Tirupati - Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir

It was a long 5 hour journey to Tirupati through lush farm lands and small towns with lots of speed bumps in the road - but the destination was well worth it! The Hare Krishna Lotus Temple was built 5 years ago and it is a beautiful blue with different incarnations of Krishna adorning the outside of the temple. They have a guest house and ashram connected to the temple and we stayed literally next door to the temple room and got to attend the 4:15 am worship ceremony that they hold daily! It was very nice to be up so early in the mornings and to see the gorgeous deities of Radha Govinda each day! The food was super spicy and so I had some digestive issues the first day and stayed back at the temple while everyone else hiked up 3000 steps to the top of a mountain to see a self-manifested ancient deity of Krishna known as Balaji. I was at first very sad to not be able to go on that pilgrimage but Krishna had other plans for me. I met a brahmana named Amita Krishna das who told me of a book called Lessons in Spiritual Economics from the Bhagavad-Gita and the man who wrote it, Dhanesvara das was at the temple on a tour of India promoting his book. I was able to do some service by using my video camera and tripod to do a short film for youtube to promote his book to a wider audience via cyberspace! Also he gave an amazing talk during the morning program that was on material consciousness vs. spiritual consciousness which left me with a change of heart and mind about my relationship with the Supreme Lord Krishna. He spoke of the fact that we are all conditioned to think we are the enjoyer and are always looking for ways to gratify and satisfy our senses which keeps our mind in a constant state of flux of who, when, where and what to do next to enjoy the material world not realizing that we will never be fully satisfied with that which is temporary and fleeting and thereby will not find true peace. When we become spiritually conscious we realize as Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita : 

                                                               aham hi sarva-yajnanam
                                                              bhokta ca prabhur eva ca na tu mam abhijananti
tattvenatas cyavanti te

I am the only enjoyer and the only object of sacrifice. Those who do not recognize My true transcendental nature fall down.

Krishna is the Supreme enjoyer and we are the enjoyed. Only when we realize our true constitutional position as servants of God and live to satisfy His senses through chanting, hearing, praying, and offering our food to Him will we ever be truly at peace for only that which is eternal is real.

Sri Sri Radha Govinda and the 8 Principal Gopis

Watch an Ancient Arati Ceremony from Tirupati

MGM HOTEL

I am staying at a nice beach resort near Mahabalipuram that thinks it's straight out of California - they have an amusement park in the front of the property that they have named "Dizzy World"!  Indian people are so funny - its the only place in the world where as a westerner you can feel what it's like to be a "movie star" everyone wants to have their picture taken with you and practice the little english they might know - "Hi", "what's your good name?", "where from?" and "bye" and where everything you say is the funniest thing in the world to them! And no, Dizzy World was not on our agenda - Thank goodness, the rides looked pretty scary and not in a good way +)

We had yoga this morning and then a talk by a "living yogi" from a school in Chennai and he explained that yoga is just a show if it is only about your physical body and becoming more flexible et al. Yoga should be used to bring steadiness and clarity to our minds - which as the Bhagavad Gita says can be either our best friend or our worst enemy. Yoga is necessary as health, longevity and peace are the most important things to living a happy life and it is really the first step on the path of Bhakti yoga, or devotional service to the Supreme Lord - the other nine devotional practices are hearing about God, chanting His Names, remembering Him, serving the Lord, deity worship, praying, thinking of God as your best friend, following His instructions, and surrendering everything to Him. Even if only one of these processes is properly followed one will receive the benefit of all the others and will sooner rather than later make it back home to the spiritual world!

Later in the day we went to a cultural heritage center where they were selling all kinds of crafts from many different states in India and I got some nice gifts for many of you reading this! Tomorrow after breakfast we leave for Tirupati - which is 4 hours away by car and we will be staying at the ISKCON guest house there. I updated the last post and was able to upload the movie so check it out and see Mahabalipuram in less than 5 mins.

Mahabalipuram

Yesterday, we went to Mahabalipuram for a sunrise meditation and saw an ancient Shiva temple, that is no longer in use, on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. We had kirtan there at this 1000 year old temple and as it says in the Vedas, God's names are transcendental and are non-different from the Lord Himself and wherever people are chanting any of His millions of names, He is there as well. Sometimes even the demigods, like Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma come to hear the melodic chanting of God's devotees and as we sung I realized it was probably many, many decades since the temple had heard such heartfelt kirtan and felt Lord Shiva, Krishna's greatest devotee, smiling upon us as we sang the holy names at his temple on the shore.

Shiva Temple

Later we went and had darshan of Lord Vishnu at an ancient temple that is still in use and the difference energetically was very apparent, the presence of God was very much alive and real there and we saw deities of Lakshmi, Nrsimhadeva, and the Murti of Garuda, Vishnu's bird carrier. This city is well known for the masterful skill of their stone carvers and it has one of the largest bas-reliefs in the world, second only to Angor Wat in Cambodia. As you will see in the movie I made above, the craftsmanship is stunning, the music is of course by Red Rock Rishis, Dasarath Pandit from Sedona and yours truly on back up vocals......enjoy!
 

Chennai

The Raintree Hotel 

What a city this is - right on the Bay of Bengal with a new metro rail system being constructed that should be complete in 2 years. I took a motor rickshaw to the beach, got some great video of the city from the rickshaw, and wow is it loud with horns honking constantly to communicate with other drivers and pedestrians - there are no street lines, hardly any lights and pedestrians everywhere and everyone's driving on the wrong side of the road - LOL! You have to be a special kind of driver to drive in this country!

Vijay - My rickshaw driver for the day 

I ate lunch at a great thai food restaurant and am so glad I had so many hot chilies in my garden this past summer - because it has helped prepare me for this trip - Indian chilies put all other ones to shame and the lemongrass soup I ordered left me in tears! I fell asleep at 7 pm as i had been up since 4 am and still trying to get my circadian rhythm back in order....but now its 3am and I'm wide awake!!!!!! But it's a nice time to be awake, everything is so quite and peaceful - I will get footage of the sunrise this morning from the rooftop terrace and will be meeting the rest of the group at noon to head to Mahabalipuram!

On the beach of Chennai - 2nd biggest in the world

Arrival

Lakshmi welcomes us at the Chennai Airport

I landed in Chennai after a day of travel and cried with joy coming out of the airport at being back in the holy land of Sri Sri Radhe Shyam! There is no place like India - the smells, the sights and after being here in 2007 in the north - it left a lasting impression and it was like a homecoming to be back! I was able to sleep most of the 10 hour plane ride from London to Chennai as it was not very full - so I stretched out over 3 seats and only slept a few hours at this great hotel I am at called the Raintree - very nice place in the heart of Chennai - I meet up with the group tomorrow and then we head an hour south to Mahabalipuram which is right on the coast of the Bay of Bengal for 3 days of yoga and chanting and visits to the temples that have been here for hundreds and hundreds of years.

View from my room 

Anticipation......

Happy New Year to all of you, my family & friends! Currently I am in DC where it is cold and snowy - for a few hours yesterday anyway - and I am soooooo looking forward to visiting warm, sunny south India in less than a week! I am going with a group of yogis and kirtaneers for the first 10 days and then off to Goa and Hampi on my own! Check out the group leaders websites to find out more about the initial tour!
Guaravani and As Kindred Spirits
Gopi Manjari - Yoga

This blog is to keep you posted about my daily adventures and I will be adding pictures and videos - so you can travel vicariously to the holy land of India with me.
Much love and many blessings for a peaceful and prosperous 2012!