Skip to main content

Featured Post

2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with
Wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!!




2009 saw me making quite a lot of trips, but the end of the year saw me cancelling a much awaited one. Lets hope 2010 brings along a lot more travel for all of us.

For the last few years, we have brought in the new year at Puttaparthi, Prashanti Nilayam, the abode of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and this year was the same. We spent a week there, and sorry, again no photographs. We spent the whole day at the ashram, and left the camera behind in the room!


The collage above is my first attempt at one, since  wanted to do something new this year, and I eagerly await your comments and suggestions. These pics were taken from the train on our way back.

The river you can see is the Krishna, and surprisingly, there was plenty of water, and there were a huge number of water birds too. We saw egrets, herons , sandpipers, and many others we couldn't identify. Among the other birds were the Kingfishers, Bee eaters, drongoes and robins, all of which I am proud to say, Samhith is identifying with ease!!!!


Comments

  1. Wish you and your family a very happy 2010 Anu. May you travel more!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy New Year to you too Anu.

    I have not done much will collages, so I am last one to comment, but just a little suggestion.
    Did you try putting the big picture in the center and the little ones surrounding it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. @ Mridula: Thanks for the wishes... wish u and your family too a wonderful 2010

    @Vam: I actually tried that first, but this seemed a little differnt:-))

    ReplyDelete
  4. May the Twenty Ten decade bring us lots of happy travels...

    The collage has come out well...though, to be fair, it lacks flair...Try using Picasa, that is if you upload your photos to Picasa Photo Album...their desktop tool...picasa...offers a great deal of interesting collage options, which you can choose depending on your taste and style...In a nut shell, picasa is the simpleton's photoshop...

    To respond to your comment on my blog...Talakad is open year around...Pancha Pathi festival draws in the maximum crowd

    ReplyDelete
  5. @ Sankara : thanks a lot... for the wishes, the suggestion, as well as the information!!

    i actually did use Picasa, but was wary of experimenting too much.. have a lot to learn!!!

    i used to think that talakkad was closed for most of the year,. now thanks to you, i can plan a visit sometime...

    ReplyDelete
  6. great pics...
    i love the Picasa collage options too...
    Kids are great at picking names and nature..faster than we do

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wish you a happy new year too. May 2010 turn out great for you.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.

Pandharpur Yatra 2023

The first time I visited Pandharpur was back in 2007 . The names Vitthal and Pandharpur, were just names to me. I had heard of them, but that was about it. Seeing the lord standing on the brick, hands on his hips, was memorable, but more memorable was the sight that greeted us as we walked out of the main sanctum of the temple. In the mandap just outside were a group of devotees singing abhangs , and dancing. This was the first time I had heard abhangs , and even almost 15 years later, I can remember the welling of feeling within me, listening to the songs, and how fascinated I was by the sight of the devotees dancing, lost in their love of the Lord. Over the years, as I have read more about Vitthal, and participated in Ashadi Ekadashi programmes at Puttaparthi, that first experience has stayed clear in my mind and heart. Every time I tell my Balvikas students of the saints who sang of Vitthala, it is that experience that I re-live. I visited Pandharpur again, in 2010, but that experie