Today has been a fantastic day. After a week of super budget hotels, I treated myself to two days at a $30 mid-range hotel. Its amazing what seems deluxe when you're backpacking India. A/C, some soap, sheets, and no roaches. I think I've died and gone to heaven. I had been feeling a litle sick after two weeks of traveling and am happy I decided to take care of myself. Though the place is kind of like Motel 6 quality, tonight it feels like the Ritz. Perspective shifts like these are one of the things I love about traveling.
This morning I went to the main temple in Madurai - Sri Meenaskshhi Temple, a 6 hectar temple complex that stands tall over the acient bustling city of 1.2 million people. The Temple is amazingly well-kept and colorful. Though the fish-eyed consort of Shiva resides at the center, there are altars to many deities in the halls making it somewhat of a Pantheon f sorts. Hindus from all proclivities gather there and worship the deities of their choice. I found my first Altar and Kali statue here covered in red sandalwood, holding her trident. I knelt before the temple and again prayed for help on the path of enlightenment. Chanting - Krim Hum, Krim Hum. I asked for her to manifest for me as the benevolent mother and gently cut away those obstacles prohibiting me from being a realized being performing my Great Work in the world. My heart and mind filled with aspiration as I thought of my entrance to law school next year and all that I want to do in the world. I prayed that I be truly ready by this August. Sitting before the red-hued Goddess the destructive forces of the universe who leaves slayed demons in her wake, i felt ready to give up all parts of myself not aligned with the accomplishment of my True Will. I felt at home next to the other meditatees and wondered what they were praying for in their own lives that brought them to Kali.
I love the integration of the spiritual and material in India. Watching Hindus in the temple find their deity and pray touched my heart, and I felt a deep sense of the sacred. I've always been able to sync up with other peoples religions easily asmy personal spirituality is based on love, tolerance, service, and unity through embracing diversity. I joke that I can get along with and blend with all the ecstatic spiritual paths in the world be they hare krisha, Sufi, or Franciscan. I'm a bhakti-oriented spiritual girl and the times I am happiest are when I am performing service for the greater good of the world. I would love to see inter-faith temples in each town in America - places where people from all walks of life can come, light candles, and pray. I'd love to see temples to the ideals we hold sacrosanct - liberty,equity, love, justice.. What would our country look like if every day each person lit a candle in honor of those values? How would it change our actions in daily life? I guess I'm devout in my own way. I meditate and contemplate the mysteries, try to live a tempered life in accordance with my values. I just find Truth in all religions. In a country to steeped in tradition, I wondered if the turquoise sareed. gold-bangled woman next to me, ever contemplated different truths and religious perspectives or whether she simply accepted the faith handed down to her from her parents. It's hard to know but I wanted to ask. I've read the Bhagavad-Gita but not any of the other vedas. I'm hoping to download a few once my new Kindle comes in so I can steep myself even more in the religious philosophy of India. Despite our differences in faith and perspective, I felt really close to my turquoise next door meditator for in prayer -- we were one. Heart to heart, minds focused on coming into contact with something greater than ourselves to achieve something greater than we have.
1/17/2011 Gandhi and the Bloody History of Colonialization
After spending the morning in the temple, we decided to walk a couple of miles to the Gandhi Museum. Crisscrossing our way through colorful cloth bazaars, aromatic spice markets, stinky trash piles, and clinquant trinket stands, we finally found our way to the tall white building that housed the Museum. The first half of the museum displayed the long and bloody history of India's fight for Independence from the British. It goes somethingl ike this: smart educated people in India write and speak, the people get agitated, the British kill them. Repeat for a few hundred years. Depressing yes, and inspiring too to see the faces of and read about so many brilliant freedom fighters. The second half detailed Gandhi's life. Though I knew who Gandhi was , I definitely learned more about his history and all that went into India's independence. I also was happy to learn abuot many of the other people fighting for India's freedom at the same time and their deep impact on the realization of that common dream. I have to admit I wanted to stab the eyes out of the English by the time I was done..but like all things that warrior side of me quieted down. Thank goodness I am going into law where I can put that side to good work. ;) I thought of my conversation with a local in Saint Kitts earlier this year who told me about their fight for Independence from the British and the the British fought back there as well. In that case, the British won only to turn around and abandon the island when it became cheaper to grow sugar in Asia leaving the place destitute and after a century or so of monocropping - the soil depleted of nutrients. Nice. Colonialization..the funny thing is most of this was still happening throughout this last century. We don't think of it as recent history but in the case of India and Saint Kitts these things occurred in the last fifty years. People alive today remember those times and countries all over the world are still affected by them having been changed completely.
On tht note, the museum housed the loincloth Gandhi wore when he was assassinated, bloodstains and all. You would think this relic of history would be being treated well and cared for as befitting its historical status but like the other museum in India - its sitting in a non-climate controlled room with a non-climate controlled glass box slowly deteriorating. The historian in me wants to move it to a first world country where it can be properly cared for but the activist understands why its important to keep it in India. If I ever become a millionaire - I want to donate money to the museums of 3rd world countries so they can keep their own history but take care of it properly. I think about all the obscene wealth held by India's elite and was appalled for them at their lack of donating funds for India's clearly impoverished historical museums but I guess with so many people starving - history seems like a lofty concept in comparison to a hungry child.
And so it is.
This morning I went to the main temple in Madurai - Sri Meenaskshhi Temple, a 6 hectar temple complex that stands tall over the acient bustling city of 1.2 million people. The Temple is amazingly well-kept and colorful. Though the fish-eyed consort of Shiva resides at the center, there are altars to many deities in the halls making it somewhat of a Pantheon f sorts. Hindus from all proclivities gather there and worship the deities of their choice. I found my first Altar and Kali statue here covered in red sandalwood, holding her trident. I knelt before the temple and again prayed for help on the path of enlightenment. Chanting - Krim Hum, Krim Hum. I asked for her to manifest for me as the benevolent mother and gently cut away those obstacles prohibiting me from being a realized being performing my Great Work in the world. My heart and mind filled with aspiration as I thought of my entrance to law school next year and all that I want to do in the world. I prayed that I be truly ready by this August. Sitting before the red-hued Goddess the destructive forces of the universe who leaves slayed demons in her wake, i felt ready to give up all parts of myself not aligned with the accomplishment of my True Will. I felt at home next to the other meditatees and wondered what they were praying for in their own lives that brought them to Kali.
I love the integration of the spiritual and material in India. Watching Hindus in the temple find their deity and pray touched my heart, and I felt a deep sense of the sacred. I've always been able to sync up with other peoples religions easily asmy personal spirituality is based on love, tolerance, service, and unity through embracing diversity. I joke that I can get along with and blend with all the ecstatic spiritual paths in the world be they hare krisha, Sufi, or Franciscan. I'm a bhakti-oriented spiritual girl and the times I am happiest are when I am performing service for the greater good of the world. I would love to see inter-faith temples in each town in America - places where people from all walks of life can come, light candles, and pray. I'd love to see temples to the ideals we hold sacrosanct - liberty,equity, love, justice.. What would our country look like if every day each person lit a candle in honor of those values? How would it change our actions in daily life? I guess I'm devout in my own way. I meditate and contemplate the mysteries, try to live a tempered life in accordance with my values. I just find Truth in all religions. In a country to steeped in tradition, I wondered if the turquoise sareed. gold-bangled woman next to me, ever contemplated different truths and religious perspectives or whether she simply accepted the faith handed down to her from her parents. It's hard to know but I wanted to ask. I've read the Bhagavad-Gita but not any of the other vedas. I'm hoping to download a few once my new Kindle comes in so I can steep myself even more in the religious philosophy of India. Despite our differences in faith and perspective, I felt really close to my turquoise next door meditator for in prayer -- we were one. Heart to heart, minds focused on coming into contact with something greater than ourselves to achieve something greater than we have.
1/17/2011 Gandhi and the Bloody History of Colonialization
After spending the morning in the temple, we decided to walk a couple of miles to the Gandhi Museum. Crisscrossing our way through colorful cloth bazaars, aromatic spice markets, stinky trash piles, and clinquant trinket stands, we finally found our way to the tall white building that housed the Museum. The first half of the museum displayed the long and bloody history of India's fight for Independence from the British. It goes somethingl ike this: smart educated people in India write and speak, the people get agitated, the British kill them. Repeat for a few hundred years. Depressing yes, and inspiring too to see the faces of and read about so many brilliant freedom fighters. The second half detailed Gandhi's life. Though I knew who Gandhi was , I definitely learned more about his history and all that went into India's independence. I also was happy to learn abuot many of the other people fighting for India's freedom at the same time and their deep impact on the realization of that common dream. I have to admit I wanted to stab the eyes out of the English by the time I was done..but like all things that warrior side of me quieted down. Thank goodness I am going into law where I can put that side to good work. ;) I thought of my conversation with a local in Saint Kitts earlier this year who told me about their fight for Independence from the British and the the British fought back there as well. In that case, the British won only to turn around and abandon the island when it became cheaper to grow sugar in Asia leaving the place destitute and after a century or so of monocropping - the soil depleted of nutrients. Nice. Colonialization..the funny thing is most of this was still happening throughout this last century. We don't think of it as recent history but in the case of India and Saint Kitts these things occurred in the last fifty years. People alive today remember those times and countries all over the world are still affected by them having been changed completely.
On tht note, the museum housed the loincloth Gandhi wore when he was assassinated, bloodstains and all. You would think this relic of history would be being treated well and cared for as befitting its historical status but like the other museum in India - its sitting in a non-climate controlled room with a non-climate controlled glass box slowly deteriorating. The historian in me wants to move it to a first world country where it can be properly cared for but the activist understands why its important to keep it in India. If I ever become a millionaire - I want to donate money to the museums of 3rd world countries so they can keep their own history but take care of it properly. I think about all the obscene wealth held by India's elite and was appalled for them at their lack of donating funds for India's clearly impoverished historical museums but I guess with so many people starving - history seems like a lofty concept in comparison to a hungry child.
And so it is.
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