Namenjeno je našim in Swamijevim študentom, možne pa so tudi izjeme. Pomembno je predvsem to, da ima skupina približno iste interese.
LETOŠNJE POTOVANJE V INDIJO 17. februarja - 6.marca.
Program: obisk Ajurvedske konference V Rishikeshu (mi bi šli samo za 3dni – če nam bodo dali dober skupinski popust. Več o konferenci na – http://www.ayurvedaconference.com/) obiskali bomo tudi predel čarovnikov Delhi,ju Khajuraho s čudovitimi tantričnimi templji in Varanasi.
PRIJAVITE SE MI, TUDI ČE SE SAMO ZANIMATE ZA POTOVANJE IN ŠE NISTE GOTOVI, DA BOSTE ŠLI, KER BOM USTVARILA LOČENO MAILING LISTO PO KATERI BOM OBVEŠČALA O TEM POTOVANJU.
Vsako leto do konca novembra kupimo avionske karte, vedno nam naša Vida najde najceneše variante (tokrat sta dva interna leta, razen če bi spet poskusili z vlakom), do novega leta bo treba plačati konferenco. Hotele se plačuje na licu mesta, najdemo čiste in poceni variante, ki stanejo povprečno tam nekje 17€ na noč za dve osebi (če ste sami v sobi plačate 17€ sami, sicer se ta vsota deli na pol). Organizacija in vodenje za Tota in mene pa je 300€.
PRIJAVITE SE NA MOJ MAIL – polona.sepe@guest.arnes.si
IMPRESSIONS FROM OUR TRIP TO VARANASI AND KUMBHA MELA
Varanasi is intense, chaotic, vibrant with energy of myriad temples, creating a labyrinth of mythical proportions. Actually the first thing I heard about Varanasi was that it is the hub of tantric practices where the beginner could easily get distracted and never find anything. Yes indeed, Varanasi doesn’t open up to a visitor easily. In ashrams they speak mostly Hindi, or at least pretend to, to get rid of curious intruders. It took Tor and me few years to develop close connections. The first year at Krim Kunda, for example, they only allowed us to meditate by the fire after long hesitation. When we turned to anybody with questions, they just waved their hand that they don’t understand English. Next year we were already allowed to sit closer to the dhuni. I love the energy of this fire that has been kept burning for hundreds of years and we sat there to do our japa. Suddenly I was transported to unusual heights in my meditation. I wondered what was happening, opened my eyes and saw that a man from the ashram came to meditate by us. When he left, the energy subsided. It felt like a kind of welcome at last. This year, after the group sat down to meditate, somebody waved his hand and took us to the head of the ashram who turned out to speak perfect English! Krim Kunda is an Aghori ashram. I love aghoris, it is difficult to get their attention, but when you do, there is no formal protocol characteristic for most Indian ashrams, no saintly behavior, no guru disposition, no obsessions with purity or any other religious pretensions. They even seem to be displeased with too much bowing; they just wave their hand as if to say: “C’mon, you are doing well, let’s get to the point.” So when this man turned to us and asked: “What can I do for you? Do you have any questions?” he was there for us completely – as a human being. There is this internal sternness about aghoris that just makes me watch my mouth and pay attention, but the feeling they emanate is: I am here for you. And he WAS there for us, not to indoctrinate, promote, explain, convert, persuade, teach or save us – he was just there, with this stern look mixed with loving attention….. And suddenly nobody had any questions! Actually, we managed to come up with one. I love this state when all question evaporate in thin air, I think this is a good place to come to. We sat in silence for a while and then he kindly dismissed us: “You know where I am now; you can come here anytime you want.”
Augarnath Takiya is another Aghori Ashram where they have a long tradition of going into voluntary Bhoo Samadhi (they bury themselves underground and go into Samadhi). There are many samadhis in this place and the energy is just incredible. Last year Tor, Gregor and me got in as a friend of our guide lives in this ashram and he unlocked the door for us – literally as they have this big lock on the door. We were wandering around the place, alone, with nobody in sight. We sat down and meditated and after few visits somebody said to our guide that the Baba of the ashram will accept us if we come back in the afternoon. Of course we did, along with the translator as Baba here doesn’t speak English (and he really doesn’t, except for few words) We touched the ground with our foreheads at his feet which he accepted with impatient gesture as if to say “ let’s get over this part quickly” and sat down by his dhuni. “So what do you want?”, he asked benevolently. “Well, we are practitioners of tantra and ….ahem …a…a..” It is difficult to answer such a question as yes, indeed – what exactly do we want? “Have you read Arthur Avalon’s books?” he asked after our struggle to introduce ourselves. We nodded and at that point the flow started, hindered only by a very awkward translator as he didn’t understand half of the concepts Baba was talking about. We heard stories about his teacher- the one with officials from the government who came to tell him that government has prohibited voluntary bhoo samadhi in his ashram and the teacher evaporated in thin air in front of their eyes and kept appearing and disappearing until they left. Baba also demonstrated some siddhis, and urged us to keep meditating and keep researching as there is such wealth of knowledge in India that Indians don’t seem to care about. He kindly dismissed us with prasad. This year, when we came again with the whole group , he was there for us again, encouraging everybody to keep on with regular saddhana and keep researching the spiritual wealth of India and ended his talk with casual invitation ”You can find me here every afternoon after four. ”
When Tor and I mentioned the name of an Aghori from Kapalika tradition to our guide and that we wanted to see him, he shrank in fear. Yes, he knows him….but….he is notorious one, he can make women pregnant with a touch and throws skulls at those who disturb him. He showed us where he lives, high above the ghats and we often saw him standing there at night – a menacing towering figure overlooking Ganges. We were watching him, hesitating and wondering whether we should go to him or not and in what kind of trouble we might get ourselves into, if we do. We summoned up our courage finally one day and started our journey upstairs, wondering with each one of the fifty steps leading up to his place – not so much about how to protect ourselves from the skulls flying at us, but thinking we should be careful not to upset him unintentionally. Be careful not to upset someone who has siddhis – is an advice good to stick to in India. The door opened AND ……we were greeted by one of the nicest and most charming men. Lali Baba is an enchanting performer. “I am telling jokes just to keep you entertained,” he says often. He invited us into his room and showered on us all his generosity as an aghori can do. After we stumbled over unavoidable “What do you want” question and we managed to convey that we were interested in Kapalika tradition, he took us to his saddhana room and introduced his skulls to us. “ I am calling this one Motherfucker as I threw him into Ganges so many times already and he keeps coming back to me., “ he said taking the bigger skull lovingly into his hands. “ And if you touch that one, you will never want to have sex again,” he said pointing to the smaller one, obviously amused when he noticed that we leaned back in caution. He had to seize the opportunity to have some fun of course and he took this skull into his hands, bringing it close to our noses, while explaining how he got it at the Manikarnika ghat, enjoying that we were trying to keep safe distance while nodding seriously to his explanation. “I don’t do alcohol, I am getting drunk on my own madness,” he said while lighting a cigarette and offering me one. “ And my saddhana is strictly vegetarian,” he continued while puffing the smoke, probably trying to say that he does not consume human flesh as aghoris are notorious to do. Yes indeed, aghoris have become a kind of controversial fascination over last few years with YouTube replete with videos of aghoris drinking their urine and munching on human flesh. Even those at Krim Kunda were complaining that it is obvious they are paying people to act as aghoris in these movies and that some of the finest Indian saints were aghoris like Telang Swami and Kinaram Baba. Anyway Lali Baba leisurely went on with his explanations of Kapalika and Maha Vidya saddhanas. He adopted our group quickly and fascinated those who became his regular guests at his aratis on the banks Ganges, with very lucid palm reading. On top of everything it has turned out that he is going to Kumbha Mela on the same day as we do and offered to meet us there. That was good indeed as it has turned out that Pagal Baba (an initiated Naga Baba), who was supposed to take us around Kumbha Mela, was ill this year. He appointed one of the younger Naga Babas to take us to the tents with Nagas and we could just walk through the area. We were allowed to watch but not to go into tents or take pictures except in the tent that belonged to the Pagal’s division of Naga Baba order, where we sat drinking chai, while Babas were getting high on bhang.The day with Lali baba was quite different, we were taken to the tents of saddhus , were sitting with them, drinking chai and were allowed to take pictures. “I am taking you only to good saddhus ,” he said. “Do you feel the energy?” And indeed we did. It still stays with us.
We ended our day in the tent with shakti Saddhus that bubbled over with laughter. “Aaaah, too many people here,” exclaimed Saddhu Meera referring to millions visiting Kumbha Mela. “And too much devotion!” she burst into laughter when one from our group bowed in front of her. She immediately started teasing Lali Baba mercilessly and with such a humor that we ended with tears in our eyes from laughing. When he got a bit worried for his image, she gave him a big warm hug reassuring us seriously: “He is a great Shiva, you know!” They got absorbed chatting about saddhanas while we were drinking chai, until she suddenly loudly exclaimed in English as obviously this was meant to be heard by us: “What? You are doing so much saddhana!? What do you think?! That you will go to heaven or what!?……This is just our faith! You don’t really know! We don’t know! Nobody really knows anything!” and she continued choking with laughter: “And everybody is just searching….searching..searching…. for something!”…….. Kali Ma at work.
What can I say, it was a magical trip.
POLONA SEPE (AMBIKANANDA)