Photo tag

Dont recall who it was, all i remember is that a blogger friend tagged me....

Rules of this tag... :

1. Open your first photo folder.
2. Scroll to the 10th photo.
3. Post the photo on your blog and tell the story behind it and
4. Tag people to do the same...[optional]

This is a photo clicked in Coorg, outside our cottage.. A jr, my friend-Apar's son brought this flower for her .. and we then decided to take some shots using the flower.... A trip that brings back wonderful memories, beautiful times spent with friends, and the amazing weather through the journey!!!

Am not really gonna tag anybody.. Whoever is interested, can take it up and put it up!!!

Ambur - Leather and biryani!!

It was my great uncle [gramma's bro] 60th bday- shashtiabdapoorthi on 21st Sep, and we all decided to drive down, just 3hours from Chennai, and the roads are beautiful!! Where did i go? Ambur~~ Almost halfway betwen Chennai and Bangalore, it is about 190kms away..

Though it is not a hot shot town or has some major tourist spots, the drive down long empty roads, lush greenery on either side, mountains welcoming the clouds as they floated above.

Now that is how awesome the NH46 is!!!  Plus i had my google maps on in my phone and was enjoying the keeping track of where we are, how much further chat with my uncle and gramma!! :) A whole new experience, let me tell you..

Thanks to the recent bouts of rains, the roads within the town were quite bad, and the one that led to my uncle's house, well, it was missing! yep, the last time we came here, there was a rickety one, this time we had to get off 100yards away, and walk across stone and rubble... They had laid a sewer system bang across.. and were apparently gonna lay a road over it.. Wonder when that will happen!!

 

The Town of Ambur, part of Vellore district, is filled with people working in the Leather industry... Most of whom are Muslims! infact, that is how my uncle moved there, he joined a famous leather company...Hence, it the name "Leather City". Some of the big names that have manufacturing units here are Farida Shoes, Bonaventure, NMZ, and so on...

The one thing we were all looking fwd to was digging into a Kala jamun.. It is almost like a gulab jamun, except not floating in sugar syrup.. It is black in color as the name suggests and has a bit of khoya or dry fruit hidden inside.. Quite big in size too, it is delicious...

 The function went off well.. Since it was just close family, we had a ball.. Pulling each others legs, generally kidding around!! Oh, w3e also got to stay at a new hotel- Hotel Anand, on the main road, about 5mins from my uncle's place.. Quite a large place, and rooms were very nice.. I think we were among the 1st few customers..:) Sheets were brand new, they even gave us mini soaps and toothpastes... The beds were still in their plastic cover..

Corridors and floors filled with rooms.. Not cheap, altho that took us by surprise, since Ambur is a fairly small town.. The room rent per day was Rs1100, and for an extra bed we had to shell out Rs200..They dont have a restaurant, but the guy gets coffee from nearby store..!! Not too good, but what the heck!!

Anyways, we were there just for a day, next time i want to look around town, explore some of the history hidden in the walls of the town...

For now, adios!!

Holy Trails...

 

A boat jetty while on the train

After the wonderful weekend trip it was time for a family outing.. Spent less than 24hours in Chennai before i was off on the train to Mangalore, to head towards Sringeri.[one of the 4 Mutts established by Adi Shankaracharya]. We are all followers of this Mutt and my grandparents make couple of trips during the year. Me - well, i go once in a while!! :)

 

The Main Sharadambal temple

My cousin's poonal [ Holy thread ceremony] was slated for 4th June, so we booked tickets for the 2nd June!! I was travelling with my parents after ages, felt nice... :) Packed 3sarees[yes, here we wear only sarees, atleast around the temple campuses] , 2 salwars, other essentials, and i was set!!

On the steps of River Tunga..

 The train journey was very nice... esp while we were going past Kerala.. The back waters, West coast, the ocean waves lapping against the shore, fishermen on their small boats, absolutely scenic and breath taking...

 

Elephants during evening snack

We reached Mangalore around 9.30am on 3rd, hopped into the cab waiting for us and headed towards Sringeri. The route is scenic, Ghats are beautiful and there is something mystical about them. if you were look out the window, you can see River Tunga flowing peacefully down below [except during the monsoons, where she rages on]... Takes about 2.5 hours to reach Sringeri, and by the time we checked into our room it was 12.45pm...!! Normally, we halt at Hotel Sreenivas for breakfast, but since we had already had some on the train, we rode along...

 

Vidhyashankar temple

Sringeri is one such place where people come for religious purposes, to admire the architecture, worship Gods and Goddesses or as a tourist spot.. Early on, there wasnt so much of Tourist crowd that used to throng the place, but now that crowd is enough to put me off!! eeks... people crawling all over the place, noisy and dirty!! hehehe..

The stone idol of Adi shankara in the garden

A place i've been familiar with for over 15yrs is where am most comfortable wandering about in. No worries of getting lost, or running into dead ends. Priest, admin office staff and even security guards know me quite well [ thanks to grandparents frequency and having known me since i was in my teens]

 

The Bridge with uncle waving n aunts following close at heel

The main temples to visit here are all within the campus-

Sharadambal temple

Adi shankara temple- which is being renovated

Sri Vidhya shankar temple- part of the Heritage sites - a must see for its rich architecture...

Thorana Ganpathi- a small ganapathi fixed on the threshold

Malayala Brahma

Sri Balasubrahmanya - Murguan temple right on the banks of the river TIunga

Sri Chandramouleeswara

Sri Malahanikareswara- Shiv who resides on top of the mountain..

And then when we cross the bridge over the River Tunga flowing through the Mutt, we come to the Narasimha vanam, where The Sringeri Swamiji resides and does Pooja daily.. the place where we go to take his blessings or be a part of the pooja is the newly built haven called Guru Bhavanam ... Beyond it is where Elephants [2 of them], horses[ right now there are 3], Gosala[ home for cows] and deers run about...

Walking across the bridge, watching the moon light up the sky, crickets and other bugs singing aloud, its a mystical feeling going for the Pooja... Sitting in that massive hall, watching Swamigal do pooja to the Chandramouleeswara Linga and Ganapathi, i realised we stop worrying about the daily aspects of our life and are totally immersed in the Pooja...

A place of tranquility where one can simply sit still for hours is how Sringeri feels to me... Yes, i do make a quick visit to all the temples, say Hello to all the Gods and Goddesses, but the best part if the serenity... this is Spirituality according to me!! :)

Evening sky pver River Tunga..

In the evening, i stand on the bridge, looking up at the sky or at the fish fluttering about in the river, feeding on the puffed rice or generally swimming about...

Vyasar Mandapam on the other side of the river

 

Today, the place looks very diff from what it did couple of years ago.. Construction going on everywhere, renovations happening here and there.. The main entrance used to be a beautiful archway, today it is a bundle of concrete debris.. there is a huge 127ft tall Gopuram which is being constructed there...

Best way to travel is to take a train from Chennai to Mangalore, and then a cab/bus to Sringeri.. You have trains at 11.30am daily ,and 5pm[on certain days]

 

Mom n dad ,. as we waited for His Holiness to make an entry

In case you are coming from Blore, then direct buses ply almost every day. Its about 7hrs from Blore ...

Dhyanalingam - peace!!

Calm and serene all around.. nothing but silence greets you as walk along the stone path..

Not a word uttered, only thing on our minds was "what's in store for us ?"

This is how mesmerising - Dhyanalingam,about 30kms from Coimbatore.. Set amidst the wilderness, this is a Isha Yoga centre at the foothills of the Velliangiri mountains.

Dhyana, in Sanskrit, essentially means meditation, and Linga means, the form!!

Call it a religious place of worship, or just a place where one finds peace,  Dhyanalingam, and the palatial Spanda hall [spanning 64,000 square feet] has magical powers!! During our trip to Coimbatore nearly a decade ago, we had the pleasure of making this journey!! The entire family i remember piled into two cars and we drove down in search of this elusive spot.. The sight that greeted us from the car park looked nothing spectacular, all we could see was a huge stone building with a gigantic dome fitted with a small shiv linga on top.

As we walked towards the main building, we came across this large beam- "Sarva Dharma Sthamba"- bearing the signs of "Aum", the " Crescent" and the "Cross" and others belonging to Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Shinto signifying that the meditation center is beyond all religions, faiths & beliefs! On the other side are representations of the 7 chakras in our body..

Walking along the stone path, we had to go up a small flight of stairs to encounter a corridor with stone scultpures on either side- each one depicting different stages in a Sage/sadhu's life.. The last one is that of the great Yoga teacher -- Pathanjali, the renowned author of Yoga Sutras. We were told that the snake covering his head represents the raising of energies through the seven chakras, which is the main objective of meditation and yoga.

If one was to look at the architecture across ancient temples, importance is given to the house of the main Deity only, with a bit of importance to the walkway around the shrine. Whereas, here, the energies of the Dhyanalinga have been consecrated to last for more than 5000 years without any dissipation, which is why one can feel the energy rush as they step into the campus.!! The elliptical dome housing the Dhyanalinga is 76 feet in diameter and 33 feet high. It was built without the use of any cement, concrete or steel but with brick and mud mortar stabilized with lime, sand, alum and herbal additives. It's the only structure of its kind in the world!!

The temple has a cave like structure, the mouth being a seven-headed snake made out of a single stone. The garbhagriha/walkway is circular in its shape. In the center sits the Dhyanalinga , at 13' 9", said to be the largest mercury based live linga in the world. Upon looking intently you see the seven copper rings denoting the seven chakras of a human being.

The linga rests on a coiled snake with seven layers called Avudaiyar..Surrounding the magestic lingam are twenty-eight energy cubicles called 'aura cells' made of brick, looking like little cubicles. They are meant for meditation

After a bit of hesitation, i remember each of us climbed into one, and sat in absolute silence for a few minutes. The kind of power, energy you feel cannot be put in words, but has to be experienced..

Hmmm, i think i wanna go visit here once more!!! 

All pics are from postcards we had picked up at the center and google!! Photography is prohibited around the venue!!

Contact:

Isha Yoga Center Contact Details

Isha Yoga Center,
Velliangiri Foothills,
Semmedu (P.O.),
Coimbatore 641 114, India
Telephone 091-422-2515345
Email: info@ishafoundation.org
Furthur information can be got on www.ishafoundatio.org and www.dhyanalinga.org