On the 5th of April, a Sunday (Raviwar, Surya day), do (2) days before Purnima (Full Moon), at 9PM for 9 minutes, people around in the dark hills started making noise.
It sounded like screams and explosions, we cut off electricity and kept diffuse vigilance at candle light for a few hours before going to nidra (yogic semi – conscious sleep).
Next day, Monday (Somwar, Shiva day) early morning the markets were transformed : pavement uncovered, sidewalks under construction, colourful northern style military trucks parked on side of roads, some stuck in tree trucks and electricity poles.
Prashad must be given to the newly arrived travellers, begging on the side of the road, and their bandars (monkeys).
Yet a few more days of lockdown have passed. It is 14 April, Tuesday (Mangalwar, Hanuman day).
Yesterday was Somwar 13 April, Shiva day. Full Power, of course. Everything is full power, all the time. The slang of Varanasi is becoming true, it’s Full Power 24 Hour, No toilet no shower, Still smell like a Flower. Metaphorically, at least.
Somwar 13 April also marked the day of Vaisakhi, or Baisakhi, a mainly Sikh but also Hindu holiday.
Vaisakh is an ancient Vedic festival marking the Solar New Year. It’s celebrated in some Indian states, let’s enumerate : Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand. On this day Goddess Ganga descended to Earth (some say from Shiva’s dreadlocks), from Shiv Loka.
Here in Uttarkhand the celebration is called Bikhoti. It is a time to bathe in holy rivers, become conscious of the coming of spring.
At this time many gays (cows) give birth, so chota (small) Nandi bulls abound. Nandi Bull is symbolically the gate keeper of Kailash, Shiva’s most devoted servant. A story says that the Bull reached enlightenment by unwaveringly worshiping and being devout to Shiva, waiting patiently for Nothing. Nandi comes from ‘anand’, which is Sanskrit is bliss. Nandi is thus the persevering, content Yogi, unmistakably devoted to Shiva. This is Shaivism, worship of Shiva as the Supreme Being.
Nandi is the individual soul, Atman, always serving the Absolute, Maheshwaraha, Brahman. In temples the Nandi Bull serves the yoni shiv lingam, the feminine – masculine primordial shape of the materialised Universe.
This unreal lockdown will continue until Workers’ Day and beyond, 3 May. Ek maheene (one month) passed. Festivals come and go.
Corona is an imagined boogie man occasionally making faces at us through our very own phone screens. In real life, it wears a mask and sometimes shouts : ‘Wear a mask! You will get deported! You will get us all killed!’
Everyday is very long, goes by in no time and is exactly the same in an infinity of different ways.
Life is frugal and timeless during these new pandemic days, at least here in the ashram.
The schedule is repeated without excessive joy or sorrow, excitement or boredom.
Sometimes, and I should really say all the time, there is a very small surprise, a special event, a celebration or tiny miracle.
The food is basic and repetitive, but always something familiarly unexpected. Dahl, sabdgee from combination of various vegetables, biryani, pulao, raita, chutney, halua, chapati, rice, mango pickle, salt (ramresh), sugarcane or sugar cane goo, like melasa. Pani and a few times a day, sweet chai. A different kind of fruit (papaya, mango, watermelon, banana, apple, grapes, oranges, pomegranate, pineapple) or ingredients for making fresh lassi, curd and paneer, sweet dishes, dahlia with nuts and raisins, all these show up daily, one way or another. A tiny amount gets to everyone, truly just for the taste. A constant lesson in the traps of taste and greed. Food is for sustenance, and a few drops for the tongue.
5.30 wake up, shower with tanda (cool) pani (water) direct from downside Ganga River. This is how Indians speak in English.
Cleaning for Annapoorna, Abundance – anna is food in Sanskrit, poorna is absolutely full, everything fulfilled. Anna is more than the physical food we eat, it is Existential Food. The physical body, which is made of food and yet doesn’t take the shape of a potato, is the grossest of the humans’ panch koshas (five bodies) and is called Annamaya Kosha. The layer of matter in the five level sandwich that makes up the illusory construction that you are. Annapoorna seva (worship, thanks, service) means sweeping leaves, dusting rugs, washing kitchen, ordering dishes, making chai.
Pooja starts at 7 AM. Then, trips into ‘town’ can be made, for supplies. This is the official reason, various other activities apart from gathering supplies can be achieved. The scope of movement has reduced considerably in the last weeks. We can walk around less than do, tin (2,3) km.
Same karts with fruit and vegetables, dairy shops, electrical shops, general stores, a bank, ATMs.
The new homeless, sidewalk families in tents look like the Gypsies in Rajasthan. Similar look and style. Turbans, shoulder bandars, all sorts of tools and tricks, cheerful, cheeky. Part survival skills, part intrinsic qualities?
Lockdown locks down daily at 1PM, so either be back at your place of residence, whichever, or hide in a baba place.
Lunch, or not. Chai. Work around the ashram, bathe, sleep, move, or not. At 5PM, cooking starts. At 7PM, evening pooja. It is followed by dinner. And, in due corse, sleep. Various small gatherings and activities take place, as is undoubtedly human. And so on for a month and one more month in view, with a strict lockdown prolonged now until 3 May. Why?
Because Corona is infecting people all over the world, at a steady pace. The infection definitely takes place in their minds, the collective Mind is getting increasingly contaminated with Corona thoughts. It perhaps takes place physically, also. Various states of lockdown have been imposed globally. We reconsider relationships to ourselves, our close ones, our distant ones, the state, the world, the news, time, purpose. Information and misinformation. Truth and propaganda are main players in the present global drama. Corona Lockdown Games.
Let’s see what happens, Brothers and Sisters. Inshallah or, as Lord Krishna likes saying, Om Namo Bagavate Vasudevaya Namaha.
GURU BRAHMA GURU VISHNU
GURU DEVO MAHESHVARA
GURY SHAKSAAT PARA BRAHMA
TASMAI SHRI GURUVE NAMAHA
Shri Ganesh Aarti
GAJANAM BHU TAGANADHI SEVI TAM
KAPITHA JAMBU PHALA CHARU BHAKSHANAM
UMA SUTAM SHOKA VINASHA KARAKAM
NAMANI VIGHNRSHVARA PADA PANCAJAM
Shri Ganga Mata Ji Aarti
OM JAI GANGE MATA MAIA
JAI SHRI GANGE MATA
JO NARA MAIA JI KO DHYATA
MANA VANCHITA PHAL PATA
HARI OM JAI SHRI GANGE MATA
CHANDRA SI JYOTI TUMHARI
JALA NIRAMA AARTA MAIA
SHRANDAPARE JO TERI / SO NARA TARA JATA
HARI OM JAI SHRI GANGE MATA
Gayantri Mantra
OM BHUR BUVANA SVAHA
TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM
BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI
DHIYO YONAHA PRACHODAYAH
Mahamritunjaya Lord Shiva Mantra
OM BHU OM BHUVANA OM SWAHA
OM TRYAMBAKAM YAJAMANE
SUGANDHIM PUSHTI VARDHANAM
URVARUKAMIVA BANDHANAT
MRYTYOR MUKSHEEYA MAMRITAT
OM SVAHA OM BHUWAHA OM BHU
Baba wisdom
– Shiva is very easy to worship
– Shiva is everything, nothing, everywhere and no where. Vishnu is in Shiva. Brahma is even further in. Sounds like the Atom and the triad story
– give sona (gold) and doodh (milk) to Ganga
– Svastik in Sanskrit means cross, or meeting of char (4) points and also fortunate, auspicious. It looks like the meetings of four points, a cross. Famously used by the Nazi regime, probably the most famous cultural appropriation of known times?
In Hinduism, swastika means Surya (sun).
Saswastika means night and is a symbol used by Kali.
In Buddhism it svastik symbolises Buddha’s Feet.
Om Namo Narayan
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