Unlike other temples, Kamakhya Temple doesn’t house traditional murtis of Yoginis. Instead, Yogini Pithas (sacred spots) are scattered around the temple, symbolizing their invisible yet omnipresent power. The temple is linked to Vama Marg Tantra, a left-hand path that involves secretive rituals, like Taamsik offerings symbolizing transcendence beyond duality.
I had a quick two-day tour to Haridwar with parents. A meeting with a Guru was arranged and they were excited about it. I, as was the deal had only one plan; to walk as far and as close to the mother river Ganga, as much she allows. 4 a.m. When we reached Parents took to the ashram and I to the mother river. But this time without impressions. Past months have seen a difference in the way I am doing things and one thing that I am particularly peaceful about is leaving the camera first and then leaving this want, to make the most beautiful, meaningful looking photographs. I am not. I am not doing it. I am letting the days pass by without making any digital memory out of it. I feel no desire anymore to keep making memories. As of now I imagine I have done my quota of “always looking like a crow” to do something all the time. I am walking without me institutionally looking to make images or even …
Since the dawn of history, various extraordinary phenomena have ben recorded as happening amongst human beings. Witnesses are not wanting in modern times to attest to the fact of such events, even in societies living under the full blaze of modern science. The vast mass of such evidence is unreliable, as coming from ignorant, superstitious, or fraudulent persons. In many instances the so-called miracles are imitations. But what do they imitate? It is not the sign of a candid and scientific mind to throw overboard anything without proper investigation. Surface scientists, unable to explain the various extraordinary mental phenomena, strive to ignore their very existence. They are, therefore, more culpable than those who think that their prayers are answered by a being, or beings, above the clouds, or than those who believe that their petitions will make such being change the course of the universe. The latter have the excuse of ignorance, or at least a defective system of education, which has taught them dependence upon such beings, a dependence which has become a part …
It was 1ST February 2007, when I first wrote this article. Fifteen days after, when my supposed vow of silence ended. That was my maiden spiritual experience of living with myself confined in a room. I was younger, attentive, perceptive, and found myself aware of observing the observer in moments of light while co-existing with other seekers. I had barely crossed my teenage. It certainly was a tender time. Even after one and a half decade today, that experience of being; learning to breathe knowingly lingers somewhere in my mind. Even today Whenever I find myself weak, my days unproductive, out of sync, sometimes purposeless or even when my food cycle goes awry I still find myself pulling back to the time and food cycle of my Vipassana time. I had lost this document a long time ago but it resurfaced. Perhaps there is something to learn still that I hadn’t. To understand the intricacies of a process that started then, the subtle nature of a flow that all along kept becoming thicker like fading …
The first act of Life as soon as we come out of mother’s womb is, we inhale. Maharaj Ji asked me to sit straight and take one deep breath, in a voice that demanded attention. I held it for 10 seconds, as he continued, and the last act of life is, we exhale; that is it. Leave the breath through your mouth. We inhale and we start crying. When we exhale, we make others cry. Between these two, a whole life is lived and one must take a deeper and a closer look at our lives. Because however our life is, the most important thing we unfortunately learn to ignore is, our breath. Also Read: Food and the World on a New Yogi’s Mind Maharaj Ji was making a Yantra with red vermillion, on an old bhojpatra paper as he casually started telling me a tale of essence about being. This was way back in 2014, around when we were travelling right towards the centre of India, to Ujjain. But had to take a detour …
It was a short journey and my first to Ujjain in Central India. The city of time itself. I was almost strolling when on the ghats of Shipra river I met a sage sitting alone but not alone. He looked strangely wild and attractive, focused. He was arranging his stones, picking them carefully as if they were beings and putting them in an unusual order, only after looking for many a seconds towards the sky. Curious, i had many questions to ask. And i did. This conversation was recorded thus and is presented like every story must. Also read: Turiya and Ramakrishna: Who are you? Q. What is your name?A. Narayan. Waah, Narayan! okay Narayan, Listen carefully. I will start from the start. Vedas, India’s four ancient sacred book-length accumulations of living wisdom. The oldest literature in the history of mankind. Since the last standardisation of the vedas, dozens of centuries ago, these hymns have been flawlessly preserved, syllable for syllable and word for word, by their priestly keepers. The hymns of the vedas were …
I had just arrived from visiting a temple in Uttarkashi with my Guruji in Uttarakhand. He is from the state and well versed in the ways of temple building and understanding the energy that a lingam or an idol holds. He wanted to meet an old friend of his and asked me to come along, just like that and we went. It was a day’s journey, quiet long. He did not enter the temple, not even once but asked me to be here at the complex till he comes back. I do not know how long it must have taken him to come back but there, in that sphere of Uttarkashi temple, this lingam as I entered just wrapped and bounded me to sit. It was bursting with energy. 3000 years old, and it is like it was done yesterday, exuberating with such intensity that you don’t want to do anything but just straighten your spine and sit. It was something I had never forgotten. And travelling to Uttarakhand last month brought back this memory …
Nara commentates … First called is Svante, alittle five year old sannyas aspirant, and subodhi, his mother. Ramakrishna tells him to shut his eyes which he does, instantly, with full obedience, tight and very still, the little pouches strainingto do just right. His knees are held bytwo chubby-small intentful hands. We all lookwith breathless stillnesssurrounding an open rose as the little swami emerges, Love, Little Anando. : ँ :Last seven days were work but nights kept leading me to the milk mountains. Full moon i.e the sharad purnima of October, kept revealing magic on one condition. That I must not close my eyes. If I observe a graph of my inner self, it has been nothing less than hydrogen working its way towards the biggest star. Slowly but so intense, that being a writer becomes a curse because I cannot explain it. : ँ : In Omkareshwar, a few years ago, on the banks of the river Narmada. A register found me; a life of a french yogi documented in images glued on its thin white pages. It was a real treat. Because they were not mere photographs, but codes, Sri Yantras, …
It was sudden. A day of change. Something shifted. Paradigm. Light. Its been months that I had known where to look yet It took time to find. Because it had already found me. It was in my hands and sooner I became it. In my search for the permanent, in this land which once was ruled by the snakes. Forest. In the name itself, energy resides. I reached Yogmaya. After months, without telling even my own self. The moment that child arrived I packed my bag, took my documents, opened the door and started walking towards her. As if she called on the eve of her birth night. It was five thousand and sixty eight hundred years ago. 5068. From today starts Nine days of Worshipping the mother. How will you do it?I will take the help of Fire. When she calls, the time subsides. Last evening, I was brimming with energy. I passed through the mausoleum and Mehrauli felt like a foreign country. It had been long I thought i was looking, rather …
When we reached Gopeshwar that night, Gana seemed speechless. But Neel looked at him with satisfaction giving an expression like then he has seen. We sat around fire, while waiting for the food to arrive. Open your ears said Neel and he began speaking like reciting an over practised hymn. The men in the east, he said, are trees; those in the south are flocks of animals; those in the west are wild plants. And those in the north like ourselves, who cried out while they ate other men, were the waters. When the collective sound started filling the air, he started explaining about eating. The act of eating is a violence that causes what is living, in its many forms, to disappear. Whether grass, plants, trees, animals or human beings, the process is the same. There is always a fire that devours and a substance that is devoured. This violence bringing misery and torment will one day be carried out by those who inflict it. Pouring milk into the fire- every morning, every evening- …
A long time friend and astrologer, who works as an Engineer in California has cautioned that the next 10-15 years is going to be very tumultuous for the world. Many regional fights, wars, cyber, economic and military are going to take place in different parts of the world. Ever-since his predictions came out to be true to each word he spoke on Trump, i am more aware and taking his predictions seriously. He said that the world is going to see an unprecedented, rapid change in the next decade and half. And today in 2021, as the world cautiously tries to stand up again from the pandemic, it might need more than just the ideas for wellness. It needs ideals and it needs ancient wisdom to lead us through this complex maze that our whole world becomes such that it never succumbs to any inner or outer infections. There is no doubt that we have to bring our wandering mind back to breath, and take responsibility for our body, like we do with our tastes. Our …
“Conserve”, because No, nature does not need us instead we need nature to stay relevant as life on earth.” By the end of 2020, the year had dented many a egos; almost all brands; Fashion, went out of fashion. Food, nobody trusted nobody’s hand. People afraid to touch, and our homes turned into new day Jails. Even as i write this, humans throughout the globe are still afraid, vulnerable to come out of homes, economies hanging, and many a countres are going into yet another Lockdown. All this while, in last one year, few things got cleared and were prayed for. We found ourselves back to an age where nothing more than the most required was needed. Nature took her stand. She wanted to breathe or rather more crudely wanted us to show her version of mirror, where only; AirWaterFoodShelterA relaxed and a calm mindA healthy body, were required. Everything else is a want, she said. These are your true needs. : ँ : There are many systems on our planet. Many various cycles, quietly …
It has been many centuries since humans have stopped moving from one place to another. Almost the majority of people today grow up in long settled societies. This new year 2021 AD, has arrived with a sense of responsibility in me to become a change what i feel should change. This ongoing virus is being lived on many levels together. Pandemics had happened before but it became unreal because we lived with it even though we didn’t contact it, in real circumstances and digitally there after all the more. What went wrong? What is it that we as people are overseeing what is coming? Whom have we been fooling? But before we go the factors i wanted to know and learn with you all, this mystery of Who actually we all are, all of us? And How did we became what we have become? Lets start from the start Earth started a very long time ago. To figure out exactly how long, lets just figure out how much a billion is? A billion is …
Today is Mahashivaratri. This day and night has become the most important 24 hours of this life that I am living. I am in Kumbh as I write this. Or the ‘Mahakumbh’ as I must state. Since Makar Sankranti these days were probably the most auspicious 45 days of 2025 that had a celestial connection and are stated to have come back after 144 years. Taking a dip in the sangam in these times are said to be no less than moksha on earth. And To be here on Mahashivaratri cannot just be my planning. It has to be a blessing. I am here with Maharaji whom I am meeting after five years. He flew from France only to be here for Mahakumbh. And this time, this phase with him has brought me back towards understanding the essence of life’s elements as a Yogi again. As someone who has been accumulating all the learnings and secrets of the ancient life. Even though soon ancient will be studied as the period that was before internet, but …
It was time. The sun had arrived when he decided going to bed again. After last night chocolate truffle, the cough had soared. The times are odd. Eversince electricity arrived people were seen forgetting the Sun. Breathe in breathe out. In the new cities, statisticians were collecting some data. It was seen that children of non-meat eating parents were picking pizzas of a particular shop called fat lulu in their dreams because they were the only ones where vegetarian was written. Stretch. For many months, the voice inside had been asking him to leave dairy, and when it is the best time to be a cow in India. He thought, milk like few other well marketed products have been projected as a necessity to humanity. So he started writing alternatives, to the unmarked ones and whenever any untested eatable came to his mind. Moon and Sun. While riding back home along the river one evening, Nara saw a beggar sitting upright. It was strange, beggars like him, more so with a summer shirt and half …
The night before was dedicated to red Hibiscus flowers. They ended inside the fire place while praying for the solar chord, our right nostril, symbolising river Ganga; and in yogic texts known as pingala. It was also mauni amavasya, i.e the quiet moonless night, as advised for centuries, this day must be observed in silence. Women who could not restrain themselves from speaking, fasted in exchange for words. And the ones who spoke nothing from mouths were seen talking cautiously from eyes. There was nothing satvic about the day even though I tried to make it. And above all It ended without a moral, not that it had to. But without a story as if either it wasn’t needed or we weren’t important. In the evening the walk became unending. It didn’t feel long but the sun had set. We went around the circular home to find more wood but instead found two calves loving like statues. Somehow they got excited and started running like jumping deers. The once desired magic when attained, when passed over, …
In these ongoing paralysing times of helplessness, while doing nothing; close your eyes. Think of water, a river. And if possible become it. Shiva was eyes wide open in all directions. Yet the destructive eye had to open, and took him inwards. Ujjain arrived in the morning. We went to pataloka to touch the equator in dim light and later ate potato spice. Darkness is the birth place of all creations. A child becomes in the dark. The lights glows the most in the dark. It is not that the darkness is wrong. It’s a part of life, a backdrop for the stars at night, the space between what you know. Darkness has a way of reminding you of the light. ExistING side by side. Sometimes overlapping, one explaining the other. And Mangla, the beautiful brown cow here in the village is pregnant. One big similarity, between a cow and a human mother is that both take nine months for their child to come out playing in the wild. Also one of many reasons, the oldest living civilisation …
It happens only while blinking. Sages and meditators who have closed there eyes for the longest time in there lifetimes, know when to blink. How much later to blink, because blinking comes with a count. And whosoever blinks is certain, to die. And that is how gods were differentiated from humans. because gods do not blink. In our lives, we live through a series of decisions that we make daily, weekly, monthly: but those decisions that subconsciously occur, the quiet ones which get shared with no one. The ones which come with horse power velocity leading us to our destinies are the which cry in silence. Because the only way you will ever awaken is through silence, not through analyzation of facts, not by sorting out good and bad, but through simple silence. By focusing towards the light in the dark, and to particularly stand in that invisible line trying to reveal ones true potential by letting every thought be, by surrendering to all the possibilities, Possibilities. By just showing up day after day after …
Who is observing the observer? Are you in front of the camera or behind it ? Or are you it ? Do you realize the change Changing? We walked up to the oldest virgin man. The sevak of shiva sitting on a hill, under a bright summer sun. His skin had earned blocks of pentagon, shaped into numerous lines criss-crossing his whole body. Once wrinkles turned into scales, crafted like on a snake’s skin. For a moment when he stood, I moved and touched that skin. But it felt nothing like it instead it was soft as wool. We walked seven steps together and then he sat in the shadow, near few men who had come from the nearby village, singing. He was humorous. He looked at Maharaj ji and told him that you look older than me! abhi bhi dum lagate ho? Do you still smoke Chillum? And started laughing at his own prank. But when he did, i could see through his mouth till his almost neck, bereft of any bone. wide, narrow, dry and …
How can we describe food? What sun is to plants, food is to humans. Food is as much sun. The only visible god. The energy. Prana Shakti. What you eat will determine the longevity of your strength not just of your body, but also of your senses. Not just five, but all ten of them. And very slowly as you will with full awareness practise eating, it will start determining the strength of ones spirit. Because anything that we consume becomes our spirit. The most beautiful things in life work and are found in silence. So should working of our stomach be. It is the home where Shakti resides. Feed her respectfully. And to tell you that is how Yog arrived in me it wasn’t that i started doing asanas, no. It arrived through food. It took only the alignment of understanding the body from within. That is how I imagine the first and the foundation of becoming a yogi starts, by understanding ones relation with food. To cut the story short I will not tell you to …
Few years ago while swimming in the river Tungbhadra in Sringeri, I met an Indian data Scientist who had left his job in the US to work on the Indian River systems. As we spoke while floating in the river conversing about culture and civilization, it that time when i realized something very commonplace, and the impression of its true meaning changed something in me right there
Its time to sleep. And Logar starts beating the drum again tonight. May be he does it for mangla, the cow. But then there is no need for that. Or may be to warm himself up. It is cold. Or most probably and i feel this could be the reason, to keep Jacky, the panther away from the cows. Its windy. Neem tree under which we sleep showers its old leaves on us all night. In the morning we went towards the field and started digging. The mud that we got was put into a copper plate and then was under the same tree. On it we placed a copper snake and twelve different coloured stones in the direction of the water. Maharaj went to the temple on the mountain. I, and the guy whose dream is to mine a mountain started putting the clay in the direction of the planet’s movement. But they wobble. Even though the energy is needed to pour in them, the vital breath but we shall see tomorrow when maharaj …
In one of my travels a sage asked me, what is the measure of happiness? I tried guessing but I wasn’t close ? Measure? I could only ask back if it can be measured. As I softly asked him to please stop smiling, and enlighten me. He took his time. And said the true measure of happiness is the average sum of sunrises and sunsets a man sees divided by the days of life. Sometimes it feels inappropriate but it is kind of apt.
Sometimes from somewhere a may be comes. Now may be is a hope. It is told to you that if you can run till a point you might catch what you are seeking. The time is limited. You have no idea of the way. Your resolve at first will be far from achieving it. But in the now you start running. But you realize that light has started getting darker. The steps are uneven. Some slopes. Could be up could be down. Some roses with thorns of autumn. Some puzzles to make the way interesting. If you then just gain that rhythm of not merely running but enjoying the performance of just being. Of seeing hindrances as a way of getting better, stronger. Using your body and mind as a tool. That when you will even reach. And if there will be no one to clap. The rewards regardless, are going to be so multiple from all the oxytocin that you created with your thoughts, with your lungs. That whole space will start treating you …
ROAD TO NARA 