Vraja Journal

Views: The Truth is Out There (17 May 2009)

Sun, 17 May 2009 22:43:00 +0000

The truth is out there. Not quite here yet. Deal with it.

A further assortment of photos is available for download at the download area.

Views: Up the Mountain Path (28 Apr 2008)

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:52:00 +0000

Cristiyana and Dhammasaro treading up a mountain path near Kathmandu.

Views: White Tara (28 Apr 2008)

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:54:00 +0000

Hallowed Goddess Tara, the Mother of Buddhas, the mistress of Enlightenment, born in this eon of Avalokiteshvara's tears of compassion.

Blog: Quiescence (6 Jul 2008)

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:33:00 +0000

Vraja Journal has grown old, long white beard and all. It's time to retire. This blog was created for my Gaudiya explorations, a part of my life that has come to its term. The universe keeps telling me to move on.

A part of the reason for this is that no matter how much I wish, the stigma of my past orthodoxy hovers around this site. Let the writings here be concluded today — a time for new beginnings.

People still interested in reading my occasional writings can surf to www.halfsatori.com and keep tabs on the latest blurbs, I do have a number of interesting themes I intend to eventually explore.

You can read an intro to the new blog here. There won't be much content of interest for the orthodox, even if I do take an occasional glance at my past.

Farewell, Vraja Journal. Farewell, readers. We had our ups and downs together. Life goes on. Be happy.

Blog: 57 kilos of food (27 Jun 2008)

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:24:00 +0000

As of late, I've been spending a good deal of my time working with the Angel's Heaven orphanage in the neighborhood, near the Kathmandu Durbar Square. Run by Amrit and his wife Aishwarya, this orphanage of 20 beautiful children is badly in want of support.

A friend spotted me the other day at a wholesale grocery store near the Universal Peace Foundation office ? I spent away the last 2500 NRS I had to get the children food for the upcoming days. 30 kilos of rice, 10 kilos of flat rice, 5 kilos of mung dal, sugar and oil respectively, and a kilo of tea and mixed beans each, and at the crux of time ? Amrit has a trekking office, but the season is now at rock bottom, owing both to weather and the current political situation in Nepal.

Some friends, inspired by the example, have chosen to hop onboard and do the same. The children need an average of 12 kilos of rice and 1 kilo of dal per day, in addition with some vegetables. Much is in plans for providing steady future sustenance for this small but beautiful and very meaningful project.

We've been painting at the orphanage also. This old guest house, now rented for the orphanage, is in need of renovation to provide for an inspiring environment for the little angels. Manue and Bikash have been lending their artist's hand to fill the walls with flowers, vines, fruits and other beauties of nature. The top floor roof needs repairs to get past the ongoing monsoon season, and a new 2000 liter water tank also needs to be purchased.

Much is to be done, then! I got a draft of the website today ? thanks Manue! ? and it should go online momentarily with more specifics on the running expenses and development prospects for the orphanage.

Anyone touched by the prospect is cordially welcome to contribute ? in however small and grand way ? to the cause. To give an example, 12 kilos of rice costs 850 NRS (8.50e) ? here even little goes a long way! I will be posting more details in the days to come. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch with me if the above sparks an interest.

Blog: Jijaji is an Osho lover! (26 Jun 2008)

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:40:00 +0000

In reference to the previous blog, Pretty Woman, my pal jijaji just sent me a note, asking me to tell the fanatics he is an Osho lover. And that we quasi-tantric, rugged punks get the best chicks of the block.

There's a Finnish pop-song from the 80s, "Miksi naiset aina rakastuvat renttuihin?" ? "Why do Women Always Fall in Love with Rats". (Juliet Jonesin syd?n)

"They fall in love with long-haired hoodlums,
deceptive wanderers,
And cloud castle builders,
dreaming work-avoiders..."

That's pretty full on to the mark I suppose...

"And that is what worries me,
That worries me with this,
What's gonna happen to us good men..."

A friend of mine, Bikram, is actually running a branch of an Osho-center here in Thamel, Kathmandu. I need to spend more time with him, he's a gem of a person. He's been inviting me to come and participate in the programs he is doing.

I have never really checked Osho out. I need to grab a book or two and give them a read. Even if I've never gotten the impression of his being overly profound, I like radical thinkers. And Osho qualifies for one.

Rock on, Ananda! Or so he told me...

Blog: Pretty Woman (25 Jun 2008)

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:51:00 +0000

Pretty woman, walking down the street
Pretty woman, the kind I like to meet...

It's a pity the world wasn't made of neuters. Would have solved many problems. Instead, we have to keep coping with the cumbersome men and women business. Ick.

After the start of my grand journey towards the unknown, some friends have been trying to keep track of my moves. Poor saps, they and their guesswork, juicy visions patched together from data that is fragmented at best.

One of them said somewhere else the other day:

"Let then also Ananda's desires be fulfilled. Quite a buzz is indeed going on at Facebook, girl after girl, each prettier than the other, seem to already be flocking around him."

I suppose that is true. Dozens of pretty girls (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) have stopped by recently to check out the new life of this Indiana Jones of Spirituality (huh?) of Finland fame.

Pretty woman, look my way
Pretty woman, say you'll stay with me...

So do I like women? Yea, I suppose I do like women. In contrast with men, I like them a great deal in fact. The raving, brutal male sexual impulse and the psychological distortions it gives rise to repel me, indeed I find them repulsive, the ego and the cunning selfishness it emanates.

My years of intense meditative sadhana in the cosmic drama of Radha and Krishna, conceiving of myself as a young maiden in their midst, in this heaven-world of Goloka, gave me much time to contemplate on my feminine side, planting roots of psychological balance and broader insight into human nature.

It is perhaps owing to this, in part it is anyway, that I often find women having a much richer and more profound spiritual take on reality. An emphatic touch with an abundance of heart, not just the cold logic frozen philosopher's brain. My current inner core is much more at home with the former of the couplet, grown away from the cold, intellectual ego I once clad myself in, one that many of you are sadly familiar with.

So yes, I do like women, and for many reasons. Ask me about it.

Those pretty girls at Facebook are, by the way, 95% old friends either from my school days or otherwise from almost a decade back from the Krishna circles of Finland. And I have a pretty little sister, too, cute like a strawberry. I don't think any of my girlfriends have registered at Facebook yet.

What do I see
Is she walking back to me
Yeah, she's walking back to me
Oh, oh, Pretty woman...

Aho! Pretty woman...

Blog: Religions Re-weighed (13 Jun 2008)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:46:00 +0000

Some evolutions since the last time around, taking BeliefNet's Belief-O-Matic. Frankly I wasn't expecting Theravada to show up first, I assumed my views to be too cynical and universal to get a proper orthodox score. It's a wonder in its own right that anything crossed the 90% line! Among the interesting movers since May 2004:

Rising:
Theravada: 59% -> 100 %
Mahayana: 90% -> 99%
Taoism: 43% -> 77%
Nontheist: 16% -> 40%
Secular Humanism: 29% -> 57%

I wonder what marked the 1% difference between Theravada and Mahayana! I suppose I am a bit of a transvehicular hitch-hiker. Shared field with Tao is steadily growing; the integrated flow of the universe is more vivid by the day. Nontheism is nontheism, which I suppose is a milder way to say atheism, and secular humanism is, well, secular humanism.

Falling:
Hinduism: 100% -> 69%
Sikhism: 94% -> 70%
Islam: 45% -> 30%
Baha'i Faith: 65% -> 45%
Orthodox Judaism: 64% -> 43%

Hinduism took an unavoidable dive with god-concepts and ritualism reassessed, Sikhism, Islam, Baha'I and Judaism following its trail. You can't really start explaining to the quiz machine how the god-symbols, skillfully understood and stripped of anthropomorphic superimposition, parallel the enlightenment, the emptiness and the absolute of non-theistic traditions. Understood at face value, the theistic symbols can at times be less than helpful. Understood on a meta-level, the boundaries between theism and non-theism begin to disintegrate.

Of course, responding to series of questions with narrow options can only yield a result with limited nuances, missing details that can turn the lists upside down. For example, with Islam ranked at 30% in the test, there are yet aspects of it that rank it, as a method of cultivation, quite well on my scale, and we are not talking about Sufi, but plain old Islam. Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, the desert fathers' heritage and all, also deserve a higher place on the carts.

May 2008:

1. Theravada Buddhism (100%)
2. Mahayana Buddhism (99%)
3. Neo-Pagan (88%)
4. Jainism (82%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (80%)
6. New Age (78%)
7. Taoism (77%)
8. Liberal Quakers (73%)
9. Sikhism (70%)
10. Hinduism (69%)
11. New Thought (60%)
12. Secular Humanism (57%)
13. Reform Judaism (56%)
14. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (55%)
15. Orthodox Quaker (55%)
16. Scientology (54%)
17. Bah?'? Faith (45%)
18. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (44%)
19. Orthodox Judaism (43%)
20. Nontheist (40%)
21. Islam (30%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (30%)
23. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (23%)
24. Seventh Day Adventist (20%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (20%)
26. Roman Catholic (20%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (10%)

May 2004:

1. Hinduism (100%)
2. Sikhism (94%)
3. Mahayana Buddhism (90%)
4. Neo-Pagan (87%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (77%)
6. Jainism (68%)
7. New Age (68%)
8. Bah?'? Faith (65%)
9. Orthodox Judaism (64%)
10. Liberal Quakers (61%)
11. Reform Judaism (61%)
12. Theravada Buddhism (59%)
13. New Thought (52%)
14. Scientology (48%)
15. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (46%)
16. Islam (45%)
17. Taoism (43%)
18. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (34%)
19. Orthodox Quaker (34%)
20. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (32%)
21. Secular Humanism (29%)
22. Eastern Orthodox (29%)
23. Roman Catholic (29%)
24. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (26%)
25. Seventh Day Adventist (21%)
26. Jehovah's Witness (20%)
27. Nontheist (16%)

Blog: Ego Asserting (11 Jun 2008)

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:22:00 +0000

Ego, the ever-vigilant and constantly self-asserting pseudo-self, forms the heart of our troubled existence. Today being the 28th anniversary of my present incarnation in a long series of egotic absorptions, I can think of no subject more suitable to touch on than that of the ego.

We've all been subjected to sermons detailing how we aren't this body. Some may be familiar with the Vedantic theory of five koshas, or layers, that form the conditioned entity. Others may be more familiar with the Buddhist theory of five skandhas, or aggregates, that similarly make up the conditioned being.

That's all fine as a theory. Yet where the ego has self-enthroned itself, the mental faculties function in an inherently self-serving manner. There is little real solace to be found in the theoretical mastery of the ego-theory — even the subtlest contemplations are transmutated into ego-fuel with wondrous ease.

We are best familiar with the flavor of ego that sustains us in the identity of a master of sensual and mental enjoyments, the gross ego-stereotype that is first highlighted as the non-self in many spiritual traditions. However, while there is an ego at the heart of the enjoyer, there is also an ego of the escaper.

While the ego of the escaper, the noble spiritualist, is of a finer grade than that of the materialist, it is not beyond being able to generate formidable levels of existential delusion. Assuming one is firm in conscious cultivation, the spiritually progressive ego will eventually resolve itself with the rise of penetrating wisdom. In the interim, it is fundamentally venomous, just as its dark counterpart is.

There are countless angles from which to explore the spiritual ego problem. While I cannot lay claim to having mastered the problem, I have over a decade of ego-driven spirituality under my belt, and with it a fair sense of its foul taste — even if the depth of it all has began dawning on me only quite recently.

At the heart of reality, there is no permanent self to be found. The co-arising and interdependent flow of mind-matter generates a sense of an individual self that lies at the root of the drama, a dreamy focal point of action, a shabby ego-entity that perpetually seeks to reinforce its own sense of reality, protecting the viscosity of the conglomerate entity from the tear of the constantly rising and falling phenomena it consists of.

For one reason or another, it wasn't your lot to become a successful world-enjoyer. Leave the lime-lights, the arena of gross materialism. Become a spiritual hero, a transcendent conqueror, an ego-entity conceiving of itself as a creature of light and goodness. Pride yourself in your integrity, in your benevolence, in your quest, in your nobility of purpose. You are real, your spirituality is real, and the world you inhabit is real. Build that prison of light, bind yourself with goodness.

Aho, he becomes the compassionate helper of fellow seekers. Aho, he becomes the tireless servant of the teacher. Aho, he becomes a knower of the rites and the scripture. Aho, he becomes a symbol of spirituality. Aho, he becomes a world-teacher, he becomes a savior, and he becomes an avatar. Aho, he becomes an emphasized one that is contrasted with others, and so the cage of light grows firmer.

The whole concept of striving for an attainment is a facade. There is no light, nor is there darkness. There is no substance in bondage, nor in liberation. Dualities born of the mind will vanish with the mind. With the disappearance of the eye, light and darkness evaporate. With the disappearance of the ego-conception, labels of spirit and matter fade.

There is only plain reality, and plain reality doesn't seek to assert itself, nor does it invite you to project over it a hundred dreams, to feel of it in a thousand ways, or to conceptualize it into millions of carefully crafted divisions. The interdependent and self-contained flow of aggregates just flows. It seeks no second to assert its flowing.

But alas, the ego is busy in its attempts to manipulate the flow in a manner serving its hallucinations. What comes of its own accord is perfect and natural — but not for the ego, for the ego feeds on contrasts. Attachments and aversions, pleasures and pains, the momentum of arising dualities and the subsequent involved emotion-conceptualization exchange contribute to the sense of reality the ego seeks to establish and guard.

Desirelessness and disinvolvement from anything not presenting itself of its own accord is the venom of venoms for the ego, provided one is skillful enough to not let the ego seize these qualities as medals of spiritual valor on the chest of its proud uniform, turning them into a show of spirituality and again embarking on a delusory trip of delving on contrasts.

Wisdom in its very core is nothing but the absence of delusions. There is no active wisdom as such in the ultimate, no wisdom-concept-processor to keep itself busy generating a profound interplay of wiseness. Wisdom is nothing but plain perception of nature, non-involved experience of the suchness of existence.

In eliminating the spiritual ego, fatalism and nihilism are two very real enemies raising their ugly heads. Fatalism and nihilism are conquered by profound mindfulness growing from repeated trials, trials meeting both success and failure. Fortunately, there is ultimately no-one of any impact to register our progress — the path is ours alone to walk, and we have all the time in the world to do it.

Facing the facts can be a disorienting experience, but it is also a fountain of supreme peace. The absurdity of the resilient ego-projection we are enmeshed in is in fact a matter of great humor. I often find myself laughing at myself, the many attempted personae, and the extensions of the process in the form of countless emanations and excrements, this very writing before your eyes one among many such curiosities.

Views: On Buddha Jayanti (11 Jun 2008)

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:36:00 +0000

People gathering to the Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu in celebration of the Buddha Day in May.

Views: Lights for Buddha (11 Jun 2008)

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:38:00 +0000

Lamps lit at the Boudhanath Stupa on Buddha Jayanti.

Blog: Bheda-abheda (26 May 2008)

Mon, 26 May 2008 09:27:00 +0000

One of my gripes for a good while, even while amidst the official GV ranks, was with the extent to which the advaita-aspect was underexposed. Of course, in an environment where any sense of ultimate non-duality is regarded as an offence unto the personal deity, and where even acceptable non-dual concepts are relegated to the lowest rung of god-relationship, there is little to do in the way of balancing the presentation.

For all practical purposes, Gaudiya Vaishnavism subscribes to dvaita-vada — regardless of doctrinal nuances hidden away in the dusty pages of books unread by most practitioners, obscure references a scholar might point to. It goes without saying that thorough, systematic and sensible explanations of acintya bheda-abheda-tattva are hard to come by. The possibilities of advaitic realization hidden in the more esoteric practices of this hybrid vedanto-tantric tradition, in the attainment of unity of nature and awareness with the shakti-aspect of the universal duo, go either overlooked or wholly unobserved.

Dvaita generates bhakti, owing to the fundamental emphasis of the lasting separation between the servant and the served. Advaita generates mukti, owing to the integrated experience of unity it generates, dissolving the triputi of the seer, the sight and the seen, eliminating any sense of fundamental reality that could be attributed to either the objects or the enjoyer-self.

In absence of self-integration and dissolution of barriers between the individual and the universe, the dvaita-solution to craving, and very pointedly so in the raganuga-tradition, is the imposition of a greater craving, indeed an all-consuming craving, that overshadows non-deity-centered sensual and mental cravings. With this, however, the problem of craving has never actually been properly dealt with and dissolved. It has merely been suppressed.

Gaudiya Vaisnavas could benefit a great deal from integrating wisdom-contemplation into their routine practice. On the Buddhist side of generating wisdom there are numerous vipassana-techniques of meditation, and on the Advaita-side the classical tripartite jnana-yoga-sadhana of sravana-manana-nididhyasana, which seem to me to carry the same essential impact when put into practice.

Dhammam ehipassikam — the laws of liberation and the principles of practice exhort you to personally observe their reality through experiment and experience. Observe the short-term and long-term results of your devotional practices on one hand, and knowledge-wisdom-rooted contemplations on the other hand, and mold your ongoing practice on the basis of your direct experience of the utility of the diverse methods, rather than clinging to a certain set of practices on the mere merit of their supposed orthodoxy.

Blog: Generic Enlightenment (22 May 2008)

Thu, 22 May 2008 11:00:00 +0000

Cross-posting from Gaudiya Repercussions.

A friend asks:

"So can I ask what you are hoping to attain now? Gaudiya Vaishnavism gives a rather specific idea of 'enlightenment' and all that it entails, so are you now aspiring for a generic sort of enlightenment?"

I'd talk about desired perfections rather than enlightenments, since the Gaudiya Vaishnava final objective is not the attainment of untainted, illumined awareness. They are quite clear in their perfectional objective being one where the conscious faculty and range of awareness are covered and limited by certain divine illusions.

I don't know what generic enlightenment might mean to you. My ultimate aim certainly is not in a world of personal deities, I have grown to seek the transpersonal ideals lurking behind symbolic worlds. I suppose there is a large enough body of shared material among the diverse traditions (Advaita, Buddhism, Sufi, Tao etc.) holding non-personal concepts of ultimate reality to justify the generic enlightenment concept.

I listed my working objectives here a while back.

1. There is a need to wholly weed out greed, anger and delusion from the mind, and cultivate their opposites, namely generosity, kindness and wisdom.
2. There is a need to develop infinite compassion, loving kindness, sympathetic joy and equanimity.
3. There is a need to transcend the conceptualizing mind and obtain unslanted clarity or plain awareness.
4. There is a need to learn to still the mind and bring it to perfect, single-pointed meditational focus.
5. There is a need to, equipped with plain awareness and high focus, explore the nature of the conditional factors to eradicate ignorance.

I suppose the above are methods universal enough to yield "generic enlightenment". In any case, if we are to assume there is an ultimate, non-dual experiential reality that different traditions observe from different angles, the external clutter of each respective tradition — if its way is to reach enlightenment that is — is bound to be shaken off with the escalating attainment of higher reality-experiences, leaving us with a uniform experience.

Blog: Anatman - Exploring the non-self (21 May 2008)

Wed, 21 May 2008 06:33:00 +0000

The doctrine of anatman (Pali: anatta), a central concept in Buddhist philosophy, is sometimes juxtaposed with the Hindu belief in atman. The fundamentals on both sides of the debate deserve a good, careful look.

Blog: Journal Goes Retro (14 May 2008)

Wed, 14 May 2008 09:52:00 +0000

With my laptop tucked away in my backpack somewhere in the dusty corners of a certain temple in Sarnath, and with increasing reluctance to spend time in internet cafes and amidst technology and civilization in general, the journal mutates temporarily into a retro-format.

I will be writing into my notebook / diary whenever inspiration flows. With a journey to modern civilization with all amenities in sight, I'll snap photos of the entries meant to go online and post them in. People will have to put up with my handwriting (and pandist can debate on alternative readings), and there will be no paced publication strategy whatsoever — as much as I have ready, so much goes online at once.

In all likelihood, the bulk of the entries will be retro until the end of the year. The laptop's going to go, sold away — and do I say that with the pride of an ex-junkie off the hook! Mp3 player remains as a good companion. Camera remains to be seen — it's a bit big and clunky, I'd really rather not drag it around, and it's still worth some monies that would perhaps help me get the return ticket...

Speaking of returning, a great many opportunities for going underground have presented themselves, in India, in Nepal, as elsewhere. I'd need to be off the grid until the end of 2010 to rid myself of the upcoming imprisonment following my conscientious objection. And god knows I'd have been long gone, were it not for some debts I have to friends from our house project a year and two back. A man must bow before his duty, so stands the working conclusion, despite the vast array of allurements the Tempter has presented...

More to come within two weeks or thereabouts, I'm heading back to the hills tomorrow or the day after. And e-mails are, apologies to everyone affected, for the most part really either extremely short or unwritten for now...

Blog: Base Shivapuri - Scriptures secured (14 May 2008)

Wed, 14 May 2008 09:23:00 +0000

There was to be no lengthy solitary retreat, thanks to forest officials and a number of other causes. That notwithstanding, I am still at Bagdwar, the source of the sacred Bagmati river near the peak of Shivapuri. At the moment, I am staying in a small kutir attached to a largely abandoned small Tibetan gomba.

The environment up here, with the relaxed yet wise pace of life — so eminently demonstrated by Todake Baba, a mellow and wise hermit who earned his name ("Tree Baba") by living half a decade in the hollow of a tree — is providing me exactly the right antidote for the long, noisy period I was subjected to at Radhakund.

And the walk from Sarnath to Lumbini, while wonderful in many ways, wasn't exactly the holiday of choice either. Especially with five persons, five minds, and the subsequent five directions aboard. It served to highlight the worth of individual freedom in tending to one's ongoing internal processes.

With coming better to terms with my present needs, I have bowed out from the planned Kushinagar - Bodh Gaya stretch. Not the least since it'd be the peak of the hot season — and I mean hot — and in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar of all possible places.

What I presently need is contemplative peace. Research and reflection. I find myself repeatedly studying my inner samskaric patterns, the awakened and the latent mental circuits. The base reality, present and potential, on which new heights of practice are to be built. To know oneself is to know the practitioner. To not know the practitioner is to have no practice.

Rather than taking a ready sadhana-bundle, no matter how grand the brand, I am finally coming to terms with the fact that it might actually be a good idea to instead develop an individually tailored practice routine that addresses my base rather than that of the generic theoretical person.

A teacher you must have for this, some say — but I've been a bit short on luck in meeting with masters with an ability for direct insight into my psyche. Or even good intuition for that matter! Practically the entirety of such well-wishing attempts for guidance from teachers and fellow travelers have been just shooting from the hip. In the interim, Dhammapada speaks well:

"The self is the master of the self, for who else could be its master? With the self well subdued, one finds a master such as few can find."

Ah, Dhammapada,. of which I again secured a copy a while back, having given mine to a friend back in Dixitpur on our journey past Devariya. This one isn't bilingual, but will do in absence of something more.

Wisdom ancient in written volumes, how have I come to realize how much I indeed miss it and how direly do I need it! The whole of the walk went practically without reading, and while the extensive walking itself occupied the mind enough to not realize the internal imbalance, the dharma-assimilation necessity became quite acute as I settled down.

So much so that I have just thrown away a good deal of my last pennies in securing a three-volume translation of the Majjhima-nikaya along with a commented Maha-satipatthana-sutta. The one-and-a-half to two kilo addition will no doubt agonize my shoulders in the journeys to come, but if anything is a burden of love... Yea, and there was an economical Tao Te Ching rendered into English and commented on by the good old Alistair Crowley — exploring Tao has been in the air for a fair bit.

A week or two more at the serene Shivapuri, followed by further excursions in Nepal. Where exactly, time alone, and especially the following day or two, will reveal — still some loose ends to tie up.

Views: Ananda Baba in the Happy Grass Land (28 Apr 2008)

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:50:00 +0000

The stretch through the area of Maharaja Ganja, Captain Ganja, Kampiyar Ganja and so on was filled with extraordinary weeds...

Views: Under the Wise Old Tree (28 Apr 2008)

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:49:00 +0000

Weary travelers taking a mid-day siesta under an old tree.

Blog: Varanasi to Kathmandu - A Synopsis (28 Apr 2008)

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:27:00 +0000

The blog has been silent ever since my departure for the grand pilgrimage... I am withdrawing for a month's silent retreat to the solitude of the hills surrounding Kathmandu after posting this synopsis of the journey so far. I assume I'll be writing more as I get back to the grid.

While I have some 300+ photos of the pilgrimage up to date, I don't have my laptop here to process them into proper publication shape. You can find some unedited photos at my Facebook albums.

Sarnath to Kushinagar

The first stretch of the pilgrimage was from Sarnath to Kushinagar, from the place where the Buddha gave his first sermon to the place of his departure, or parinirvana as we call it — the final nirvana. Some eight days of walking 30-40 kilometers daily brought us across many a small village with kind and hospitable people.

In Kushinagar, we were based at a small temple near the Stupa marking the place of the Buddha's cremation. The abbot and only monk of the place was Venerable Narasingha, and Indian monk in the ripe old age of 93 years but going on strong. "I am not dying soon. I am doing my tapasya now. I will live 150 years." His repeated advice, "Dhyan koro, Ananda, dhyan koro" -- "Meditate, Ananda, meditate" -- still echoes in my ears.

Our stop at Kushinagar was brief and didn't leave me with as much time as I'd have wanted for exploring the area. Something to get back to in the future... Five people and five minds inevitably means having to compromise one's wishes and ideals.

Kushinagar to Lumbini

Lumbini, the place of the Buddha's birth, is a short walk (some 20 km) off the border on the side of Nepal. A very serene and beautiful area with two monastery zones, Theravada and Mahayana, it hosts the ruins of old monasteries around the stone marking the exact place of birth. The vast fenced and undeveloped area around the monastery zones was a soothing sight. Finally someone understands the importance of trees and empty space!

Towards Kathmandu

Since we got 60 days visas at the border, a brief visit to Kathmandu was in place. The first few nights were spent at a Thai monastery, Sakya Simha Vihar, in the old town of Patan (a city grouped together with Kathmandu), and one at Kopan, the big daddy of the Vajrayana monasteries in Nepal. There are several caves of ancient masters and other sites of interest yet unexplored.

A casual trip to the surrounding mountains at Kopan is now turning into a 30-day silent retreat up at the hills. We've spent three nights at mid-way up the mountain, at the Nagaji nuns' monastery and around. Tomorrow morning we are heading up further on, to the solitude of the peaks.

People wishing to contact me after this message is posted — and as I start the walk back to the mountain — will have to come in with a notebook and a pen. You would find me in the cave next door, under the stump of that old pine tree, or in the belly of one of those jolly tigers that are rumored to be roaming around...

Closing the Circuit

Once the retreat is over, whenever and whatever that means, we return by bus to Kushinagar and start the longest stretch so far, covering some 900 kilometers on foot via Vaisali, Nalanda and Rajagiri to Bodh Gaya. From Bodh Gaya, I'll continue to Sarnath with another 400 kilometers to complete my pilgrimage (Dhammasaro and Cristiyana have already covered it) and pick up the excess stuff we left behind at the Chinese monastery there.

In other news, I will most likely end up staying in India until December — lack of finances cuts short many potential branches from my ongoing pilgrimage. I'm waiting for the heavens to open and rain in enough monies to get me a return ticket to the West by December, the deadline for getting out as my visa and passport expire.

Back on the road, I should be checking in randomly, but I wouldn't be expecting replies to e-mails for some eight more weeks from now. Internet just doesn't seem to be a part of the

Peace and joy to all! May all beings share the merits of this pilgrimage!

Views: Destination Kushinagar (28 Apr 2008)

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:46:00 +0000

The journey begins...

Blog: Sanchi and Onwards (1 Apr 2008)

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:02:00 +0000

Monuments of Sanchi

Sanchi, located in Madhya Pradesh some 50 km away from the city of Bhopal, is one of the remarkable places of old Buddhist relics in India. While the site post-dates the immediate times of the Buddha, this large area on a hill hosts many ancient stupas and monasteries, the earliest from emperor Ashoka's time. Some of the stupas are told to contain relics of the Buddha's important disciples, and according to some documents found in the nearby archeological museum one of the main stupas contains — or contained — the relics of Sariputta and Moghallana.

The monastery ruins were a powerful sight, invoking the mood of the olden days when the area was filled with monks, an active monastic centre. Some kutis were intact and open, so we took the opportunity for an hour of serene meditation, tapping into the ancient energies still vibrant in the atmosphere, surviving across the ages. Sanchi, even if it isn't included on the usual pilgrimage tours, is a place I would heartily recommend everyone to visit, should they be anywhere in the vicinity or passing by. (Bhopal is on the railway line connecting Delhi to South India.)

Towards Lumbini

My planned brief visit to Mathura and the village of Radhakund, where I still have my kuti, was thwarted with misbooked tickets and a failure to get replacements in a timely manner. Then, the journey from Bhopal continues directly to Varanasi and onwards to Sarnath, where I and Ven. Dhammasaro will be joining Mae Chi Cristiyana and two senior monks from Thailand for a walk towards Kushinagar and Lumbini.

With an aim to travel as light as possible, I will be leaving my laptop behind. While I'll try and check in briefly on the road, it's unlikely that the blog will be seeing much new in the next two to three weeks to come — though I hope to catch up with reports from the journey once we are settled in Bodh Gaya sometime in the second half of the month.

Blog: The Peak of Arunachala (1 Apr 2008)

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Tiruvannamalai, a city in Tamil Nadu, has the sacred mountain Arunachala as its divine hub. Its latest master of fame being Ramana Maharshi, the giant of Advaita-vedanta from early 1900's, this awe-inspiring mountain has been a home to countless jnanis and siddhas over the millennia. It is one of the pancha-bhuta-sthalas, abodes of the five elements, representing fire-element.

In the origin story of Arunachala, the old Puranic narrative tells of Brahma and Vishnu having a disagreement over who of the two was the highest divinity. Amidst the quarrel, a vast beam of fiery light sprang forth, a pillar of splendor penetrating the cosmic extremes. Both humbled before the insurmountable challenge, they concluded this cosmic splendor, the presence of Siva, to be the highest reality. This halo materialized as the mountain Arunachala.

We spent one night in the well-maintained guesthouse, and one night at the holy mountain itself. I suppose it was inevitable that I was to be drawn, as if pulled by a magnet, to the highest peak of this 2200 feet manifestation of cosmic radiance. The climb barefoot was a challenge enough, but having come so far, I wanted to spend the whole of the twelve hours I had, from dusk until dawn, at the sahasrara or the thousand-petaled crown of the mountain, as attaining sahasrara alone the supreme non-duality and integration is realized.

Soon enough after the sunset a thunderstorm set in motion. Sitting alone in the solitude of the peak atop a three-meter boulder, the fierce winds were rocking me back and forth even in the steadiest of postures. Rainfall was very minimal, but the atmosphere was very humid. Dark rainclouds were flying past me all around, both beneath and above, at a fierce velocity. It was as if Arunachala, this living mountain pulsating with an otherworldly halo, wanted to give the best of its shows for me.

The weather soon became too extreme to bear while sitting, and I found myself curled up inside the thick shawl I carried. There was little chance for conventional meditation. I spent the better part of the night, aside the few hours of rest, observing the rise and fall of sensations and feelings, their interplay, their intrinsically empty nature. Let no more be said of the night, a night that brought a certain objective to fruition, for some things are to be hidden in the cavity of the heart.

It was in a book by Swami Rama, "Living with the Himalayan Masters" (highly recommended), that I read a wise note of reconciliation on Advaita-vedanta and Buddhism, the two non-dual traditions that have been a source of much insight to me as of late. Narrating the story of his visit to his grandmaster in Tibet, he writes of an encounter with a wise lama:

"While in Gangtok I lived in a monastery, which still exists on the northeast side of the city. There I visited a lama who was a remarkable man. He was a genuine Buddhist yogi and a learned Sanskrit scholar who had lived for many years in Bodhigaya in India. Usually the scholars of Buddhism criticize Shankara, just as the swamis from the order of Shankaracharya criticize Buddhism.

But this wise man, citing references from many texts, taught me a synthesis of Buddhism and Shankara's advaita system. He said, 'There is no difference between these two systems of philosophy as far as the ultimate Reality is concerned. There are verbal differences, but no experiential differences. Cast off all sectarian influences and attain the highest state of consciousness or nirvana.'"

I heartily agree with the above message. It is in vein that scholars describe and criticize philosophies that are beyond their realm of direct experience obtained through application. Even the best expositions are only approximate estimations of experiential realities that transcend common levels of experience and rationality.

In the Buddhist theory, all of reality is characterized by three factors, anitya, duhkha and anatma — all objects are temporary, sources of discontent, and non-self. The root of existence is avidya or ignorance, and the continuance of conditioned existence arises from trishna, or craving. The concept of nirvana or final cessation transcends all non-self conglomerates and is indescribable. The liberating factor is prajna or wisdom, arising from vipascana or wisdom-perception.

In Advaita-vedanta, the problem is in adhyaropa or superimposition of illusory concepts on the nature of objects. Adhyaropa arises from avidya, or ignorance. Existence unfolds with the interplay of raga and dvesa, or attachment and repulsion. The agocara-tattva or ingraspable final reality is understood within the formation world only as neti-neti, "not this, not this". The liberating factor is jnana or wisdom, arising from nididhyasana or meditational wisdom-contemplation.

Contrasting Buddhism and Advaita-vedanta is a fascinating field, better explored on an experimental basis than in dry academic comparisons, or expositions by biased in-tradition scholastics. For the interested, I'd like to share a link to David Loy's Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?, an excellent essay comparing the enlightenment-concepts of Buddhism, Advaita and Sankhya, three classical traditions positing the basic three approaches to the matter-spirit dichotomy.

The visit to Ramanashrama and Arunachala left me with fond memories. I will, no doubt, be revisiting the place with more time at the opening of a suitable future opportunity. I can see why Ramana would have considered Arunachala the greatest of his teachers.

Views: Ancient Monastery (1 Apr 2008)

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:59:00 +0000

Ruins of an ancient monastery at the Sanchi archeological excavation area.

Views: Sri Ramana Maharshi (1 Apr 2008)

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:58:00 +0000

A statue of Sri Ramana Maharshi with a strong presence in his shrine at Ramanashrama.

Views: Sanchi Central Stupa (1 Apr 2008)

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:58:00 +0000

The central Buddhist stupa in the world heritage monument area at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh.

Views: At Skandasramam (1 Apr 2008)

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:57:00 +0000

Under a Bodhi-tree at Skandasramam on the slopes of Arunachala with Ven. Dhammasaro.

Views: Monk on a Mountain Path (1 Apr 2008)

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:55:00 +0000

Monk walking up a mountain path on the slopes of Arunachala.

Views: Puttaparthi Mountains (31 Mar 2008)

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:37:00 +0000

The scenic mountains form the beautiful and ancient canvas behind the city of Puttaparthi.

Views: City of Puttaparthi (31 Mar 2008)

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:36:00 +0000

The small city of Puttaparthi seen from the nearby mountains.

Views: Riding with Sai Baba (31 Mar 2008)

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:34:00 +0000

A portrait of Sai Baba blessing passengers on the Puttaparthi-Bangalore route. The two-hand blessing mudra is very hip, ten points to Baba.