Kurma

If you've just tuned in, I'm in India, at the tail-end of my tour. After finally getting some decent internet connection, I'm working through the backlog of travel nectar.

One week ago, on the afternoon of our departure from Sri Mayapur, we all gathered some snacks for the train trip to Puri. At various times of the day one can purchase sacred food, prasadam, that has been offered directly in the temple. Here's one of the dedicated men surrounded by some of the enormous quantities of cakes and sweets prepared in the vast temple kitchens, packing up some bags of fruit cake and crispy khajja for our train trip picnic.

Soon after I took this photo, we bundled our belongings into two jeeps and drove off to Kolkata for our trip to Puri.

Although Howrah station is a little over 100km away, it took us 5 hours to reach. This is not at all unusual, due to to the hellish nature of Bengal roads (with potholes the size of meteorite craters) and the congestion due to too many trucks, too many bikes, poor infrastructure and too many people.

The pollution in Calcutta has to be seen to be believed. The evening air resembled blue fog, with the noise of a thousand car horns adding to the lovable chaos.

Our little group made its way to the platform, boarded the Puri Express and settled in for what turned out to be quite a comfy, albeit chilly, all-night journey to Orissa.

Our first early-morning stop in Orissa state was at Cuttack, the ancient capital.

Here I am, 'bushy-eyed and bright-tailed', defrosting in the fresh morning air after a night of arctic air-conditioned Indian train travel in the famous 2-tier AC style.

A few hours later we arrived in Puri station, our Orissa destination for the next week.

This was our accomodation in Puri, the simple but peaceful Birla Guesthouse.

We were fortunate to be literally just across the road from many miles of magnificent beach. The roaring tides of my last visit to Puri were nowhere to be seen. The sea was calm and contented.

The waters that grace Puri are officially known as the Bay of Bengal, which is actually the Indian Ocean.

The sunrise over the Bay is magnificent, and I spent many an early morning dip splashing in the inviting 20 degree waters.

The sacred town of Puri is rich in cultural and spiritual heritage. Our little team spent many a day touring the various temples of this ancient pilgrimage spot. In each venue, we shared discussion of the significance and history of the place.

This is one of many sacred bathing places of Orissa. Immersion in the cool waters gives one an immediate, tangible peace.

One of my favourite places in Puri was the famous Bhajan Kutir (place of devotional residence) of my spiritual grandfather, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

In the early 1920's (when the whole area was just jungle) Srila Bhaktisiddhanta (the guru and preceptor of my spiritual master Srila Prabhupada) imbibed centuries of Bhakti tradition to perform many years of intense chanting, devotional prayer and study in this sacred, attractive and tropical place.

This gathering of spiritual strength and grace empowered Srila Bhaktisiddhanta to establish a network of temples and spiritual publishing houses around India, the modern forerunner of what has become known as the Hare Krishna Movement in the modern world, under the expert guidance of his dear disciple (my guru) Srila Prabhupada.

Just outside the kutir was a wonderful goshalla where gorgeous cows and calves live in peace and contentment.

We attended ceremonies in the famous Tota Gopinatha Temple, another wonderful and spiritually potent treasurehouse dating back to the 15th century. This temple featured significantly in the life of the medieval father of the modern day Krishna Consciousness Movement, Sri Caitanya. He spent the last 18 years of his life here in Puri, enraptured in Divine Love.

We heard more wonderful narrations of these pastimes in the cool inner sanctum of this temple, where Sri Caitanya disappeared in the early 16th century at the age of 48.

All over Puri we found saintly devotees, especially widows, who had committed the final years of their lives to blissful spiritual discipline.

Puri is filled with various places of great significance to bhaktas, or devotees. Here's a shrine dedicated to Sri Hanuman, the famous divine monkey devotee of Lord Rama.

And here on a local rooftop are some modern day, less-than-divine Hanuman monkeys. Their black faces, long tails and more peaceful demeanour set them aside from their naughty shorter-tailed counterparts in Navadvip and Vrindavan.

In fact, as I write these words in an internet cafe in Sri Vrindavan, two monkeys decided to have sex on top of an electricity pole opposite, and shorted-out the whole street in a blaze of high-wire coital self-immolation.

Anyway - where was I? Oh yes...

Despite the inevitable modernisation, some aspects of life go on in India just as they have for centuries. Here's a lady cleaning and winnowing rice in a temple courtyard of Puri. The sepia tones add to the mood, yes?

Ok, well there's much more to see of Puri, so I'll publish that another day. Stay tuned!

Discuss (2 responses) Comment [2] A Week in Puri, Part One

I wrote this last Saturday morning (November 10th) whilst sitting in my room at the Birla Guest House on the beach road in Jagannath Puri, Orissa, under a ceiling fan turned on to maximum. The mosquitos were being blown hither and thither by the strong currents of air, yet some seemed to get through the strong defence system, doing what mosquitos do best.

The rest of the team were out on parikrama, or visiting the various sacred sites of Puri. I took the morning off to bring you all up to date with my tour. But first things first. Before I narrate our journey from West Bengal to Orissa, I'd like to share my last photos of Mayapur, lest we lose our sense of time sequence. Here they are, in no particular order:

When I first arrived I took this shot of the daily rubbish collection in the vast grounds of Sri Mayapur. The bulls love to work, especially doing devotional service.

When it was built some years ago, this was the longest building in Bengal. I think it still is. Known affectionately as (you guessed it) 'The Long Building', it offers profuse accomodation facilities.

This is a nice aerial view of the Memorial Temple (Samadhi Mandir) to Srila Prabhupada. It really is a massive building.

Under the mosaic-lined main dome is the actual memorial tomb of Srila Prabhupada, as shown below. The gorgeous marble and onyx main hall can hold up to 4000 people.

Back in the main temple building, we have some vision of an inner sanctum, the ancient abode of Lord Nrisimhadeva, where regular worship is performed at certain times of the day.

This is the wonderful arati ceremony where cauldron-like flaming camphor lamps are offered accompanied by joyful singing and music, and the chanting of millenias-old Sanskrit hymns.

Here is is one of the many sacred sites around Sri Mayapur, an ancient lake that's been extant for millenia.

Here's a good shot of the main courtyard of the Sri Mayapur main Temple. The 3-spired roof marks the entrance to the main temple complex. The single spire marks the place where the main altar is situated. Note the security framework on the right under the grass-roofed area. As is common in most large Indian temples these days, security guards check each entrant for potential terrorist breaches.

Each morning the devotees gather at the far end of the main temple to offer respects, flowers and sacred items to our founder/acharya Srila Prabhupada, in a ceremony known as guru-puja.

Each devotee present offers handfuls of marigold petals from the temple garden. Here's a scene of the temple gardens.

And another shot of the gorgeous lotus-petal fountain.

This photo definitely does not do justice to the gigantic size and awesome beauty of the Deities of the five sacred forms of Panca Tattva, newly installed a couple of years ago in one of the massive temple halls.

Here's a couple of photos of just a small fragment of the 4800 devotees sitting attentively in a morning and evening classes held in a massive temporary pandal (decorative Indian festival tent) built on a large stretch of lawn at Sri Mayapur.

These tents are a special wonder of Indian construction ingenuity, and come with comfortable cushioned floor seating and electricity. Some are built to house 30,000 in one sitting. This small one was tailored for 5000.

This is the lotus-eyed beauty of Sri Lalita, one of the divine cowherd girls that constantly offer service to Radha and Krishna.

And here's two more gorgeous gopi servants of Krishna.

There are numerous places to eat in Sri Mayapur, including seated, restaurant-style dining. If you want to eat in a traditional way, the Gada building offers daily fare for those who want to partake cross-legged. Here's a small view of the massive prasadam (sacred food) hall that seats 1000 at a sitting. That's Kesava on the right, the group leader from Melbourne.

The banana leaf plate is there, with the customary wedge of lime, salt and water. Lunch is on the way!

To be continued...

Discuss (4 responses) Comment [4] Here's Some I Prepared Earlier