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Thanjavur's great temple

This morning on the way to the heart of the Chetinad region we stopped in Thanjavur to visit the temple built by the great south Indian king Raja Raja Chola.
The temple's name is Brihadeeswarar and is an architectural marvel. The 216 feet (66m) tower with its monolithic 80 ton dome is spectacular. The temple is dedicated to god Siva in the form of a lingam which represents god in the aspect of timeless, formless and spaceless known as Parasiva in Sanskrit. The Chola kings were great temple builders and this temple is the crowning example of Chola architecture.

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Feb 24, 2012 Spiritual Tools

I can't concentrate!

A question came in to me on email asking for some insights on concentration. "I can't concentrate. Please help." Here are some of my thoughts on concentration. Most people can't concentrate because they have not been taught how to concentrate and they do not practice the art of
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Feb 24, 2012 Spiritual Adventures

Bathing the Elephant

Driving down the road to Thanjavur, we crossed a river where a temple elephant was about to get one of her two daily baths. We leapt from the bus and hurried down to the river side to watch. Olga led the charge and quickly developed a special affinity with Shamala the eleph
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Feb 23, 2012 Spiritual Adventures

Yoga and Meditation

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Feb 23, 2012 Spiritual Adventures

Visiting the home of a Sari Weaver

After our ceremony at the Airateswar Temple in the village of Darasuram we visited one of the local sari weavers. The town is famous for sari weaving and most of these weavers supply the larger stores in the big cities with their stock of saris. We entered a small home to find a
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Feb 22, 2012 Spiritual Adventures

Lunch with a priest's family

The only way to taste true Tamil cuisine is to be fortunate enough to be invited for lunch with a family. We had that pleasure yesterday when we dined at the home of Kailas Deeksitar, a priest at the spectacular Chidambaram temple. We were greeted by his wife, son and daughter.
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Feb 22, 2012 Spiritual Adventures

Inside the sanctum of Chidambaram

Through our close connections with the priests of Chidambaram, we were able to go into parts of the vast temple that are rarely seen by outsiders. From an elevated balcony, we can look directly onto the golden roof that covers the inner sanctum where Shiva Nataraja is worship
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