Jamalpur

The small city of Jamalpur in Munger District, Bihar is the birthplace of Baba, the founder and Guru of Ananda Marga, It is therefore a place of is of great significance and joy to margiis. Being the home to the biggest railway workshop in South East Asia is Jamalpur's other claim to fame.

For a spiritual practitioner this place is a wonderworld. In the field and hills above the city saints and developed yogis have performed meditation for hundreds and thousands of years. Hence Jamalpur is a highly vibrated place well suited for spiritual pursuits. If you don't know what "a good place for meditation" means it could be likened to the difference bwetween ice cold water and nice warm water for swimmers, or a proper learning environment and a good teacher for education, etc. Anyone who performs sports, arts, etc., at higher levels knows the difference between highly conducive and less helpful environments, and so do those who perform spiritual meditation. Of course, as meditation is inner work it can be performed anywhere irrespective of the immediate surroundings in one's daily life . Anyway, after coming here Erlend suggested we stay on for some days more so that we may properly enjoy the atmosphere as well as the company of the margiis here who had the privilege of knowing Baba intimately. We therefore abandoned our plans for the Rajgir arts festival in order to devote ourselves more to spiritual sightseeing and the company of devotees at Jamalpur.

It is the third time that Trond visits Jamalpur. One thing he noticed this time is how much damage to the environment the mining of the hills in the area have done. Much of the Death Valley and large chunks of the hills at the north end of the field including parts of the ascendence to Kali Pahar (Kali Hill) have been blowed away in recent months and years. Soon the whole landscape may be gone if this large-scale demolition is allowed to continue.

On Sunday October 25 we went into Death Valley as it is called owing to a story of a mass slaughter by one army of another a long time ago. The valley's fearful atmosphere is famous and locals advise against entering the valley after dark -- it is thought to be haunted by the souls of those who were closed in here to meet a cruel death once upon a time. Desolate Death Valley is therefore a favourite place for tantrikas who prefer to meditate in peace at night. We chose early morning as our time of entering and truly enjoyed our walk up through the valley in splendid solitude. Finally a lonely, most natural and unpolluted place in India, teeming with flowers, butterflies and sing-song birds! After first having passed the areas destroyed by mining we came into the other half of the valley, untouched and verdant. Midway we sat in the shade of a big tree for meditation. Out at the other end we were greeted with stunning views of undulating hills and vast agricultural fields to the north-east of Jamalpur, and, to the right of the rear of the valley, breathtaking view of Jamalpur city and its surroundings, much more impressive view than from Kali Pahar. It takes about 30 minutes to walk up Death Valley, an effort richly rewarded with deep silence, calm, natural beauty and the breathtaking view of the Gangetic plain around Jamalpur. Be sure to set aside a public holiday such as Sunday for coming here as weekdays are cordoned off -- and there aren't any street lights to brighten up the nights in this valley.

Atop Kali Pahar 

At the mouth of Death Valley when entering from Jamalpur railwaybridge and the lake below Kali Pahar there is a large old tamarind tree that also attracts spiritual interest. It is another most wonderful spot to which we shall return for night meditation.

Under the tamarind tree 

As you probably understand by now Jamalpur is something of a fairytale land for the spiritual thirsty. On Saturday we ascended the Kali Pahar for meditation at Baba's spot there and enjoyed the grand views both over Jamalpur town and the interior jungle stretching far into the north. Earlier we had walked on the field beneath the hill where Baba used to go ever so often. Back then it was more of an outskirt, even wild terrain but these days most of the field with the Tiger's Grave and other remarkable spots and tantra piithas has been turned into a golf course! It is surreal to sit down on the grave and on any other spot there to be surrounded by eager golfers who seem to be in dire need of a green card crash course most of them ;)

Tiger's Grave in the field above Jamalpur town 

For those of you who have no idea of the "Tiger's Grave" it harks back to the year 1864 when a tiger and an Englishman both died in their mutual clash as a result of their encounter there. The tiger's grave was a favourite sitting place for Baba where he brought many disciples and performed various works. The Englishman's grave is just a few meters away.

The Englishman's grave 

The inscription on the Englishman's grave 

Nothwithstanding the various encroachments upon the legacy of Baba and other spiritualists of the area, the sweet powerful vibrations of blessed Jamalpur remain very obious to visitors. The Ananda Marga jagrti must be one of the biggest in the world. The spacious meditation hall with its rich accoustics make Sunday Dharmacakra a great experience with around 60 local devotees in attendance. Baba's small room on the original 1950s tiny establishment is the definite place for meditation where very little effort is needed other than closing the eyes.

Accross the street of the jagrti Ananda Marga runs a school with some 75 children.

Too late for admission here 

The present principal is Acarya Mantracaetanyananda took very good care of us. We can only recommend margiis to come here regularly. Best times for visiting: September/October to February/March, as the summer months are very hot. When you have arrived be sure to arrange for a guided tour so that you can familiarize yourself with all significant places, like the ones we mentioned, Baba's birthplace, the office where he worked, his living quarters after marriage, the interesting corridor from those quarters to the jagrti, etc., and then have ample time for yourself to enjoy your favourite spots for days and nights together!

Erlend and Acarya Mantracaetanyananda Avadhuta,
Principal of the Ananda Marga Primary School at Jamalpur

Tuesday night we will unfortunately leave Jamalpur for the great arts festival in Varanasi, Shiva's city. So long.

Happy Diipavali!

On Saturday Oct 17 we celebrated Diipavali in Bhuvaneshvar in the state of Orissa. Diipavali is perhaps the greatest festival in India celebrated over many days with great intensity culminating on the main night in an inferno of fireworks and bombs that last from sunset around 6 pm to midnight. It is very difficult to have a normal conversation during those hours due to the unbelievable noise and incessant fireworking. Those who only had the experience of a western new year's celebration should really try this one! We enjoyed it from the roof of the jagrti building in Bhuvaneshvar, a large three storey building that houses an Ananda Marga pre-school and organisational activities here. Diipavali means "row of lamps" and all homes, buildings, etc are decorated with lamps. The typical home decoration is rows of tiny oil lamps and elsewhere electrical arrangements have made much forray. As we write it is Thursday and still explosions are heard here and there in most places in India.

Earlier on Saturday we had visited Konark and Puri by a friend's car. The suntemple at Konark is huge, a tourist magnet famous for its erotic scultpures on the temple walls. The entire construct is a massive wagon on many colossal wheels drawn by huge creatures, a magnificent tribute to the sun. We did not like though that we had to pay 25 times as much for the entrance fee as the Indians have to. The authorities have made such rules at many sights in India, they make foreigners pay a whole lot more. It seems the taxi drivers follow up on it even as they just don't accept normal pay from us. A breach with the traditional Indian hospitality methinks. In Puri we were simply outdone by the massive Hindu crowd that were out burning straws ("their karma?") and doing other rituals at the Jagannath temple, so we never made it up to the temple walls there. Not a big problem as foreigners are not allowed inside that temple anyway. Walking on the beach of the Bay of Bengal at Puri was grand and very refreshing in the hot afternoon. Te Indian families know how to bath together, playing and enjoying in the waves like anything! On way we also managed to climb a hill outside of Bhuvaneshvar where there is a spectacular view from a Buddhist peace pagoda constructed by the Japanese we heard in memory of some Hindu royal who had converted to Buddhism. The vast landscape stretching out in numerous ricefields and other crops is just so green these days right after the monsoon. A very beautiful sight.

At the Japanes pagoda 

At Konark

Found a new friend at Konark

Orissa is a beautiful coastal state and like most of the other eastern areas it is very poor. The contrast between the serene, colourful landscapes and the devastating poverty is really ugly. The exploitative forces that keeps sucking the wealth of these poor states are generally found in western parts of the country and abroad. As a consequence of its huge exploitation India is a remarkebly apathetic and at the same time radicalized country. Nothing is hidden here, the multiplicity of Indian life is also found in its soco-economic, political and cultural spheres. Typically in the airport of Hyderabad there are piles and long racks of books on poverty, ecological democracy, upirisings, leftist politics, and works by thinker and activists such as Vandana Shiva and Arundhati Roy, along with the timepassing literature usually found throughout the world's airport lounges. We had never seen such an amount of radical literature in an airport before.

The freshness of the Bay of Bengal, at Puri

By coming there we have deviated from our original travel plan, which we thought we would do at some point. The reason for our deviation was a visit to a homeopathic doctor recommended to us. We visited him and his family on Sunday 18 Oct in Banth village a few hours from here. A trip into the quiet, beautiful interiors and not the least to the traditional hospitality of rural India. Were we taken care of! The love, care, smiles, simplicity. The lost treasures of contemporary urban life, not to speak of western individualist society.

Monday we did Bhuvaneshvar city. We saw some exquisite example of the local Kalinga temple style with wonderfully balanced architecture and graceful ornamentation and figurines. We weren't allowed inside the Lingaraj Shiva-temple by a young Brahmin boy. One wonders how long the exploitative upper castes of India can hold on to their horrible positions of supremacy. We also visited an area of Jain caves. Tuesday (yesterday) we left for Patna, which wasn't on our plan either. Originally we had thought to go by train up to Jamalpur but most recent hard political violence en route in the states of West Bengal, Jharkandh and Bihar has made us think differently. Even in Munger next to Jamalpur Maoists last week burned a railway station. They have destroyed rail tracks and public buildings in many places along where we were supposed to travel. It is not difficult to understand why peasants ("Maoists") in those areas are desperate; the explotation is extreme. They therefore have our sympathy and understanding but we don't want to be involved in violent troubles just like that. We arrived safely in the grand Ananda Marga jagrti in the blessed city of Jamalpur last night, Here we will do plenty of meditation an enjoy the company of great spiritual people. So long.

Everyday yoga and meditation is a good way

to spend holidays and everyday life as well

Hyderabad, and some previous stuff

Coming into the state of Andhra Pradesh we got the feeling that we are leaving the deep south and getting the whiff of north India again. The Muslim rule in this area lasted right up to 1948 when the people launched a movement to join the rest of the newly independent Indian union. The state capital Hyderabad teems with large and beautiful expressions of Muslim architecture. Many of the large public buildings like the High Court look like Muslim palaces. In the inner city area of Charminar the Muslim population is 70%. Taking a walk around there in the evening is like being in an Arab country -- wonderful bazaar ambiance! But one also remembers having read horrible descriptions of communal unrest that are not uncommon right here, and one shudders of what may be happening here again in a not too distant future if these difficulties are not sorted out permanently.

Erlend at Golconda fort, Hyderabad

Golconda fort is an enormous establishment within Hyderabad. It is now mostly a ruin. From the top, quite high!, one enjoys a spectacular view of Hyderabad city and its surrounding, which seemed to us mostly a pleasant green landscape. We also visited the Salar Jung museum where we saw astounding ivory works and wood carvings, amongst so many other items.

In this area too organisations are busy rendering relief work. Today we met with Gyandev who heads the AMURT work from here. He is doing heroic work, distributing whatever foods, drinking water, bathing soap, and other minimum necessities that he can get hold of. After the recent floods hundreds are dead, nearly a million have become homeless in this state of Tamil Nadu and in north Karnataka. It hadn't rained like this in a hundred years here. The rain seems to have stopped now. Before it rained the people only experienced drought. This year the monsoon was very minimal throughout India and there is food shortages with food prices skyrocketing everywhere.

At Vivekananda Rock, Kanyakumari

In India it is not always easy to get an Internet connection. So we're behind on giving you some more photos. When in Trivandrum we went down to Kanyakumari, which is the southernmost tip of India. Three oceans meet there: the Bay of Bengal, the Arab Sea, and the Indian Ocean. A few meters off shore we visited Vivekananda Rock where there is a temple and some other memorials of this national hero saint who visited the USA and did much work in India to generate national religious consciousness. Nowadays it is tourist place and we only spent a few hours there before returning to Trivandrum.

Outside the Vishnu temple in Thiruvanthapuram

Foreigners do not have access to many Vishnu-temples in India. Here Erlend stands outside the biggest Vishnu-temple in Thiruvananthapuram. But finally, in Mysore, we were allowed inside one and it was nice to see an ancient Vishnu-temple from inside there.

Us at the beginning of the journey, in Delhi on day 1, 22 Sept. 2009

Lastly, a picture taken by Trond (right) of us both, on our first day in India, in front of some old protected monument at Malviya Nagar, Delhi. This is more than three weeks ago. Since then Erlend the sweetmeat explorer has gained a couple of kilos -- but he is still underweight -- while Trond has shed about seven kilos and is approaching something that would be considered normal. We have decided to take a similar photo on that spot on our last day in India mid December for the sake of documentation. That's all for now, all the best to you wherever you are!

In the Deep South

Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) is the capital of Kerala, in the southernmost parts of India. It is warm and some places down here are humid too. We stayed with Acarya Sadashivananda in his ashram on the outskirts of town, where he runs a KG cum primary school for some 50 children. A very pleasant large garden property with tall coconut and other palm trees. It rained very hard some times during our stay. Hundreds of people lost their lives and very many more their homes in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states. The Ananda Marga people we stay with have therefore been busy in relief work. They are known for their expertise in removing dead bodies, cleaning out houses, distributing food stuffs, blankets, etc. -- not only in India but in most coastal south Asian countries especially after the 2006 tsunami. One night it rained so heavily that we could not go for the scheduled concert. Instead we listened throughout the night to the awesome drum beat of Mother Nature on the roof over our heads. Otherwise we attended two evenings of stunning vocal and dance performances at the Soorya festival here. The quality of classical south Indian art is something to be experienced, highly recommended! One day we visited Mysore, a historical royal city with a fantastic palace, grand temples, the vast Vrindavan gardens and other great sights. From Trivandrum we left for Bangalore and the AMURT relief HQs there where they were very busy rendering relief in areas hit hard by the rains, collecting funds amongst city people for the benefit of those suffering in the rural areas, etc. One night we were entertained at the home of Prabha, Sashirainjan and their two boys Dhyanesh and Devesh. We were much amazed by their level of education, which we found to be well beyond the Scandinavian. Devesh is 5 and spoke fluently with us in English and was able to show ample proof of his academic achievements in areas of writing, maths, etc. Dhyanesh rendered a beautiful song by Michael Jackson and played the keyboard very cleverly. We had a wonderful night with this most hospitable family. From Bengaluru (Bangalore) we left for Chennai (Madras) to attend the Ananda Marga Dharma Maha Sammelan (DMS) at a community hall there. It turned out a grand weekend with plenty of inspirational company of margiis from these parts of India, singing, dancing and meditating together, and listening to very good speeches by the spiritual head of the global Ananda Marga organization, the Purodha Pramukh. The food served at this meet three times a day was wonderful, south Indian specialties galore! We stayed at a nearby lodge and had a very good time indeed. Today we’re doing Chennai before leaving for Hyderabad tonight. It is very humid and well above 30 degrees here -- sweaty! From Hy'bad we will try to upload some more photos from the recent weeks for you. So long.

There - And Back Again

We made it to Kedarnath -- and back! The starting point was breakfast at Sonu's in Haridwar.

Sonu and Erlend on the breakfastfloor 

Sonu is sales director of the Ands company that manufactures torches and larger light equipments at Haridwar and distribute throughout India. His wife and newborn boy were away to his family in Bihar and he took very good care of us. What a good cook Sonu is; his curry (a subtly spiced soupy – based on yoghurt – dish with drops of deep-fried chickpeaflour sunk in) is very tasty! Haridwar means gateway to the Lord's realm. It is the threshold to innumerable holy sites and places of great scenic beauty in the western Himalayas. When we logged last we were on a day trip to Rishikesh just north of Haridwar.

Erlend in the Ganges at Rishkesh

Trond in front of statue of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, India's great freedomfighter and powerful leader, at Haridwar

The next day we started for Kedarnath. It was one hell of a trip, we tell you! As if the most twisted driving of those bus drivers wasn't enough ("Licence for highway, not for runway" shouted one of the many evocative road signs along the narrow and most curved mountain road) we were hindered by enormous landslides that provided for a 14 hours drive around the Theri dam and beyond, interesting areas which we hadn't seen otherwise. The Theri is monstrous in size and rather grotesque in its barreness – a vast artifical lake that has shifted villages and rural people to urban districts for the sake of supplying power to New Delhi and other centers. After reaching late in Gaurikund where we stayed overnight at a noisy guesthouse (may the world's producers of good earplugs live long and happily) we proceeded on ponies to Kedarnath, a steep 14 kms climb from 2000 to ca. 3600 meters. A broad stony path winding up through the last stages of  the Shivalik hilly forest that waned somewhere halfway up as the snowclad Kedarnath gradually emerged and graced us with its majestic presence. A wonderful sight! We enjoyed that ascent that beautiful morning very much. Prepared for rain and cold we only had to enjoy a very briht and warm day. Kedarnath once was and still is the seat of Shiva, that great personality, the father of Indian civilization who lived in these parts some 7000 years ago. He taught people good social customs, spiritual practices, music, dance, and medicine that was to become "Ayurveda".  Shiva also founded the city of Varanasi where He stayed during the winter months.

Kedarnath temple 1300 yrs old

After visiting the temple we proceeded a short while into the surrounding green terrain that eventually leads up to the snowclad mountain and found a nice stone with a hollow dip in it shaped just like a comfortable seat on which we sat for meditation. For your information that place is very, very good  for spiritual meditation. It is as if the entire area emanates divinity!

Meditating at Kedarnath

Most visitors stay overnight and take their time and visit some lake, glacier or temple around there. But we had arrived late in India and had to get back to Gaurikund the same day. On the way down in particular we had to admire the guts of numerous pilgrims walking on foot all the way without any previous physical training. It seems their intense devotion, or in some cases we suppose a rather dogmatic belief in karmic consequences, alone drives them. In any case it is mind over matter.

With our ponyman Rakesh on way down,

somehow smiling in spite of scrutinating pain in bottom

Back at the guest house in Gaurikund we could register ponyriders' post-stress syndrom manifested to a great extent in our behinds, and we were sunburnt. But we were elated as to our achievement and bore our pains calmly and with a degree of satisfaction actually. We had been to Kedarnath, the most inaccessible of all main holy spots of any religions! Our somewhat poor physical condition prohibited us from visiting Triyuginarayan village where Parvati and Shiva married. Next day we instead proceeded by bus to Devprayag where Alakananda and Bhagirathi rivers meet, which are to be the great Ganga (Ganges) shortly thereafter. We unwinded at peaceful Pious Ganga guesthouse and could proceed to Haridwar by another bus next day. On the way we were halted by road maintenance and we could see the terrible effects of  rain and landslides. The landslide that had turned us around on our way up was huge and had taken place just moments before we were to pass there. Coming back to Sonu in Haridwar was super nice, and we made the evening even sweeter by providing sugary delicacies for dessert. Next day we bordered the afternoon mail train to Delhi and the ashram which is our main hub for the whole adventure in this country. As we did not get  online there we now write from Thiruvananthapuram where we shall enjoy a long arts festival and other things (particularly sweets, Erlend specifies). More about that soon.