We left Kanchipuram early Thursday morning to drive (5.5 hours) to beautiful Kumbhakonam.
The hotel grounds were beautiful.
To the Chidambaram Nataraj Temple (1 of 5 Elemental Lingas of Shiva Pilgrima). I will let the photos speak for themselves.
Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with Love (from the bus).
Tuesday we got up early and boarded the bus in Bellur to take us to the Bangalore airport. After a long check in process, we boarded the plane to Chennai where another bus awaited us to drive us to Kanchipuram. It was a long day!
After check in at our hotel, we met in the lobby where our bus was waiting to take us to Ekambaraswara Temple (one of five Shiva temples associated with fire element). It was late in the day when we arrived at the temple.
There were renovations being done on one of the temples which made for a good jungle gym.
I know this is a bit out of chronology but thought it would fit in here. The notice below was sitting on the night stand in our hotel room. Evidently monkeys pose a nuisance.
Blogged on Amma’s iPhone from CGH Earth Mantra Koodam Resort in Kumbhakonam (check this one out online!) with Love.
Here are my final photos of Bellur.
This was our final lunch in Bellur. The Brahmans started preparing Guruji’s favorite meal very early in the morning. The food was Ayurvedic, vegetarian and delicious. No utensils, no napkins. A bit messy, but when in Rome …
I took the following photos on campus while we were taken on tour.
We toured the hospital Guruji had built for the villagers. I especially took note of this sign, making sure I obeyed all the rules. Or else …
There are many old photos of Guruji. The next two are photos I especially like.
Blogged in Amma’s iPhone (on the busride to Kumbhakonam) with Love.
Today was our last full day in Bellur. The bus will be here to pick us up at 6:30am to take us to the Bangalore airport to begin the second leg of our trip. From there we will fly to Chennai.
Since my night time is your morning, I have already had a full Monday. You may be having breakfast, but our last dinner starts soon. I’m already packed with the exception of the toiletries I’ll need before leaving.
Today the Brahmans got up very early and came to cook us a feast for lunch. I took some photos, but you won’t get to see those until my next post because I’m trying to keep my writings and photos chronological. I will say this, the feast was incredible.
We are currently having a thunderstorm, which has been an almost daily occurrence. The weather app is telling me we’ll have more of the same as we continue our journey. Fear not. I brought an umbrella.
The first picture, below, is a view of the practice hall from Salamba Sarvangasana (aka shoulder stand). Because in this pose you balance on your shoulders with the back of the head/neck on the floor looking up to the ceiling, this is what the view looks like. The ceiling has things hanging for acoustic purposes, but it’s really quite abstract and I thought it would make a good photo. I was right.
I will share the final Bellur photos, including the feast, in my next post.
Blogged on Amma’s iDevices with love.
Savita Iyengar, Guruji’s youngest daughter, invited us to her home on campus to check out and purchase sarees if anyone needed one for the pitru paksha ritual. I didn’t need one but attended anyways.
The next morning we had to be up early and ready to go. It was arranged for us to have a woman arrive at 8am to help put our sarees on. It’s a very complicated process. A saree is basically a long “sheet” of material that is wrapped around, pleated to shorten the fabric and then a remaining portion which is prettier, sometimes with tassels, is draped over the right shoulder.
I thought I was clever by putting my own saree on without assistance. It looked great until I was told the sash goes over the left shoulder, not the right.
I was one of the first people to the lobby and instead of waiting for the woman to help, I stopped one of the working ladies headed to her job in the kitchen. She got me all fixed up. By the time she was done, a long line had formed, so she began helping the next person in line, then the next, and the next, and the next, etc.
This lady fixed ALL our sarees! The other lady who was supposed to do it never showed up. The following photo is our new friend taking care of one of the ladies’ saree. You can see how long the saree is before it’s wrapped.
My friend Mimi was on my left, and Bonnie, my roommate, was on my right.
The celebration was wonderful. We had a plate of prasadam (rice, black sunflower seeds, bananas, etc.) for offering to the pitris (ancestors) for purification of the lineage. I was limited in the photos I was able to take, so this is all I can share. There are also a lot of details I will leave out, but I can say that it was very auspicious.
These two men serve our breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, always with a smile on their faces. The orange food on the plate was deep fried plantains. It was the best treat!
And here’s a typical spread of food. This was lunch. Dal is served at every meal. Delicious freshly made yogurt is served every day with lunch and dinner for digestion. I don’t know what the name is for most of the foods I’ve eaten, but it’s all been really good. Everything is made fresh and according to the Iyengars’ strict Ayurvedic diet – no meat. Sometimes a bit spicy for me, but still very good.
After lunch a few of us went for a walk around campus. This first photo is for the grandkids. (They’ll understand)
One of the ladies in our group was feeding bananas to this monkey. Evidently she didn’t understand what a nuisance monkeys can be! The next day, my roommate was sitting on the veranda of our room and a monkey came right up and sat on the ledge! She said she looked out and there were about 14 monkeys hanging around! Then we found out that our neighbors had a monkey come into their room while they were in there and rummaged through their trash can!
That’s it for today. It’s 2:30pm here (2am where you are). We’re given a two hour break every day, so I’m going to take a small nap before going back into the practice hall for lecture.
Oh! Tomorrow is our last full day here in Bellur. Tuesday morning we will get up, eat breakfast and head to the Bangalore airport and begin the second leg of our journey, first to Chennai by plane, then travel through southern India by bus. Hopefully I’ll have time to keep you updated along the way.
Blogged on Amma’s iPad and iPhone with love!
The schedule here has been quite demanding and the weather hot and sticky. However we had a reprieve late yesterday afternoon and evening with lots of thunder, lightening and rain. Fortunately the rain didn’t interfere with our activities.
To be in the place of our Guruji’s birthplace and to be practicing such an auspicious and ancient YOG is quite an honor.
Here are some photos of the campus grounds (more of these to come).
The biggest highlight of this leg of the trip was the pitru paksha ritual, which is done every year on the last day of pitru paksha.
We were required to bring and wear sarees (pronounced “sorry”) to the ritual.
This has been a true bonding experience. There’s more to the saree story and ritual that I’ll save for an upcoming blog post.
Stay tuned for more from Bellur.
Blogged from Bellur with love.
