Advertisement
Published: March 1st 2014
Edit Blog Post
Before Dawn
The small Shiva temple just outside my guest house at 5.30 am Pushkar
February 27-28
th 2014
“
....concentrate on the syllable om
, and feel the force that it embrace(s)......feel the energy from the trinity that flow(s) through to fill all of (you)......see the universe being created in a single exhalation of the Brahma's breath. ….. understand the delicacy with which Vishnu balance(s) everything between creation and death. The physical (will) subside as Vishnu's cycle (comes) to and end. The lasting resonance of the syllable (will) sound inside (you) as Shiva's sphere (begins) to ascend.” The Death of Vishnu – Manil Suri
Maha Shivratri is the 'Great Night of Shiva', a Hindu festival celebrated every year during the black moon (usually February) in reverence of Lord Shiva. The festival marks the convergence of Shiva and Shakti (shakti means creative beauty power and intelligence and is the feminine side of this powerful imagery of Shiva Lord of the Universe, Lord of the Dance etc..). Shivratri is characterised by all-day fasting and all-night-long
bhagan singing in Shiva temples. Pushkar like most Hindu places, has many Shiva temples (maybe hundreds). These temples are adorned with flowers and a special Shivratri mix of plants and fruits that represent various aspects of Shiva and
Eck sau aath mandir - puja making
Each nandi bull is slightly different. 108 of them. homage to the gods.
The day before Shivratri the weather started to get icy again (by end of February things are generally warming up in northern India) as if Shiva's power was descending from his abode in Mt Kailash (Himalayas). On Shivratri itself, we got rain and hail storms with the streets flooding. Full power! I had woken early to take my usual round of the lake – there was a festive atmosphere about - “
Om nama Shivaya” all over the place, and special
pujas being performed at Shiva
lingums around the town.
There is very special Shiva temple next to the lake which is mostly kept locked up – except for all day of Shivratri. Called
Eck sau aath Mahadev Ghat mandir it has 108 small Shiva
lingums and
Nandis (bulls – Shiva's steed) lining the walls of the courtyard around the small inner sanctum. These statues are very old and truly magical. I visit early and often during the day to take it all in.
Bhang is a pulped form of marijuana which is either consumed whole and washed down with water or dissolved in flavoured milk or yoghurt – it is very much part
Another angle of the 108
108 is a special number in Hinduism and Buddhism - malas have 108 beads. of celebrating Shivratri, and so my Brahmin friend Mohun (who I trust with these things – you don't want to take too much of this stuff or it can seriously mess with your head) prepares me a glass. It makes for a very pleasantly chilled out afternoon and evening.
All over the place there were parades with baskets and baskets of flowers being strewn all over the streets. For some reason I kept missing them (no, it was not the
bhang) and only seemed to catch the sweepers at the end piling the flowers into heaps for the garbage cart.
While my local friends all spoke of fasting, it was a bit slippery really – apparently the fast is only about not taking flour or vegetable. So I was invited to lunch at my friend Satya Naryan's home (I first met him in 1983 here) and feasted on creative non-flour, non-vegetable dishes including the most gorgeous semolina
halwa.
That night my friend and I attended Golmuk – a Shiva temple in the hills at the back of Pushkar – for
prasad (food prepared and first presented to the gods before being handed around – there was a
truly divine carrot
halwa) and
bhagans (holy songs) and lots of
chai. We spent about 4 hours there but piked out on the all night event (leaving around 10pm). A very special energy.
A full day – no emptiness here.
Om nama Shivaya!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.301s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 16; qc: 86; dbt: 0.1894s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
PDB
Pradnya Badkas
Om Namah Shivay!
Hope there were no effects of bhaang on you Paul :) Have seen people laughing and crying insanely under it's influence.