Photo gallery of pilgrimage to Varanasi-II- Dawn at the very ancient banks of Varanasi!!

Gazing at the Sun rising with abated breath is my cherished passion. I have seen the Sunrise many times in Pondicherry but capturing the whole great event with a camera lens was not possible due to some or the other hitch. In the past three years whether I went to Puri or Pondicherry or Kanya Kumari, all eastern parts of India where the Ocean provides us the whole horizon, due to bad weather, taking pictures of the complete ceremony was never possible. Every time there was something missing. If the weather was good, sometimes floating clouds would block the view as it happened in Kanya Kumari and the variety of colours and shades would get camouflaged..

Persistence pays. When I least expected, the best happened by God’s intervention. I could see the best Sunrise in the eastern part of India so far. It was a memorable day. It would not be an exaggeration if I say that Sunrise at Varanasi was the most spectacular Sunrise I ever saw so far in my life! What splendid moments! What a Rising it was!! Waves of warm energy arising and tingling in the body as the Sun erupted suddenly and then ascended so quickly in the sky!

We reached the Dashashwamedh ghat at dot 5.30 am with our cameras and an unbiased mind.

The sky and Ganga water were very calming, lovely pink and lavender every where. 

All eyes set on the semi circle, inverted pink halo over the land, so much energy emitted by the yet to show Solar body

After a wait of more than 10 or 15 minutes, we get to see a small dot of the Sun

When we brought our boat back to the ghat after seeing Sunrise from a point, another memorable spectacle…. Moon near an ancient temple. Sun was on east side and the Moon on the western side. Humbly prostrated to the two heavenly bodies made by God and an integral part of our very existence…..

Golden lights from several sources from the ghat falling on shaking and moving waters created magic, a very beautiful sight to see!

When we left the boat, we decided to take a short walk on the sprawling ghat. It was now warm and the sunshine recharged us. 

Some interesting scenes when there was a little humour and a bit of laughter too…….

Self Realization is an internal action to perform, externals not needed please!

Varanasi ghats are very, very active more so Dashashwamedha Ghat. Thousands of people doing their own thing uninterested in other person’s preoccupation. Nonetheless, there is something common amongst all. In some way or the other people do remember God, their own Gods in their own peculiar way.

No one knows since when these river banks have been active but for sure the Rig Vedas and other Vedas must have originated from here in search of Truth. Some rishis meditated enough, prayed enough until God reciprocated in the form of hyms.

Throughout all the madness in the sea of people, I was humming these lines  on the ghats which I heard in the television series Bharat Ek Khoj some years back-

Srishti se pehle sat nahin thaa, asat bhi nahin
Antariksh bhi nahin, aakaash bhee nahin thaa.
Chhipaa thaa kyaa, kahaan, kisne dhaka thaa?
Us pal to agam, atal jal bhi kahaan thaa……

Sanskrit lines

नासदासीन्नोसदासीत्तादानीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमापरो यत |

किमावरीव: कुहकस्यशर्मन्नम्भ: किमासीद्गहनं गभीरं ||

This first stanza is in Sanskrit (Rig Veda, Book 10, Hymn 129, also known as Nasadiya Sukta)

https://archive.org/details/SristeSePheleSongDoordharshan

After we saw whatever we could at the river banks, we set out to other important places. 

We went to touch the Lotus feet of Shri Lahiri Mahashayaji. His house is still there but no one lives in it. My another wish finally fulfilled.

 Ma Anandmayi’s Ashram in one corner of the city.

Saw this bloom just before we found the ashram after a little bit of search. This is a hospital-Ma Anandamayi hospital.

The inmates were very nice to us. We were even asked to go and visit the second floor of the ashram. Very thankful to the ashramites. The ashram also has a Kanyapeeth or school for young girls who will be inducted as Brahmacharinis in future.

My view from top……

A memorable visit, Grace unfolding at every step. Thank you God.

22.04.14.

My post has finalized around 10.45 pm.But I have decided to publish this post at Sunrise tomorrow. It would be such a wonderful time to read it at that calming and spiritual time!

At Sunset today, I wrote one poem which was posted on Face Book. It does not have a link and hence I decided to paste it on the same post so that all the readers who do not have FB profiles can read it. I am definite that there will be something for each one of us. Agreed, that this photo gallery has become quite big but so has our divine family.

Time to pray!

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Sunrise and Sunset are favourable times to pray and plead,
To the Divine Father and Mother and to our beloved Thee.
Catapult your innermost requests and appeals and urges,
To that One, holding you with its tender, imperceptible arms and glare.
For that Power and Dynamism shall start embarking
Towards your inner self and your eyes shall open from deep sleep!

Wake up to know that praying is utmost important,
For our belligerent soul and sleepy mind.
Whenever calmness overpowers you, in those times,
Quickly catch hold of that Benevolent Being,
Who is eternally awake and forever free!
Whenever you become a child and He your Guardian,
Remember that you shall always be attended to whatever it is!

Actions we must perform which are benign and beneficial,
For deliverance, for redemption and for our penance.
Actions performed with God in the centre and I on the fringes,
Shall always return with auspiciousness, hope and every goodness.
Aspire to transform yourself and pray to become one such God’s child,
Who shall always perform just those actions,
Which shall arouse everywhere the Presence of that Ever present Being!

Redemption, transformation, deliverance, pardon and pleading,
Should be our daily reflections, prayers and devotion.
Our inner bright Light has been shrouded much too long,
With darkness, dimness, sluggishness and unceasing hibernation.
We are too lazy to remove the dark shroud which was worn by us willingly,
Are we not too tired wearing that heavy robe which is contagious and murky?

Those blessed souls who live their days and nights and live in God’s radiant love and Light,
Call us so many times to return to our real house and Garden of Eden.
Prayers are those moments when they await lovingly to hear, 
At least one little faint murmur or a small voice that invokes the Divine for inspiration and deliverance.
If you invoke, if your urge, if you request humbly,
To free your bonded soul and sluggish and bereft mind,
Guaranteed you shall be heard in the corridors of the Heavenly Father’s House and His Divine family!!

Pray with humility, pray with devotion, pray with greatest faith, pray with heart’s flood gates flung wide open undyingly.
Pray with sincere fervour, pray with submission and, 
Pray with continuous intense calling and pray with simplicity.
Pray with invocation, pray with all your attention,
Pray for your deliverance, pray for your complete transformation. 
And pray in heart’s absolute silence till the time when you disappear and arrives His brilliant Presence!!!