Spiritual Sojourn in an Off beat location

Thinking, thinking and more thinking – This is one of the many brain exercises I do at my workplace. Adding to that; deadlines, discussions, deliberations take a strong toll on my aging grey cells. The best way to recharge myself is to be on the road, to another off-beat location, close to my work place though!

I heard about Gokarna through my couch surfing friend Konstantino S from Greece. I happened to host him in my flat for five days. (I will be posting about this great gentleman in my blog soon) Gokarna is a small town bustling with international tourists on the western coast of India in the Uttara Kannada district of the state of Karnataka. Few years back, this was a sleepy temple town with pilgrims visiting Lord Shiv temples and was dominated by fishermen folk. Recently, this gorgeous town has been included in the itinerary of many a foreign tourist visiting India.  

Last winter, I grabbed a perfect weekend break last and booked my ticket to Hubli via the Redbus app in less than a minute. A close friend, Dr.Lokesh pursing his MD in Pharmacology was kind enough to receive me. After a brief chat and quick shower in his room, I boarded a bus to Karwar, got down in Ankola and reached Gokarna. The enroute was scenic as the bus traversed through the dense foliage of Western Ghats, rivers, salt lake pans near Arabian Sea, coconut trees and green paddy fields. I took an auto from Gokarna Bus stand to Shankar Prasad Foundation in Bankikodla Village, few kms away from the town.

  

The foundation is basically a yoga / meditation retreat centre AKA ashram with an organic farm run in a heritage old guest house. The house was typical, colonial in style with red terracotta tiles of roofing, beautiful garden in the front, coconut and agriculture farms adjacent to it. This centre is run by Sannyasin Swami Yogaratna Saraswati (Mataji). Swami Yogaratna was born in Paris to Australian parents and raised in India. She was schooled in Bombay, her alma mater in Australia on art, education and linguistics. The moment I saw her, my head bowed and hands folded instinctively to greet her. She was gracious even at her senile age, smiled at me, looked into my eyes and asked me if we’d met before. I replied in the negative. She further acknowledged me with her divine smile. The volunteer posted in the front office helped me fill in my check-in formalities and handed over various papers pertaining to the daily schedule of the foundation. Mr.Shyam, the manager of the Ashram gave a brief introduction about the foundation and was quite hospitable throughout the course of my stay.

The front courtyard was beautifully done with red oxide flooring; antique teak wood furniture’s and roofing; white notice board displaying the job schedule for the volunteers. I found a beautiful little girl playing with an equally glimmering kitten in the front hall, only to smile at her. Her eyes twinkling and innocence glittered throughout her face. Upon begetting introduction, she swiftly replied “ASKA” from Germany. I couldn’t help but compliment her virtue to which she reprimanded instantly, ‘but my younger brother is way prettier and yet only a year and half old”. At the tender age of three, she was quiet talkative and showed no sign of shyness. I got my first company in the foundation.

I was allotted my stay in the first floor of the ashram; climbed the wooden ladder to my room and settled in my small semi-private accommodation. It was much basic with neatly made mattress bed on the floor, with pillow, fan, common wash room and an electrical socket. I went around the farm to discover the truancy of any farming activity in the land owing to the post-harvest season. With time and place both in my favor, I settled with a book of Gulzar in the hammock under the coconut grove. Few hours passed and I could perceive the gong of bells coming from the ashram. It was a call for lunch.

The lunch was typical Indian with more organic flavor in it. The rice happened to be of endemic reap, unpolished to retain its nutritional values served with green leafy flower vegetables, dal and curd. The kitchen volunteers served the food to the residents who came in line. I was the only Asian face among the residents; with meager knowledge I guessed, that I may be having lunch with citizens all across the world. Shadowing a typical Indian stereotype, I was hesitant initiating conversations. I may have smiled at them or exchanged formal pleasantries but nothing more. The kitchen, dining table and washing area were neat and orderly placed. The instruction manuals in each section caught my attention; waste disposal instructions, dish washing procedures reminded me of the Standard Operating Procedures manual in our college clinics and hospital. 

I was informed about the Haven scheduled that evening. With few hours left on the clock, I hastily rented a scooty nearby and explored Gokarna town alone that evening. I went to the famous Lord Mahabaleshwar Temple; the lanes leading to the temple were colorful and captivated me. I can say truly Gokarna is a town of contrasts. It welcomes devotees, backpackers and travelers like me in good numbers. I wrapped up my quick tour of the town and rushed to the foundation.

As I entered the ashram, a pretty, fair girl in her twenties looked upon and smiled. She had a colorful bandana on her head. I initiated my introduction with my signature firm handshake that later, she also happened to mention to her accompanying friend. She was Lumi from Romania who was touring India with her friend Calin. I cleaned and mopped the pooja room, meditation hall, stairs and arranged things for the holy havan on a small raised platform in the garden. Mataji was passing on the instructions to us all (volunteers). Lumi had joined in too.

As the sun was setting in the western horizon, the garden was filled with many foreign devotees. Mr.Shyam was found busy receiving and getting them comfortable. The Havan started with Ganapathi Homa and Mataji explaining the significance of the Havan on Saturday and the mantras. I was not familiar with the mantras and was trying to grasp them by making lip movements. I failed there; Moira’s Mom, who was sitting right next to me, smiled and handed over printed sheets of Mantras. I was rescued for the moment; it was amazing to see that most of the international devotees were reciting the mantras by heart while I had to look down at the sheets for each mantra. The Havan lasted for three hours and Mataji was simply marvelous, her talk on each mantra incredible! Meanwhile, a Sadhu joined us for the Havan. He possessed a long white beard, a black turban, saffron dress, yellow shawl and a holy stick. I must admit, I was a wee bit scared initially. After the end of Havan, Mataji requested him to deliver a speech and bhajan. The Sadhu was very good in English and delivered a short religious speech on Lord Shiv, Ram and Hanuman. His Bhajan praising Lord Shiv was of high intense and the crowd went to trance for a couple of minutes.  He explained; the Sadhus and some devotees go into trance during Bhajans because god appears before them & enters into their souls. The high energy of god infuses in our spirits and our material body isn’t able to tolerate the heavenly force thus going into trance. Rightly said by the sadhu, I experienced transcendental trance in this soulful rendition of mantras in the havan and high intense Bhajan.  At the end, we received the Havan prasadam made of rice, jaggery and milk. I got along with most of the people who were in the Havan and discovered that most of them are Russians, Germans or Israelites. Mr.Shyam mentioned about the early morning meditation program and I reconfirmed my participation in the same. Dinner was simple yet nourishing following which, the both of us; Lumi and me washed the dishes and prepared the kitchen for breakfast with a nice conversation in its course.  

 I found Mataji resting in her chair, exhausted from the affairs of the now concluded day. I went close and sat on the floor. She initiated the conversation enquiring about me and my life. I replied ‘I’m still learning Mataji”, which she appreciated and enlightened me on a few more thoughtful insights regarding life, spirituality, yoga and meditation. I can say without a doubt, this was one of the best lectures that I had in my life so far, late night too. Perhaps then, considering both; the late hour and her age, I bade her goodnight, allowing her to rest. I decided to go for a walk in the garden owing to the pleasant weather. I folded my hands across my chest to keep my body warm as the dew drops on the grass blades moistened my bare feet. A fellow resident upstairs was playing his guitar fondly remembering Garda; his girl friend. The romantic musical notes of the guitar, cold winter breeze from the Arabian Sea, white mystical moon surpassing the clouds added to the night’s beauty. I then rested a while in the garden, gazing the sky and only to spot my favorite Orion star belt. The three king stars in the middle - Mintaka, Aniltak and Anilam in a straight line and the remaining four placed at the corners of the king stars. My mom always used to say that the three stars in the middle are three thieves sleeping on a couch. They will come down and take away erroneous kids; this was one of my bedtime stories from my mother to threaten me of being so naughty. I was a smart lad; I seldom replied ‘I will be very much obedient only at night and day times there are no any stars”.

I woke up early in the morning to notice residents assembling in the front yard for morning meditation and to join them. By 4.00 am, we started in two vehicles, surprisingly Mataji was driving the Omni car and the other car followed. Within a few hundred meters or so, we got a feeling, ‘something just isn’t right”. She parked at the side to have a check at the vehicle. It was a flat tyre and there was no time to replace it. She took to worry, that we may miss the meditation before sun-rise. I was disappointed as all, cursing my bad luck. Amongst all of this, an auto passed by swiftly. We yelled in chorus but the driver never heed. Upon this I acted in a reflex and blew a whistle with my fingers under the rolled tongue. The sound of the whistle made a pass and the auto stopped. The whistling tutorial from my cousin during a summer vacation was to credit. We quickly squeezed in the auto and reached a hill facing the sea. We, the group of residents sat comfortably on the rocks facing east. Despite being the western coast of India, the spot was strategically located between the hills, river and the Arabian Sea, in turn to grab a clear view of sunrise.

It was five, early morning by now and we were already lost in the solitude and silence of the sea, sky and the sand. The air felt fresh and new; a gentle breeze caressed our skin. Mataji started the meditation session by rendition of HARI OM. The mantra was quite powerful when recited and heard in unison, particularly when the OM was prolonged at the end. I felt the real vibes of the sacred sound word OM entering through my ears and jolting across all parts of the body. Mataji recited the mantras from the Upanishads with an English translation. We repeated the each mantra and offered our meditation prayers to the supreme god.

 Mataji gave yet another wonderful discourse on the five elements of earth pertaining to the human body. We were mediating on the rocks made up of element Earth. She asked us to try and connect the same in our body through bones and teeth. The vast ocean before us represents the Water element. She asked us to connect the water element in our body through the blood, sweat, tears and bile fluids. The arising sun in the eastern horizon represents the Fire element. Mathaji connected the fire element in our body to physiological process of the digestive system, where the food calories are burnt in the process of metabolism. The cool breeze in the atmosphere represents the Air element. We connected the Air element in our body through the breath in the respiratory system. The infinite sky above us represented the Space element. We connected our human consciousness, intelligence, rationale thinking to the space element. That was an ultimate description of the five elements by Mataji connecting our body. Her words of wisdom were exemplary - One should always appreciate the gratitude’s in their life, rather than complaining the misfortunes. Thank god every time you pray for the best gift of all, right now in your very possession rather than requesting for more materialistic pleasures.

All our eyes were glued to the eastern sky. We watched as the large glowing sphere of sun rose slowly from the distant mountain. Brilliant gold and orange hues bled like fire in the east over the rivers and beyond the mountains. The casting sunbeams illuminated the entire sky in every possible direction. Adding to the sky’s radiance, the sun rose still higher into the sky. We stared out the sea waters as the colors reflected off the rising sun changed, growing more vivid with the passing time. I watched it grow into a big ball of fire changing from dark orange to yellow, beginning to heat up the earth.

The first slither of the sun peeked over the dark blue and purple twilight skyline in a radiant ball with mix colors of golden red yellow. Gradually the sun raised, I witnessed a defined circle in a vibrant backdrop. The waters in the ocean glittered with liquid gold and silver. Mataji instructed us to close the eyes and bow our heads before the sun and gaze at the golden sun with our mythological third eye in the forehead. That was a phenomenal spiritual experience. I visualized a breathtaking display of radiant colors - Bright streaks of red, pink, and orange dazzling in my closed eyes.

 I marveled at the glistening reflection of the sun on the ocean and a thrilling feeling of awe swept over me after opening my eyes. We did yoga and stretching exercises on the rocks with the sun sparkling. The concluding part of this session was laughing yoga. She asked us to laugh our lungs out and she imitated the yoga with a big laugh. The laugh was infectious, and we all started laughing looking at each other. I can say my laugh was the best, as most of them looked at me and laughed more. We laughed till our eyes welled up in tears. At the end, we all grouped for a photo session displaying the colorful contrasts of dress, shawls, winter dresses, yoga mats and colorful bandanas. I was completely relaxed at the end of this powerful session and I walked a little ahead on the beach and spent some time solely, giving thought into life.   

Some of us decided for a morning trek along the hills. The trek team included Ms Lumi, Mr.Calin from Romania, Ms. Renetae Luz from Germany, Mr. John from United States, Ms. Prachi & her friend from Sirsi Karnataka. The trek was an awesome experience sharing our best memories of travel, life and many more. We navigated through the dense forests along the coast of Arabian Sea, treaded the steep and narrow pathyway along the mountain cliff and reached Paradise Beach. The paradise beach was a real paradise and I can say it was a no-man’s land. The beach was completely deserted except a few travelers relaxing in the hammocks with a dozed off camp fire. We greeted them and continued our trek towards half-moon beach. The half-moon beach was crescent shaped with white sands and blue waters. The beach had some good restaurants serving breakfast with huts for rented accommodation. We all had our breakfast facing the azure waters. Ms. Prachi was talkative and initiated meaningful conversations throughout the trek. We had a wonderful conversation about yoga, meditation, sabbatical, life in various cities across the world, travel and many more. Mr. John said it rightly “Tourists have plenty of money and have little time; Travelers have plenty of time and little money”. I said I m somewhere the blend of two – little money and little time and everyone laughed. The trek continued post-breakfast for an hour and now began taking its toll with the sun shooting above our heads. We reached to top of the cliff, surrounded by sea on both the sides. The panoramic view of the sea and pristine beaches was spectacular. We could see the OM beach in the far distance. The two semi-crescent land shapes join together in the beach resembling the Hindu sacred symbol – OM.

We landed in the white shores of the om beach by noon. The sun was shimmering in the mid sky and some of our members went to swim in the cool Arabian Sea waters.  We all had a sumptuous lunch in the om beach sipping a few glass of beer. Later we reached the ashram, I packed my belongings; bid adieu to the ashram and boarded the bus back to Raichur.

Gokarna – for me is the beguiling beaches sandwiched between the hills, paradise within the beauty of spiritual escapades. Gokarna seems like a retreat for the deserving souls and a place to share the ideas they thought they understood at college / university. I was bonded to the spirit of the great ashram at the end of the trip. Definitely my sojourn to this place is one of the great destinations. I was encompassed by a good bonhomie spirit in my soul, rejuvenated spirit and peaceful mind at the end of this short trip. 

Tale of three cities

India is a land of mystery and contrasts. The history of India fascinates me and even a life time is not enough to read and understand her. Born in this land, I witnessed many interesting facts and amazed by the diversity. India gives diversity a different meaning. As rightly said by the founder of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew “India is not a real country. Instead it is thirty-two separate nations that happen to be arrayed along the British railway lines”. The best experience to feel and sense the diversity of my homeland is to travel in Indian Railways from south to north. The vendor selling Iddiappam and puttu in Kerala changes his menu to Idli vada in Tamilnadu and it will be replaced by uppit and sera in Karnataka, followed by Dosa in Andhra, Vada Pav in Maharastra, Samosa in Madhya Pradesh, Kachori in Delhi, Aloo partha in Punjab, Kahwah in Kashmir. The food cuisines not only change, the language, people, dialects, clothes, climate and landscape changes within few kilometers. I was flabbergasted in this peculiar diversity and most of all this was emphasized to me by my French friend Ms.Ann Plummer, who spent her 30 years of life in India.

Lord Krishna & Lord Radhey in Mathura

The three cities in India had enthused a lot in many ways, which epitomizes the extreme diversity. The first tale is about the city Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. Mathura is the birth place of Lord Shri.Krishna and he has spent his youth in the little hamlets on the banks of river Yamuna in Vrindavan, Mathura, Goverdhan and Gokul. The city today is thronged by Lord Shri.Krishna worshippers and you can find people from all across the globe here in Vrindavan chanting the prayers and dancing to the songs and harmonies of Radhey Krishna with prayer beads. I was amazed to see people across the globe cutting across their religion embraced the Hindu religion tonsured their heads, wear tulsi mala, clad white and saffron clothes and read our holy book – Bhagavad Gita in the Krishna temples. 

Illuminated Prem Mandir

ISKON devotees celebrating god in the streets of Mathura

Roam in the streets of Mathura and Vrindavan; hear the chants of Radhye Krishna; you will be taken to the transcendental abode and mystical mantra of heavenly god. You truly surrender yourselves to the eternal and supreme feet of Lord Krishna. The best time to visit this holy place is during Krishna Janmastami and the festival of colours – Holi. You will be choked in the festive celebrations. One should not miss the sumptuous sweet lassi served in small earthen pots and it has a special flavour. Visit to the holy place of Mathura and surrounding hamlets mesmerizes your mind, rightly if you want to celebrate the holy god – sure one should pay a visit to Mathura. 

The T-Shirt in a souvenir shop in Goa. Perfectly said about Goa

 Few hundred kilometres down south in the western coast of India lay a paradise – Goa. I’m not going to write much about Goa. If you need to know more about Goa, backpack and hit the Goan roads and sea shores. Pristine beaches, white sands, green fields, holiday mood, beer in hands, the air with electro, rock, trance, metal and Bollywood music is a perfect relaxation formula. Goa is my one favourite holiday destination, been there several times, roamed like a crazy guy from North Goa – Arambol to South Goa - Palolem. I prefer lonely beaches and places in Goa and mostly travel single with company of books. Mostly it would be a reading vacation for me. I spent some of my  post graduate study holidays in the beaches and backwaters of Goa with my textbooks. (Of course, some Budweiser & KF at night to beat the summer scorching sun and exams in summer is a curse for the students)

The name says it all

 What got stuck me to this paradise is the night life and Arambol. Most of the tourists visit beaches in Goa like Baga, Calangute and Candolim, often crowded. I prefer the hidden treasure troves in Arambol where you can meet different types of tourists and travellers in informal groups like hippies and shiva freaks. This placed is quiet picturesque against the blue sky and ocean jutting out with black rocks. I like to swim in the freshwater lake for hours near the Kalacha beach and the magical banyan tree, under which the world famous music band “Beatles” had meditated. The trance night Thursdays in the beach shacks of Arambol gave me an impounding touch to my heart. The high voltage trance music will infuse adrenalin in your blood vessels and you can’t stop your heads and feet to the music. I was fortunate; I got a brilliant Russian DJ playing wonderful numbers of Trance the whole night. The “End of the world” restaurant on the top of a small hillock facing the ocean was much-loved by the tourists, because of its perfect location to watch the sun setting in the waters of Arabian Sea. The ambience, golden yellow sky and glittering waters during sun set and the resto name “End of the world” is picture-perfect to soothe my soul. My other hangout places in Goa are Shiva Valley and Curlies shack in Anjuna beach. You need to navigate in narrow roads, villages, paddy field, small bridges and bushes to reach these spots. 

River Mandovi in Goa

 The entire Goa bubbles with holiday mood all times, people more relaxed on week days, tourists with high energy on week end nights in pubs, discos and shacks. That’s why Goa is called as Bachelor’s paradise.

Blue sky, White clouds, Green paddy fields and Brown boulders,,,, Magic of Nature in Hampi

Few hours from Goa, Hampi in North Karnataka, the erstwhile headquarters of the Vijayanagara Empire ruled by Krishnadevaraya is the best tourist spot in Karnataka. Hampi is one of the UNESCO world heritage site in the banks of the river Tungabhadra where east and west live together. The village is alluring even in its ruined state of the temples, palaces and monuments. Every rock and boulders narrates you a story of a bygone era, I was surprised and spellbound on seeing the miles of undulating terrain, green palm grooves, paddy fields and plantations.  

The famous stone chariot in Hampi

I was lost and mesmerized simply by the vagaries of the nature, wondering how the empire was built in olden days without any scientific advancements and technology. Most of the tourist attractions are found around the famous Virupaksha temple and Hampi Bazar. The whole Hampi has few hundred houses and mostly turned into souvenir shops, browsing centres, money exchange shops and guest houses. The Archaeological department has enforced restrictions to start commercial establishments recently to protect the magnificent monuments. The people from far and near places come to Hampi to perform their last respects to their departed family members in the banks of the river. The orthodox Brahmin families living in Hampi perform the religious rites and rituals to the departed souls. Take a leisurely walk in the streets of Hampi by night; you can find the ultra-orthodox Brahmins chatting with the foreign tourists. 

Virupaksha Temple in Hampi

The temple priests of the Hampi village speak fluent English and impress the foreigners with little French, Spanish and German vocabularies.  Hampi being located in remote place, it is known across the world among the travellers. The tourists flock this village to experience the sheer architectural marvel. One should cross the river Tungabadra by country boat from Hampi and try to explore more in the Virupapur Gadde and Anegundi village. Small and sleepy village, no commercial establishments, budget accommodation, SPECIAL lassi, SPECIAL cookie, tranquil and solitude location made Hampi, hit among the back packers. I had been thrice to this incredible place and the last one was few days ago with my friends Maria-Inti Metzendorf from Germany and Jonathan Sternberg from US. Maria made a small assignment about Hampi and its places; she took us for a river side walk in the evening, crawled inside the boulders cave, crossed many courtyard ruins of Vijayanagara Empire and climbed on top of the hill to view the sunset. Breath-taking and incredible view of the ruins made us spell bound. Sitting there on the hillock, watching the golden sun disappearing in the distance clouds, massive boulders in hectares of rice and plantations with bright green contrast was beautiful to behold in our eyes and souls. It was surreal experience for all three of us watching the sky turning into emerald blue with white stars and gentle cool breeze from the river Tungabadra.

Me, Jon & Maria.

The celebration is unique in all these three cities; the way they rejoice differs in all these three places. Mathura is the place, where the Hindu tradition lives even today and people literally celebrate the god Krishna. On the contrast, Goa is found to be more relaxing where you can find e-generation unwinding their stress with night life. Hampi to me resembled a perfect blend of past and present, narrating the warrior story of Vijayanagara Empire to the future.

Incredible India! I am blessed to born in this holy land and more fortunate that I had the opportunities to see and experience the sheer diversity of my country. My love for this country and its places grow manifolds, as I keep exploring each corner of my homeland.

 Hampi Photo Courtesy : Maria-Inti & Jon