We arrived in Swamimalai last night and were greeted with flowers, music and a baby deer upon arrival at the hotel. We’re staying at the Anandham Swamimalai Hotel that is a lovely eco-resort that cares for local deer and one of the deer just had a baby the day before we arrived. The baby deer let us hold him as we sat in the reception room waiting to check in and we had the double delight of a fantastic foot massages.
We enjoyed an amazing feast for dinner last night and retired to a quite night.
This morning after breakfast we took a bullock cart around the local town. This was pretty cool as we meandered through the quaint town. Children and adults alike greeted us warmly with smiles and hand waving. As we passed one family a little boy handed up a black baby goat and we held him in our arms for a few minutes while he bleated for his “maaaa.” I thought it was a wonderful glimpse into the local rural life. After this we watched a pottery making demonstration and then enjoyed fresh coconut juice from a freshly picked coconut. Yum!
Then we got ready for our next temple visit. With the help of Dandapani’s mother, I got into my sari and off we headed. The Darasuram temple is a 900-year-old temple that after being plundered has now been put under protection by UNESCO. Today the grounds are immaculate and the slow process of repair is underway.
Dandapani had arranged a special ceremony for our group and we got to sit as close to the inner sanctum of the temple as allowed as the priests of the temple chanted and performed a bathing ceremony of a enormous black granite Siva Lingam (the representation of the timeless, formless and spaceless aspect of God). As we sat on the floor it was like looking back into time because the worship we witnessed was performed in the same manner as it has been for thousands of years. In a way, it was easy to forget where I was in time and to just let myself feel the timelessness of all prayer of all people in all places in the past, present and future. After this ceremony, we walked over to the temple next door that housed the Shakti (the female form of the divine) where we experienced a second puja, after which the priests shared some prasadam (offerings) with us that we ate off of a banana leaf as we sat on the temple floor – it was delicious!
After the ceremonies, Dandapani explained that Hindus believe that Siva (the masculine aspect of God) represents the potential energy of life, where as Shakti (the feminine aspect of God) represents the kinetic energy of God. They are one God, but the various aspects of them are represented in different ways in an attempt to understand them. The idea is that if you were to describe a person, you would make a statue that represents various aspects of them…so one statue or murti might represent the person cooking, the second might show them working, a third murti of the same person might show them singing…same person…just different aspects of them. Make sense?
After another magical morning of temples we went to a local sari weaving house and saw women weaving silk on hand looms. We saw saris with such intricate designs that it takes the women up to 20 days to make a single sari – which is 6 yards of fabric.
We ended the evening by visiting a local artisan, a good friend of Dandapani’s whose name is Suri, who casts metal sculptures. Suri explained the process of making a mold and then showed us the pouring of the metal and then the various stages of smoothing out the surfaces and adding the details. It’s given me a deeper appreciation for the work that goes into making a quality statue. We ended the evening with a class on clearing the subconscious mind so that we can meditate and start to work toward accessing the superconscious or intuitive mind. It was another terrific day!
