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
Our visit
to Sikkim in December
2014 was the first time we had set foot in the North-Eastern parts of India. Everything
appeared new, interesting and yes, fascinating. No matter how much we had read
or seen photographs of, it was still a ‘First Experience’, and one that we
shall always remember. Before I begin my detailed posts on the stories and
memories I have brought back, let me show you just what fascinated us the most….
Prayer Flags and Prayer Wheels!
The
Prayer Flags
were prominent on the roads as soon as we entered the hills in Darjeeling. I had
read that the colours all have a significance, and while it is believed that
they pass on our prayers to the Gods, the actual concept is to spread the
virtue of the prayer in the wind, and circulate it among the people. The concept
was great, but seeing the brightly coloured flags fluttering in the wind was
even better!
They lined
the paths to
houses and monasteries, formed a fence to small lakes and ponds, fluttered atop
a convenient tree, and elaborate ones even graced the flagpole of monasteries. I
wished I could read and understand the prayers written on them!
The Prayer
Wheels were
even more fascinating, especially since we could actually turn them! Again, we
already knew that there were prayers etched inside, and turning one was
equivalent to saying the prayer aloud. The idea was so interesting, of praying
without a sound! No wonder these hills were so serene!
The variety
of prayer wheels
was even more interesting – some with the syllables of the prayer written in
decorative script, some with embossing, some with figures! Visiting monastery
after monastery, it soon became a game for Samhith, who rushed to turn every
prayer wheel in sight! I don’t think prayer has ever been so much fun for him!
At
one of the monasteries we visited, we saw this sheet, stuck on the pillar supporting the
prayer wheels. It explains the meaning and the effect of the syllables which
make up the prayer inside the wheels.
It
only emphasizes
the fact that mere turning isn’t enough. It is necessary to understand it too.
Turning the wheel can only be a beginning. But the mere fact of turning
signifies a hope – of change, of better times.
Such a beautiful post, Anu. I am obsessed with prayer flags and everything pertaining with Buddhism. Prayer flags have always made me feel at home and happy.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Amrita. I can so understand that.... especially now that I have seen them :D
DeleteVibrant photos. Prayer flags are one of the most popular objects for travel photography, but still, when we actually see them, the new experience doesn't get any less newer :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Antonina! You have put it perfectly. There are some things which never lose their charm, no matter how photographed, and these are some of them!
DeleteBeautiful post ,prayer flags and prayer wheels do fascinate me too ,your post reminded me of Mcleodganj
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ani. I have yet to visit Mcleodganj! Hopefully will, this year :D
Deletethis reminded me of 1992.. yeah thats the time when i went to a Trek with my NCC group to Sikkim .. it is really a beautiful place.. and visited the Rumtek monastary (if i remember correctly)...
ReplyDeleteBikram's
wow! that must have been quite a trip! Sikkim would have been even more unspoilt! and yes, you would have visited Rumtek too... that comes up later in the series :D
DeleteLove these prayer flags.
ReplyDeleteThank you Niranjan!
DeleteWonderful photographs. We seem to be writing about the same place at the same time! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Deepanjan! Just hopped over to your blog, and yes, we are both writing about Sikkim, but I didnt visit that part of the state at all.. we stayed at Baiguney and visited a bit of West Sikkim, then headed to Gangtok and did a bit of sightseeing thats all.. you seem have done a good tour of north sikkim, and the photos are beautiful! hope i can do that some other time.
Delete