The Inherent Bliss in Worship

I am the state of God, Am just God, Aham Brahmasmi

The Laghunyasam has a wonderful verse embedded into it. It is the culmination of the all encompassing thought - Tat tvam asi. The more I read that verse, the more I relate to “who I am” and more importantly the more I realise “who I am NOT”. The unfortunate nature of mine to identify with my body makes it that much more difficult for me to relate to my subtle self. The subtle self is no big deal, it is not difficult to discover, it just needs time and effort to come to terms with something that is within us. It is a simple equation of who am I, should I remove the world around me, should I remove the relationships I have defined, should I remove my commitments and look at myself, in a silent room in isolation.

Tat tvam asi

The beating reality that I associate so much with my body and am such a slave to its various needs is a loud example of just how much I have moved away from my core purpose of existence. There is a distance to be covered, a bridge to be crossed between what I am and what I should be (in the spiritual world). It hasn’t been easy while I attempted to shut out the world and deep dive into “who” I really am. It takes immense courage to accept one self… given we hardly spend time there and when we do, we face some harsh realities of our own nature, which we originally didn’t sign up for. None the less, this is who we are and the sooner we come to terms with it, the sooner we chalk out what to do with it and move on. 

Faith doesn’t tell us whether we are right or wrong. Faith doesn’t throw judgement on us when the basics are in place. We are free to BE. Faith only recommends how we can grow spiritually should we work on a few aspects of ourselves. Self discipline, self restraint, self awareness, and finally self realisation. None of these have room for physical convenience or materialism. We need to discard that before we move towards the 4S.

When we are closer to this reality, our nature changes and we are more receptive towards the world around us, we are not half as angry or depressed, we are inherently happy with the world around us as the mundane doesn’t affect us half as much, people’s problems are trivialities and the defined purpose of existence has gone beyond the regular known definition. From here on we define the path, we are the path. Love overflows, jealousy and anger subside, forgiveness and compassion ooze… I am what I am and I be what I want to be. So what is this state?

प्रजनने ब्रह्मा तिष्ठतु । 

Brahma is at the root

पादयोर्-विष्णुस्तिष्ठतु । 

Vishnu lives in my feet

हस्तयोर्-हरस्तिष्ठतु । 

Hara - (incarnation of Shiva) lives in my hands

बाह्वोरिन्द्रस्तिष्टतु । जठरे ‌உअग्निस्तिष्ठतु । 

Indra lives on my shoulders, Agni resides in my stomach

हृद॑ये शिवस्तिष्ठतु ।

Shiva lives in my heart

कण्ठे वसवस्तिष्ठन्तु । 

The vasus live in my neck

वक्त्रे सरस्वती तिष्ठतु । 

Goddess Saraswati resides on my tongue

नासिकयोर्-वायुस्तिष्ठतु । 

Vayu lives in my nose

नयनयोश्-चन्द्रादित्यौ तिष्टेताम् । 

The Sun and Moon shine in my eyes

कर्णयोरश्विनौ तिष्टेताम् । 

The ashwini devas live in my ears

ललाटे रुद्रास्तिष्ठन्तु । 

Lord Rudra glows on my forehead

मूर्थ्न्यादित्यास्तिष्ठन्तु । 

Adhityas live on the front of my head

शिरसि महादेवस्तिष्ठतु । 

Mahadeva resides at the center of my head

शिखायां वामदेवास्तिष्ठतु । 

Vamadeva resides in the tuft of my hair

पृष्ठे पिनाकी तिष्ठतु । 

Shiva Pinaki guards the back of my head

पुरतः शूली तिष्ठतु । 

Sooli lives on my brow

पार्श्ययोः शिवाशङ्करौ तिष्ठेताम् । 

Goddess Parvati and Lord Rudra Shiva reside on my left and right.

सर्वतो वायुस्तिष्ठतु । 

I am protected by Vayu - air who surrounds me 

ततो बहिः सर्वतो ‌உग्निर्-ज्वालामाला-परिवृतस्तिष्ठतु । 

Further to that I am protected by a ring of fire, that acts as a glowing garland of light.

सर्वेष्वङ्गेषु सर्वा देवता यथास्थानं तिष्ठन्तु । 

All the deities are an inherent part of me

माग्ं रक्षन्तु ।

They protect me, they are me.

I am HE.

In this silent conversation of worship, in this love that flows, I am HE.

The Curious Case of the 5M Ritual

My current destination is to explore the abode of the netherworld, the 7 great Patalas. While its interesting to go into the depths of darkness to understand nature of life here in the celestial space, one particular abode took my attention by storm. Let me introduce the 7 patalas first so that we know where we are headed. 

In the celestial map of the universe, the celestial world below the earth has 7 divisions. These are believed to be mapped into the very form of Vishnu himself and everything, hips downwards belongs to Patala. The regions are called Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala, Patala. My focus is on the Atala and the Vitala mainly with respect to the nature of their realms. 

Atala is a place dominated by Bala, a son of Maya who possesses mystical powers. Bala, through his “yawn” or the sound embodiment of it, caused the creation of 3 women in the gross realm, with highly seductive natures described in 3 variants. The yawn, though strange as a concept, may indicate “tamasic” nature relating to man. 3 seductresses manifested from this yawn - Swairini the self willed, (Note: women’s freedom is described as those who have multiple male partners. Lets not go into the right and wrong of it in this article), Kamini the lustful one (marries men from any group) and Punshchali the one who wholly give herself up and keeps changing partners. When a man (mortal) enters this realm of Atala, these three women act like “predators” and attract him to tamasic realm of excitement with a cannabis drink to enhance his excitable state. They subsequently enjoy sexual pleasures with the man, giving him a false impression of excess masculinity, while in reality he is being drained off his vital creative fluids (semen), thus rendering him “dead” (impotent?).

Vitala is a realm of a different kind. This space is ruled by the terrific form of Shiva, the Bhairava state. Conceptually he is known to preside here with the mother goddess in the form of Bhawani or Gauri. The interesting part about this realm is that there is a river that flow, dominating the landscape and this is no ordinary river. The Hataki river here is the mixture of the vital creative fluids of Lord Bhirava and Bhawani in sexual union that flows through this region. What makes it special its that when this potent mixture comes in contact with fire, it turns to gold called Hataka. 

What struck me most is the unavoidable similarity I was subjected to when I compared this realm to the 5M ritual of the Vamachara path. In the earthly realm the Vamachara path has various types of rituals, some bordering on the unthinkable. Two rituals shout out loud. The first is the very common ritual practice of 5Ms, the Panchamakara - Madya (wine), Mamsa (meat), Matsya (fish), Mudra (grain) and Maithuna (sexual union). The other ritual similar in nature goes a step forward in offering the combination of vital fluids to the sacred fires of the cremation ground. The left hand path in Tantrik earthly rituals strangely seems to mimic the realms of Atala and Vitala. 

By scriptural evidence we understand that celestial regions come with their own equations of magical experiences. This in itself was quite a revelation for me, given most of recorded material around the Vamachara marga doesn’t really explicitly state the relation to the lifestyle of the celestial nether regions of Atala and Vitala. I can draw a parallel conclusion that the path of Alchemy in the deeper aspects of Hindu faith, as discovered by the Rishis, actually produced Gold, by combining Mercury (Shiva aspect) with Sulphur (goddess aspect) in a particular proportion and subjected it to “Fire”. 

But what really caught my attention was the nature of the Human being to ape the celestial world in ritual acts. It struck me like a bolt out of the blue, as to why we try so hard to mimic these worlds. Another interesting view is that, the combination of creative fluids of Lord Bhiarava and Ma Bhawani produces Gold in the presence of fire - the Hataka. In the earthly space, the merger of man and woman produces a child. Is the “child” considered “gold” in our realm. No matter what the material purpose of our living, the offspring is vital to our very existence today. 

Cutting out all the noise, the union of man and woman is considered sacred, the result in celestial workings is the gift of a child. Barren women and impotent men are not appreciated in our world, even today, no matter how rich. The gross purpose of our existence is procreation, which makes us no different from other Pashu. Then what is it that is the differentiating factor with the vital fluids we naturally have in abundance. How else do we describe the metaphorical meaning of “Gold” in the spiritual path if it is not manifesting itself as a child in physical form. 

What is the Vamachara Marg attempting to do by mimicking the Atala and Vitala worlds. It is very clear that Baital Deol temple, in Bhubaneshwar attributed to Chamunda was a clear cut destination for Tantrik practices surrounding the Vamachara marg of the Atala realm. It was a place of human sacrifice, the sculptures on the wall were not decorative as much as they were utilitarian, with bowls carved into the walls to collect “fluid” or “blood”. The temple seemed female dominated, but those who died in the physical realm were men, so were the main participants of the ritual women? Why is the central figurine Chamunda. 

The iconography of Chamunda pronounces her as the terrific form of Devi, consort of Rudra Shiva, which can be equated to Bhairava. She, in skeletal form,  wears bones, skulls and serpents all of which are attributes of the netherworld. But she also has “male” aspects of the yajnopavita made of skulls and a jatamukuta. The most powerful aspect of her is her eyes, sunken into their sockets by extremely intense which look at the bare truth in the face. I can’t run away from the basic fact that Tantricism is about accumulation of power, intense deep spiritual power by ritual (NOT black arts). In what form does Maithuna, in the Vamachara path produce the metaphysical experience equal to Gold - Hataka, in the physical realm of sexual union (and no it is not intense orgasm as that is considered a failure in ritual terms)? OR are we simply barking up the wrong tree? 

Discovering the Panchagni Ritual

As I dive deeper into the scriptures I have come to realize that almost every subtle logic of existence has a gross counterpart in karmic terms. The basic premise of Hindu texts emphasises on the fact that we are a part of nature and it is our responsibility to understand this silent truth and work with nature, not against it. 

Lets assume we are completely in sync with that statement, which is actually far from the truth, lets take it up for better understanding of a deeper subtle concept in the journey of discovering the self. "I am", and "my nature" is what I am wired to being. But does that mean the end of things?… no not quite, the whole idea of Sadhana, Tapasya, Vrat and Puja gear us towards a far more difficult lifestyle, with a zeal for endurance. The ideas here is, "I am, BUT I am NOT the center of things". I am but a figment of that great energy that has the inherent power to give me this birth and take it away from me as well, at will. While I am here, I am preparing myself with due discipline and austerity enhancing my capacity mentally, emotionally and physically to face that ultimate reality, better equipped than I otherwise would have been. 

But what is the real puja, the real sadhana. The version we know is still karmic in nature, we “do” puja, we “do” sadhana. Should we not do it, it alters our lifestyle and we possibly blame the world around us for it. The gross level of sadhana, is to ensure this particular lifestyle is set into our daily schedule, in the form of discipline. It brings with it many benefits at different levels, not necessarily material in nature. The focus remains of the purpose of the sadhana, the deeper meaning of the sadhana. We can start with a physical discipline, but at some point it needs to transcend into a mental discipline of deeper purpose to get to the true meaning of it. We need to stop “doing” and start “being”. Karma again is short lived, dhyana tends to stick on for longer. If we contemplate on the purpose of the ritual, the deeper and more subtle aspects of the faith start to shine. 

In my search to understand this concept of ritual performance in the mind, we may potentially call it Manasa puja, I have come to realize that the mind has to progress spiritually, hence a karmic ritual without the mind in contemplation alongside is a potential waste of time. At some point, the mind evolves so much that the karmic ritual may not be required at all. The puja is now Manasik, it has entered a different plane, it has been absorbed into out system so deep that its a natural output in the mind, we don’t have to take trouble on it… it becomes a part of us. Bhakti plays an integral part here. It stitches in contemplation with emotional love which is a potent mixture within us. The good news is we are capable of having brilliant spiritual experiences, the hard luck is, we need to make it persist. 

I chanced upon a very difficult ritual called the Panchagni Sadhana while I was hunting for deeper significance around the concept of fire. It has captured my imagination and it was hard to let go. The upanishads gave me a subtle view into its potent world but as I searched, it strangely landed me at the doorstep of the Nagas at Kumbh Mela. It intrigued me and I discovered, they perform the Panchagni ritual in a gross form, with fire surrounding them and the sun playing the central theme. The Sadhak sits at the center with bowls of fire burning in four directions around him, the fifth fire is that sun that burns down on him during the day or made even more difficult by placing a kapala-dhuni over his head. These are difficult forms of Tapasya, and they do make a person endure the heat of the afternoon in summer and the chill of the night in winter. There are various combinations of the fire but the bottom line is a deeper association with the divine flame. 

The subtle concept describes a world where the worship of fire actually triggers the conquest of the senses, the 5 elements, where fire plays a supreme role. The worship of fire as a being in itself, is a far more powerful form of worship. It opens the gates to unknown concepts that exists around us, we are just blind men walking through all these magical possibilities, practically unaware of them. This human body is capable of a lot more than we have chose to make it work on. We have powerful tools, and all we need is some decent direction with persistence to boot, to get to a place far more enlightening from where we currently are. And this journey cannot be done the karmic way. The outer display may look like we are “doing” something, but the inner journey is far more subtle and way more potent. The idea is to move from the gross form of ritual to a subtle form of living a breathing reality. 

There will be change, big change… the question is, are we ready to take that ride for if we do, there is really no turning back. 

Photo courtesy: Patrika.com

A Journey with Jagannath, Relived

The thrill on my son's face, the enjoyment of a new world... Nothing could beat this smile that brought back past memories.

While we spend most of our lives robotically leading it, there are some things that don't die.... They stay dormant in the crevices of the mind only to surprise us when a connect with the past is made.

Jagannathpur Ranchi, Jagannath Mandir

The innocence of childhood, the enjoyment of climbing the rocky steps to the temple, the peace  and tranquility at the main shrine... The connect with the divine, the mesmerising look of deep devotion in the face of Garuda, the vahan of Jagannath who looks up to him in adoration... All of this added up to my visit to this small temple on a hillock. The silent wilderness of Ranchi has given way to a noisy order and yet, the depth of a past enbedded in my head appeared to beat this very noise.

I had heard of a place called Puri, where the main shrine of Jagannath was, and in my many trips to Jagannathpur, I never knew when I would make it there. This trip to visit lord Jagannath again, was to introduce him to my son who till now, has seen him as a small idol in our puja Ghar. I had traveled 30+ years in time in discovering this journey in my head, my son would do the same journey in 2 days... And the excitement in my mind was immense. While, a part of me said this wouldn't stick in his mind for too long, my mind was determined to have it fed into his memory at this point. He needs to see the real Jagannath at Puri, at Ranchi, at home and hopefully some day, within his mind's eye.

The temple of Jagannathpur has been renovated a few times. What stands today is an architectural piece in Nagara style of Orissa architecture, but what sits in my mind is a silent, walled interior, away from the world, cutting away the winds, an echoing interior... A place I have been to in past lives, a place that has made several appearances in my dreams, a place I am visiting again... And it's mesmerising connect with me in my real world, dream state, in a spiritual plane, in a timeless plane across lives...

Jagannath Mandir, Puri

The temple of Puri Jagannath brings haunting familiarity, a flavour of having lived here and experienced it before, though in reality it appears fresh and new.. but the vibe, I have felt this vibe before. I remember carving pieces of chalk when I was kid. I carved temples, with a scalpel and black board chalk, and arranged them in an order that looked nice. Three shrines placed together two shorter shikaras and one taller in the center. For what ever reason, I made this arrangement and I liked it as a kid (though it didn't follow any rules of architecture). But what really got me was the recollection of the same arrangement of shrines when I stood in front of three Shiva Linga small shrines, exactly the same way within the premises of Jagannath Puri, under the shade of a silent tree, that has seen time roll by for centuries. Shrines (walls, shikara, with embedded garbha griha deep down within) stand next to each other, be it Lingaraj, Mukteshwar or Jagannath, but they don't stick to each other as in the case of this peculiar set within the walled world of Puri. What I didn't comprehend was how I made the temples look like Jagannath in pieces of chalk and arrange them in peculiar order, given I had no idea of this science at that age and neither had I visited any place that early. 

My extremely strange inclination to architectural rules, logic of sacred sciences and immense love for the Lord has led me down, not just memory lane of this life... It has been connecting a lot more dots in my head that I didn't know even existed. This journey has made me question the presence of time, it's nature, it's influence and it's mesmerising presence to baffle my mind. If I just had to remove all the gaps, across lives, I would know just how many times I have been at this place, and that may not even have been dependent on real geography... It may have been something else altogether.

Jagannath has been in my life from when I started to think and remember things. He has never left my side, though I have left his several times. This journey across time, has made me revisit elements of existence I took for granted, the tremendous potential of my mind to detect differences from established route, the impermanence of time and it's presence as a stage of events in sequential order, and of course the order of the universe that banks on my "nature" to be what I am...

And while I live now, while I am here I look at my son, the smile on his face when he says "Jagannath is very very big" makes me want to relive that innocence and sacred bewilderment that I have been blessed with, for what ever good deed in the past.

The Unexplored world of Surasundaris, their Personality, their Potential

She twirls around the branch of a tree

As she pull a thorn off her delicate feet

Her graceful curves entwine a branch 

As she holds onto it like a fragile creeper

She calls the green parrot, plays with its red beak

The sign of sensuality, the pleasures of love

She gently smells the fragrance of the lotus

As she tucks it into her thick plaits of hair

Tying the anklets in her feet

She plays the rhythm of her heart with the drum 

She dances her love dance with grace

Twisting the chauri along her naked back

She holds the mirror to her face

Completes the shringar with a dash of red

She lazily picks up the Ketaki flower

Delicate fingers imbibe its scent

This sensuous being is out to seek

Make no mistake with what you see

The partial nudity, the full breasts unique

She is not to be amorously felt

She is the power, splendid and divine

She is the connect to the supreme above. 

Surasundaris have been misunderstood to be just sensuous beings. Studies indicate that they adorn the walls of sacred temples and took to being more popular during the rise of the tantrik cults. But to ascertain that they were only sensuous beings to attract men into the walls of the sacred shrine for a tantrik ritual with no other objective to their existence would be foolhardy of us. Apsaras, Kanyas, yakshis are other names that these celestial beings have been identified as… but somehow … my belief is that they were way more superior than what they have been documented to being. 

My journey to understand these mystical women starts from the temple walls. On one side they ooze sensuality, on the other they appear extremely shy. They may be great exponents of kamasutra and yet they have the anxiety of union with the one of their choice, with whom they will lose their “virginity”. The signs of the thorn, the pose of the creeper, the sensuous conversation with the parrot are indicators of sensuality. They are also great dancers and they dedicate their existence to the lord himself. They are knowledgable and their wisdom shines through their Tejas. They are the epitome of beauty, but they are also mysterious celestials who can transcend the planes of existence, move from one to the other with ease. They cannot be owned, they cannot be touched until they want to, and they do fall in love against all rules, with gods, with devas, with men. And yet they roam all the worlds, on celestial missions, the knowledge of which only they have. They can come to us, if we call them through intense sadhana, they can help us or destroy us, they are powerful beings that we wouldn’t like to mess with…

And yet they are mysteriously more talented than mortals, their capabilities shine beyond human potential. When a Surasundari dances or sings we stay mesmerised, its like a spell they cast on us, a spell hard to get out of. They can hold a conversation with you, keep your grey cells churning, speak on the making of the universe, excite the nerves out of you and yet, we will not be able to tell whether this happened for real. They touch an intense world within us, they touch the psychological weakness we hardly knew we had. They transform the way we see the world, make us question exactly who we are and why are we going through this state of mind. 

The laws of Indian sculpture and their presence on architecture has tried to its limits capacity to bring the heavens down on earth. The temple being the centre of existence depicts the universe, the stages of divine evolution, from animals to daily life, to court scenes, to mystical celestial being flying across the sky, which could include ganas or gandharvas, kinnaras and the sacred tree of life. But as we progress above, reach the zone of the Gods, we find Surasundaris amongst them. They occupy a position of importance on temple walls, next to the gods, closer to the ceiling, be it the outer wall, a pillar or inner door jamb. Surasundharis have a presence of importance, which has not been explored in entirety. They occupy a space that is above human life, but below the shikara. They are the door to the heavens, but don’t really get there (within the limitations of the stone temple … who knows where this silent world leads… )

Indian art depicts mythology, the culmination of an act, of a great exploit of a God to depict their capability. They alternatively depict the nature of a being, in this case Surasundaris, explicitly depicting their sensuality. What they don’t depict is the capability of these beings, their potential which can be accessed only through ritual, sacred sadhana which is performed within the temple. The walls depict who they are, but the sacred ritual within the walls gives the way to find out what they are capable of, why they are there and where they can take us. 

Indian ritual worship is far more superior to modern science, and cannot be measured by that yardstick. They are so different that it would foolhardy to ask for proof for the limitations of our mind. So if we dismiss this sacred science, and measure it against the plague that has set in from the west, we do it at our own peril of losing sacred wisdom, that once was truly our very own. 

This elixir of divinity is hard to come by, and when it does, it even harder to brush away. Lets set our egos aside (move the focal point of existence away from ourselves) and ask the question - Are we blessed enough to receive it? 

* * * 

Indian lifestyle on the other hand created a role for them among women. They were married to the deity within the shrine but with time, they were exclusively called Devadasis, but yet again, the perversion of educated men (both ancient sciences and modern) reduced them to prostitution and the same men now look down upon them... How fair is the mind of mortal men, how biased are they that they give the position of honour and they reduce it to dishonour by their own lack of self restraint?! And therefore I ask, are they seriously capable of higher wisdom?

An Ode to Bhasavanna

At these troubled times, when politics decides to divide a society and rule them, where selfishness takes over principles of good governance, I am wondering how Bhasavanna would have reacted to this madness. Is this what he had envisioned when he founded the sacred extension of Shaivism in Veera Shaivism bringing about the Lingayat community? Today, these two brothers stand split up, when their very existence was originally based on the single belief system of internalising Lord Shiva, as an individual form of worship. 

Standing at the confluence of 2 sacred rivers, when I look at the sheet of purity that spans the expanse of the horizon glistening in the morning sun as it rises, another day is born but with a different ideology. Bhasavanna, stays silent in his watery samadhi and yet I wonder whether all that is taking place now actually makes any sense. 

Kudalsangam... The silent world of Bhasavana's Samadhi

In the depth of sacred water
A silent enigmatic world
Does my heart beat
A rhythm to your dance
I seek the mind of that Bhasavanna
The quiet one
Who holds the sacred emblem 
The Linga divine
Within the psychic world
Of his heart
The ash that remains
After his earthly destruction
Holds testimony
This sacred beat in his heart
Merged with the silent ripples
Of the Krishna
Still pulsating in my being
Long after his body
Flowed away with the stream

The Strange Joy within Sakhya Bhava

 

 

I had a wall between mortals and Gods, and mortals in my mind are defined as those inadequate, incapable and ignorant. There are within this spectrum of people, those who challenged themselves and went beyond their boundaries, exploring their true potential. I have great respect for them... but for the rest of the world... there was a differentiating wall. 

I was mistaken, for my yardstick of measurement didn’t account for everything. This lesson came home through none other than Lord Vittal himself, the Lord of Pandharpur. I have a secret pact with the Gods, that of "easy access" to their homes. I don’t go to living temples as easily. And I have a deep wish to meet them without hassles and up close at their home, and call it fate or divine intervention, they ensure I get to meet them without much trouble.

Pandharpur - a land I have known about for a while has appeared distant and inaccessible - had more surprises in store for me. The plan was to have an evening darshan, but it hardly crossed my mind that it would be the evening of Ekadasi, the most crowded day of the month in the Vaishnava calendar. I had mixed feelings within my head, I didn't relate to the Lord of Pandharpur yet, and he had called. I was finding my way there, stepping out of comfort zone, going to an unknown place with a child in hand. There was a slight uneasiness but that doubt was killed fast. He sent me one of his own, a good friend who ensured my experience was way beyond smooth.           

It didn't strike me yet, for the access was so easy that there was a good chance to take it for granted. The first darshan was beautiful, I absorbed the Lord, in his physical presence. I absorbed all that my eyes to feed on, my senses could take in. It was indeed a different world of Vaishnava flavor and yet starkly different from Jagannath of Puri. I opened up all my faculties not knowing what to expect. Just took it all in. My friend didn’t accompany me, I went in with another who was assigned to lead me to him. It was according to plan, executed perfectly without errors. 

It was by the end of my journey on New Year’s Eve, that the heart yearned for another visit, to see the Lord once again, before I moved on. I placed my request rather impulsively, to my friend, one of Vittala's own, and he accepted most willingly, without any sense of hesitation. The request was placed 3 hours before the temple closed for the night - it was now or maybe, I don't know when. The arrangements were in order within an hour, the paper work in place from what I understood was a VIP entrance. We were headed back to town, still somewhere on the highway. It was the smooth silent operation that baffled me, the darshan was scheduled. The impossibility of it hit the mind and yet it was so easily possible to go to Vittala's own home, and be greeted as if I had always belonged there, any time I wanted…. With one of his own to accompany me.  There was a strange joy in that, it was impulsive, exciting and mystical.

You know, it’s a baffling experience when one walks into a land where they have never lived, not known anyone for "as long", and yet the warmth engulfs you and gives a sense of such love... that I felt I had left this home in some other birth and I was coming home now, in this birth. It’s not goodness, it’s not social network, it’s not the power of money. It’s a miracle that shouts back loud in my head.... who or what do I define as my real "family" - who are my own, defined by spiritual relationships in a mortal world?

I had set foot in Pandharpur for the first time, and yet it didn’t feel like that. I understand small town hospitality (we go way out of our way to make people feel special), but this was way beyond the social goodness. Lord Vittal had sent one of his own trusted men, to take me through this journey. It’s not just about being hosted, it’s not just about spending few days on a holiday with help at hand... it was way more deep than that packed into a mystical experience of what I call - the Secret of Sakhya Bhava.

 

I had spent this vacation with a mixture of people in terms of human relationship - family, friends (with whom I had lived, spending my 24/7) and friends whom I knew but I was yet to build a "face to face" relationship. It turned out, that the one I understood least in this reality was by far the closest to my heart. I left Pandharpur with an experience sprinkled with divinity, not just in a darshan, but in the experience of a friendship of a different kind. A relationship that I am unable to define in human terms, but the flavor of it remains rich in my mind and the heart yearns to go back there again, my home... defined by the mysticism of past births, by the miracle of karma, fate had brought me back here... to witness another world... one that has manifested in my head as pure Sakhya Bhava towards one of Lord Vittala's own.