...Guruji passed away on Monday, May 18 at 1430 Mysore time. Since I arrived in early April there's been rumours about his health - in hospital intensive care, out of hospital. Not taking food, only drinking milk...reciting death shloka...long time students coming to Mysore to pay maybe their last respects...Sharath coming back from a tour of the US... Manju coming to Mysore...
a new chanting course was scheduled to start at 1630, so Natalie and I went along to the Shala just before. There was a fire being built in the drive way and, when we went to go inside we got told something about "Guruji, not good..." then Natalie, Lee and I waited out the front to see what would happen. A local told Nat that this was a ritual performed for a death. We started to see visitors file into the shala...and in we went, after I'd asked Shiva what was going on. Rightly, he told me to take the jasmine off my scooter...in i went with Guruji's body in the middle of the marble floor of the Shala, surrounded by family, friends, students. This was the first time I'd seen Guruji in person. It seemed to me like I was intruding somehow, I'd never had a direct relationship with the man, moreso relationships with his teachings. So, I stayed for a short while and took in the atmosphere...and left to reflect a bit myself on what it all meant.
a group of us got together at 6th Main for dinner with a few rumours flying about what would happen as part of the funeral rites...what would happen at the shala...while this was going on a big rain storm was brewing, that lasted most of the night. Scooters and motor bikes cruised through a huge downpour, back to 6th, 7th and 8th where we all were staying... by the time we got back home after dinner, the first of the Pujas was going on in the basement of the Shala. The body was displayed while the mantras and rituals occurred...we were given dry rice to put somewhere on the body (a lot went in the mouth), I put mine near his heart...the body was moved to the back of a van then taken to the nearby crematorium...where, according to Pattabhi Jois Hindu caste, only men could be present at the final rituals before the body was burnt. From what I understand the body is burnt almost immediately as it is considered impure and the spirit, which has left the body must be encouraged to move on - a quote I just read says something about the astral body, or soul, or spirit, will linger as long as the physical body is visible - hence it is spiritually expeditious to burn the physical body...and so it was with Pattabhi Jois' body
last Sunday, the 31st of May, marked the end of the mourning period and associated rituals. White is the colour of mourning and the Shala and street outside were packed with Indians and foreigners paying their respects to Guruji's spirit. Inside the Shala, at the back of the room were a number of Brahmins chanting...again, I felt like a bit of an intruder...not being close with Guruji...but I'm beginning to appreciate that all manner of Indian ceremonies are attended by a wide group of people, sometimes with minimal association with the participants - weddings, house warmings, even funerals are attended by folks with very tenuous links...just like me. We were treated to a lunch served on banana leaves under the huge awning assembled out on the street in front of the Shala.
during the week leading up to the 31st there was a huge wave of visitors to attend the ceremony. that wave has subsided somewhat this week. The Shala's open for practise again next Monday, the 8th and, in an important way it will be different, but somewhat the same.
RIP Guruji
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
full moon weekend
the yoga practise is typically 6 days/ week, excluding full and new moon days. the past 2 "moon days" have conveniently fallen on Friday and Sunday, so we've had 2 day breaks - you get to stay up late - even to midnight! late nights when you're getting up at 4am to start practise at 5am are 9pm...well, for me at least...
A chess tournament was on the agenda on Saturday, May 9th. Jonathon organised it (Jonathon's practising Bheema Shakti yoga...i think that's right)...and had about 12 participants. Jon's first shot at organising meant that we ran a bit overtime. Donations were taken for Odamati - I think that's the spelling - an organisation aiming to stop people trafficking in the sex trade, especially children...the tourney was set in the sunny confines of Om Cafe at Alia's...
that night we took off to Planet X...x for extreme I guess - go karts, bowing, pool, hookah club...i took part in extreme dinner and a round of go karts;
after the extremity of Planet X, the serenity of sunrise at Chamundi Hill...meaning a 4.30am get up, riding the scooter through the unusually quiet Mysore streets with Sandra, also on a scooter, to the top of Chamundi Hill...to wait...until about 6am for this;
Chamundi Hill sits on the Eastern side of Mysore, so obscures most of the sunrise, by being at the top, Sandra, Carole and I got a great view of the sun...not breaking the horizon, but rising out of a blue haze. We could look directly at the sun for about 10 minutes before we were off to find the Nandi (the Bull which Shiva rides), about a third of the way up (or down) Chamundi Hill;
a very happy discovery has been the pool at the Regalis (Southern Star). a really cool oasis in amongst temperatures reaching 38C at the moment;
a very unhappy undiscovery was a yoga sutras discussion group...we were following an item from the local newspaper advertising a discussion group in Lakshimpuram...i'm developing a theory about Lakshimpuram that they have massive roadworks each night to entirely reconfigure the streets - each time I go there I invariably get lost
Big, Bad Ben from Texas left Mysore Tuesday, May 14th. Ben's got a great propensity when it comes to his food - both in terms of seeking out new dining experiences (you may remember from an earlier blog, Ben's sampled road kill) and the amount he puts away. As a fan of Flight of the Conchords he's always willing to give the kiwi iccent a go, as well as the aussie flavour. One of his last meals was at 3 sisters...here's one of Ben's Flight of the Conchords moments;
Carole the kiwi also left Mysore...parting usually involves meals...so we had a Friday night dinner at the Green Hotel, undercover due to the steady rain, bought to us by this storm;
Carole, like a lot of us, is already planning a trip back :)
my comfort level on the scooter's way up, so much so that I can now comfortably take passengers...Karnataka state traffic law limits passengers to a grand total of one. So, when I attempted to take Ben and Joe from the Metropole Buffet back to Gokulam, I ended up with a Rs 400 fine for my trouble. We got stopped at a traffic light, the rotund policeman ran over, whistle on fire and pulled my keys out. There are many instances of people seeing a law enforcer...and taking off, so when the Police catch somebody, they make sure they get something out of them. We did the right thing, including Ben and Joe insisting on an official ticket and not paying the Rs 300 the cop tried to write up on a scrap piece of paper...so back to the Police station, me driving with the traffic cop as my passenger, much to the amusement of me and everyone we passed, including rickshaw drivers laughing out loud...and the cop sitting way back on the seat and telling me "slow down, slow down". Back at the station I had an official ticket and the traffic cop telling me I was a gentleman, I assume because I was pretty cool about the whole thing
i know...another blogging montage :))
A chess tournament was on the agenda on Saturday, May 9th. Jonathon organised it (Jonathon's practising Bheema Shakti yoga...i think that's right)...and had about 12 participants. Jon's first shot at organising meant that we ran a bit overtime. Donations were taken for Odamati - I think that's the spelling - an organisation aiming to stop people trafficking in the sex trade, especially children...the tourney was set in the sunny confines of Om Cafe at Alia's...
that night we took off to Planet X...x for extreme I guess - go karts, bowing, pool, hookah club...i took part in extreme dinner and a round of go karts;
after the extremity of Planet X, the serenity of sunrise at Chamundi Hill...meaning a 4.30am get up, riding the scooter through the unusually quiet Mysore streets with Sandra, also on a scooter, to the top of Chamundi Hill...to wait...until about 6am for this;
Chamundi Hill sits on the Eastern side of Mysore, so obscures most of the sunrise, by being at the top, Sandra, Carole and I got a great view of the sun...not breaking the horizon, but rising out of a blue haze. We could look directly at the sun for about 10 minutes before we were off to find the Nandi (the Bull which Shiva rides), about a third of the way up (or down) Chamundi Hill;
a very happy discovery has been the pool at the Regalis (Southern Star). a really cool oasis in amongst temperatures reaching 38C at the moment;
a very unhappy undiscovery was a yoga sutras discussion group...we were following an item from the local newspaper advertising a discussion group in Lakshimpuram...i'm developing a theory about Lakshimpuram that they have massive roadworks each night to entirely reconfigure the streets - each time I go there I invariably get lost
Big, Bad Ben from Texas left Mysore Tuesday, May 14th. Ben's got a great propensity when it comes to his food - both in terms of seeking out new dining experiences (you may remember from an earlier blog, Ben's sampled road kill) and the amount he puts away. As a fan of Flight of the Conchords he's always willing to give the kiwi iccent a go, as well as the aussie flavour. One of his last meals was at 3 sisters...here's one of Ben's Flight of the Conchords moments;
Carole the kiwi also left Mysore...parting usually involves meals...so we had a Friday night dinner at the Green Hotel, undercover due to the steady rain, bought to us by this storm;
Carole, like a lot of us, is already planning a trip back :)
my comfort level on the scooter's way up, so much so that I can now comfortably take passengers...Karnataka state traffic law limits passengers to a grand total of one. So, when I attempted to take Ben and Joe from the Metropole Buffet back to Gokulam, I ended up with a Rs 400 fine for my trouble. We got stopped at a traffic light, the rotund policeman ran over, whistle on fire and pulled my keys out. There are many instances of people seeing a law enforcer...and taking off, so when the Police catch somebody, they make sure they get something out of them. We did the right thing, including Ben and Joe insisting on an official ticket and not paying the Rs 300 the cop tried to write up on a scrap piece of paper...so back to the Police station, me driving with the traffic cop as my passenger, much to the amusement of me and everyone we passed, including rickshaw drivers laughing out loud...and the cop sitting way back on the seat and telling me "slow down, slow down". Back at the station I had an official ticket and the traffic cop telling me I was a gentleman, I assume because I was pretty cool about the whole thing
i know...another blogging montage :))
Thursday, May 7, 2009
attack of the monkeys
there's a lot of monkeys around Gokulam, they seem to me to be liking the idea of an "organised" society, and maybe wanting to join in. there was one little guy up on our balcony, rummaging through a bag, looking very much like a small, agile human (or maybe that's just my view of the world and humans are just large, slow moving monkeys?)
up and down the street the monkeys were in various fun activities, the street being setup perfectly for monkey business - a lot of large trees providing a canopy of foliage for the entire street...why they turn up when they do is a mystery at the moment, at least to me. there's been a couple of days of heavy monkey action, one being two days back - they play happy mayhem with all types of monkey activity, including attempted procreation, for all of 20 seconds across the road in a tree...
i had some almonds that ants had gotten to, which proved the perfect temptation for a monkey photo shoot on our balcony. with eyes much bigger than stomachs, they'd keep coming for more and more almonds, until their cheeks bulged...here's some shots of the monkeys...
up and down the street the monkeys were in various fun activities, the street being setup perfectly for monkey business - a lot of large trees providing a canopy of foliage for the entire street...why they turn up when they do is a mystery at the moment, at least to me. there's been a couple of days of heavy monkey action, one being two days back - they play happy mayhem with all types of monkey activity, including attempted procreation, for all of 20 seconds across the road in a tree...
i had some almonds that ants had gotten to, which proved the perfect temptation for a monkey photo shoot on our balcony. with eyes much bigger than stomachs, they'd keep coming for more and more almonds, until their cheeks bulged...here's some shots of the monkeys...
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Mahadeshwara...
about 4 weeks ago, when I first arrived in Mysore, I went on huge walk...along the way Leah and I happened upon a Mahadeshwara temple, under construction. there were banners for the grand opening, occurring May 4th (international Star Wars Day), 5th and 6th. So, yesterday, Tuesday, May 5th, I happened along again, with Oden, to see what the grand opening was all about.
Mahadeshwara is an earthly incarnation of the Hindu God Shiva, who is said to have lived in the 14th century in an area including Mysore...who was manifest in order to destroy and evil king - Shravanusara...
Oden and I saw a puja being made to a column which was being erected out front of the main temple...I think the column is devoted to a Nandi...I can see why these occasions take days to perform - the Brahman priests were blessing every single part of the construction. I spoke with Andrew about it - the temple has been under construction since they arrived - last January - so about 15 months in the construction...this pic's of Mahadeshwara, on his Tiger. I like Shiva as a God, my take on Shiva, at the moment is that he/ she often takes the form of the destroyer - typically of ignorance, vanity and unhealthy aspects of the ego...with destruction a necessary part of cycles in life. One thing about this that I like is a lesson to not hold on to material things to much - they are transitory and continually subject to change...that's my interpretation at least...or part of it
this next shot's of the column going up...i can kind of see why there's a lot of accidents in India...there were at least 30 people way too close to the column, which had to weigh close to 2 tonnes...i was a safe distance back...
the kids loved the cameras...i was surprised there were only 3 at the event - Oden's, mine and a video camera...thinking I'll get a few shots made into prints and take them down to the temple.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
blogging montage...
what to do when you haven't blogged for a few days? use that ol' Hollywood technique of the montage, you know, the part of the movie when they play music and the great drama in the movie is resolved...by a montage of images...
breaking up with your ayurvedic health practitioner...Lee and I signed up at Swastha, an Ayurvedic health clinic in Gokulam....Ayurveda is an ancient Indian system of health, a wholistic way of treating an individual's physical and mental health...I've read a bit about Ayurveda and, long term I'd like to read and possibly study a lot more...the Swastha clinic is run by a young Ayurvedic doctor, who puts together a program for yoga students/ active people...he had Lee initially agreeing to a 21 day program, which I got 7 days through. It consisted of daily massage with lots...and lots of oil, in the capable hands of 2 massage guys and then the good doctor would come in for some heavy massage work...about an hour's worth of massage, then hot, hot herbal packs prepared on the stove and tamped all over the body...too hot sometimes :) the whole routine challenged some of man/ man intimacy ideas i had, not that i want to jump the fence, but i feel a lot more comfortable being butt naked and lubed up in the presence of dudes...
aside from that...the treatment involved a steam chamber on day 4, which knocked the stuffing out of me...and then some castor oil ingested on day 6...which was a really effective treatment getting fully flushed out...BUT, along with yoga practise, it was a bit too much, so i resolved to finish after 7 days. this breakup went smoothly, I told Lee and Natalie that I was finishing after 7...and they actually broke the news to the doctor...a painless breakup for me. So back to the practise today (May 4th), with no Ayurvedic treatment - and a really strong practise. So much so, that Saraswati is having me start Salabasana on Wednesday - apparently no new posture day on Tuesdays
I went with Alex downtown - me keen on checking out Ashok's - a renowned book store in the city...Alex to pick up some tailoring from Rashinkar's - Ashok's is great - I picked up the 3rd Stephanie Meyer and a dictionary for scrabble at Santosha...
then off to Rashinkar's for Alex...who ended up engrossed, so I took off to try to find some ipod speakers in KT Street...i ended up in a section of the city where gold, silver and precious stone shops are clumped together...then there was a parade down one of the tiny side streets, and, for some reason having a westerner in the parade is good luck, so they pull me in for a bit of a dance - tho i'm not sure why they're parading, i go along for a bit, then opt out...a young local called Imran catches me asking for speakers, then offers to take me to KT street, along the way he tells me that he's from Goa, studying Ayurveda in Mysore. Imran's looking to finish his studies in Mysore then go back to Goa and open his own practise. Imran tells me about an oil factory that presses it's own sandalwood, lotus, hash, opium oil...i'm interested but some other time, not so much in the hash and opium, but some good, cold pressed oils would be great to get a hold of...finally, to KT street (electronic goods hub in Mysore) and the first store has a decent sub woofer and small speaker set - a brand called Frontech...for Rs 1300...I offer 1000, we agree on 1175 - i'm kind of getting the hang of this...the other notable interaction of the trip was lassi's at Bombay Tiffany's - very...very good...i had to take a second...
and yesterday, Sunday May 3rd, I was talking with a new arrival who I met at Om Cafe - James, from Hawaii via Singapore, about getting a guitar - he gave me good directions to a music store in the city, so after meeting up with Ben for a midday chai and mango crisp at Santosha, I took off on the scooter and badly followed James' direction, ending up instead at Chamundi Hill - definitely on my to do list, but a long, long way from my intended destination. Chamundi Hill sits imposingly over Mysore and I found myself riding along and somehow drawn to it, then up it...a local waved me down for a lift up the hill. If he'd known that I'm a newbie on the scooter he might not have waved me down...when we were pressed against the side of the road by a tourist bus going up the hill and overtaking us, he would have definitely been having second thoughts! I dropped him nearly at the top and rode on up...for a brief look around - reckon I'll be back this weekend for a betterer look round sunrise, when it's a bit quieter...
getting home was circuitous - i ended up on the road back to Bangalore, finally making my way back to Gandhi Square in the city, from where I'm now adept at getting back to Gokulam...where an afternoon Dosa, an afternoon Chaat, an evening ice cream and a game of Carrom with Elizabeth, Ben and Oden took place :)
which brings us to today, watch out for the next montage ;)
breaking up with your ayurvedic health practitioner...Lee and I signed up at Swastha, an Ayurvedic health clinic in Gokulam....Ayurveda is an ancient Indian system of health, a wholistic way of treating an individual's physical and mental health...I've read a bit about Ayurveda and, long term I'd like to read and possibly study a lot more...the Swastha clinic is run by a young Ayurvedic doctor, who puts together a program for yoga students/ active people...he had Lee initially agreeing to a 21 day program, which I got 7 days through. It consisted of daily massage with lots...and lots of oil, in the capable hands of 2 massage guys and then the good doctor would come in for some heavy massage work...about an hour's worth of massage, then hot, hot herbal packs prepared on the stove and tamped all over the body...too hot sometimes :) the whole routine challenged some of man/ man intimacy ideas i had, not that i want to jump the fence, but i feel a lot more comfortable being butt naked and lubed up in the presence of dudes...
aside from that...the treatment involved a steam chamber on day 4, which knocked the stuffing out of me...and then some castor oil ingested on day 6...which was a really effective treatment getting fully flushed out...BUT, along with yoga practise, it was a bit too much, so i resolved to finish after 7 days. this breakup went smoothly, I told Lee and Natalie that I was finishing after 7...and they actually broke the news to the doctor...a painless breakup for me. So back to the practise today (May 4th), with no Ayurvedic treatment - and a really strong practise. So much so, that Saraswati is having me start Salabasana on Wednesday - apparently no new posture day on Tuesdays
I went with Alex downtown - me keen on checking out Ashok's - a renowned book store in the city...Alex to pick up some tailoring from Rashinkar's - Ashok's is great - I picked up the 3rd Stephanie Meyer and a dictionary for scrabble at Santosha...
then off to Rashinkar's for Alex...who ended up engrossed, so I took off to try to find some ipod speakers in KT Street...i ended up in a section of the city where gold, silver and precious stone shops are clumped together...then there was a parade down one of the tiny side streets, and, for some reason having a westerner in the parade is good luck, so they pull me in for a bit of a dance - tho i'm not sure why they're parading, i go along for a bit, then opt out...a young local called Imran catches me asking for speakers, then offers to take me to KT street, along the way he tells me that he's from Goa, studying Ayurveda in Mysore. Imran's looking to finish his studies in Mysore then go back to Goa and open his own practise. Imran tells me about an oil factory that presses it's own sandalwood, lotus, hash, opium oil...i'm interested but some other time, not so much in the hash and opium, but some good, cold pressed oils would be great to get a hold of...finally, to KT street (electronic goods hub in Mysore) and the first store has a decent sub woofer and small speaker set - a brand called Frontech...for Rs 1300...I offer 1000, we agree on 1175 - i'm kind of getting the hang of this...the other notable interaction of the trip was lassi's at Bombay Tiffany's - very...very good...i had to take a second...
and yesterday, Sunday May 3rd, I was talking with a new arrival who I met at Om Cafe - James, from Hawaii via Singapore, about getting a guitar - he gave me good directions to a music store in the city, so after meeting up with Ben for a midday chai and mango crisp at Santosha, I took off on the scooter and badly followed James' direction, ending up instead at Chamundi Hill - definitely on my to do list, but a long, long way from my intended destination. Chamundi Hill sits imposingly over Mysore and I found myself riding along and somehow drawn to it, then up it...a local waved me down for a lift up the hill. If he'd known that I'm a newbie on the scooter he might not have waved me down...when we were pressed against the side of the road by a tourist bus going up the hill and overtaking us, he would have definitely been having second thoughts! I dropped him nearly at the top and rode on up...for a brief look around - reckon I'll be back this weekend for a betterer look round sunrise, when it's a bit quieter...
getting home was circuitous - i ended up on the road back to Bangalore, finally making my way back to Gandhi Square in the city, from where I'm now adept at getting back to Gokulam...where an afternoon Dosa, an afternoon Chaat, an evening ice cream and a game of Carrom with Elizabeth, Ben and Oden took place :)
which brings us to today, watch out for the next montage ;)
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