaven); "fixed and rather cruel-looking mouth"; and firm though thin cheeks. Access to a description of Vlad provided by a 15th-cent. papal legate as having "a cold and terrible appearance, a strong aquiline nose, swollen nostrils" and "bushy black eyebrows", might account for the Count's flaring nostrils and "massive" eyebrows. All quite un-Lugosi-esque. (Acclaimed Dracula expert Elizabeth Miller [a Torontonian] claims that the differences /b/ the appearance of Vlad III Dracula in any of "the portraits" and Stoker's description of the count "are overwhelming." ? I don't know what she's on about.)

 

- That night I was the guest of a family just a short walk down from the pass and the hotel. (See the next photo of the girl in bed.)

Aggie Ring’s Day Off

 

The weather was quite nice this morning, so Jersey Shore Fightin’ Texas Aggie Ringhad me drive him over to the beach, “Just to make sure it’s still there.” he said.

 

It was a difficult drive. Almost 7 miles! I must have been by two traffic lights. I’m sure me 10 minutes to get there.

 

The town I picked to take the Aggie Ring is called Asbury Park. Not our favorite town, but there’s usually no one there in the off season and they don’t enforce parking this time of year at the boardwalk and we knew we wouldn’t be bothered. We found an empty parking lot directly next to the boardwalk across from the “Wonder Bar” and the old “Convention Hall” which was completed in 1930.

 

Convention Hall, sadly has seen really bad times over the last few decades. Looking at it’s faded exterior, Aggie Ring found it hard to believe that so many great bands from Glenn Miller to Elvis, The Rolling Stones, and The Dead. Aggie Ring was once asked to license some of the photos of the inside of the building by an author writing a book about Jerry Garcia. The sea air is hard on all buildings near the beach. The salt air has corroded the steel under the brick façade so badly that I don’t see how it gets an occupancy permit. The acoustics are pretty bad as well… It’s like being in a garage.

 

There is a theatre section on the side of it farthest away from the ocean that is in somewhat better shape. Most of the visiting bands play on that side.

 

As Aggie Ring was walking through the concourse between the to parts of the building he heard someone performing a soundcheck in the theatre. “Who could that be?” Asked Aggie Ring. He had checked and no one was listed as playing tonight.

 

Then Aggie Ring said, “I know. It’s probably Bruce Springsteen and his band. They’ve probably rented the theatre again for a private charity concert.” NOTE: For those of you not blessed with living on the Jersey Shore, it’s difficult to NOT run into “The Boss” from time to time. He’s all over the place. The bookstores, the gym, even the pinball museum.

 

“Get me outta here!” exclaimed Aggie Ring. “If Springsteen sees me, he’s going to want money!”

 

As we quickly cleared out of the building and hit the boardwalk, we noticed a number of black SUVs with men in suites waiting in them. “It’s the Boss inside. Those are his guards and drivers.” claimed Aggie Ring.

 

The sun was coming up across the ocean into our lens, so Aggie Ring had to use the manual settings on his camera to deal with the light setup.

 

Aggie Ring remarked that we had the whole beach to ourselves as we walked across the sand.

 

The “No Swimming - Lifeguards Off Duty” was up but Aggie Ring didn’t pay it any attention. “I’m Aggie Ring damnit. I say when I swim or don’t swim.” Much like the honey badger, Aggie Ring don’t care about the rules.

 

We walked down to the waterline and Aggie Ring jumped off to have a look at the shells and sand pebbles. “Nothing much here today.” he said.

 

As Aggie Ring was walking along the rock jetty, he noticed an oyster shell and jumped up on it. “Anyone want to see an Aggie Ring on the half shell?” he laughed.

 

All of a sudden Aggie Ring ’84 called out, “Who wants to take a polar bear plunge with me?” A&M College of Texas Ring ’42 said, “I guess I’ll go along with you.”

 

They jumped into the ocean water and before I could take more than one or two photos, Aggie Ring ’84 cried out like a little girl and screamed, “I want out this water is cold!”

 

A&M College of Texas Ring ’42 just laughed and told Aggie Ring ’84, “You Austin, Texas-made Aggie Rings are such snowflakes. This water is probably only 40 degrees. Why back in Qwatonna, Minnesota factory where the real Aggie Rings like me were made, we could hang out in water like this all day long. We’d even hang out on the ice.”

 

They got out of the water and dried off and continued walking the beach. We finally walked back to the boardwalk and Aggie Ring noticed a pile of old boards laying underneath. He started singing,

 

“(Under the boardwalk) out of the sun

(Under the boardwalk) we'll be havin' some fun

(Under the boardwalk) people walking above

(Under the boardwalk) we'll be falling in love

Under the boardwalk, boardwalk!”

 

When Aggie Ring was done, we climbed up the steps and noticed the little building where the fortuneteller works during the season. Aggie Ring disappointedly remarked, “Why didn’t someone from the Texas A&M Athletic Department call her and ask her about some better plays for the last A&M football game?” I told Aggie Ring, “Maybe they did call her and she wasn’t able to take the call because she was out drinking with Johnny Manziel.”

 

We continued past the boardwalk beach bar which is closed for the winter. “That’s a damn shame.” said Aggie Ring in a tearful moan. “I know Aggie Ring.” I said to him as I tried to cheer him up. “You know we see that Shiner distributor truck drive here every week in the Summer. Soon… soon…

 

I tried to cheer up Aggie Ring by having his picture taken with the Langostino Lobster but it didn’t really help. He sobbed about not having his Shiner on the beach for the rest of the day.

 

We passed by a place on the dunes where some erosion was occurring. Aggie Ring said, “So this is where they put all of the dead Christmas trees. It’s like a tree cemetery.”

 

Aggie Ring told me he was through and I could drive him home. We hit all of the green lights on the return trip so it probably only took us about 5 minutes.

 

#AggieRing

This family had four kids ranging in ages from approx. 9 mos. to the boy up there on the right ... maybe 7 years old? Santa paid a visit to Culver's restaurant (frozen custard establishment very popular in WI) this weekend and the family came to see him.

 

As a previous shot proved, the very smallest of the children have absolutely no interest in leaving Mom or Dad's arms to meet this freak with the beard. They are too young to be convinced, bribed or otherwise tricked into understanding the story of Santa Claus or in believing that they'll ever see their parents again if they're deposited into the velvet lap of the gloved hohoho'ing guy.

 

Give 'em a couple of years though, and a very specific magic happens. Their eyes light up. A kid can become nearly apoplectic with excitement when Santa reaches into his bag for a coloring book or some other goodie especially for her. Little hands will reach out tentatively toward his for a brief shake and a shy whisper about what special treat she might like to find on Christmas day.

 

This is another reason I think kids are beautiful.

I need to reduce my contacts/workload. Can I ask my contacts who look but do not comment, to simply delete me as a contact? I won't be offended as I will never make Photographer of the Year lol. That makes it easier for me as I am reducing my contacts and groups - keeping the daisies but cutting back on the deadwood.

I seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the outcast.

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

Allah’s peace be upon Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), the glorious Prophet of Islam, and on his Companions and his followers.

  

TASAWWUF

"There is no doubt that Tasawwuf is an important branch of Islam. The word itself may have been derived form the Arabic word "Soof" (Wool) or from "Safa" (cleanliness), but its foundation lies in one’s personal sincerity in seeking Allah’s nearness and trying to live a life pleasing to Him. Study of the Quran, the Hadith, and the practical life of the holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) and his faithful Companions provide unmistakable support to this reality." (Hazrat Moulana Allah Yar Khan (R.A)

 

SUFISM, AN ESSENTIAL PART OF ISLAM

Doubts exist not only in the minds of the Muslim faithful but also among the Ulema, notably the exoteric about Tasawwuf and its votaries. Often they lead to misunderstanding, as if Shariah and Tariqah were two separate entries, or that Tasawwuf was some obscure discipline foreign to Islam, or that it was altogether above the established laws and injunctions of our Religion. To help remove these misgivings and to reassure seekers, as well as scholars, our Sheikh Hazrat Moulana Allah Yar Khan (R.A), Sheikh Silsila Naqshbandia Awaisia, wrote Al-Jamal Wal Kamal, Aqaid-O-Kamalaat Ulmai-e-Deoband, Binat-e-Rasool (S.A.W), Daamad-e-Ali (R.A), Dalael-us-Salook, Ejaad-e-Mazhab Shia, Hayat-un-Nabi (S.A.W), Hayat Barzakhia, Ilm-o-Irfan, Niffaz-e-Shariat Aur Fiqah-e-Jaferia, Saif-e-Owaisi, Shikast-e-Ahdai Hussain and Tahkeek Halal Haram books.

 

BIOGRAPHY

Sheikh Allah Yar Khan was born in Chakrala, a remote village of Mianwali District of Pakistan, in 1904. He completed his religious education in 1934. The very year, he met Shaykh Abdul Rahim, who took him to the shrine of Shaykh Allah Deen Madni. By Divine Will his spiritual connection was right away established with the saint of the 10th century Hijra (sixteenth century) and he started receiving spiritual beneficence. His sublime education in Sufism, signifying progressive spiritual growth and advancement, continued for about twenty-five years. In 1962 he was directed to carry out the propagation of Prophetic blessings - a noble mission that he accomplished with singular enthusiasm and devotion for a period spanning half a century. Anybody who visited him was duly rewarded with a share of spiritual bliss as per his/her sincerity and capacity. Shaykh Allah Yar Khan's mission produced men and women of deep spiritual vision and distinction.

 

Although Hazrat Moulana Allah Yar Khan (R.A) have lived a major portion of his life as a scholar, with the avowed mission of illuminating the truth of Islam and the negation of fallacious sects, and this would appear quite removed from Tasawwuf, yet the only practical difference between the two, namely the use of the former as a media to expound the truth, and the latter to imbue people with positive faith. Nevertheless, people are amazed that a man, who until the other day, was known as a dialectician and a preacher of Islam, is not only talking of Mystic Path, but is also claiming spiritual bonds with the veteran Sufi Masters of the Past. This amazement is obviously out of place in the view of Quranic injunction: This is the bounty of Allah which He gives to whom He wills. (62:4)

 

THE PURIFICATION OF THE SOUL

The purification of the soul always formed part of the main mission of the Prophets; that is, the dissemination and propagation of the Devine Message. This responsibility later fell directly on the shoulders of the true Ulema in the Ummah of the last Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), who, as his genuine successors, have continued to shed brave light in every Dark Age of materialism and sacrilege. In the present age of ruinous confusion, the importance of this responsibility has increased manifold; of the utter neglect of Islam by Muslims has not only driven them to misery, but also grievously weakened their bonds of faith in Allah and His Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). The decay in their belief and consequent perversion in their conduct has reached a stage that any attempt to pull them out of the depth of ignominy and the heedless chaos of faithlessness, attracts grave uncertainties and apprehensions rather than a encouraging will to follow the Shariah, to purify the soul and to reform within. The Quranic Verse: Layers upon layers of darkness… (24:40) provides the nearest expression of their present state.

 

SHARIAH & SUFISM

Any action against the Sunnah (Prophet’s way of life) cannot be called Sufism. Singing and dancing, and the prostration on tombs are not part of Sufism. Nor is predicting the future and predicting the outcome of cases in the courts of law, a part of Sufism. Sufis are not required to abandon their worldly possessions or live in the wilderness far from the practical world. In fact these absurdities are just its opposites. It is an established fact that Tazkiyah (soul purification) stands for that inner purity which inspires a person’s spirit to obey the holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). If a false claimant of Sufism teaches tricks and jugglery, ignoring religious obligations, he is an impostor. A true Sheikh will lead a believer to the august spiritual audience of the holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). If you are fortunate enough to be blessed with the company of an accomplished spiritual guide and Sheikh of Sufism, and if you follow his instructions, you will observe a positive change in yourself, transferring you from vice to virtue.

 

ISLAM, AS A COMPLETE CODE OF LIFE

Islam, as a complete code of life or Deen, was perfected during the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). He was the sole teacher and his mosque was the core institution for the community. Although Islam in its entirety was practiced during that blessed era, the classification and compilation of its knowledge into distinct branches like ‘Tafsir’ (interpretation of the Quran), Hadith (traditions or sayings of the holy Prophet- SAWS), Fiqh (Islamic law), and Sufism (the soul purification) were undertaken subsequently. This Deen of Allah passed from the holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) to his illustrious Companions in two ways: the outward and the inward. The former comprised the knowledge defined by speech and conduct, i.e., the Quran and Sunnah. The latter comprised the invisible blessings or the Prophetic lights transmitted by his blessed self. These blessings purified the hearts and instilled in them a passionate desire to follow Islam with utmost love, honesty and loyalty.

 

WHAT’S SUFISM

Sufism is the attempt to attain these Barakah (Blessings). The Companions handed down Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) teachings as well as blessings to the Taba’een. Their strong hearts were capable of infusing these blessings into the hearts of their followers. Both aspects of Islam were similarly passed on by the Taba’een to the Taba Taba’een. The compilation of knowledge and its interpretation led to the establishment of many schools of religious thought; famous four being the Hanafi, the Hanbali, the Maliki, and the Shafa'i, all named after their founders. Similarly, in order to acquire, safeguard and distribute his blessings, an organized effort was initiated by four schools of Sufism: The Naqshbandia, the Qadria, the Chishtia, and the Suharwardia. These schools were also named after their organizers and came to be known as Sufi Orders. All these Orders intend to purify the hearts of sincere Muslims with Prophetic lights. These Sufi Orders also grew into many branches with the passage of time and are known by other names as well. The holy Quran has linked success in this life and the Hereafter with Tazkiyah (soul purification). He, who purified, is successful. (87: 14) Sufi Orders of Islam are the institutions where the basics of Tazkiyah (soul purification) and its practical application are taught. They have graded programs in which every new seeker is instructed in Zikr-e Lisani (oral Zikr) and is finally taught the Zikr-e Qalbi (Remembrance in heart).

 

ZIKR-E QALBI

However, in the Naqshbandia Order, Zikr-e Qalbi is practiced from the very beginning. Adherence to the Sunnah (Prophet’s way of life) is greatly emphasized in this Order, because the seeker achieves greater and quicker progress through its blessings. The essence of Zikr is that the Qalb should sincerely accept Islamic beliefs and gain the strength to follow the Sunnah with even greater devotion. ‘If the heart is acquainted with Allah and is engaged in His Zikr; then it is filled with Barakaat-e Nabuwwat (Prophetic blessings) which infuse their purity in the mind and body. This not only helps in controlling sensual drives but also removes traces of abhorrence, voracity, envy and insecurity from human soul. The person therefore becomes an embodiment of love, both for the Divine and the corporeal. This is the meaning of a Hadith, “There is a lump of flesh in the human body; if it goes astray the entire body is misguided, and if it is reformed the entire body is reformed. Know that this lump is the Qalb”.’

 

PAS ANFAS

Recent History Khawajah Naqshband (d. 1389 CE) organized the Naqshbandia Order at Bukhara (Central Asia). This Order has two main branches – the Mujaddidia and the Owaisiah. The former is identified with Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi, known as Mujaddid Alif Sani (literally: reviver of the second Muslim millennium), a successor to Khawajah Baqi Billah, who introduced the Order to the Indo- Pakistan sub-continent. The Owaisiah Order employs a similar method of Zikr but acquires the Prophetic blessings in the manner of Khawajah Owais Qarni, who received this beneficence from the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) without a formal physical meeting. The Zikr employed by the Naqshbandia is ‘Zikr-e Khafi Qalbi’ (remembrance of Allah’s Name within the heart) and the method is termed ‘Pas Anfas’, which (in Persian) means guarding every breath. The Chain of Transmission of these Barakah, of course, emanates from the holy Prophet- SAWS.

 

SPIRITUAL BAI’AT (OATH OF ALLEGIANCE

It is necessary in all Sufi Orders that the Sheikh and the seekers must be contemporaries and must physically meet each other for the transfer of these blessings. However, the Naqshbandia Owaisiah Order goes beyond this requirement and Sufis of this Order receive these Barakah regardless of physical meeting with their Sheikh or even when the Sheikh is not their contemporary. Yet, it must be underscored that physical meeting with the Sheikh of this Order still holds great importance in dissemination of these Barakah. Sheikh Sirhindi writes about the Owaisiah Order in his book ‘Tazkirah’: ‘It is the most sublime, the most exalted, and the most effective…and the highest station of all others is only its stepping stone.’ By far the greatest singular distinction of the Naqshbandia Owaisiah Order is the honor of Spiritual Bai’at (Oath of Allegiance) directly at the blessed hands of the holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W).

 

SHEIKH HAZRAT MOULANA ALLAH YAR KHAN (R.A)

The Reviver Sheikh Allah Yar Khan was born in Chikrala, a remote village of Mianwali District of Pakistan, in 1904. He completed his religious education in 1934. The same year, he met Sheikh ‘Abdul Rahim, who took him to the shrine of Sheikh Allah Deen Madni. By Divine Will his spiritual connection was immediately established with the saint of the 10th century Hijra (sixteenth century CE) and he started receiving spiritual beneficence. His sublime education in Sufism, signifying progressive spiritual growth and advancement, continued for about twenty-five years, after which he was directed to undertake the propagation of Prophetic blessings - a noble mission that he accomplished with singular zeal and dedication for a period spanning half a century. Anybody who visited him was duly rewarded with a share of spiritual bliss commensurate with his/her sincerity and capacity. Sheikh Allah Yar Khan’s mission produced men and women of deep spiritual vision and eminence. He authored eighteen books, the most distinguished being Dalael us-Sulook (Sufism - An Objective Appraisal), Hayat-e Barzakhiah (Life Beyond Life) and Israr ul- Haramain (Secrets of the two holy Mosques). He was undoubtedly one of the most distinguished Sufi saints of the Muslim Ummah and a reviver of the Naqshbandia Owaisiah Order. He passed away on 18 February 1984 in Islamabad at the age of eighty.

 

THE CHAIN OF TRANSMISSION OF NAQSHBANDIA OWAISIAH

1. Hazrat Muhammad ur-Rasool Allah (Sall Allah-o Alaihi wa Sallam), 2. Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (Radhi Allah-o Unho), 3. Hazrat Imam Hassan Basri (Rahmat Ullah Alaihi), 4. Hazrat Daud Tai (Rahmat Ullah Alaihi), 5. Hazrat Junaid Baghdadi (Rahmat Ullah Alaihi), 6. Hazrat Ubaid Ullah Ahrar (Rahmat Ullah Alaihi), 7. Hazrat Abdur Rahman Jami (Rahmat Ullah Alaihi), 8. Hazrat Abu Ayub Muhammad Salih (Rahmat Ullah Alaihi), 9. Hazrat Allah Deen Madni (Rahmat Ullah Alaihi), 10. Hazrat Moulana Allah Yar Khan (Rahmat Ullah Alaihi).

 

THE SPIRIT OR RUH

The spirit or Ruh of every person is a created reflection of the Divine Attributes and it originates in Alam-e Amar (Realm of Command). Its food is the Light of Allah or the Divine Refulgence, which it acquires from the Realm of Command through the holy Prophet Muhammad (may Allah’s choicest favors and peace be upon him), whose status in the spiritual world is like that of the sun in the solar system. The Quran refers to him as the ‘bright lamp’. Indeed, he is the divinely selected channel of all Barakah. All Exalted Messengers themselves receive these Barakah from him.

 

LATAIF

The human Ruh also possesses vital organs like the physical body; through which it acquires its knowledge, food and energy. These are called Lataif (singular Latifah: subtlety). Scholars of various Sufi Orders have associated them with specific areas of the human body. The Naqshbandia Owaisiah Order identifies these Lataif as follows. First - Qalb: This spiritual faculty is located within the physical heart. Its function is Zikr. Its strength increases one’s capacity for Allah’s Zikr. Second – Ruh: The site of this Latifah, which is a distinct faculty of the human Ruh, is on the right side of the chest at the level of Qalb. Its primary function is concentration towards Allah. Third – Sirri: This is located above the Qalb and functions to make possible Kashf. Forth – Khaffi: This is located above the Ruh and functions to perceive the omnipresence of Allah. Fifth – Akhfa: This is located in the middle of chest, at the centre of the first four Lataif and makes it possible for the Ruh to perceive the closeness of Allah, Who is closer to us than our own selves. Sixth – Nafs: This Latifah is located at the forehead and functions to purify the human soul. Seventh – Sultan al-Azkar: This Latifah is located at the top centre of the head and serves to absorb the Barakah of Allah into the entire body, so that every cell resonates with Zikr.

 

FIVE EXALTED MESSENGERS OF GOD

There are Five Exalted Messengers among the many known and unknown Messengers of Allah. They are Hazrat Muhammad, Hazrat Nuh (Noah), Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham), Hazrat Musa (Moses), and Hazrat Esa (Jesus), peace be upon them all. Hazrat Adam is the first Prophet of Allah and the father of mankind. Each Latifah is associated with a particular Prophet. The Barakah and lights from Hazrat Adam (peace be upon him), descend on the first Latifah Qalb; its lights are reflected from the first heaven and are yellowish. The second Latifah is associated with Hazrat Nuh and Hazrat Ibrahim (peace be upon them). Its lights descend from the second heaven and appear as golden red. The lights descending upon the third Latifah are from Hazrat Musa (peace be upon him) and are white. One the fourth Latifah, the lights of Hazrat Esa (peace be upon him) descend from the fourth heaven and are deep blue. The fifth Latifah receives its Barakah directly from the holy Prophet Muhammad (may Allah’s choicest favors and peace be upon him). The lights associated with this Latifah are green, descend from the fifth heaven, and overwhelm all the first four Lataif. The Lights descending upon the sixth and seventh Lataif are the Divine Lights, whose color and condition cannot be determined. These are like flashes of lightening that defy comprehension. If Allah blesses a seeker with Kashf, he can observe all of this. The vision is slightly diffused in the beginning, but gradually the clarity improves.

 

SULOOK

Stages of the Path After all seven Lataif of a seeker have been illuminated with Divine Lights through Tawajjuh of the Sheikh and his Ruh has acquired the ability to fly, the Sheikh initiates its journey on the sublime Path of Divine nearness. The Path is known as Sulook, and its stages are not hypothetical imaginations but real and actually existing stations on the spiritual Path. These are also referred to as Meditations, because a seeker mentally meditates about a station while his/her Ruh actually ascends towards it. The first three stations that form the base of whole Sulook are described as; Ahadiyyat, a station of Absolute Unity of Divinity. It is above and beyond the seven heavens. It is so vast a station that the seven heavens and all that they encompass are lost within Ahadiyyat as a ring is lost in a vast desert. Its lights are white in color. Maiyyat station denotes Divine Company, ‘He is with you, wherever you might be.’ This station is so vast that Ahadiyyat along with the seven heavens beneath are lost within it as a ring is lost in a desert. Its lights are green in color. Aqrabiyyat station denotes Divine Nearness, ‘He is nearer to you than your life- vein.’ Again, Aqrabiyyat is vast as compared to Maiyyat in the same proportion. Its lights are golden red and are reflected from the Divine Throne. It is indeed the greatest favor of Almighty Allah that He blesses a seeker with an accomplished Sheikh, who takes him to these sublime stations. The final station that a seeker attains to during his/her lifetime becomes his/her Iliyyeen (blessed abode) in Barzakh and his/her Ruh stays at this station after death.

  

ZIKR

Why is Zikr Necessary for Everyone? Allah ordains every soul in the Quran to Perform Zikr. This not only means reciting the Quran and Tasbeeh but also Zikr-e Qalb. It is only through Zikr-e Qalbi that Prophetic Lights reach the depths of human soul and purify it from all vice and evil. Zikr infuses a realization of constant Divine Presence and a seeker feels great improvement in the level of sincerity and love towards Allah and the holy Prophet- SAWS. Such levels of sincerity, love and feelings of Divine Presence can never be obtained without Zikr. It would be a mistake to believe that Zikr may be a requirement only for the very pious and virtuous people. Zikr provides the Prophetic blessings which are in effect the life line of every human soul. It transforms even the most corrupted humans into virtuous souls by bringing out the best in them. The fact is that Zikr is the only way to achieve true contentment and satisfaction in life. The holy Quran has pointed to this eternal fact that it is only through Zikr Allah that hearts can find satisfaction. Such satisfaction and peace are the ultimate requirements of every person, regardless of religion, race and ethnicity. Practicing Zikr regularly removes all traces of anxiety and restlessness, and guides the human soul to eternal bliss and peace.

 

KHALIFA MAJAZEEN

Hazrat Moulana Allah Yar Khan (R.A), during his life time in 1974, presented a nomination list to Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), during Maraqba, of expected Khalifa Majazeen for Silsila Naqshbandia Awaisia. Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) approved some names, deleted some of the names, and added down the name of Major Ghulam Muhammad as also Khalifa Majaaz of Silsila Naqshbandia Awaisia (which was not previously included in the list)

 

The approved names at that time included:

1. Mr. Muhammad Akram Awan Sahib,

2. Mr. Sayed Bunyad Hussain Shah Sahib,

3. Mr. Major Ahsan Baig Sahib,

4. Mr. Col. Matloob Hussain Sahib,

5. Mr. Major Ghulam Muhammad Sahib of Wan Bhachran Mianwali,

6. Mr. Molvi Abdul Haq Sahib,

7. Mr. Hafiz Abdul Razzaq Sahib,

8. Mr. Hafiz Ghulam Qadri Sahib,

9. Mr. Khan Muhammad Irani Sahib,

10. Mr. Maolana Abdul Ghafoor Sahib,

11. Mr. Syed Muhammad Hassan Sahib of Zohb.

 

These Majazeen were authorized to; held Majalis of Zikar (Pas Anfas) in their respective areas, arrange Majalis of Zikar in neighboring areas, train them on the way of Sulook, prepare them for Spiritual Bai’at (Oath of Allegiance), and present them to Sheikh Hazrat Moulana Allah Yar Khan for Spiritual Bai’at at the Hand of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), in the life of Hazrat Moulana Allah Yar Khan (R.A), and were all equal in status as Khalifa Majaaz of Hazrat Moulana Allah Yar Khan (R.A).

 

Presently we are following Hazrat Major ® Ghulam Muhammad Sahib, Khalifa Majaaz of Hazrat Moulana Allah Yar Khan (R.A).

Remember to ALWAYS check the review mirror! Riley must have had some driver's ed training!!

  

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here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart).

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Liian paksu perhoseksi (2015). Kuva: Ari Heinonen

ville valo of HIM 2005 chicago concert. yes, i shot this picture, i had a photo pass from Seppo :)

 

Chain smoking friends are interesting subjects :)

 

Apparently Wills Navy Cut is almost always the preferred crutches of depression for them.

 

View On Black

 

Didn't want equal light distribution so used long exposure and cellphone light reflected off a dull white paper.

A homeless man on a Chicago corner. I proposed to give him a dollar if I could get his portrait, and he started to argue that was not enough. After a while, we agreed on 2 bucks, and he still grumbled, but in the end he let me do my thing.

MAHAVATAR BABAJI CAVE

Mahāvatār Bābājī (literally; Great Avatar Dear Father) is the name given to an Indian saint and yogi by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples,[2] who reported meeting him between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, including a first-hand report of Yogananda's own meeting with the yogi.[3]Another first hand account was given by Yukteswar Giri in his book The Holy Science.[4] According to Sri M's autobiography (Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master) Babaji, was Shiva. In the second last chapter of his book, he mentions Babaji changing his form to that of Shiva. All of these accounts, along with additional reported meetings, are described in various biographies.[5][6][7]According to Yogananda's autobiography, Babaji has resided for at least hundreds of years in the remote Himalayan regions of India, seen in person by only a small number of disciples and others.[3][8] The death less Master is more than 2000 years old. He belongs to a very powerful lineage of Siddha Boganthar and Rishi Agastya as his Gurus. He acquired this deathless, non perishable body through tough yogik kriyas.

Again, according to his autobiography, shortly before Yogananda left for America in 1920, Babaji came to his home in Calcutta, where the young monk sat deeply praying for divine assurance regarding the mission he was about to undertake. Babaji said to him: "Follow the behest of your guru and go to America. Fear not; you shall be protected. You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West

There are very few accounts of Babaji's childhood. One source of information is the book Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga tradition by Marshal Govindan.[9]According to Govindan, Babaji was named Nagarajan (king of serpents) by his parents. [8] V.T. Neelakantan and S.A.A. Ramaiah founded on 17 October 1952, (they claim – at the request of Babaji) a new organization, "Kriya Babaji Sangah," dedicated to the teaching of Babaji's Kriya Yoga. They claim that in 1953 Mahavatar Babaji told them that he was born on 30 November 203 CE in a small coastal village now known as Parangipettai, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, India.[10] Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas Trust (Kriya Babaji Sangah) and their branch organizations claim his place and date of birth.[10] He was a disciple of Bogar and his birth name is Nagarajan.[9][10]

In Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, many references are made to Mahavatar Babaji, including from Lahirī and Sri Yukteshwar.[3] In his book The Second Coming of Christ, Yogananda states that Jesus Christ went to India and conferred with Mahavatar Babaji.[8] This would make Babaji at least 2000 years old.[11] According to Govindan's book, Babaji Nagaraj's father was the priest of the village's temple. Babaji revealed only those details which he believed to be formative as well as potentially instructive to his disciples. Govindan mentioned one incident like this: "One time Nagaraj's mother had got one rare jackfruit for a family feast and put it aside. Babaji was only 4 years old at that time. He found the jackfruit when his mother was not around and ate it all. When his mother came to know about it, she flew in blind rage and stuffed a cloth inside Babaji's mouth, nearly suffocating him, but he survived. Later on he thanked God for showing him that she was to be loved without attachment or illusion. His Love for his mother became unconditional and detached."[9]

When Nagaraj was about 5 years old, someone kidnapped him and sold him as a slave in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His new owner however was a kind man and he freed Nagaraj shortly thereafter. Nagaraj then joined a small group of wandering sannyāsin due to their radiant faces and love for God. During the next few years, he wandered from place to place, studying holy scriptures like the Vedas, Upanishad, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita.

According to Marshall Govindan's book, at the age of eleven, he made a difficult journey on foot and by boat with a group of ascetics to Kataragama, Sri Lanka. Nagaraj met Siddha Bhogarnathar and became his disciple. Nagaraj performed intensive yogic sadhana for a long time with him. Bhogarnathar inspired Nagaraj to seek his initiation into Kriya Kundalini Pranayam from Siddha Agastya. Babaji became a disciple of Siddha Agastya. Nagaraj was initiated into the secrets of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama or "Vasi Yogam". Babaji made a long pilgrimage to Badrinath and spent eighteen months practising yogic kriyataught to him by Siddha Agastya and Bhogarnathar. Babaji attained self-realization shortly thereafter.[9]

It is claimed that these revelations were made by Babaji himself to S.A.A. Ramaiah, a young graduate student in geology at the University of Madras and V.T. Neelakantan, a famous journalist, and close student of Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society and mentor of Krishnamurti. Babaji was said to have appeared to each of them independently and then brought them together to work for his Mission in 1942

By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com

 

Cabot, Arkansas

Cabot Martial Arts and Karate

  

Karate for Kids Testimonial and Review

 

When my eight-year-old son first asked me if I would let him take Karate for Kids, I was a little worried. Karate seems so dangerous and I was concerned that my boy would end up injured. After talking with my husband, we agreed to give the program a chance and now we are so glad that we did.

 

First of all, I would like to state that Master Babin is wonderful with the children. While I was apprehensive that the Karate class would be all about fighting, I was relieved to learn that the focus was more on self-defense and moral values. Now my son is healthier than ever, doing an activity that he truly loves.

 

I would encourage every parent out there looking for a fun exercise-based activity for his or her child to participate in their Karate for Kids program a chance. My son is constantly talking about what he learned in his past karate lessons and practicing his blocks and punches in the living room. He is even playing his video games less.

 

After my initial reservations, I now cannot imagine my son participating in any other karate program. Consider this my highest recommendation.

David S

 

Reviews on Karate for Kids

 

When my son started karate instruction with Karate for Kids, he was timid, had few friends and had trouble paying attention in school. I didn't agree with the doctor who tried to tell me he had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and that I should put him on medication to control it. To me, my son just needed some loving guidance, not to be medicated.

 

That is when I asked my good friend about her children's experiences with the local martial arts Instructor. Like my son, her children did not have a father figure in their lives and suffered greatly as the result. When they were approaching their teenage years, she decided to enroll them in karate at Karate For Kids Within a matter of weeks, I saw her pre-teen son and daughter become more confident, focused and goal-oriented and knew I wanted the same for my child.

 

After his very first lesson, my son, then aged nine, was already a changed child. He overflowed with enthusiasm as he explained how the karate for kids program pushed him to reach goals, but was "really nice" about it. To this mom, that means that my son finally got the caring, personal instruction that he deserves.

Thank you for such a fantastic Karate For Kids Program

Samantha W

  

Testimonial and Review on Martial Arts For Men

 

I am a forty-eight year old man and, until about four months ago, I had really let myself go. Between work-related stress and the other pressures of my day-to-day existence, I made little time for exercise and gave almost no thought to a healthy diet. In short, I was a mess.

 

One day, a colleague at my office took me aside and recommended that I sign up for the martial arts program offered locally. He had recently signed up for a class and loved it. After some convincing, I agreed to accompany him to his next class.

 

Fast-forward to today and I now love my martial arts training. Martial Arts for men workouts feels less like training and more like fun. I have been losing weight and now have a new energy when facing the daily grind. I have gone from one class a week to two, and am thinking of adding a third.

 

If you are looking for a fun way to get in shape, I would advise you to come on down our Martial Arts for Men Academy. You will not regret it.

Getting younger…

Lisa F

  

Testimonial and Review on Martial Arts For Women

 

I never would have thought that taking up martial arts, would change me so much as a person and in so many ways. I still use every occasion to thank my friends, for recommending me the Martial Art courses for women taught by a martial arts school that teaches quality skill sets for women

 

I used to be a very shy person, and had become quite fearful after having my purse stolen one evening. Now, that is no longer the case. Since participating in the martial arts courses, I have felt more empowered than ever. I enjoyed the friendly and encouraging atmosphere right from the start, and did not feel ashamed of my initial clumsiness.

 

Now, I can actually impress my friends with some of the moves I learned. Also, I am fully aware that martial arts represent a life style just as much as anything else. My Instructor simply amazed all of us throughout the entire program, with his dedication and willingness to teach us. In fact, we could hardly wait for the next session.

 

I truly recommend anyone to make the same change I made in my life. Looking back, I really cannot see my weekly schedule without my martial arts training sessions.

C McCrae

 

Martial Arts For Women in Cabot, Arkansas

 

Taking a martial arts class was not something I had given much consideration prior to turning 30. Wanting to preserve my strength and flexibility for years to come finally enticed me to take the plunge. The immediate results were stunning and I found myself feeling more energetic and confident in just a few sessions.

 

Not only are his martial arts skills top-notch, but I find his enthusiasm and enjoyment of the sport to be infectious. Considering that this entire venture was foreign to me, I felt right at home during my very first class. In addition to training in martial arts my instructor has a great deal of patience and warmth, the other karate students in the session were just as receptive to me. They really know how to make new members feel welcome.

 

Learning the forms and methods involved in martial arts is a great experience, but what makes these classes truly exceptional is that we learn how to incorporate the philosophy and principals behind this art form into our everyday lives. I look forward to my sessions with my instructor, and find his classes to be a great way to invest in myself, while having some fun at the same time. It is more than just kicking and punching it’s a well rounded martial arts program.

With Great Thanks,

Jackie W

 

We have all been there getting caught by enforcement officers, however I believe they negotiated a truce!!!!

HIM

him gaset bastian suit weekend sales hair wings

 

she dinkie kitty tinyinc

sweet surprise outfit micachan

Water & Light at Sassi Mazar Balochistan May30, 2015

 

SUN SHINES IN THE NIGHT

Sassi punnu mausoleum got Solar Energy

Every year thousands of peoples from various parts of Sindh, Baluchistan and Punjab gather at the shrine of Sassi and Punnu in Singher village to attend a 3 days carnival. Singher village is , 52 Kilometers away from Hub town. Singher means chain, as the village is surrounded by the chain of hills where it is believed that Sassi and Punnu were buried under a landslide.

Before the monsoon a carnival organizing committee receives donation from the Baloch tribal chiefs of Sindh and Balochistan to bear the expenditures of the event. Collected funds are mostly used for providing food, water and accommodation to all the devotees there. Sufi Faqirs (singers) from Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab travel to perform songs on the occasion to pay homage to Sassi Punnu, the popular tragic romance of Sindh and Balochistan. Besides folk songs, a traditional Sindhi game malakhro similar to Japanese wrestling sumo also attracts a large number of the people to come there.

 

Lands from mountains with old graves scattered in the area and rainy water ways are quite difficult to cross for the travellers. Despite this, devotees, males and females, travel long distance to visit the site the entire year. For the local people, camel is the only means of transport and people gather there during the occasion.

 

There is only one well, which is useful for the communities otherwise the entire area underground water level is unsafe for human consumption. In case the area receives monsoon rains the people use rainy water from ponds.

 

For the benefit of peoples living in surroundings as well as devotees who visit during carnival and over the year, Masood Lohar, country Manager UNDP, GEF small grant program decided to use solar energy for providing clean and safe water and lighting on the mausoleum.

 

On 30th May 2015, Shaan Technologies Private Limited installed a 3 HP Solar Powered pump on a 250 ft deep well that is located near the tomb. Operating on a 3 kilowatt solar panel bank this pump provide 30 Gallon water per minutes & eliminates requirement of diesel generator operated pump that organizing committee previously used to supply water during the festival.

 

Now solar pump serves as a continuous source of clean water without any additional cost. A water tank is provided to store pumped water. This tank helped as a 24 hours ready source of water for the local people.

 

In addition to that 2 solar powered floodlights were also installed in front yard of tomb. These 14 watt LED lights runs on a 35 watt solar panel that provide sufficient power to run LED lamps up to 12 hours. Dusk to Dawn photo sensors is also used in the system that automatically turns on the light just before the sunset and turns off at dawn. This project was financed by the UNDP GEF Small grant program. Lodhie foundation contributed 10% cost of the project under its poverty alleviation initiative.

  

Project Summary

 

Location: Sassi Punnu Moseleum, Singher Village, Near Hub Dam, Baluchistan

Coordinates: 25°18'41"N 66°53'21"E

Nearby cities: Karachi, Hub City, Sonmiani / Winder city

Initiated By: UNDP, GEF Small Grant Program in association of Lodhie Foundation

Implemented by: Shaan Technologies Private Limited Karachi

Implantation Date: 30Th May 2015

Equipment installed:

(1) One 3HP DC Submersible water pump with 3KW Solar panels and Pump Controller

(2) Two Solar Powered LED Floodlights

Beneficiaries: Up to 2500 people living in the Singher village and surroundings

    

Folktale of Sassi & Punnu

 

Sassi Punnu is a famous folktale of love told in the length and breadth of Sindh, Pakistan. The story is about a faithful wife who is ready to undergo all kinds of troubles that would come her way while seeking her beloved husband who was separated from her by the rivals

Sassi was the daughter of a Brahman Hindu Rajah from Rohri . Upon Sassui's birth, astrologers predicted that she was a curse for the royal family’s prestige. The Raja ordered that the child be put in a wooden box and thrown in the Sindhu, present day’s river Indus. However, she was saved by a washer-man belonging to Bhanbhor, near Gharo district, Thatta . The washer-man raised her as his own daughter.

When Sassui became a young girl, she was as beautiful as the fairies of heaven. Stories of her beauty reached Punhun a prince from Kech Makran Balochistan and he became desperate to meet Sassi. The handsome young Prince therefore travelled to Bhambore. He sent his clothes to Sassi's father (a washerman) so that he could catch a glimpse of Sassi. When he visited the washerman's house, they fell in love at first sight. Sassui's father was dispirited, hoping that Sassi would marry a washerman and no one else. He asked Punnhun to prove that he was worthy of Sassui by passing the test as a washerman. Punnhun agreed to prove his love. While washing, he tore all the clothes as, being a prince, he had never washed any clothes; he thus failed the agreement. But before he returned those clothes, he hid gold coins in the pockets of all the clothes, hoping this would keep the villagers quiet. The trick worked, and Sassui's father agreed to the marriage.

At last Punnu (Punhoon) married her. However, his father, Ari, the King of Ketch, did not like his son getting married to a low-caste girl, so he instructed his other sons to go to Bhanbhor and bring back Punnu at any cost. They visited Punnu as his guests and during the night they intoxicated him and his wife. Later, they put their brother on one of the camels and left. When Sassi woke up in the morning, she was shocked to find Punnu missing and all his brothers gone. She understood their trickery. She left Bhambhor immediately to Kech Makran on foot in search of him. The Kech Makran is located along the Makran Coastal Highway in Baluchistan, Pakistan.

After crossing Pab Mountain, she reached the Harho range. She could not proceed further when her path was blocked by the Phor River. So she started retracing her steps. Soon she was accosted by a beastly goatherd who intended to molest her. Sassi prayed to God for protection. Immediately the ground below her feet started caving in like quicksand and she disappeared within seconds. Seeing the miracle, the goatherd repented sincerely, and to make amends for his misconduct, he made a grave in the site and became its custodian.

Punnu found no peace of mind at Kech. He languished and soon became an invalid. Under the circumstances, his father allowed him to return to Bhambhor.

During his return journey, Punnu happened to pass by the site where Sassi had met her death. When the goatherd came to know his story, he told him as to what had happened to Sassi. Punnu was beside himself on hearing the horrible news.

He prayed to God to unite him with Sassi. Again the ground became quicksand and he soon disappeared into the bowels of the earth. So came to an end the tragic love story of Sassi and Punnu. The legendary grave still exists in this valley.

The famous Sufi saint and poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai sings this historic tale in his sufi poetry “Shah jo Risalo” as an example of eternal love and union with Divine.

Sassi’s resting place is said to be about 45 miles away in the Pub range to the west of Karachi. A local man of some importance constructed a simple mausoleum in 1980 over the joint grave of Sassi and Punnu. It is often visited by tourists.

Perhaps even for sale, but it was there last Friday and the Friday before also, so perhaps is more to attract clients in the shop

YRP Detective Constable Plunkett and his son’s grave always brings a tear to my eyes despite the fact that I never met him. YRP Chris Barratt, is currently the National Canadian President of the International Police Association (IPA) knew him and had high regard for him. We honour the man, his family, and his service.

 

The two replacement flags with extended poles were erected to represent the respects being paid to Rob and his family by members of the International Police Association Region 2 Toronto Ontario Canada’s. IPA R2. Flags should never be dragged on the ground as that would disrespect the flag.

I also added a poppy as there had been a poppy present during many of our previous visits.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/21728045@N08/19094933740/in/datepos...

 

Torstar: A routine police surveillance operation on the trail of thieves stealing cars and airbags ended in tragedy yesterday when a veteran York Regional Police officer was dragged to his death while trying to arrest a suspect on a quiet residential street in Markham.

York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge called Const. Rob Plunkett, 43, a "true hero" and said his death marks a dark day for the small GTA force that last lost an officer in the line of duty in 1984.

One man has been charged with manslaughter, the other with theft-related offences.

Both accused were on bail for other charges.

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The drama unfolded just before dawn yesterday after investigators had followed a white Honda Civic, registered to a home in Ajax, and a gold Honda, which was stolen but not yet reported as such, from an address in Toronto to Ascot Cres., a winding, tree-lined street not far from Steeles Ave. and Kennedy Rd.

There has been a rash of airbag thefts across York Region, particularly in Markham.

Since January, there have been 43 incidents of airbag thefts and investigators had zeroed in on a couple of suspects.

The undercover officers watched the two cars pull over to the side of Ascot Cres., just around a bend, and saw the driver of the gold Honda attempt to remove an airbag. It was just after 5 a.m. when Plunkett approached the open driver's side, said La Barge.

"As Const. Plunkett attempted to arrest the suspect, the suspect put the vehicle into reverse, and accelerated over a curb, across a lawn and over several shrubs," he said.

Plunkett was then pinned by the open door as it struck a tree on the front lawn of 65 Ascot Cres. As the suspect tried to drive away, the officer was dragged onto a nearby lawn and thrown from the car.

The suspect continued to reverse across the lawn, "at which time assisting officers rammed the vehicle to stop its progress," said La Barge. The suspect fled the car but was quickly arrested.

The second suspect was also arrested trying to flee.

Police said they didn't know why the suspects chose Ascot, except at that time of day it is still dark and there are no surveillance cameras in the immediate area.

Kuo Wan Liu was awake inside his Ascot Cres. home. "There was a big bang noise once, and then a second one," Liu said. "It was not normal. Ascot Crescent is very quiet."

Soon after, a group of people outside were yelling, "`Bleeding! Bleeding! Bleeding!' Very loud," he said.

It's unclear how many officers were at the scene when Plunkett moved in. La Barge said other officers were in the area and responding when Plunkett moved in to make the arrest.

The 22-year veteran had identified himself as a police officer, but detectives will look at what he was wearing and what identification he had, said homicide Det. Kevin Torrie.

Plunkett, married and the father of a daughter, 18, and sons 16 and 14, was rushed to Scarborough Grace Hospital, where he died.

Nadeem Jiwah, 19, has been charged with manslaughter. He was on a recognizance order to live at Hawkeshead Cres.

Baseer Yousafzai, 23, is facing various charges of theft and mischief. He is a landed immigrant from Afghanistan. They're scheduled to make a court appearance in Newmarket today.

A charge of first-degree murder requires evidence of planning and specific intent, second-degree murder covers a "spur of the moment" decision to kill with no planning, and a manslaughter charge can be laid when someone commits an unlawful act that results in someone's death, criminal lawyer Andrew McKay explained.

 

www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2012/...

 

TORONTO -- At last, the family of York Regional Police Det. Const. Rob Plunkett can begin to heal.

Nadeem Jiwa, the airbag thief convicted of manslaughter in Plunkett's death, has lost an appeal of his sentence and must do the dozen years behind bars he was given in 2011. No more excuses, no more stalling, no more whining. He must do his time.

 

For Amanda Plunkett, the good news came a day after a grim anniversary - Aug. 7 marked five years since her vibrant father was senselessly killed in the line of duty. From that day of horror, there have been so many difficult stages for the family to endure - Jiwa's preliminary hearing, the trial, a shocking verdict that came back not as murder but manslaughter, and then news that still not satisfied, he was appealing his sentence.

 

But now, finally, an end.

 

"It's been hanging over our heads," explained Plunkett's 22-year-old daughter, who is working this summer as an assistant youth probation officer. "We've been waiting for this decision and we can all rest easy now. We're relieved that this last little thing is over now. It's that last bit. There's nothing more he can do."

 

In a judgment released Wednesday, the Ontario Court of Appeal found Justice Michelle Fuerst's sentence was on the "very high end" for a youthful, first-time offender, but contrary to what his lawyers had argued, it was not demonstrably unfit.

 

"Police officers carry out an essential and responsible role in society," wrote Justice Eileen Gillese on behalf of a three-judge panel, quoting an earlier decision. "When a police officer is killed in the execution of duty, the community is understandably outraged. In imposing sentence, it is appropriate to reflect society's revulsion for this aspect of the offence."

 

In the early morning hours of that August day in 2007, 19-year-old Jiwa was on bail facing airbag theft charges and was out well past the 1 a.m. curfew when he was supposed to be tucked in at his mother's home. Instead, he was out with a friend in a Markham, Ont., neighbourhood, stealing a car and valuable airbags. Plunkett , 43, was part of an undercover surveillance unit watching Jiwa and his partner when they were given the order just before 5 a.m. to move in and make the arrests.

 

With the cops screaming, "Police, police," his partner in crime quickly surrendered, Not Jiwa. He jumped into his stolen gold Honda and threw it into reverse, crushing Plunkett against a tree. And even as the father of three lay collapsed on the ground, the thief kept on reversing. When his car was finally rammed to a stop, Jiwa tried to take off on foot.

 

He later insisted at his trial that hitting Plunkett had been an accident and he didn't know he was a police officer trying to arrest him.

 

Charged with first-degree murder, Jiwa was convicted by a jury of the lesser offence of manslaughter in 2011 and sentenced to 12 years in prison and a 10-year driving ban when he's released. In May, Jiwa's lawyers went to the appeal court to argue the sentence was too harsh for a first-offender with genuine remorse.

 

The learned judges disagreed.

 

"This was a very serious crime," wrote Justice Sarah Pepall. "Detective Plunkett was killed in the line of duty. His family and colleagues have been devastated by his death. I recognize that Mr. Jiwa was only 19 years of age at the time of the offence, had no previous record, showed some remorse and the killing was involuntary. Nonetheless, the offence was committed while he was on bail for pending air bag theft charges; he was driving a stolen vehicle having spent several hours stealing air bags; and he was in violation of his curfew."

 

The top court's decision was applauded by John Miskiw, Plunkett's friend and head of the York police association. "Sonja Plunkett and her children deserve some closure to the court process."

 

But, of course, 12 years doesn't mean 12 years at all and the family will soon have the parole system to confront: Given two-for-one credit for the almost four years he spent in custody, Jiwa has only three years left on his sentence. < As of Sept 2012.

Here we go again (not my photo)

Seen in Paris, France.

 

This is a "natural" photograph. No editing, no color enhancing.

The search for Malaysia's Hottest Hunks for year 2008/2009. Fashion Show by Camel Active, performances by the hunks, shirtless catwalks and more. Organised by NewIcon For Him & Newtide.

China Town, London

I saw him standing there, a kind old man. I looked into his eyes, and saw experience and wisdom. I had to have his picture. I asked him, "Sir, may I take your picture?" He replied, "Son, it would be my honor." Afterwards we began to talk about his life. He joined the navy when he was 16 years old. He served on a battleship in the Second World War, seeing not only the world, but the anguish brought forth by the battle. He told me how he watched his closest friends perish in the fiery combat of the pacific. And as he told me that very thing, a tear rolled down his cheek. My eyes welled up with tears as well. His stories brought tears to my eyes. I was and am eternally grateful that he, and so many others fought and perished for our freedom. He is 85 years old. He is a veteran, and like so many others, a hero.

Praise The Lord!

the great crested grebes at lymm dam.

The little one is eating a fish that dad got him

Meggie Clown - bnnrrb - Hamlet looks for a way of conveying the truth, by unmasking falsehood and hypocrycy that surround him.

 

NS 265 Rolls through the small community of Locust Shores AL with a rare sight for an intermodal in a BNSF executive MAC. NS 23N was also combined with this train which brought the total locomotive count to 6 with about 10,000+ft of train in tow