Yoga-Power in the Yoga-Capital of the world!

It’s raining ‘yogarians’ in Rishikesh this March 1-7 as the International Yoga Festival is going full throttle with the world’s top Yoga-gurus and disciples converging for a trip up the yoga-lane.

What began as a handful of ‘Yoga hope-fulls’ in 1999 is today, an International Yoga Festival – an international event that is much awaited by yoga-enthusiasts world over. Participants range from students to practitioners from 30 countries in this week-long conference, where the ‘Yogacharyas’ and spiritual leaders give discourses and demonstrations of Yoga and highlight its practical implementation and its benefits in our current fast-paced lives.

Jointly organized by the Uttarakhand Tourism Department and the Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, Kundalini Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Power Vinyasa Yoga and Kriya Yoga among others are to be taught in a rare yoga festival where all forms of World Yoga are showcased in a single international event in Rishikesh.

Some of the presenters at the Yoga International Festival are:

Shankaracharya Swami Divyanand Teerthji – commentary on the Holy Scriptures.

Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswatiji – teacher of Vedanta.

Swami Ramdevji – pranayam & yoga.

Padmashri Bharat Bhushanji – yoga.

Swami Yoganndaji - Sukshma Vyayam Yoga.

Radhanath Swamiji (American born) – community development & yoga.

Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa – from Los Angeles, California - Kundalini yoga, meditation and pre- and post-natal yoga training.

Manouso Manos - Iyengar Yoga

Andrew Cohen – spiritual teacher from USA.

Rujuta Diwekar – nutrition and Iyengar and Sivananda yoga.

Marla Apt - from Los Angeles, California – Iyengar Yoga.

Janet Bray Attwood – yoga.

David Wei – Yin & Yang Yoga.

GabrieIa Bozic – from Munic Germany – Jivamukti Yoga.

Emy Blesio – from Italy - Yoga, Pranayama, and Meditation.

What is in your sky tonight?

Ever wonder?

Does it intrigue you enough to make you head to your nearest Planetarium and explore your sky? Were you ever curious about finding out whom you share your skyline with? Did you ever imagine how your sky looks through the eye of a powerful telescope which zooms in celestial bodies which are many light-years away?

My curiosity was evoked so I headed out to the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata.

I did see literature on space-exploration and did hear some intellectual voices preempt the Show content but the actual Space Show out-does all verbal and written descriptions. This picture is truly worth a thousand words and more.

Even before the show had begun, I must highlight the ambience that is created by the physical aspects of the planetarium which creates the right ambience and mood to explore, understand and enjoy the Space. It is 688-seater planetarium with directional seats which allows you to recline back and watch the full spectrum of the sky in 180 degrees-pan. Footsteps are muffled by the thick wall-to-wall carpets. The circular room was air-conditioned and dimly lit. all this heightened my anticipation of what’s to come….

The initially invisible hostess made her presence felt on the mike when she announced that the show would commence in 2 minutes. All piped-down and reclined back and gaped at the sky in silence as the light were turned down and the hostess introduced us to OUR SKY.

It was like nothing before. Simply awesome!!

I felt like an astronaut who drifted from his spaceship and was loosely floating around in space. The telescope zoomed in images of the stars and other space-rocks which were light-years away and magnified them on our concave screen. By the way, one ‘light year’ is a measurement of time wherein it represents the distance covered by light in one year. That’s zillions and zillions and zillion kilometres away! Whoever thought of that!

It so easy to get lost in space…..literally! And I was for those 45 minutes during the show.

The outcome?

Carl Zeiss Home telescope with a tripod…..in 1 year flat!

13 Reasons to holiday in Jammu & Kashmir this summer....

Planning your summer vacation?

I'll give you 13 reasons to holiday in Kashmir this year.

1. The roadblock such as political unrest and militancy in Kashmir has fizzled down which is evident in the upsurge of tourism figures of Kashmir in 2011 which state that in the last 20 years, the year 2011 saw the highest number of tourists visiting Kashmir – more than 10 lakh tourists apart from the 1 crore-plus pilgrims who visited Mata Vaishnodevi’s Shrine and the 7 lakh pilgrims who took the Amarnath Yatra. This boost in tourism in Kashmir has revved up the Government’s plan for better tourist trails and trip packages and amenities this year to keep the momentum going and for a strong hold on the long-awaited triumph of Kashmir Tourism.

2. Winter is over and the snowy mountains are friendlier now for adventure snow sports such as snow-strolling, snow-rolling, snow-skiing, snowboarding, sledding and snow-shoeing or just mountain-scaling. Or how about you just hover over the snowy mountains in one of theworld’s highest gondola cable cars? And if you are trained and have nerves of steel, how about you try helicopter skiing at 12,000 feet?

3. The Himalayan rivers and springs run again in Kashmir after a dormant freeze-period making it a happening place for adventure water sports such as river-rafting, kayaking, canoeing,boating and not to mention trout-fishing and fishing in general.

4. The Lakes of Kashmir – Mountain-lakes as well as the lakes at the glaciers have thawed and add splendour to the landscape and provide excellent boating, camping and picnic spots.

5. The Mughal Gardens have turned bright plush green and present to you ‘Royal Walks’ in the centuries-old gardens with ponds, waterfalls and fountains. The dense Cedar Woods are waiting to woo you.

6. Multi-coloured flowers are in full bloom for miles together in mountain valleys as well as in the plains. The Tulip Garden in April is like Holland in spring. World’s most expensive spice –Saffron is in full purple-bloom for hundreds of acres. The Rose Gardens add ornamental value to these landscapes with their beautiful multi-coloured presence.

7. The wildlife in these high-altitude National Parks, Sanctuaries and Biospheres is out to soak up the sun and to let you see them and photograph them.

8. The high altitude trekking trails through mountains, valleys and meadows and grasslands are ready to take you places you have never been before. And camp in the most gorgeous never-even-considered-sites of the country.

9. The chill air has cleared up and has made the skies more paragliding-friendly.

10. World’s highest motorable pass – Khardung La has gone a little easy on the snow and is waiting to challenge the foreign and domestic dexterous bikers.

11. World’s 7^th highest golf course – among the other golf courses in Kashmir, is waiting to play it rough and tough with you at 9000 feet altitude.

12. And shopping!!!!!!!!!! Tibetan handicrafts and Kashmiri handicrafts especially the precious stones-studded silver jewelry and woollen carpets and other wooden and silver handicrafts just keep taking newer and more attractive dimensions to suit global markets. Need I entice you more?

13. And of course, Shri Amarnathji and Goddess Vaishnodevi and Lord Buddha beckon you for an annual visit to their abode on earth!

And when winter sets in again....get set for the world famous and much awaited Chader Trek on the frozen River Zanksar !!

Har Har Mahadev.....

Tryambakam yajaamahe sugandhim pushti-vardhanam |
Urvaarukam Iva bandhanaan mrityor muksheeya maamritaat ||

is the Trayambaka Mantra popular as the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra from Yajurveda.  

Roughly translated it means we bow with respect to the One with a natural fragrance, one who is benevolent to his devoted, and one who is three eyed and we pray Him to maneuver us from this cycle of life and death and guide on to the path of salvation.

With this prayer on our lips we were on our way to Tanjore to visit the Brihadeeshwara Temple.  All that we heard about this temple and read through the net did not prepare us enough to what we found there. It was the sunny midday of 7 January 2012 and we were proceeding from Tiruvannamalai after visiting the Lord Arunachaleshwara and reached the Brihadeeshwara Temple by 1pm. Our trip was meant to visit Lord Siva pilgrimages in advance to Shivaratri which is on 20 Feb 2012. The idea was to to avoid huge crowds thronging in all Siva temples and have a peaceful darshan of the Lord.  

The moment we looked at the entrance was magical.  The entire structure including the boundary wall seemed to possess a great and ancient charm.  We felt as if we were walking into past in a time machine. Only a divine intervention or co-operation would have made such massive structure to be built centuries ago. We were not at all in a hurry and had no energy to run across the vast expanse of the temple premises after a 17km long walk around the Arunachalam Hill or Tiruvannamalai the day before.  We left our footwear at the entrance with the keeper and moved on.  

We stopped by the Temple History displayed and moved slowly across. The beautiful green and soft lawns of the temple premises were very inviting and we all went to relax for 30 minutes as the temples were closed and were to open only by 4pm.  In the meantime we looked around the huge premises and looked around the statue of the Bull.  The platform on which the Bull stands has a roof adorned with beautiful murals in bright blue colour. It is amazing to notice the fast colors not fading till date. Please zoom in to the image of the write up to read all the historical details of the temple.    

The entire length of the temple boundary wall has several small Shiva Lingams and little bulls (Nandi) placed one behind other forming a beeline.  We walked around the temples and found many scriptures in Devnagari and Tamil languages.  There were students from Chennai who were perched up on the walls making notes of the scriptures.  I asked them if they understood what is written on, one of them said that it was their project that each one of them must copy one line from the wall inscriptions and provide meaning.

Time went by so quickly and we realised it was 4pm and the temples were all open.  We went in the queue to visit Lord Ganesh first.  We noticed that these temples were architectural marvels in terms of the beautiful and intricate carvings on every wall and entrance.  Even the idols of the Deities were so lively and attractive.  The beauty of the deity was competing with the divinity in all the temples of Lord Ganesh, Lord Murugan and Goddess Parvati. The peacock on which Lord Murugan was seated looked marvelous with each feather carved with great care to make it appear real.

After all the above deities we lined up for the Darshan of Lord Shiva (Brihadeeshwara) the main deity of the temple.  Though it was very crowded no one was in hurry or pushing.  The interiors of this ancient temple were peaceful and cool with very highly perched roofs.  The wait in the queue was peaceful and we were for a change enjoying the waiting and appreciating the delay. The main deity is in the form of a 3 ft tall Linga which is placed on a high platform.  Serene and holy surroundings added fervor to the Darshan we had of Lord Brihadeeshwara and we left the temple with great satisfaction. Our next destination on the trip was Srirangam temple at Trichy and calls for a detailed blog for itself which will follow.