Hearken, O Mādhava, what more can I say?
Nought can I find to compare with love:

Though the sun of the East should rise in the West,
Yet would not love be far from the worthy,

Or if I should write the stars of heaven on earth,
Or if I could pour from my hands the water of all the sea.

-- Vidyapati

I feel my body vanishing into the dust whereon my beloved walks.

I feel one with the water of the lake where he bathes.

Oh friend, my love crosses death's boundary when I meet him.

My heart melts in the light and merges in the mirror whereby he views his
face.

I move with the air to kiss him when he waves his fan, and wherever he
wanders I enclose him like the sky.

Govindadas says, “You are the gold-setting, fair maiden, he is the
emerald”

Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows – then let your heart say in silence, “God rests in reason.”
And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky, – then let your heart say in awe, “God moves in passion.”
And since you are a breath in God’s sphere, and a leaf in God’s forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion.

-- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Open your eyes ...

Open your eyes ...

Mirror-pond of stars …

Suddenly a summer

shower

Dimples the water.

-- Sesshi

He who has been instructed thus far in the things of love, and who has learned to see the beautiful in due order and succession, when he comes toward the end will suddenly perceive a nature of wondrous beauty(and this, Socrates, is the final cause of all our former toils)—a nature which in the first place is everlasting, not growing and decaying, or waxing and waning; secondly, not fair in one point of view and foul in another, or at one time or in one relation or at one place fair, at another time or in another relation or at another place foul, as if fair to some and foul to others, or in the likeness of a face or hands or any other part of the bodily frame, or in any form of speech or knowledge, or existing in any other being, as for example, in an animal, or in heaven, or in earth, or in any other place; but beauty absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting, which without diminution and without increase, or any change, is imparted to the ever-growing and perishing beauties of all other things. He who from these ascending under the influence of true love, begins to perceive that beauty, is not far from the end. And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these as steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is.

“This, my dear Socrates”, said the stranger of Mantineia, “is that life above all others which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute.... But what if man had eyes to see the true beauty—the divine beauty, I mean, pure and clear and unalloyed, not clogged with the pollutions of mortality and all the colours and vanities of human life—thither looking, and holding converse with the true beauty simple and divine? Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may.Would that be an ignoble life?”

-- Plato, Symposium

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

A Few Images from Hindu Temples in Odisha

 


The Varāhī Temple at Chaurasi, Odisha: hidden little gem in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, it is rainy & cloudy in Odisha, and with no sunlight, the images are not as clear & crisp as I would have liked. Nevertheless, it was highly satisfying to photograph this fascinating little masterpiece.


Look what I found carved on a little shrine – by the looks of it dating to the 12th century CE or thereabouts – literally by the side of a public road, in a crowded quarter of Bhubaneshwar, in the vicinity of the Liṅgarāj Temple, in full view of the entire world!

I see that Hindus are gradually glossing over the numerous images of erotica on Hindu temples.

They seem to be embarassed, at loss for convincing explanations, or come up with the most ludicrous theories to explain the presence of these – well – frankly graphic images.

These images are being almost consciously left out of circulation, and everyone is silent about them.

The other end of the discourse, of course, keeps gushing about how open & free & “empowered” ancient Indians (especially women) were.

Others blame the whole thing on “Tantra” – and call these “Tantrik” temples.

In which case, almost all temples in India are “Tantrik” temples!

This is, undoubtedly, a very mysterious & complicated topic, and even I don’t want to comment on it as of now.

But far be it from me, to turn away & gloss over these cheerful, unapologetic depictions of wild love-making!

And please do not insult our intelligence, by calling this stuff “sex education”!!




A “lion” (siṁha) – or what’s more likely, a vyāla (also yālli) – from a modern temple on the way to Puri from Bhubaneshwar.

The exact difference between the siṁha and the vyāla is still not absolutely clear to me.


They seem to be distinct creatures in Indian literature.

But the lions carved on our temples are highly stylized, and easily pass off into “Yāllis”.

These statues can be extremely evocative & lively, even today.
Indians have certainly not lost their ability in magnificent portrayals of the bizarre, fiery, frightening, and grotesque!

(1st February, 2024:

On second thoughts, while very expressive, this lion looks more like a dog!

The forelegs are too thin & long.

For a more anatomically correct lion – also of recent make – is this one (of two) (Please scroll down to the end of the post, to see the pics taken by me) – outside the Bhairangeshvara Temple at Dhauli, Bhubaneswar.)



Fragment of a Sūrya statue – by the looks of it at least 600 years old – lying around like a piece of junk by the side of an ancient, dilapidated temple structure – again, in the vicinity of the Liṅgarāj Temple.

Why is it lying like this on the floor, like something discarded & useless?

This should be in a museum.

The face has not been smashed in, the features are considerably visible, and the countenance is beautiful.




(Added 1st February, 2024:



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Monday, January 1, 2024

Prayer for the year, from the Atharva Veda

 

Hymn 108, Book 6

 

“Wisdom (medhā) come first to us with horses (the karma-indrīyas) and of kine (the organs of knowledge: jnāna-indriyas)!

Thou with the rays of Sūrya art our worshipful and holy one.

The first (prathama), 

Replete with sacred knowledge (brahmaṇvatī), 

Lauded by sages (ṛṣi-ṣṭuta), 

Impelled by sacred knowledge (brahma-jūta),

Imbibed by Brahmacārīs, 

for the favour of the Gods I call.

That excellent Wisdom which Ṛbhus know, and Asuras,

Wisdom which Ṛṣis know, we cause to enter into me.

Do thou, Agni, make me wise this day with that Wisdom.

Which the creative (bhūtakṛt – creating beings) Ṛṣis, which the men endowed with wisdom (medhāvin) knew.

Wisdom at eve, at morn, Wisdom at noon of day

With the Sun’s beams, and by our speech we plant in us Wisdom.”

 

Hymn 40, Book 6

 

“Here may we dwell, Heaven and Earth (dyāvā-pṛthivī), in Fearlessness (abhaya).

May Savitar and Soma send us Fearlessness.

May Free from Fear be the Middle Realm of Air (antarikṣa): 

Ours be Fearlessness through the oblation of the Seven Ṛṣis.

May the Four Quarters give this hamlet power (ūrja):

Savitar favour us and make us happy!

May Indra make us free from foes and danger:

may wrath of Kings be turned to other places.

Make thou us free from enemies both from below and from above.

Indra, give us perfect peace (anamitra – lit. freedom from enemies/foes), 

Peace from behind and from before.”

 

Aum Shānti Shānti Shānti!

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