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14 October 2010

the where with all

no thing
nothing is
Mine
not is no possibility
never is not my destiny
yet i gladly accept your grace into my heart
all rainbow hued
the decanter full spilling itself into the everything
everywhere
in all time
2/15/10 Shantiniketan Stn.

29 September 2010

labyrinth




In the labyrinth of my desire

I long for you, the other.
In the empty halls of my mind
the image of you grows beyond the walls.
In the garden of my heart 
your memory blossoms eternally 
beside the roses of the Goddess' mala.


photos taken in the Imam BaraImam in Lucknow, India
         

infinity

all things are coming and going.
infinity is the forever
as the cycle becomes and unbecomes -winds and unwinds.
"as above, so below"
it is the mirror of my soul
the figure 8 is that symbol I walk 
until there is no walking, no talking, no undoing, 
none undone.
infinity is the place of no matter, no exit, nothing -
beyond profound.
we are arrived.
as there is no train to catch
no wait station between
no baggage check
infinity is this moment
in your eyes reflected in the cosmos.
...we shall surely meet again in kama loka
LUCKNOW 4/10

10 September 2010

re:duce































movie posters found cut up in Shimla, & the amazing painterly quality of the wall beneath...

09 September 2010

oh my god!

Some of the more mysterious and interesting images of gods I met in India earlier this year.







HOLY TRASH in PATNA




On the banks of the sacred Ganges River in Patna, India, Hindu devotees make daily alms and prayers on the river at sunrise and sundown. In their visit during special festivals, they often leave behind  small clay statuettes, ghee lamps, effigies of dieties, garlands of flowers, dung patties, colorful plastic bags - among other trash of the pilgrim to this holy river. Some objects wash across to the other side and remain in a decayed state. I couldn't help but photograph the ground beneath my feet from the road to all along the shore and on the other side of the river.






15 August 2010

Kolkata - a flower path





photos taken by Rahual Dhankani


a meditation in red in Kolkata


OH Calcutta!
your screeching crows, howling hounds, wailing cats, moaning babies-
all the restless horns rise in unison like a tidal wave
your shouting selves bury market songs
and then the tinkering -
each revving engine and roaring bus that passes 
sends my heart beating faster to catch yours.

cacophonous being dressed in red laughter with a scarf lingering in the labyrinth of the path
a rusted faucet drips water, filling in the cracks of a dusty sidewalk like mystical tributaries in a mandala
the matted grey locks of the beggar wed the dangling malas of marigolds
the crossed legs of the vegetable seller mirror the dutiful hands of the pan wallah
the children share snacks on the stoop of the tailor's shop
while the stitching of the sewing machine orchestrates
the colorful scraps on the floor 
the frame of dark eyes of bus riders stare out across train tracks to infinity
while bricks crumble where the pissing man hides
in this thick smog of workday woes
the crackle of the trash pyres line the roadside
the bells of the evening's aarti awaken mind's eyes
the blinking lights of the fancier interior of an autorickshaw
illuminates the face of the handicap man protesting for equality

the curd sweets beckon
and the smiling beauty beams radiance from within the blur of yellow cabs
the used clothes salesman contemplates purple flowered undies
the bathing men
the painted lori
the collage of all the new and old, 
here and now
the 2 names for the same town
the collapsing colonial structures
the stasis to modernize 
this city
this life
this art that requires participation

OH Kolkata!
built from the inside out 
has my heart beating faster to catch yours.

a view from a taxi KOLKATA 2/22/10






LUNAR LOVE


 To accept the 13 moon calendar is a positive, concrete act demonstrating the move from fear to love, from chaos to harmony, from war to peace. The end of time is the end of the old time of violence and separation encoded in an irregular and chaotic calendar. The New Time of Peace and harmony emerges as light embedded in a perpetual calendar that is a reflection of Eternity. For more than 150 years this change has been deliberated. Now the cycle is closing. 

The closing of the cycle means the reintegration of the human consciousness into the solar ring through the application of the correct standard of measure. Whether humans are aware of it or not the Earth goes around the sun and it makes a solar ring with each orbit. With the accurate measure of the 13 moons each with 28 days the solar ring can be made conscious. If we make this simple adjustment of following the Thirteen Moon calendar, then in one year our consciousness will bring the orbital solar frequencies into proper alignment with the human mind. This precipitates heightened awareness or consciousness that has not previously been known. 

When history began in Babylonia, Sumeria and the Middle East it forfeited knowledge of the solar ring for a focus ion the synodic lunar calendar which has nothing to do with the solar ring. When the conquest of the New World happened, the Babylonians destroyed the knowledge of the calendar which contained knowledge of the solar orbit. By destroying this knowledge they also destroyed the basis of cosmic perceptions - this is the root of the calendar change and the closing of the cycle. Keep in mind that the destruction of Mayan time knowledge was completed by a Vatican calendar reform in 1582 which gave us the (Gregorian) calendar we use today. 

The 13 Moon/28-day calendar is the salvation of planet Earth because it is a cosmic mechanism that creates a frequency which matches the solar frequency. Attuning to this solar frequency will result in an amping of consciousness - this is the evolutionary trip switch. 


"Who owns your time owns your mind. Change your time and you change your mind. Change your mind and you change your world."



08 August 2010

RIO


shot in Lencois at the river, Brazil

31 July 2010

St. Teresa of Avila

"And when you have dismissed the serpents of vanity and greed, conquered the lizards of self importance and lulled the monkey mind to sleep, your steps will be lighter. When you have given up everything to make a friend a cup of tea and tend her broken heart, stood up against the violation of innocent children and their fathers and mothers, made conscious choices to live simply and honour the earth, your steps will be lighter.When you have grown still on purpose while everything around is asking for chaos, you will find the doors between every room of the interior castle thrown open, the path home to your true love unobstructed after all."

08 May 2010

PINWHEEL PORTRAITS OF SHIMLA - go green!


All the beautiful hardworking people of Shimla...
























25 April 2010

Kama Rupa in Lucknow(PURPLE)

I am purple, aetheric
radiant akash
memory of all color
becoming the arc between sunrise and sunset
the fire of the sun
the cooling moon
I am the emanantion of diamond thought 
in the lover's dreams.
I am the inescapable embrace 
you have with the Universe.
 3/10



Have to find some pics of that performance KAMA RUPA on our last night in Lucknow at the Arts faculty at the University with Yola of Germany, Minni, Ranjit and Inder of India. Have video shorts of it so will post on youtube til then....

22 April 2010

MAHA KALA

Kali the Goddess of Time and Change

One day in YELLOW as a MIXED JUICE WALLAH Patna, Bihar

An Action: I spent one day working side by side with Naresh, owner of this juice cart in Patna and his younger brother Ajay, 12 and helper Sunil, 15. It was parked just off the main road in a shopping complex. From morning to night, I was joyfully peeling open pomegranates, cranking the juice machine, fetching water, stocking fruit on the cart, washing glasses, cleaning up peels, serving customers roadside and accepting their paisa(money). We served mosambi(orange), santara(tangerine), unnar(pomegranate), ungar(grapes) with or without salt. I was a sweet mess at the end of that day but Naresh was hoping I would come to work everyday as his profits spiked a bit that day. It was not in my mind to create anything out of the ordinairy for this juice cart but with this action as with all circumstances we are governed by cause and effect thus it was an inevitable that it was an extraordinairy day for Naresh. I chose juice over pay for my labor.



21 April 2010

ON BARDO POND or the reflection of some important Buddhist moments


Here I am at the dark emerald green waters of (TSO PEMA)Rewalsar lake about 1,360m above sea level in Himachal Pradesh. History teaches that from here the great Indian Tantric Padmasambhava known to the Tibetans as Guru Rimpoche, the Precious Master, used his cosmic power to take flight from here on a tiger into Bon Tibet to seed Mahayana Buddhism(the Nyingma-pa order) from the 8th century at Samye. There are islands of floating reeds on Rewalsar lake in which the spirit of Padmasambhava is said to reside or just perhaps they are blinded by the reflection of  his giant gilt statue that sits beautifully in lotus position on the westerly mountain facade. The lake is  overstocked with gaping mouthed grey supersized carp(a few are orange) which will appreciate your feeding them homemade dough snacks purchased for 5 rupees. There are three Buddhist monasteries  where you can retreat from the material world here at Rewalsar; one of them is home to skilled temple painters who make some impressive modern looking thangkas. There is a swimming lake, Kunt Bhyog, where it is said the consort, Mandarava, washed her hair, which is a short bus ride above Rewalsar at about 1,750 m. I am contemplating a dip tomorrow in the chilly waters, hopefully the carp don't devour me. This lake is associated with the escape of the Pandavas from the burning palace of wax—an episode from the epic, Mahabharata.

Supposedly Padmasambhava also hid a number of religious treasures (temas) in lakes, caves, fields and forests of the Himalayan region to be found and interpreted by future tertons or spiritual treasure-finders(a career to esteem to!!!). According to Tibetan tradition, the Bardo Thodol or Tibetan Book of the Dead( also known as The Self-Emergence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities from Enlightened Awareness) was among these hidden treasures and is  regarded as the work of Padmasambhava but was subsequently discovered on top of Mt . Gampodar by a 15 year old Tibetan terton(spiritual treasure revealer) named Karma Lingpa b.ca.1350 who was engaged in esoteric practices and had already achieved many siddhis which are the acquisition of supernatural powers by yogic means. These  powers include clairvoyance, levitation, to be present at various places simultaneously, to become as small as an atom, to materialize objects, to have access to memories from past lives etc.; thus  obniously the recovery of several of these sacred texts as left by Padmasambhava was not a problem for the boy.

The Bon religion of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism maintain that crucial moments of transition are charged with great spiritual potential, especially the intervening moments between death and rebirth. This intermediate period of 49days after death called the bardo is a state of suspended reality in which the deceased are presented with a series of opportunities for recognition of the true nature of Reality. This Tibetan Book of the Dead goes deeply into all the stages. 
If the deceased persons are capable of recognizing the confusing and often frightening bardo visions as simply their own mental projections reflective of the previous life's thoughts and deeds (karma), the ongoing cycle of birth and death will be overcome. Failure to recognize these appearances, on the other hand, leads eventually to rebirth and further suffering in the cyclic existence of life (samsara). To help the deceased travellers gain insight into their ambiguous situation, a spiritual teacher or lama recites inspirational prayers and instructions from special funeral texts--the first stage in the rituals of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.  

According to The Bardo of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities, the final moment of the dying process is marked by the sudden and dramatic appearance of the radiant clear light. The fundamental mind of clear light is said to exist beginninglessly and continuously in each individual through each lifetime and into Buddhahood itself. For those Buddhist practitioners who became accomplished in the esoteric methods of yoga and meditation previously in their lifetimes, the true nature of the radiant clear light will be immediately recognized and the wisdom necessary for full liberation from the cycle of birth and death (samsara) will be achieved. On the other hand, those who have not practiced during their lives will fail to recognize the clear light at death and will digress into the intermediate state known as the "Bardo of Reality"  wherein the deceased experiences the visions of the one hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities. In the book's text it is stated that seven days after the initial appearance of the radiant clear light of death, the deceased awakens in the bardo, confused and bewildered by a stunning array of lights and visions. These colorful visions transform into the forty-two Peaceful Deities, who manifest in a circular pattern known as a mandala. A mandala represents a perfectly contained sacred space, a celestial realm in which reside a great pantheon of enlightened spiritual beings. On the fourteenth day, this peaceful mandala dissolves into the mandala of the fifty-eight Wrathful Deities. These Deities manifest also in the same circular pattern of their peaceful counterparts, only now each Deity appears in its terrifying form. As blood-drinking, flesh-eating demons, the Wrathful Deities symbolize the intensity or "violence," if you will, of liberation, understood here as the compassionate "murdering" of the neurotic and distorted thoughts and emotions that trap human beings in the ongoing cycle of rebirth. 

Some  contemporary sources assert that the Deities, in both their quiescent and frightening forms, are not really gods in the traditional sense. They are actually symbolic manifestations of psychological states in the inner space of human awareness. If the deceased is capable of properly identifying these Deities as projections of the mind and as manifest reflections of past karma(deeds), he or she will merge with the enlightened consciousness that these images represent. Once again, however, if the visions are not recognized due to fear or ignorance, the deceased falls further into the bardo realms which lead eventually to a new existence to have another go at it until realization occurs. Clearly, in the context of the Tibetan funeral rituals associated with this and other texts  it is the prime responsibility of the religious specialist or 'lama'  to gain the attention of the deceased and to make him or her aware of the visions encountered during the bardo experience.

Imagine THAT! 
& some more pix from around the Lake:




Monkey business at the chorten, right after this picture mojo momma monkey grabbed my bag and looked me in the eyes with her fangs showing. I said "No" firmly and she backed away. Phew! especially since I am on my 3rd shot of rabies vaccine from a puppy bite.




"My father is the intrinsic awareness. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality. I belong to the caste of non-duality of the sphere of awareness. My name is the Glorious Lotus Born. I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena. I consume concepts of duality as my diet. I act in the way of the Buddhas of the three times."  Padmasambhava.