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Gdańsk is mentioned the Vita of Saint Adalbert of Prague who baptised the inhabitants of "urbs Gyddannyzc" in 997.
Later the site was a duchy of Poland. In 1224/25, merchants from Lübeck were invited Significant German influence did not appear until the 14th century, after the takeover of the city by the Teutonic Knights.
In 1300, the town had an estimated population of 2,000. Low on funds, the Pomeranian Samborides lent the settlement to Brandenburg, although they planned to give it to Poland. Poland threatened to intervene, and the Brandenburgians left the town. Subsequently, the city was taken by Danish princes in 1301. The Teutonic Knights were hired by Polish nobles to drive out the Danes.
In 1308, the town was taken by the Teutonic Knights. Primary sources record a large massacre carried out by the Knights against the population.
In 1358, Danzig joined the Hanseatic League.
After a series of Polish-Teutonic Wars, the Order had to acknowledge that it would hold Pomerelia as a fief from the Polish Crown. The city thrived as a result of increased exports via the Vistula River trading routes. While under the control of the Teutonic Order German migration increased. A new war broke out in 1409, culminating in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. The city came under the control of the Kingdom of Poland. Only a year later, with the Peace of Thorn, it returned to the Teutonic Order.
In 1440, the city participated in the foundation of the "Prussian Confederation", an organisation opposed to the Teutonic Knights. Upon the request of the organisation King Casimir IV of Poland reincorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. This led to a war between Poland and the Teutonic Order.
Casimir IV of Poland granted the town the Great Privilege. With this, the town was granted full autonomy and protection by the King of Poland. The privilege removed tariffs and taxes on trade within Poland, Lithuania and Ruthenia.
Gaining privileged access to Polish markets, the seaport prospered while simultaneously trading with the other Hanseatic cities. Being the largest and one of the most influential cities of Poland, it enjoyed voting rights during the royal election period in Poland.
In the 1575 election of a king to the Polish throne, Danzig supported Maximilian II in his struggle against Stephen Báthory. Stephen became monarch but the city shut its gates against him. After the 6 months siege of Danzig in 1577 the city's army was defeated. A compromise was reached: Stephen confirmed the city's special status and its privileges. The city recognised him as ruler of Poland and paid the enormous sum of 200,000 guldens in gold as payoff.
During the Reformation, most German-speaking inhabitants adopted Lutheranism.
The "Battle of Westerplatte" was the first battle of the German invasion of Poland, marking the start of WW II in Europe.
The historic city centre of Gdansk was 90% destroyed at the end of WWII. It was reconstructed by Poles at great expense and today attracts tourists.
According to tradition in 1243 Duke Swietopelk had a wooden church built where the Bazyliką Mariacką is now.
Construction of a new hall church on a Romanesque predecessor began in 1343. By 1447 the eastern part of the church was finished, and the tower was raised by two floors in the years 1452–1466.
From 1485 the work was continued by Hans Brandt and after 1496, the church was finally finished under Heinrich Haetzl
In the course of the Reformation most Danzigers adopted Lutheranism. After a short wave of turbulent religious altercations in 1525 and 1526 the authorities favored a smooth transition to Lutheran religious practice. In 1529 the first Lutheran sermon was given here. From 1536 on both Lutheran services and Catholic masses were held.
After King Sigismund II Augustus had granted Danzig the religious privilege of celebrating communion with both bread and wine in 1557, the City Council ended Catholic masses in all Danzig churches except St. Mary's, where Catholic masses continued until 1572.
The "Ołtarz Koronacji Najświętszej Marii Panny" (Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary) is a late Gothic retable of the main altar, dated 1511-1517, attributed to Master Michael of Augsburg and his workshop. It is located in the presbytery of St. Mary's Basilica in Gdańsk. The work is five metres high.
The contract with Master Michael was concluded in 1511. On 25 January 1517 the altar was placed in the church. In the same year two fixed painted wings were added to form the back of the retable. During the fights of the town with Stephen Báthory, silver figures of apostles decorating the altar were melted down for coins. In 1866-1877 the retable was restored and given a neo-Gothic finial, which was dismantled in 1936. For the jubilee of the Baptism of Poland and the millennium celebrations the retable was put back in its former place.
The central section, measuring 489 x 390 cm, depicts the scene of the Coronation of Mary. Above Mary's head float angels holding a crown and below her rises the Dove of the Holy Spirit The corpus is framed by a carved vine on which sit 24 old men of the Apocalypse, who hold, among other things, musical instruments and golden incense sticks. 12 of them are authentic sculptures, the other two have been reconstructed.
This is smoke! I used some incense sticks and a Canon EX430II flash. If you want to learn more about the technique, watch this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv39UmuiYNA&feature=feedlik
Hope you like it!
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- Canon 500D
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, 1/50, f/16.0, ISO 200.
- Processed in Photoshop CS5
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Incense sticks - yay / nay?
The only smoking I do is with incense not cigarettes.. okay, I might have a miniature cigar once in a while but shhhh.
I love the smell of incense but the smoke is also great used in backlit natural light photos.. it lights up beautifully for mystic vibes and creates such a magical atmosphere.
I hope you like this self-portrait, taken on my Huawei P20 mobile phone! (Phones are legitimate cameras too!)
...can prevent forest fires (haha I'm hilarious).
Created by firing a wireless flash upwards into the smoke coming off of the incense sticks. Very little photoshop used.
5D + 35L + single 580ex placed underneath the incense sticks and fired upwards.
Cake candles were the source here. Some post processing done to enhance the colours. So much more dirty smoke than that from incense sticks. I had a Lee Straw 3 filter mounted for this.
© 2020 Martin Roos Holm
Taking using incense sticks for the smoke & a Fujifilm finepix HS 50 EXR & my home made off camera remote flash see link. www.wilneyweather.co.uk/fujifilmhack/index.htm
Diwali (also spelled Devali in certain regions) or Deepavali, popularly known as the "festival of lights", is an important five-day festival in Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, occurring between mid-October and mid-November. For Hindus, Diwali is the most important festival of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. Deepavali is an official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore, and Fiji.
The name Diwali is itself a contraction of the word "Deepavali" (Sanskrit: दीपावली Dīpāvalī), which translates into "row of lamps". Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas, or dīpa in Sanskrit: दीप) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends. Most Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali.
Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama along with Sita and Lakshman from his fourteen-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps) and burst crackers.
In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by Mahavira in 527 BC. In Sikhism, Deepavali commemorates the return of Guru Har Gobind Ji to Amritsar after freeing 52 Hindu kings imprisoned in Fort Gwalior by defeating Emperor Jahangir; the people lit candles and diyas to celebrate his return. This is the reason Sikhs also refer to Deepavali as Bandi Chhorh Divas, "the day of release of detainees". Deepavali is widely celebrated in both India and Nepal.
The first day of the festival Naraka Chaturdasi marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama. Amavasya, the second day of Deepawali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the tyrant Bali, and banished him to hell. Bali was allowed to return to earth once a year, to light millions of lamps to dispel the darkness and ignorance, and spread the radiance of love and wisdom. It is on the third day of Deepawali — Kartika Shudda Padyami - that Bali steps out of hell and rules the earth according to the boon given by Lord Vishnu. The fourth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj) and on this day sisters invite
In each legend, myth and story of Deepawali lies the significance of the victory of good over evil; and it is with each Deepawali and the lights that illuminate our homes and hearts, that this simple truth finds new reason and hope. From darkness unto light — the light that empowers us to commit ourselves to good deeds, that which brings us closer to divinity. During Diwali, lights illuminate every corner of India and the scent of incense sticks hangs in the air, mingled with the sounds of fire-crackers, joy, togetherness and hope. Diwali is celebrated around the globe. Outside India, it is more than a Hindu festival, it's a celebration of South-Asian identities.
While Deepavali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning is "the awareness of the inner light". Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. The celebration of Deepavali as the "victory of good over evil", refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). This brings Ananda (joy or peace). Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Deepavali is the celebration of this Inner Light.
While the story behind Deepavali and the manner of celebration varies from region to region (festive fireworks, worship, lights, sharing of sweets), the essence is the same – to rejoice in the Inner Light (Atman) or the underlying Reality of all things (Brahman).
Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali
A smoky tree. This was the first one I processed and I think it's my favourite.
Used incense sticks to get a smooth consistent smoke trail, lit with a snooted flash, then inverted in photoshop and coloured gradient overlayed.
The Fire Dragon Dance is one of the many traditional festivals in Hong Kong. I found it very amazing as these guys were using a super giant lighter to lit up many incense sticks at one shot.
This stunning event is usually held around Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong sometimes in Sept, sometimes in Oct because it is based on the Chinese New Year Calendar so each year is different.
Missed all the action for almost a week now. Came down with a bad Flu that had put me in bed for a week. After almost 10 days of not touching my camera, I took it out yesterday after seeing the smoke from the incense sticks that my wife lights everyday for her prayers. Smoke photography is something very easy for which the setup or the thought process does not take a long time. Although I ended up with some cool shots I did not download them to the comp until today evening which is very unusual. This is the first shot I processed. Keep visiting back for more.
Strobist Info:
Used an incense stick for the smoke. Placed a 580 EX II at 1/32 power pointing at the smoke from the right and a black sheet of paper to hide the spill light. Placed a black backdrop and used a canon 100mm macro lens on a T1i body. User wireless trigger for the flash.
Please comment by writing what comes to your mind when you see the shape in the picture.
Adorn the walls of your office and household interiors with canvas prints like the one below in various sizes. Please send in your request here and I'll get back to you within 24 hours.
See more smoke sculptures
Diwali (also spelled Devali in certain regions) or Deepavali, popularly known as the "festival of lights", is an important five-day festival in Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, occurring between mid-October and mid-November. For Hindus, Diwali is the most important festival of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. Deepavali is an official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore, and Fiji.
The name Diwali is itself a contraction of the word "Deepavali" (Sanskrit: दीपावली Dīpāvalī), which translates into "row of lamps". Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas, or dīpa in Sanskrit: दीप) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends. Most Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali.
Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama along with Sita and Lakshman from his fourteen-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps) and burst crackers.
In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by Mahavira in 527 BC. In Sikhism, Deepavali commemorates the return of Guru Har Gobind Ji to Amritsar after freeing 52 Hindu kings imprisoned in Fort Gwalior by defeating Emperor Jahangir; the people lit candles and diyas to celebrate his return. This is the reason Sikhs also refer to Deepavali as Bandi Chhorh Divas, "the day of release of detainees". Deepavali is widely celebrated in both India and Nepal.
The first day of the festival Naraka Chaturdasi marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama. Amavasya, the second day of Deepawali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the tyrant Bali, and banished him to hell. Bali was allowed to return to earth once a year, to light millions of lamps to dispel the darkness and ignorance, and spread the radiance of love and wisdom. It is on the third day of Deepawali — Kartika Shudda Padyami - that Bali steps out of hell and rules the earth according to the boon given by Lord Vishnu. The fourth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj) and on this day sisters invite
In each legend, myth and story of Deepawali lies the significance of the victory of good over evil; and it is with each Deepawali and the lights that illuminate our homes and hearts, that this simple truth finds new reason and hope. From darkness unto light — the light that empowers us to commit ourselves to good deeds, that which brings us closer to divinity. During Diwali, lights illuminate every corner of India and the scent of incense sticks hangs in the air, mingled with the sounds of fire-crackers, joy, togetherness and hope. Diwali is celebrated around the globe. Outside India, it is more than a Hindu festival, it's a celebration of South-Asian identities.
While Deepavali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning is "the awareness of the inner light". Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. The celebration of Deepavali as the "victory of good over evil", refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). This brings Ananda (joy or peace). Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Deepavali is the celebration of this Inner Light.
While the story behind Deepavali and the manner of celebration varies from region to region (festive fireworks, worship, lights, sharing of sweets), the essence is the same – to rejoice in the Inner Light (Atman) or the underlying Reality of all things (Brahman).
Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali
"Wisdom begins in wonder"
- Socrates
These past few weeks I've been spending lots of time studying for my University exams. Sometimes while you're sinking in a desk of books and notes, it happens that your mind wanders off into another world. I guess it tends to happen to me more often! I've been thinking about smoke art for a while now... thought it impossible to achieve. But here I am, after 30 minutes of shooting, with hundreds of great images on my hard disk waiting for me! And the best thing about smoke art is that you can let your imagination run wild in photoshop... so you haven't seen nothing yet! Oh and my room smells of Yellow Rose incense sticks too by the way! Hope this stuff isn't unhealthy in some strange way... but even if it is... just look at the result... I won't mind! =D
This one wasn't shot with strobes, as I'm still waiting for my wireless transmitters to arrive by post for my 430EXII. I just used an old 1000W constant light source, placed camera right, exactly in front of the smoke. I also used a chair as a cover to prevent the light from entering the lens and producing unwanted flaring, etc. I had to use a chair and didn't dare stick some cardboard to the light or anything of that sort as I'm sure it would burn up... the light source gets VERY hot. Hot enought to burn your hand... don't ask how I know!
For those wandering how the heck this works, just Google Smoke Photography... there are countless tutorials waiting for you!
Boats and Boating in River Ganges in Varanasi
Yoga is an important recreational and spiritual activity that is common along the banks of the river. You can find many classes happening along the river banks. There are schools that provide diploma courses in Yoga in Varanasi.
Ashrams are common along the river banks. These ashrams are famous for low cost accommodation, meditation, yoga and other spiritual activities.
Shopping along the riverside for perfumes, incense sticks and sculptures is an interesting form of souvenir shopping.
There are 88 ghats along the river in Varanasi. Each ghat has a speciality and specific rituals and others.
Ganga Aarti of Varanasi is the most important tourist attraction that pulls thousands of tourists to Varanasi.
You can spot Hindu styled cremation and rituals along the riverside.
Boating in Varanasi is an important activity. Boating during sunrise and sunset will be aesthetically pleasing.
Ganges dolphins are becoming rare and endangered. You can find small groups of dolphins during cruising. It would take a considerable amount of time to spot the mammal but it is worth your time.
There are numerous temples along the side of the river. There is a Shiva temple, which is partially submerged into the river. It is an important attraction to row past the temple in a boat.
Apart from these, numerous attractions are linked with River Ganges. Due to the rituals and human activities, the pollution level of the river is increasing year after year. Measures are being taken to increase the purity of the water.
Varanasi is a sacred and oldest city of the world located at the banks of the holy River Ganga. Ganga aarti or arathi is a holy ritual performed daily in the evening by a group of priests at the Dashashwamedh ghat. Through the aarti, Agni Pooja is performed in which a commitment is made to the Lord Shiva, Mata Ganga, Surya, Agni (Fire) as well as the whole universe made by the Lord Shiva. On some special occasions, religious festivals and second day of the week (Tuesdays), a particular type of aarti is held at this ghat.
This beautiful ritual makes every moment of the evening period special and fills us with spiritual thoughts. It is performed by brass lamps accompanied by mantra chant in the presence of a huge crowd.
All the priests who have to perform the aarti, wear a certain dress code (the dhoti and kurta) which is tightly bound with a long towel. First they make preparation of the Gange aarti by making collection of the five elevated planks, a multi tiered oil lamp, an idol of the Goddess Ganga, flowers, incense sticks, a conch shell, a big and heavy brass lamp having a snake hood. Boats are also hired by devotees to experience this grand ritual. Ganga aarti is generally performed by students of the Vedas and Upanishads which is lead by a head priest of the Gangotri Seva Samiti. The whole event takes around 45 minutes.
Prior to the Aarti a special short event called "Ganga Pooja" (the whole ritual starts here) is done by one voluntary devotee who likes to do his salutes to the Holy Ganges. The Aarti on that day is done on his name.
Copyrights © Kals Pics - 2014. All Rights Reserved.
No graphic comments please
Diwali (also spelled Devali in certain regions) or Deepavali, popularly known as the "festival of lights", is an important five-day festival in Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, occurring between mid-October and mid-November. For Hindus, Diwali is the most important festival of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. Deepavali is an official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore, and Fiji.
The name Diwali is itself a contraction of the word "Deepavali" (Sanskrit: दीपावली Dīpāvalī), which translates into "row of lamps". Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas, or dīpa in Sanskrit: दीप) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends. Most Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali.
Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama along with Sita and Lakshman from his fourteen-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps) and burst crackers.
In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by Mahavira in 527 BC. In Sikhism, Deepavali commemorates the return of Guru Har Gobind Ji to Amritsar after freeing 52 Hindu kings imprisoned in Fort Gwalior by defeating Emperor Jahangir; the people lit candles and diyas to celebrate his return. This is the reason Sikhs also refer to Deepavali as Bandi Chhorh Divas, "the day of release of detainees". Deepavali is widely celebrated in both India and Nepal.
The first day of the festival Naraka Chaturdasi marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama. Amavasya, the second day of Deepawali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the tyrant Bali, and banished him to hell. Bali was allowed to return to earth once a year, to light millions of lamps to dispel the darkness and ignorance, and spread the radiance of love and wisdom. It is on the third day of Deepawali — Kartika Shudda Padyami - that Bali steps out of hell and rules the earth according to the boon given by Lord Vishnu. The fourth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj) and on this day sisters invite
In each legend, myth and story of Deepawali lies the significance of the victory of good over evil; and it is with each Deepawali and the lights that illuminate our homes and hearts, that this simple truth finds new reason and hope. From darkness unto light — the light that empowers us to commit ourselves to good deeds, that which brings us closer to divinity. During Diwali, lights illuminate every corner of India and the scent of incense sticks hangs in the air, mingled with the sounds of fire-crackers, joy, togetherness and hope. Diwali is celebrated around the globe. Outside India, it is more than a Hindu festival, it's a celebration of South-Asian identities.
While Deepavali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning is "the awareness of the inner light". Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. The celebration of Deepavali as the "victory of good over evil", refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). This brings Ananda (joy or peace). Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Deepavali is the celebration of this Inner Light.
While the story behind Deepavali and the manner of celebration varies from region to region (festive fireworks, worship, lights, sharing of sweets), the essence is the same – to rejoice in the Inner Light (Atman) or the underlying Reality of all things (Brahman).
Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali
Main building of Taipei Mengjia Longshan Temple was built in 1738 by settlers from Fujian, China, a classical Taiwanese temple architecture with influences from southern Chinese.
Like most temples in Taiwan, the Longshan Temple worships a mixture of Buddhist, Taoist, and folk deities such as Matsu.
Wanhua District,
Taipei, Taiwan
艋舺龍山寺
Vietnam - Day 6 of 12, 10:49. On our way to the Imperial City of Hue, we stopped by these street venders, making and selling incense sticks. With so many vivid colors, I could not resist.
No Group Invites/Graphics Please.
© 2010 Alex Stoen, All rights reserved.
My photos may be purchased at: store.alexstoen.com
Digital Incense - smoke art or " art based on luck"
Incense Sticks - No processing except cropping.
Setup:
Nikon D300 full manual ( Auto focus on 1st shot to get the correct distance to the smoke)
1 SB-600 wireless triggered from in-body commander.
More data in the exif.
The Egyptian circle or ancient wheel of fortune is a Sphinx which represents the mystery of life. It also represents the SELF, the real person behind the mask that we wear (PERSONA). That is to introduce an element of change in the querent's life, such change being in station, position or fortune: such as the rich becoming poor, or the poor becoming rich.The wheel is not always shown inscribed with any lettering. Where this is the case, the letters T-A-R-O (clockwise) or T-O-R-A (counter clockwise) can often be found aligned against four of the spokes, which can also be interpreted as R-O-T-A, the Latin word meaning "wheel". In some decks, such as the Waite, the wheel is also inscribed with additional alchemical symbols representing the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water (which are also said to be represented throughout the Tarot by the four "suits" of Pentacles or Discs, Swords, Wands, and Cups respectively.
At the top of the wheel perches the sphinx, who is there to remind us that if we stay stable amidst turmoil and use reasoning then we can retain the power to change our own lives instead of staying at the mercy of chance.This creature is Anubis – the Egyptian God which guided dead souls and was the giver of new life. Anubis help consciousness rise from lower to higher. The axis mundi (also cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, center of the world, world tree), in certain beliefs and philosophies, is the world center, or the connection between Heaven and Earth. As the celestial pole and geographic pole, it expresses a point of connection between sky and earth where the four compass directions meet. At this point travel and correspondence is made between higher and lower realms. Communication from lower realms may ascend to higher ones and blessings from higher realms may descend to lower ones and be disseminated to all. The spot functions as the omphalos (navel), the world's point of beginning. The image relates to the center of the earth (perhaps like an umbilical providing nourishment)[citation needed]. It may have the form of a natural object (a mountain, a tree, a vine, a stalk, a column of smoke or fire) or a product of human manufacture (a staff, a tower, a ladder, a staircase, a maypole, a cross, a steeple, a rope, a totem pole, a pillar, a spire). Its proximity to heaven may carry implications that are chiefly religious (pagoda, temple mount, minaret, church) or secular (obelisk, lighthouse, rocket, skyscraper). The image appears in religious and secular contexts.[6] The axis mundi symbol may be found in cultures utilizing shamanic practices or animist belief systems, in major world religions, and in technologically advanced "urban centers". In Mircea Eliade's opinion, "Every Microcosm, every inhabited region, has a Centre; that is to say, a place that is sacred above all."The axis mundi is often associated with mandalas.
The first thing you might not know about obelisks is what they are. If you have ever walked across the Place de la Concorde in Paris, or seen any rendering of ancient Egypt in its glory, you are very familiar with obelisks: vertical stone columns that taper as they rise, topped by a pyramid. .An obelisk (UK: /ˈɒbəlɪsk/; US: /ˈɑːbəlɪsk/, from Ancient Greek: ὀβελίσκος obeliskos; diminutive of ὀβελός obelos, "spit, nail, pointed pillar" is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. These were originally called tekhenu by their builders, the Ancient Egyptians. Ancient monolithic megalithic structures have now been identified to as far back a 15,000 years. Monolithic Menhirs (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menhir) are the great grand father of the obelisk. Thousands of years before the first Egyptian style obelisk, our distant family gathered together and set aside in some cases, 20 years of work of dozens if not hundreds of people to build and raise up a Menhir. We did this on every single continent that has had human development using carved stones up to 250,000 pounds. Thousands of these megalithic structures have been placed all around the world and many still stand. The Greeks who saw them used the Greek term 'obeliskos' to describe them, and this word passed into Latin and ultimately English. Ancient obelisks are monolithic; that is, they consist of a single stone. Most modern obelisks are made of several stones; some, like the Washington Monument, are buildings.Obelisks were prominent in the architecture of the ancient Egyptians, who placed them in pairs at the entrance of temples. The word "obelisk" as used in English today is of Greek rather than Egyptian origin because Herodotus, the Greek traveller, was one of the first classical writers to describe the objects. A number of ancient Egyptian obelisks are known to have survived, plus the "Unfinished Obelisk" found partly hewn from its quarry at Aswan. These obelisks are now dispersed around the world, and fewer than half of them remain in Egypt. The earliest temple obelisk still in its original position is the 68-foot (20.7 m) 120-metric-ton (130-short-ton)[5] red granite Obelisk of Senusret I of the XIIth Dynasty at Al-Matariyyah in modern Heliopolis. The obelisk symbolized the sun god Ra, and during the brief religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the Aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure. Benben was the mound that arose from the primordial waters Nu upon which the creator god Atum settled in the creation story of the Heliopolitan creation myth form of Ancient Egyptian religion. The Benben stone (also known as a pyramidion) is the top stone of the Egyptian pyramid. It is also related to the Obelisk. It is hypothesized by New York University Egyptologist Patricia Blackwell Gary and Astronomy senior editor Richard Talcott that the shapes of the ancient Egyptian pyramid and obelisk were derived from natural phenomena associated with the sun (the sun-god Ra being the Egyptians' greatest deity). The pyramid and obelisk might have been inspired by previously overlooked astronomical phenomena connected with sunrise and sunset: the zodiacal light and sun pillars respectively. The Ancient Romans were strongly influenced by the obelisk form, to the extent that there are now more than twice as many obelisks standing in Rome as remain in Egypt. The ancient Egyptians placed pairs of obelisks at the entrances of their temples. According to Gordon, the columns were associated with the Egyptian sun god, and perhaps represented rays of light. They were often topped with gold, or a natural gold-and-silver alloy called electrum, in order to catch the first rays of the morning light. Twenty-eight Egyptian obelisks remain standing, though only six of them are in Egypt. The rest are scattered across the globe, either gifts from the Egyptian government or plunder by foreign invaders. The symbol originates in a natural and universal psychological perception: that the spot one occupies stands at "the center of the world". This space serves as a microcosm of order because it is known and settled. Outside the boundaries of the microcosm lie foreign realms that, because they are unfamiliar or not ordered, represent chaos, death or night.[8] From the center one may still venture in any of the four cardinal directions, make discoveries, and establish new centers as new realms become known and settled. The name of China, meaning "Middle Nation" (中国 pinyin: Zhōngguó), is often interpreted as an expression of an ancient perception that the Chinese polity (or group of polities) occupied the center of the world, with other lands lying in various directions relative to it.Within the central known universe a specific locale-often a mountain or other elevated place, a spot where earth and sky come closest gains status as center of the center, the axis mundi. High mountains are typically regarded as sacred by peoples living near them. Shrines are often erected at the summit or base.[9] Mount Kunlun fills a similar role in China.[10] For the ancient Hebrews Mount Zion expressed the symbol.[citation needed] Sioux beliefs take the Black Hills as the axis mundi.[citation needed] Mount Kailash is holy to Hinduism and several religions in Tibet. The Pitjantjatjara people in central Australia consider Uluru to be central to both their world and culture. In ancient Mesopotamia the cultures of ancient Sumer and Babylon erected artificial mountains, or ziggurats, on the flat river plain. These supported staircases leading to temples at the top. The Hindu temples in India are often situated on high mountains. E.g. Amarnath, Tirupati, Vaishno Devi etc. The pre-Columbian residents of Teotihuacán in Mexico erected huge pyramids featuring staircases leading to heaven. Jacob's Ladder is an axis mundi image, as is the Temple Mount. For Christians the Cross on Mount Calvary expresses the symbol.The Middle Kingdom, China, had a central mountain, Kunlun, known in Taoist literature as "the mountain at the middle of the world." To "go into the mountains" meant to dedicate oneself to a spiritual life.] Monasteries of all faiths tend, like shrines, to be placed at elevated spots. Wise religious teachers are typically depicted in literature and art as bringing their revelations at world centers: mountains, trees, temples.Because the axis mundi is an idea that unites a number of concrete images, no contradiction exists in regarding multiple spots as "the center of the world". The symbol can operate in a number of locales at once.[7] Mount Hermon was regarded as the axis mundi in Caananite tradition, from where the sons of God are introduced descending in 1 Enoch (1En6:6).[13] The ancient Armenians had a number of holy sites, the most important of which was Mount Ararat, which was thought to be the home of the gods as well as the center of the Universe.[14] Likewise, the ancient Greeks regarded several sites as places of earth's omphalos (navel) stone, notably the oracle at Delphi, while still maintaining a belief in a cosmic world tree and in Mount Olympus as the abode of the gods. Judaism has the Temple Mount, Christianity has the Mount of Olives and Calvary, Islam has Ka'aba, said to be the first building on earth, and the Temple Mount (Dome of the Rock). In Hinduism, Mount Kailash is identified with the mythical Mount Meru and regarded as the home of Shiva; in Vajrayana Buddhism, Mount Kailash is recognized as the most sacred place where all the dragon currents converge and is regarded as the gateway to Shambhala. In Shinto, the Ise Shrine is the omphalos.[citation needed] In addition to the Kunlun Mountains, where it is believed the peach tree of immortality is located, the Chinese folk religion recognizes four other specific mountains as pillars of the world.
Sacred places like Concorde (unite people) constitute world centers (omphalos) with the altar or place of prayer as the axis. Altars, incense sticks, candles and torches form the axis by sending a column of smoke, and prayer, toward heaven. The architecture of sacred places often reflects this role. "Every temple or palace--and by extension, every sacred city or royal residence--is a Sacred Mountain, thus becoming a Centre." The stupa of Hinduism, and later Buddhism, reflects Mount Meru. Cathedrals are laid out in the form of a cross, with the vertical bar representing the union of earth and heaven as the horizontal bars represent union of people to one another, with the altar at the intersection. Pagoda structures in Asian temples take the form of a stairway linking earth and heaven. A steeple in a church or a minaret in a mosque also serve as connections of earth and heaven. Structures such as the maypole, derived from the Saxons' Irminsul, and the totem pole among indigenous peoples of the Americas also represent world axes. The calumet, or sacred pipe, represents a column of smoke (the soul) rising form a world center.[16] A mandala creates a world center within the boundaries of its two-dimensional space analogous to that created in three-dimensional space by a shrine
The first thing you might not know about obelisks is what they are. If you have ever visited the Washington Monument, however, or walked across the Place de la Concorde in Paris, or seen any rendering of ancient Egypt in its glory, you are very familiar with obelisks: vertical stone columns that taper as they rise, topped by a pyramid. Washington’s Monument and the Fascinating History of the Obelisk, by John Steele Gordon, is an absorbing account of the obelisk’s place in human civilization. Here are seven things revealed by Gordon that you might not know about obelisks. The ancient Egyptians placed pairs of obelisks at the entrances of their temples. According to Gordon, the columns were associated with the Egyptian sun god, and perhaps represented rays of light. They were often topped with gold, or a natural gold-and-silver alloy called electrum, in order to catch the first rays of the morning light. Twenty-eight Egyptian obelisks remain standing, though only six of them are in Egypt. The rest are scattered across the globe, either gifts from the Egyptian government or plunder by foreign invaders.
Around 250 B.C., a Greek philosopher named Eratosthenes used an obelisk to calculate the circumference of the Earth. He knew that at noon on the Summer Solstice, obelisks in the city of Swenet (modern day Aswan) would cast no shadow because the sun would be directly overhead (or zero degrees up). He also knew that at that very same time in Alexandria, obelisks did cast shadows. Measuring that shadow against the tip of the obelisk, he came to the conclusion that the difference in degrees between Alexandria and Swenet: seven degrees, 14 minutes—one-fiftieth the circumference of a circle. He applied the physical distance between the two cities and concluded that the circumference of the Earth was (in modern units) 40,000 kilometers. This isn’t the correct number, though his methods were perfect: at the time it was impossible to know the precise distance between Alexandria and Swenet. If we apply Eratosthenes's formula today, we get a number astonishingly close to the actual circumference of the Earth. In fact, even his inexact figure was more precise than the one used by Christopher Columbus 1700 years later. Had he used Eratosthenes’s estimation, Columbus would have known immediately that he hadn’t reached India.True obelisks as conceived by the ancient Egyptians are “monolithic,” or made from a single piece of stone. (The literal translation of monolith—a Greek word—is “one stone.” On that note, the word “obelisk” is also Greek, derived from obeliskos, or skewer. An ancient Egyptian would have called an obelisk a tekhen.)
The obelisk at the center of Place de la Concorde, for example, is monolithic. It is 3300 years old and once marked the entrance to the Temple of Thebes in Egypt. So difficult is the feat of building a monolithic obelisk that Pharaoh Hatshepsut had inscribed at the base of one of her obelisks the proud declaration: “without seam, without joining together.”Nobody knows exactly why obelisks were built, or even how. Granite is really hard—a 6.5 on the Mohs scale (diamond being a 10)—and to shape it, you need something even harder. The metals available at the time were either too soft (gold, copper, bronze) or too difficult to use for tools (iron’s melting point is 1,538 °C; the Egyptians wouldn’t have iron smelting until 600 B.C.). The Egyptians likely used balls of dolerite to shape the obelisks, which, Gordon notes, would have required “an infinity of human effort.” Hundreds of workers would have each had to pound granite into shape using dolerite balls that weighed up to 12 pounds. This doesn’t even address the issue of how one might move a 100-foot, 400-ton column from the quarry to its destination.
The ancient Egyptians placed pairs of obelisks at the entrances of their temples. According to Gordon, the columns were associated with the Egyptian sun god, and perhaps represented rays of light. They were often topped with gold, or a natural gold-and-silver alloy called electrum, in order to catch the first rays of the morning light. Twenty-eight Egyptian obelisks remain standing, though only six of them are in Egypt. The rest are scattered across the globe, either gifts from the Egyptian government or plunder by foreign invaders.
A common shamanic concept, and a universally told story, is that of the healer traversing the axis mundi to bring back knowledge from the other world. It may be seen in the stories from Odin and the World Ash Tree to the Garden of Eden and Jacob's Ladder to Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel. It is the essence of the journey described in The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The epic poem relates its hero's descent and ascent through a series of spiral structures that take him from through the core of the earth, from the depths of Hell to celestial Paradise. It is also a central tenet in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Anyone or anything suspended on the axis between heaven and earth becomes a repository of potential knowledge. A special status accrues to the thing suspended: a serpent, a victim of crucifixion or hanging, a rod, a fruit, mistletoe. Derivations of this idea find form in the Rod of Asclepius, an emblem of the medical profession, and in the caduceus, an emblem of correspondence and commercial professions. The staff in these emblems represents the axis mundi while the serpents act as guardians of, or guides to, knowledge. Snake lying against Wheel. The snake represents Set, the Egyptian god of evil. He also represents death and rebirth. However the other message of the snake is about creating form from energy. The snake is wrapped around the Magicians waist. Through will and cosmic manifestation creation happens on earth. We are co-creators of our life and destiny. The snake also reminds us that we have to shed the old skin (habits etc) in order to grow the new. he number of The Wheel of Fortune is 10. 10 is often seen as a combination of 0 and 1. Nothing and the first manifestation. The Creator represents 10 therefore because the Creator makes something out of nothing. The creators of the Rider Waite Tarot deck were members of the Golden Dawn, a group that had many teachings based on the mystical Kabbalah of the Jewish nation. When I say Kabbalah forget about monotheism, Judaism, God, and religion for a moment. Kabbalists are mystics in a sense. They believe God is neither male nor female and in fact has many aspects. Their systems are all about learning why we are here, the mystery of the universe and what the big plan is. Inside the Rider Waite deck is a multitude of Kabbalistic meanings. I will briefly explain a few of the Kabbalistic meanings within The Emperor card. Believe me when I say you could learn for the rest of your life about Tarot and Kabbalah and still only scratch the surface. I’m keeping it superficial but easy to understand. I am also using on purpose the word Kabbalah rather than Cabala. The Wheel of Fortune is represented by the letter Kaph – כ – which is the first letter in the name of God. The Wheel of Fortune on The Tree of Life sits on the path between Chesed and Netzach. In Kabbalah the number 10 is a number of completion of a cycle and the beginning of another. We have 10 sephiroth on the Tree of Life describing the process of Creation. We have the 10 commandments which describe how to create a world that reflects God. 10 is also two numbers – 0 and 1. 0 is the Fool (nothing) and 1 is the Magician (manifesting out of nothing). Together they explain how God created the universe. The name of this Wheel is ‘Rewarding Intelligence of Those Who Seek’ and means that those who seek for the understanding of the greater picture will be rewarded. In other words, ‘Seek, and ye shall find’. If we go into more detail we can explore the letters on the orange wheel. In Gematria TARO adds up to 671 and the name of God יהוה adds up to 26. Together the total number is 697 which breaks down to 22.,22 is the number of cards in the Major Arcana deck and the number of Hebrew letters in the alphabet.
Around 250 B.C., a Greek philosopher named Eratosthenes used an obelisk to calculate the circumference of the Earth. He knew that at noon on the Summer Solstice, obelisks in the city of Swenet (modern day Aswan) would cast no shadow because the sun would be directly overhead (or zero degrees up). He also knew that at that very same time in Alexandria, obelisks did cast shadows. Measuring that shadow against the tip of the obelisk, he came to the conclusion that the difference in degrees between Alexandria and Swenet: seven degrees, 14 minutes—one-fiftieth the circumference of a circle. He applied the physical distance between the two cities and concluded that the circumference of the Earth was (in modern units) 40,000 kilometers. This isn’t the correct number, though his methods were perfect: at the time it was impossible to know the precise distance between Alexandria and Swenet. If we apply Eratosthenes's formula today, we get a number astonishingly close to the actual circumference of the Earth. In fact, even his inexact figure was more precise than the one used by Christopher Columbus 1700 years later. Had he used Eratosthenes’s estimation, Columbus would have known immediately that he hadn’t reached India. True obelisks as conceived by the ancient Egyptians are “monolithic,” or made from a single piece of stone. (The literal translation of monolith—a Greek word—is “one stone.” On that note, the word “obelisk” is also Greek, derived from obeliskos, or skewer. An ancient Egyptian would have called an obelisk a tekhen.) The obelisk at the center of Place de la Concorde, for example, is monolithic. It is 3300 years old and once marked the entrance to the Temple of Thebes in Egypt. So difficult is the feat of building a monolithic obelisk that Pharaoh Hatshepsut had inscribed at the base of one of her obelisks the proud declaration: “without seam, without joining together.” Nobody knows exactly why obelisks were built, or even how. Granite is really hard—a 6.5 on the Mohs scale (diamond being a 10)—and to shape it, you need something even harder. The metals available at the time were either too soft (gold, copper, bronze) or too difficult to use for tools (iron’s melting point is 1,538 °C; the Egyptians wouldn’t have iron smelting until 600 B.C.). The Egyptians likely used balls of dolerite to shape the obelisks, which, Gordon notes, would have required “an infinity of human effort.” Hundreds of workers would have each had to pound granite into shape using dolerite balls that weighed up to 12 pounds. This doesn’t even address the issue of how one might move a 100-foot, 400-ton column from the quarry to its destination. While there are many hypotheses, nobody knows precisely how they did it. Until the 19th century, hieroglyphics were thought to be untranslatable—mystical symbols with no coherent message beneath. Jean-François Champollion, a French Egyptologist and linguist, thought differently, and made it his life’s purpose to figure them out. His first success came from the Rosetta Stone, from which he divined the name “Ptolemy” from the symbols. In 1819, “Ptolemy” was also discovered written on an obelisk which had just been brought back to England—the Philae obelisk. The “p,” “o,” and “l” on the obelisk also featured elsewhere on it, in the perfect spots to spell the name “Cleopatra.” (Not that Cleopatra; the much earlier Queen Cleopatra IX of Ptolemy.) With those clues, and using this obelisk, Champollion managed to crack the mysterious code of hieroglyphics, translating their words and thus unlocking the secrets of ancient Egypt. (Almost 200 years later, the European Space Agency’s mission to land a spacecraft on a comet commemorated these events; the spacecraft is named Rosetta. The lander is named Philae.)
Watching the Cham dancing at the Hemis Summer Festival 2011 in Ladakh, India.
The Hemis Festival is dedicated to Lord Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) venerated as the Dance Performance at Hemis Monastery representative reincarnate of Buddha. He is believed to have been born on the 10th day of the fifth month of the Monkey year as predicted by the Buddha Shakyamuni. It is also believed that his life mission was, and remains, to improve the spiritual condition of all living beings. And so on this day, which comes once in a cycle of 12 years, Hemis observes a major extravaganza in his memory. The observance of these sacred rituals is believed to give spiritual strength and good health. The Hemis festival takes place in the rectangular courtyard in front of the main door of the monastery. The space is wide and open save two raised square platforms, three feet high with a sacred pole in the center. A raised dais with a richly cushioned seat with a finely painted small Tibetan table is placed with the ceremonial items - cups full of holy water, uncooked rice, tormas made of dough and butter and incense sticks. A number of musicians play the traditional music with four pairs of cymbals, large-pan drums, small trumpets and large size wind instruments. Next to them, a small space is assigned for the lamas to sit.
The ceremonies begin with an early morning ritual atop the Gompa where, to the beat of drums and the resounding clash of cymbals and the spiritual wail of pipes, the portrait of "Dadmokarpo" or "Rygyalsras Rinpoche" is then ceremoniously put on display for all to admire and worship.
The most esoteric of festivities are the mystic mask dances. The Mask Dances of Ladakh are referred collectively as chams Performance. Chams performance is essentially a part of Tantric tradition, performed only in those gompas which follow the Tantric Vajrayana teachings and the monks perform tantric worship.
A lot of folks who've seen these shots have asked how they were done so I'll attempt to explain...
There's probably a few variations on the theme but firstly here's what I used to do it
1. Canon 100mm macro lens (probably don't need a 'macro' lens as I found the best results were obtained from about 60 cm's ish)
2. What really makes a difference is an off camera flash. I was lucky enough to get a 580EX as a present with an off camera flash cord. This is important because with standard front facing flashes you run the risk of lighting up the background. This makes it harder to isolate the smoke form the background later in photoshop if it hasn't stayed completely black - you with me? If you have remote release for the flash gun even better - no cables!
3. A dark background. I initally used a black jumper but anything black is good. Preferably of a good size too so you have a bit of freedom of movement with the camera whilst still keeping the background in the frame.
4. Incense sticks and holder. Simple!
5. Tripod for the camera.
Basically set your background up and put your incense sticks about 1or more metres in front so the background will be blurred.
Set the camera up about 60cm away from the incense sticks. Pre focus the camera and use an aperture of f8 - f14 so you get a decent DOF. Experiment here.
Check the viewfinder for position making sure it's filled with black backdrop.
Set the flash ready. Vary the angles of flash if you can - I found a 45 degree angle to the smoke pointing 45 degrees up is ok. With the 580EX on 1/4 power about 6 inch distance is good for even light. Just experiment with this. If like me you just have a flash on the stand and no tripod an assistant can be handy to hold the flash.
Light the incense sticks, wait for pretty patterns and shoot away!
The best way I found of getting plenty of swirls is using two incense sticks burning simultaneously. Have the burning tips near each other and one will induce turbulence in the other stream. Otherwise with one stick burning you wait an age for anything interesting.
Download photos and tinker till your little heart's content in photoshop or whatever you use!
Keelung Zhongzheng (Chung Cheng) Park has a urn for worshippers to place their incense sticks and a curio shop to buy BIG Buddha mementos.
was actually using the incense sticks to try and get some smoke shots, with the incense sticks out of the way, but i actually preferred this lol.....PS my house smells wonderful this morning, we got through ten sticks :)
Diwali (also spelled Devali in certain regions) or Deepavali, popularly known as the "festival of lights", is an important five-day festival in Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, occurring between mid-October and mid-November. For Hindus, Diwali is the most important festival of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. Deepavali is an official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore, and Fiji.
The name Diwali is itself a contraction of the word "Deepavali" (Sanskrit: दीपावली Dīpāvalī), which translates into "row of lamps". Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas, or dīpa in Sanskrit: दीप) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends. Most Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali.
Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama along with Sita and Lakshman from his fourteen-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps) and burst crackers.
In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by Mahavira in 527 BC. In Sikhism, Deepavali commemorates the return of Guru Har Gobind Ji to Amritsar after freeing 52 Hindu kings imprisoned in Fort Gwalior by defeating Emperor Jahangir; the people lit candles and diyas to celebrate his return. This is the reason Sikhs also refer to Deepavali as Bandi Chhorh Divas, "the day of release of detainees". Deepavali is widely celebrated in both India and Nepal.
The first day of the festival Naraka Chaturdasi marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama. Amavasya, the second day of Deepawali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the tyrant Bali, and banished him to hell. Bali was allowed to return to earth once a year, to light millions of lamps to dispel the darkness and ignorance, and spread the radiance of love and wisdom. It is on the third day of Deepawali — Kartika Shudda Padyami - that Bali steps out of hell and rules the earth according to the boon given by Lord Vishnu. The fourth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj) and on this day sisters invite
In each legend, myth and story of Deepawali lies the significance of the victory of good over evil; and it is with each Deepawali and the lights that illuminate our homes and hearts, that this simple truth finds new reason and hope. From darkness unto light — the light that empowers us to commit ourselves to good deeds, that which brings us closer to divinity. During Diwali, lights illuminate every corner of India and the scent of incense sticks hangs in the air, mingled with the sounds of fire-crackers, joy, togetherness and hope. Diwali is celebrated around the globe. Outside India, it is more than a Hindu festival, it's a celebration of South-Asian identities.
While Deepavali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning is "the awareness of the inner light". Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. The celebration of Deepavali as the "victory of good over evil", refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). This brings Ananda (joy or peace). Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Deepavali is the celebration of this Inner Light.
While the story behind Deepavali and the manner of celebration varies from region to region (festive fireworks, worship, lights, sharing of sweets), the essence is the same – to rejoice in the Inner Light (Atman) or the underlying Reality of all things (Brahman).
Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali
Hemis Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery (gompa) of the Drukpa Lineage, located in Hemis, Ladakh, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century and was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festival honoring Padmasambhava is held here in early June.
Terma and tertöns : The essence of Tebetan Buddhism.
Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, is a literary character of terma (Terma or "hidden treasure"- are key Tibetan Buddhist teaching, which the tradition holds were originally esoterically hidden by various adepts such as Padmasambhava and his consorts, in the 8th century for future discovery at auspicious times by other adepts, known as tertöns. As such, they represent a tradition of continuous revelation in Tibetan Buddhism. Termas are a part of Tantric Literature. Tradition holds that terma may be a physical object such as a text or ritual implement that is buried in the ground (or earth), hidden in a rock or crystal, secreted in a herb, or a tree, hidden in a lake (or water), or hidden in the sky (space). Though a literal understanding of terma is "hidden treasure", and sometimes objects are hidden away, the teachings associated should be understood as being “concealed within the mind of the guru”, that is, the true place of concealment is in the tertön's mindstream. If the concealed or encoded teaching or object is a text, it is often written in dakini script: a non-human type of code or writing).
Terma is an emanation of Amitabha (Amitābha or Amideva, is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Amitābha is the principal buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia, while in Vajrayana Amitābha is known for his longevity attribute, magnetising red fire element, the aggregate of discernment, pure perception and the deep awareness of emptiness of phenomena. According to these scriptures, Amitābha possesses infinite merits resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakāra. "Amitābha" is translatable as "Infinite Light," hence Amitābha is also called "The Buddha of Immeasurable Life and Light" ).
Terma that is said to appear to tertons (A tertön is a discoverer of ancient texts or terma in Tibetan Buddhism) in visionary encounters and a focus of Tibetan Buddhist practice (Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, Mongolia, Tuva, Bhutan, Kalmykia and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, and India (particularly in Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Dharamsala, Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. It is also practiced in Northeast China. Religious texts and commentaries are contained in the Tibetan Buddhist canon such that Tibetan is a spiritual language of these areas. The Tibetan diaspora has spread Tibetan Buddhism to many Western countries, where the tradition has gained popularity. Among its prominent exponents is the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. The number of its adherents is estimated to be between ten and twenty million).
Interested Viewers can see the following documentary on Padmasambhava:
Padmasambhava
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQBbfLtxj8A&spfreload=10
History
Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century. Naropa, the pupil of the yogi Tilopa, and teacher of the translator Marpa is connected with this monastery. A translation was made by A. Grünwedel (Nӑro und Tilo,: Festschrift Ernst Kuhn, München 1916) of Naropa's biography that was found in Hemis monastery.
In this manuscript Naropa (or Naro) meets the "dark blue" (Skr.: nila: dark blue or black) Tilopa (or Tillo), a tantric master, who gives Naropa 12 "great" and 12 "small" tasks to do in order to enlighten him to the inherent emptiness/illusoriness of all things. Naropa is depicted as the "abbott of Nalanda" (F. Wilhelm, Prüfung und Initiation im Buche Pausya und in der Biographie des Naropa, Wiesbaden 1965, p. 70), the university-monastery in today's Bihar, India, that flourished until the sacking by Turkish and Afghan Muslim forces. This sacking must have been the driving force behind Naropa's peregrination in the direction of Hemis. After Naropa and Tilopa met in Hemis they travelled back in the direction of a certain monastery in the now no longer existing kingdom of Maghada, called Otantra which has been identified as today's Otantapuri. Naropa is consered the founding father of the Kagyu-lineage of the Himalayan esoteric Buddhism. Hence Hemis is the main seat of the Kagyu lineage of Buddhism.
In 1894 Russian journalist Nicolas Notovitch claimed Hemis as the origin of an otherwise unknown gospel, the Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men, in which Jesus is said to have traveled to India during his "lost years." According to Notovitch, the work had been preserved in the Hemis library, and was shown to him by the monks there while he was recuperating from a broken leg. But once his story had been re-examined by historians, Notovitch confessed to having fabricated the evidence. Bart D. Ehrman states that "Today there is not a single recognized scholar on the planet who has any doubts about the matter. The entire story was invented by Notovitch, who earned a good deal of money and a substantial amount of notoriety for his hoax". However, the Indian Pandit Swami Abhedananda also claims to have read the same manuscript, and published his account of viewing it after his visit to Hemis in 1921. Abhedananda claims on the book jacket that it was translated for him with the help of a "local Lama interpreter." In the same vein, Notovich did not initially translate the manuscript, but reported his Sherpa guide did so as Notovitch could not read the original text. Notovich's version of the manuscript was translated from Tibetan to Russian to French to English. According to Swami Abhedananda's account, his Lama's translation was equivalent to the one published by Notovich. The Gutenberg Project has published the entire manuscript as a free ebook.
Hemis Festival
The Hemis Festival is dedicated to Lord Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche) venerated as the Dance Performance at Hemis Monastery representative reincarnate of Buddha. He is believed to have been born on the 10th day of the fifth month of the Monkey year as predicted by the Buddha Shakyamuni. It is also believed that his life mission was, and remains, to improve the spiritual condition of all living beings. And so on this day, which comes once in a cycle of 12 years, Hemis observes a major extravaganza in his memory. The observance of these sacred rituals is believed to give spiritual strength and good health. The Hemis festival takes place in the rectangular courtyard in front of the main door of the monastery. The space is wide and open save two raised square platforms, three feet high with a sacred pole in the center. A raised dias with a richly cushioned seat with a finely painted small Tibetan table is placed with the ceremonial items - cups full of holy water, uncooked rice, tormas made of dough and butter and incense sticks. A number of musicians play the traditional music with four pairs of cymbals, large-pan drums, small trumpets and large size wind instruments. Next to them, a small space is assigned for the lamas to sit.
The ceremonies begin with an early morning ritual atop the Gompa where, to the beat of drums and the resounding clash of cymbals and the spiritual wail of pipes, the portrait of "Dadmokarpo" or "Rygyalsras Rimpoche" is then ceremoniously put on display for all to admire and worship.
The most esoteric of festivities are the mystic mask dances. The Mask Dances of Ladakh are referred collectively as chams Performance. Chams performance is essentially a part of Tantric tradition, performed only in those gompas which follow the Tantric Vajrayana teachings and the monks perform tantric worship.
Source: Wikipedia and others.
Saints and Sinner Chapter Five Sai Baba
As our finances dwindled I recall myself being distracted from the importance, the message of the Sai manifestations of various books and people. For reasons unknown to me as a mere employee the hash trade might as well of halted and I was concerned about losing the property if we missed our payments. Though I relished the time to work on the property both Julia and I were aware that income had to be made in order to sustain our situation. We thought of turning the property into a New Age style Meditation Walking Path, charging people for the privilege of walking the newly created trails and if they wanted for a few more coins they could pitch a tent. My full blown idea was to build a Buckminster Fuller style multi purpose building the insides which might resemble a bee hive effect. The main area would hold an entertainment centre, where musicians could play, children could play a kitchen would be central to all the rooms and meals could be communal in nature, I had this old hippie streak still left in me. I saw it as a way to earn some badly needed money and to get people out of their repetitive existences in cities. As a business name I chose Dreamfields Winged Spirits Retreat/Meditation Paths. I needed to get writing paper with this logo on it and for this purpose I visited Marilyn Strain and her sister Valerie at a graphics design shop in downtown Peterborough called Janis Print. Unfortunately the computer I worked on was a IBM 386 while the one that shop worked on was a Mac and those ladies were not able to mix the media I had brought with their computers. In any case I had known Marilyn for some time as she dated our friend Jimmy Fallen aka Mighty, I took her to the Twilight Diner for a bowl of soup at lunch time. At that time I loaned her a copy of the hot selling Celestine Prophecies a book that was causing a stir in multiple spiritual communities. As well I asked Marilyn if she had ever heard of this guy Sai Baba, she looked at me, in total surprise and told me that a woman named Doris Furlonger was coming to the shop in a day or so to finalize her use of their services to print her newly written book on, guess who, Sai Baba! Wow, another one of those events involving books and words. I put myself on their phone list and asked that they mention my interest to meet Doris as soon as possible.
A few weeks went by, then one day the phone rang and I was able to speak with Doris a woman in her late sixties, we agreed to meet for coffee at Gord Fallen and Jennifer Spragues lovely house just a bit north of Lakefield, Ontario. Jennifer and my wife Julia were fast friends who were taking courses in Reikii together, using the same Psychic who lived in Cottesloe, we thought the presence of other females would allow a degree of comfort for Doris. I remember meeting her a few days later in the mid afternoon. I’d never met anyone who had been to Sai Babas home and ashram in Puttaparthi, Southern India. Here was this attractive older women with silver grey hair who lived nearby with her husband, her three children had all left the nest years ago, she told me it was the second time she had married Bill, as they separated once and tried other partners, that never worked out for either of them. All I had to say essentially was that I/we were new to the Sai group of people and I told her of the moves/book manifestations Sai had made via these book presentations to attract my attention in the past three or so months. She said, she thought I was Sai as I had several facial characteristics that reminded her of him, I smiled at that as I had thought for some time that the little bugger was wise enough to be me and many other folks at the same time, the Christians call that bi-locating when describing this type of miracle, a saint for example who can be at more than one place at the same time. It was a bit odd handing Doris our spiritual resumes when she came, she took a moment to look them over which today is just ridiculous but we did not know that she had an ulterior motive for doing this at the time. It turns out that she was paranoid as hell that someone was trying to steal her book before it got published, the guys name was Metzger a local publisher and for some reason she thought I might be his agent, ridiculous. We put that idea to rest and had a general conversation that never really went anywhere. We could see early on that Doris was ‘gaga for baba’, in that she carried herself as a nun in a cloister might do. Saying prayers day and night to him as a sort of deity, it was pretty bazaar, especially since my wife and I did not pray per se. We were more inclined to be the be good, do good, love all serve all type of people that one encounters. I was happy to go along for the ride and see what Doris could share about her experiences.
Our relationship was based essentially on the fact that we were both into Sai Baba. Doris was happy to have someone who didn’t think she was off her rocker. Her book titled Let Me Sow Love went to the printers and when it was ready she gave me a signed copy with two photos of her scotch taped in the covers front and back. In the book Doris discussed a vision in which Baba came floating in the sky and shed a great white light all over her and then he disappeared, this took place in 1974. There were three other visions of Sai Babas head that took place later. She assumed that this was a sign that he wanted her in his group. I wish I had asked how she determined it was Sai Baba, not that I doubt her at all, but because in 1974 few westerners besides some in California even knew who Sai was. I would be interested in knowing this. I was asked to take ten copies of the book Let Me Sow Love by Doris May Gibson to the Sai Centre on Merton Street off of Mount Pleasant Road in Toronto, an area I was familiar with which was not far actually from The Counts house. The first time I took the books the place/temple was closed so I left them with the commercial tenant on the main floor all wrapped up with a note for the Sai Centre, Doris was upset that I would be so casual with her books. They got to the right person that afternoon when the centre opened and Doris was sent a receipt and the funds when the books were sold. She asked me to drop more books off another time but told me I had to wait till the centre opened up before doing so, those books must have gotten there by another means as I did not deliver them under those circumstances. One Thursday night she and I drove into Toronto to attend the weekly Sai Bajans at the temple, this night Doris was to give a talk about her book and the two trips she had made to visit the ashram in Puttaparthi. I recall there were about fifteen people present at the temple when she gave her talk, there did not seem to be a lot of spark in Doris that night, she was not as they say ‘on fire’ in her delivery and the response to her adlibbing was not strong, there was the usual polite applause afterwards, but truthfully the talk was a bit flat, and I think this was so because the material she chose to write about consisted mostly about anecdotal things along her path to her obsessive devotion to Sai Baba as a divinity, when many will tell you that he does not want that praise in life. Much of the material in her book had been borrowed from other writers and the monthly Sai newsletter, as well there were copious quotes from Sai Baba. To me, it read more like a sermon than a personal journal of experiences. Well she had chosen her course of worship and that was her business. I consoled her on the way home that night, asking her to pray for me as I always needed prayers. Still, there was no work in the old NHL, we put the retreat up for sale, tucked our pride into our tails and eventually moved on, closer to Peterborough.
Our friend Shirley Kendall/Gillis attended a conference at Six Nations Reserve in Southern Ontario. In attendance were numerous priests and shamans of Indigenous tribes from all over the world, I would have enjoyed being present. There were representatives of the Hopi tribe, holy people from Hawaii and Tasmania New Zealand, Apache holy men, as well the Dali Lama had a representative present. At some point Shirley and her friend Maria entered a tent where a tiny man, a wizened little man from Tasmania gave a moving speech that had to be interpreted, but the gist of the speech was that his holy man whom he had visited on numerous occasions sent his love. He was talking about Sai Baba. Shirley was exuberant in passing this information to me when she called. Later that same afternoon she was in another tent where a man was sitting holding a pure Jade walking stick, he said to her, “go ahead, touch it, it is mother” she touched that stick which was like a talismans stick a medicine stick, the aftermath of this encounter was that the next day when I saw her, she was still shaking from the combined spiritual power she encountered at the conference. I was fortunate to have some arrowheads to give to her for her medicine and tobacco pouch, these objects had been rescued by my deceased friend Hime from a fat rich white mans cottage near Coldwater, Ontario who saw them as proof of his superiority over the Indigenous Peoples. There was also another talisman a pair of owl wings attached to a piece of carved cedar that I had made, those wings were held to the stick by a piece of beaded leather. I was glad to pass them on and share in her rapture, her husband Gary, the musician, left us alone to tend the gardens in the back yard as he knew that these matters between Shirley and I were Sacred to us.
It was very difficult to find a suitable place to live, such a place existed but we had to sell ourselves in order to pass the scrutiny of the owner who was a sometime film set worker from Toronto deeply involved in differing sexual cultures. She called her property Preview Hills. There was a similarity to her property and the one we had just left. She had set up her land as a sort of retreat where like minded people could come and live in a hippyish setting, camping out or renting the big tee pee she had set up on the grounds near Warsaw Ontario. In order that mixing took place all those staying for the weekend were encouraged to eat in a open area at a long table decorated with hanging lanterns and to fraternize there as well with the other campers. I found this odd. We were going to be renting a big two storey wood frame home with log home styling, wood heated, just built, not quite finished with a walk in basement, lots of room for our crew of five. It looked as if it was a chance for another exciting experience, the setting was fine, ten or so acres to walk about bordered by a gravel road on one side and a meandering shallow river on the other side, with total privacy from any prying eyes. And prying eyes there might be if word got out about some of the erotic parties that were taking place at Preview Hills Alternative Campground during the season which fortunately for us had just ended. Debbie Mac was the owner and she could be a real ball breaker. Debbie’s girlfriend was a petite Spanish woman named Maria and it turned out her father had been to India several times and was a devotee of Sai Baba, to the point that he abandoned his family to serve the Sai Community. After a short time we had a few run ins, I think the worst was when it got cold and we put some wood into the air tight stove and there was an immense smell of plastic burning, that’s when Maria said to Debbie, “ok, now I know where the plastic flashlight went” the smell was poisonous, overpowering, we all ran out of the house. Next issue came a week later when our second car, the Buick failed to start and Debbie came to help, which is normal, but I am more of a fix it myself type of person and told her I could manage the boost that was required. That same week she came and insisted on a full deposit for the propane in a large cylinder that was installed on a poured concrete pad at the back of the house. Both Julia and I were reluctant to pay for something we hadn’t used, we were willing to pay for what we used, but not in advance, we felt that was the responsibility of the homeowner. I honestly thought that the propane could easily have been hooked up to her house as well which was not far away from the one we were renting. The water system was a bit wonky, as I think that they had been diverting water from the river quite some distance away as there was a piece of heavy equipment sitting around and a bunch of dug trenches yet to be finished, it was definitely a work in progress. What had I got ourselves into! The final straw was a meeting we had with Debbie who wanted to work on the hot water tank and divert the hot water steam from the hot water tank to heat the house. Now we are talking a massive house, at least twenty five hundred square feet. In order to do so she needed some upfront rent money from us to pay to have this work done, when it came to money, we were really scrimping and did not want to part with any of it as I was still so to speak unemployed. Then the topper came along, most of these situations were taking place early within the month we lived there. Debbie and Maria came to see us, it was a Saturday we were playing a great record by Jai Uttal, all chanting and rave mixed together. They were wondering if they could take back the basement of the house we were living in and rent it out to gay couples on weekends during the off season in order to make some income. That was it, I guess my homophobia finally erupted and I asked them to leave and gave them our notice. We would be out as soon as possible!
The Gods were good to us as luck would have it we found a home to rent in one of the local free papers close to the village of Keene where the kids were well established, Julia knew people through the school, Christine had a pile of friends, I remember borrowing Gords trailer again and moving as much stuff as I could to the new home. Our parting from Preview Hills was not as amicable as we would like but believe me we had to move or become pawns in that dream, which differed far too much from our dream. The new home was owned by another woman involved in the New Age scene, a lovely older woman named Mrs. Kunz who ran a successful rejuvenation facility/health ranch not far from Toronto, Her son Ziggy an artist at the Irwin toy factory in Toronto was to be our landlord, it looked like a good situation, the house had enough rooms for everyone to share, as Gord said “ it has a carpet in the living area that looked like a pizza had been spilled on it,” and a back room with a wood stove as well as a wood oil combination furnace in the basement with a window to toss your firewood in, we’d be in heaven. Within two weeks of moving in Sally my boss at the NHL phoned and invited me to the city for dinner and a chat, we were ready to work on a new project. There is a God.
Doris kept in touch, she was a hard one to ditch. I don’t know what it was, maybe the age difference, probably her nun like presence. I had told her several times to pull up stakes and move to India. Her husband Bill totally ignored her involvement in the Sai movement. It made no sense to me that she lived like a nun, she could be a positive person in Puttaparthi, here in Ontario she was like a fish out of water. As our relationship came to an end, amicably, I could not tell her what I worked at and I think being discreet was the proper course. I recall she wanted to have her own Temple at her house on Thursday nights, to please Sai Baba, she would invite people to come and sing songs in Urdu and eat little cucumber sandwiches and sip Jasmine tea. Julia and I were busy with two young children and a teenager who could be a bit much to keep an eye on. We never did go to Doris’s house for Darshan, from time to time I wonder how she made out, had she seen my name on the news when I got popped for growing indoor weed in two thousand and eight, that makes me laugh, as now I am within a five minute walk of two pot stores, the world changed.
All was good in the Sai Baba world as they say until one winter day in 2001 when I went to one of the stash houses to meet with my friend Dirk who was working weekends in his role as stash house attendant. The place was quite nice, situated on a quiet lake, architecturally designed with a deck to die for, it was small but the builder had used good parts to put it together, when the team purchased it the company built a look a like garage to use for storage. I would pick Dirk up at the Greycoach bus stop at Simcoe and Aylmer on a Friday mid day and the two of us would head up to Lakefield where we would stop for a case of Moosehead beer and liquor, Dirk was an alcoholic and part of his pay was all the booze he needed to get through his stays which varied in length depending on the quantity of product stashed at the time. We also stopped at the local IGA and stocked up on food, anything he wanted, back ribs, Striploins, shrimp and all the snacks including wine gums, then a short trip to the LCBO for a few bottles of wine and some drinks called Mike’s Hard Lemonade and if he felt like it, a bottle of vodka. Many a weekend he could consume all of this. The consumption made it difficult for me to work with him from time to time if he was in his cups as they say. When working on packaging product into twenty kilo boxes and doing stock, marking the weight on each kilo one needs to be focusing, it is no time for idle chatter. We got along well and he was a caring man who visited our home on many occasions. The drink got to him one time as I showed up on the scheduled Monday at 10 AM to pick him up and a load of product to take to the city and he told me had been unconscious for some time, we later found out he had been in a diabetic coma. Wow, that would have been sad if he had died and I had to get help to move him away from the stash as the coppers would be all over it. But he didn’t die, he got help and drank a bit less in the future making sure to do what was required to maintain proper sugar levels. Hey, who would want to blow this job that paid somewhere in the $2,500.00 a week range depending on load sizes. He was like me, unmanageable, he danced to his own drummer. I miss him we were good friends. He died, I’m guessing around 2005 long after the shop had closed down for good after that big bust of over Twelve Tonnes of hash on the west coast that we don’t like talking about. He died of brain cancer, when he was young he worked at a Scientific place that sold specimens to high schools, things like frogs and snakes and bugs, many of the items were packed in formaldehyde, a very cancerous product, I think that is where he contacted the cancer. So this one time I go visit on a Sunday and the bugger he hands me the Toronto Star religious section and points to an article written by the Stars Tom Harpur a man knowledgeable about religions in the world. Geez, there it was in black and white, Godman in India, Sai Baba exposed as pedophile. It blew me away, I could see a smile on Dirks mouth form as he knew this would hurt me to the core as he knew from conversations that I was in my own way Gaga for Baba. The basis of the article was from a BBC TV show called The Findings that exposed Sai in an unpleasant light. Apparently there had been numerous complaints from mostly western families that their children, mostly boys had all been given private meetings in Sai’s rooms over a period of time and had all been molested to one degree or another, Great Britain took things one step further by letting anyone traveling to India to avoid the Ashram in Puttaparthi, unbelievable! It was a long thorough article, there was no doubt in my mind that Sai may be guilty of these transgressions. My Catholic upbringing was not accepting of any form of pedophilia and it was with a sad heart that I gave Julia the article that night. I actually remember being so upset that I sent the author Paul William Roberts a terse note via email about these allegations asking him to expand on them if he could, he never replied to my email. This shook the roots of my belief in the Sai organization, one of which I was aware could pull all kinds of strings in India to avoid prosecution, which they were successful at doing. Still right is right and wrong is wrong and I took a stand against Sai and we were without a spiritual presence around me and Julia for some time, it was shocking. I did not cry, but I wanted to, I had to lower my face to those who I had promoted Sai to.
In 2006 I made a call to my old professor from the University of Windsor, Dr Spellman. I brought up India with him as he had done work in India after retiring from teaching on Ancient India. One of his functions was seeing to it that water systems were installed in impoverished areas part of some work he did with the United Nations. He told me about other lawyers/advocating work he had done near Windsor and his home town of Amherstburg where his work was key to preventing an important Wetland from being turned into a subdivision, as well he spoke at length about his work in the Sikh Community in the dispute over whether the Sikhs had the right to wear their ceremonial swords (Kirpan), his testimony was key in winning for the Sikhs this right as it was determined that the Kirpan was a religious symbol and could be worn to school by Sikhs. Then I took over the conversation and I brought up my disappointment in Sai Baba and the goings on at the Ashram in Puttaparthi. It turns out that Dr Spellman himself had been to the Ashram in the early 70s and what he said was interesting. “You know Charles,” he called me Charles, “when I was in India in the early 70s at the Ashram there were rumours then of Sais sexual proclivities, but I want to tell you this,” his East Coast Salem, Massachusetts American voice rose an octave so he could better enunciate what he was to say to me, “There is no doubt in my mind that Sai, does far more good on earth than evil.” And, you know, right then, right at that very moment I knew that I had a new tool for judging the deeds of others. I did not forgive Sai his transgressions right away but in time, I was able to understand the deep words that Dr J.W. Spellman had shared with me. In time I forgave Sai Baba and was able to resume my relationship with him. Now, I must say that for some time, when telling people about Sai, to my wifes great chagrin, I let people know about his issue with boys then I finish the story with the stories of the millions of people he has helped on earth. He is an enigma.
Last year I was writing a short story on a social media site, Facebook where I publish as Selrahc Yrogerg. I forget which story I was telling, probably something from the bike world that has been the greatest gift to me, to find a function that encompasses many of my skills, as I need to write ads to sell the bikes, I need to take photos to sell the bikes, I need to be able to buy and sell bikes, I need to be able to mix with people of different socioeconomic roots, it is a combination of skills that I use to be successful at this gig and I am thankful to Sai Baba for presenting me with this opportunity to serve my fellow man. After one such write up a man responded to the ending I used in the story, as a Sai devotee, mind you a very obscure one, I know that many devotees end their conversations and their written pieces with the words Sai Ram, the meaning of which is I see the God in you. On this particular night someone in the bike world who has a cult following for the incredible Vintage European bicycles he creates responded to me with the same salutation Sai Ram. It was this past winter I was at the Regal Factory in Omemee where my friend fellow bike nut Andy Murdoch had invited me to come pick up two lovely bikes he thought I would like. We were just getting comfortable when this tall, good looking sixty or so year old man walked in, Andy introduced us, he said, “Charlie have you met Wayne so and so” and the last name was fumbled so I said, “Wayne who” to which Andy replied, “this is Wayne Jolly, you two have never met but you know each other.” Wayne is that Sai devotee who lives in Fenelon Falls and has the big road bike collection. We talked like two lost brothers, I had not been with another Sai devotee in many years. He asked me about Prema Sai the one who is said to be the next, the third incarnation of this deity, I have not mentioned that Sathya Sai Baba is the second incarnation, following a man named Shirdi Sai Baba who lived around the turn of the 19th century further north in India. He and Sai have similar abilities. Wayne had heard that Prema was now amongst us.
So this Sai tale goes on, it mushrooms. I burn incense when I can when I am opening the shop, there is a picture of this fuzzy haired man in an orange robe pinned to the fence below the incense sticks. My wife and I speak about Sai and his abilities often, this week I think I have concluded that Sai sent those small messages to me via the appearances of several books, just to show us what he could do. He visits from time to time, it is always very subtle when he does, no grand events like saving me from a train crash or such, but I know he is there orchestrating events, watching over me, even altering the course of history so no harm will come my way till my work is done.
I write these words for Sai Baba, fulfilling a wish I had over thirty years ago to do so. After writing these words, this five chapter story, I reviewed some words by Paul William Roberts the author that were important in propelling me to write these chapters. I’d like to share with you a paragraph from a blog entry he made in December 2015. Pauls life had changed considerably since he wrote Empire of the Soul and other wonderful books. He lost his sight more than likely due to exposure to nuclear materials while he was in Iraq covering the invasions by Americans on that country. America actually banned his book titled A War Against Truth as he was too descriptive in describing the bomblets that they had rained down on Baghdad. His wife Tiziana had left him, she died, their son got into a pile of trouble with a bag of cocaine and a loaded hand gun, he was sentenced to eight years in prison, Pauls world, so to speak fell apart. It was just by chance that I was searching the web when I typed in his name and found his blog site. I was quite saddened to here he had moved on in the Astral Plains. Here are the words he shared with us.
Baba said: “The mind is fed by five senses. Take away those senses and only you are left. No world, no things, no sound, no taste, no thought – yet consciousness is there. The God of Moses says, I am that I am, yes? This is the truth of your soul. It is never born and never dies; it dwells in eternal bliss, at one with all. You are all divine and eternal, yet you do not realize it. This is why I am here – not for anything else. Love is God, and you feel this in your heart. You feel goodness and compassion there too. They are not thoughts. Make the mind a tool, but control it to be silent when not required. Like a monkey it leaps about to little purpose. Make the mind do one thing – mantra, counting breath, it does not matter – and you will control it, having also peace. Practice this each day, and you will then know that Swami, you, and God are one and the same. The soul can never be harmed, so why fear? I am here and will always be with you. Be happy, love all as one, and the whole world will reflect happiness and love. It is so simple that your busy mind overlooks it. One moment of giving love and peace to all is worth ten million dollars, even more. But all karmas must be settled, for people and countries. I shall have to leave this body when that time comes, because this big hair and red robe distract you from the divine in your heart. I want no worship; I need nothing; but I come because you are all free to do whatever you wish. Too many are now wishing to be bad. I come to protect you from them, and to repeat eternal truths, laws that never change. When this body is no longer seen, you will understand more, and see this world of maya for what it is. Never fear; always I shall be here, for where else can I go? Where can you go? Be good, do good, see good. Yes? Oh, it is still too simple for you!”
OM SAI RAM
© all rights reserved by B℮n
During our short stay in Hua Hin we took the chance to visit a very old temple called Wat Khao Krailas that is located on a small hill near the beach. To reach this temple you have to climb lots of stairs, more than 100. Don't forget to bring your water since it's hot and humid. As soon as you reach the top you feel a slightly cool breeze which feels refreshing. When the sun starts to shine some trees can give you shade. Fish ponds, water lilies, and other beautiful flowers such as Frangipanis can be found there. As Buddhism is the main religion in Thailand, one can see the magnificent statue of the Buddha. The temple exhibits a traditional style of Thai architecture. This temple is very beautiful, quiet and peaceful, good for meditation. Nice ambiance and surroundings conducive to contemplation. Worth the visit. The temple provides splendid views of the Hua Hin town spread below. It is a great, tranquil place filled with spirituality. The lush green hills add to the enchantment of this holy place. The exotic beaches bordering the Hua Hin town can also be viewed from this temple.
Thai Buddhism is represented most obviously by the thousands of beautiful, ornately decorated and colorful temples in the country. Photo at Wat Khao Krailas in Hua Hin. The thin golden leaf on the Buddha statue is to honour Buddha teachings. This temple is a center of spirituality for the people living in Hua Hin town.
When praying and requesting a favor to Buddha, Thai people take three incense sticks, i.e one pour the Buddha, one for the Sangha - Buddhist community, one for the Dharma - teachings of the Buddha, a flower - orchid or lotus which symbolizes the Buddhist teachings purity and a small candle - it symbolizes comprehension enlightenment. Then they lit the incense sticks, kneel three times and put the incense sticks in front of the statue. For Buddhists in Thailand, incense is an important element of worship to pay respect to Buddha.They cover the Buddha statue with a thin golden leaf to honour Buddha teachings. In case of pain, the thin golden leaf shall be stuck at the same painful location on the Buddha statue.
For all those who are enjoying the early morning flag hoists and chocolate distributions have a wonderful day.
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I used 3 incense sticks lined up in a row, a 580 EX II on the left at 1/16th power, a table lamp on the right to help focusing and a black background. I used two black sheets as snoot to avoid spill. Used Canon T1i and 100mm Macro lens and then used the invert and making function in photoshop to add colors. Please visit the how to page for the detailed steps.
Incense sticks displayed at the Moc An factory in Quang Phu Cau.
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An intrusive picture taken in the middle of the wonderful Xingguo Temple in Jinan. In the main square of the temple there is 2 urns facing each other, here to received the incense sticks of the visitors. I have used one to it as a frame to capture the woman deposing a sticks in the other urn. The smoggy ambience with the associated smell was very typical of a Chinese temple where a lot of people are passing by.
Incense sticks at Kelaniya Temple near Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Kelaniya Great High Temple is one of Sri Lanka's most revered sacred Buddhist sites as it is believed to mark the location of a sermon given by the Buddha during what is believed to be his third visit to the island of Lanka. Kelaniya is one of 16 Solosmasthana sites on the island that Sri Lankan Buddhists believed were visited by the Buddha during his 3 visits to the island.