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No collection of Indian photos would be complete without some of the rich, colorful, and complex spiritual life of India. For my last set of pictures, I’m going to focus of that aspect of our Indian experience. Then, tomorrow, I’ll get back to writing about writing.
Contrary to the images of peaceful retreats and meditative ashrams (like the pictured in the movie version of Eat, Pray, Love, for example), much Indian spirituality is vibrant, energetic, colorful, and loud. My students discovered this quite vividly when we were invited to participate in an aarti, or fire ritual, at the banks of the Yamuna River.
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| The priest prepares for the ritual as participants gather at the river banks. |
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| Part of the ceremony consisted of pouring milk into the river through special brass horns. |
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| The priest offers blossoms to the goddess Yamuna. |
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| Trays of blossoms wait for participants to throw them into the river. They are thrown at each repetition of the 128 names of the Goddess. |
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| A priest holds a burning torch over the Yamuna River. |
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| My students hold trays of fire with which to honor the Goddess. |
In Vrindavan, the head of our ashram advised us to visit a large temple to Krishna located in the newer part of the city. “There, you will find a spiritual Disneyland,” he proclaimed. To my way of thinking, that was an awful image–but I suddenly realized he meant it positively. “It’s beautiful!” he added cheerfully.
It was, indeed a spiritual Dinseyland, crammed with huge, brightly painted statues, elaborate murals, and even the likeness of a giant five-headed cobra that repeatedly emerged from the ground, then sank down again.
Another modern termple we visited in Vrindavan was this one, built by the Society for Krishna Consciouness, which was crowded with both Indian and American worshippers continually chanting the names of Krishna and Ram.
Much more peaceful and lovely was the Galtaji Temple Complex built around a natural spring set in a gorge just outside Jaipur.
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In addition to these, we visited mosques, Jain temples, Buddhist sites, and Sikh gurudwaras–India is truly a fascinating mixture of religions.