Showing posts with label Karnataka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karnataka. Show all posts

3.31.2009

Tulsi, at the seat of Samadhi

Far away in the ancient country side of Andhra Pradesh, along the silent ripples of the Tungabhadra that toss around the stony sides of this great river course, lies the Samadhi of Sri Raghavendra and 8 other great saints of the 16th cen. AD. There is peace and tranquility all around, and the air is so pure within this strange compound of rocky stones. Its a divine world of silence, of intellect and of superior life that lies buried deep within, under these stones.

What a magical picture it paints in this spectacular moment when the silver rays of the moon toss around the gentle waves of the Tungabhadra and shimmer in the pure waters as it bathes the stone slabs of ancient Samadhis in its silvery presence.

Sri Ragavendra's Samadhi brings alive the presence of divine potency to our existence, one that we would love to strive towards but simply lack the drive, courage and enthusiasm to do so. All that is left to echo back the ancient superior sense of living, are a few boulders of stone uniquely designed and put together to form a structure that resembles the potted Tulsi plant back in our courtyards, the Tulsi Vrindavan.


The original meaning of Samadhi, was not just a burial place of great beings, but a sacred and pure spot that continues to house their mortal remains "mummified" in holy sacred ash within a chamber, purified with worship, sacred mantra and ingredients of worship of centuries long gone. The belief then was that they could return to this mortal body if they chose to come back to our world. The human body buried deep was symbolized more as a vehicle that would house the returning Aatma if it so willed. The purity of sadhana, the evolved sense of living, the divine grace constantly surrounding them, the Samadhis have since grown into places of not just worship but of a silent serene ambiance where herbal purity is felt at its best.

Tulsi, the herbal plant of purity and longevity that wards off disease of any kind is typically housed in today's households within a pot that has a very unique design. The plant is worshiped and considered sacred and has the lady of the house light a lamp at its foot every evening, with a belief that this lamp of divinity will spread the purity of this plant and the superior energy that rises from it around her home and bless the inmates with a more prosperous life. But this light also makes me believe that its original intention was probably to revere the great soul buried beneath in the original prototype of such a structure - the Samadhi.

The shape of the Tulsi pot in the house strangely looks very similar to the traditional design used to make a Samadhi for the departed. This is a small example of purity, a small example of fragrance in the air that will attract all the celestials and siddhars to come and reside within. The much larger example of a great samadhi that hosts a whole forest of herbal plants both tulsi and vilva is that of the great hill of Thiruvannamalai. Here is the living mountain of Lord Shiva that is the home of many siddhas, that is the home of many herbal plants and that which is the home of the great parent Shiva and Parvati. Myths hold that many Siddhas reside here, worshiping the Lord and his consort within this divine hill. The potency of this hill, and the divinity it spreads around itself is beyond words to express.

There is silence within, there is tranquility, and the mind remains blank without thoughts trespassing and rests on the idea of this symbolism in this beautiful plant of unique life promising purity and longevity that grows out of a structure that houses deep within, the most pure form of the human body. A body that is preserved in sacred ash, seated in meditation, lost in eternal bliss. This is the definition of the ultimate form of preservation, of sustenance represented by Lord Ranganatha himself who lies in Ananthasayana, as the world churns around him.


With this saturation in symbolism that echos within the mind the very presence of the Lord Preserver, the silence in the mind begins to submerge into this great realm of calm and tranquility, of peace and harmony, of clarity and depth. Let the waters of life role over me, let the stones of every janma fade, let the tree of life take deep root and release me from this misery of living this haphazard meaningless life. I merge with this tree, my soul departs, what remains is a stony presence whose fading memories get washed away by the flowing waters of time.


Picture courtesy: Flickr.com | Copyright©pasulla

4.21.2008

Enlightenment - The meaning of Sahasra Linga

In the sun light from heaven
a thousand Lingas shine
the Lord is present
in every stone divine

The holy river waters flow
a constant worship unfolds
a world of Gods revealed
on bed rock shining gold

The light of enlightenment
has many paths defined
the brilliance of creation
manifests in every shrine

In the silence one can hear
the shimmering waters flow
ablution to the Lord
in the lap of nature unknown

The air echoes the names
the thousand names of the Lord
whose halo shines a fiery flame
feet bless with the waters of life

Depth of faith and meticulous worship can bring alive a world very different from what is familiar in temples. While worship is primarily carried out in temples, meticulously built with the yantra of the presiding deity embedded within the shrine chamber capped by the stone idol, there was yet another form of worship that took place in parallel beyond the walls of the temple. Within the temples we get to see one kind of form of the Sahasra Linga, where a single Linga is faceted and carries on itself a 1008 smaller Lingas. Like the Sahasra Linga at the Parashurameshwar temple Orissa given below, there are such kinds of Lingas installed in temple precincts as well as within shrine chambers across the country.
Yet there was another practice, that leaves us breathless when one descends into that realm. Far away from the civilized world, deep within the forests, along sacred river sides, Shiva worshipers made their own temples in the open. It is a different world, leaving behind the yantra culture that originated from the time of Adi Shankaracharya. These are power centers, of divine presence, meticulously carved into every rock in and around a flowing river.

The beauty of this breath taking creativity can be found in few remote locations. While Hampi(Karnataka) boasts of 1008 and 108 Shiva Lingas carved on the rocks along the Tungabhadra, the Shalmala river to the north in Karnataka has Lingas scattered across its sides. The ambiance around these power centers lifts the mind to a new realm of worship.

Click on the image to enlarge
These power centers bring with them a feeling of sublime, where divinity present leaves us speechless, imbibing every moment we spend in front of these amazing shrines. Across the Shalmala river are the Sahasra Lingas, not all in one, but each carved into every known bedrock across a single stretch of the river. In the moon lit night, as the silver flakes dance around the jingling waters, one sits face to face with a 1008 Lingas, echoing the names of the Lord in every ripple passing by.

Far away in Cambodia, deep among the silent rivers that flow through the forests, not far from Angkhor Wat in South East Asia, are another striking example of similar beauty. Here at Kbal Spean is another series of Shiva Lingas, reliving the Sahasra Linga form of Lord Shiva. What overwhelms the heart and mind, is this creation brought alive in the pure waters that flow through these shrines. But why were these shrines created? Why were they meticulously carved into bedrock of fast flowing rivers that could have claimed lives? And why is it called Sahasra Linga? The answer lies in the account presented by the sculptural evidence of the Buddha, in the Miracle at Shravasti.

Click on the images to enlarge

The account: "The actual miracles took place the following morning. The first of these is known as the yamakapratiharya, or "pair illusion" where the Buddha rose into the air and issued flames from his shoulder and water from his feet. The second miracle is known as mahapratiharya," or Great Illusion" where, the Buddha divided himself into multiple bodies, thereby creating an illusion in which every person present had his or her own Buddha to converse with..."

Sahasra is the state of enlightenment, a state where divinity shines forth as a golden halo of fiery flames around the head and water begins to flow from the feet and the enlightened being appears to multiply such that they are present in numerous parts, each for every devotee witnessing them. This state has been rendered in the description of Krishna dancing with each gopi at the same moment, Buddha multiplying himself in the Miracle of Sravasti, Christ walking on water and Shiva Rudra with rising flames on his shoulders around his head. Sahasra is a visible state that shows the world that a person has reached spiritual enlightenment, it is possible to attain and these river shrines reinforce that phenomenon depicting constant water flow at the feet of 1000 lingas.

Related topics:
108 Lingas along the Tungabhadra
Within a watery bed of peace

Courtesy:
Copyright Gillian Mee. All rights reserved
Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0
Huntington archive.osu.edu/studypages/
Glossary of Indian Art -
Original photos and text ©2002 Michael D. Gunther.