Since three years I’m learning meditation. I do Kriya yoga and learn this from my teacher Prakash Vyas. [LINK]
Three subseding years I have been able to see Guruji at least once a year in India. But it did get tiresome to go to Varanasi each year. Last year in August and September it was very very hot as we waited for the monsoon rains that did not come. Still it was good to be there, to practice and study yoga with old friends. Being with Guruji is every time such a learnfull experience. This year I will not travel to India and we already happily spend our holidays in Turkey and Syria as we knew that we would be seeing Guruji in Italy. Guruji and his wife are now in Assisi. So we’re off to Italy for a little yoga retreat until the tenth of October.

And you know actually I feel that I’m starting to miss India. Varanasi is a special city to me, a spritual sanctuary where I can run to. in my memory I can visualize it’s sights, sounds and smells (good or bad) very easily and that’s what I often do before I start my daily practice. Next year we plan to go again but now I find myself only dreaming of Varanasi walking along the Ghats and my thoughts wandering away along the Deep River...

Next week, the time during the new moon will be an auspicious time for mediation. Durga Puja the hindu festival starts with the comming of a new moon on the fourth and lasts ‘till October eleventh. The nine-day period from the new moon day to the ninth day of Ashvina is considered the most auspicious time of the Hindu Calendar and is hence the most celebrated time of the year known as Durga Puja.
Also next week Ramadan the islamic fasting month starts on the fifth and lasts for thirty days.
[2:185] “Ramadan is the month during which the Quran was revealed, providing guidance for the people, clear teachings, and the statute book. Those of you who witness this month shall fast therein…”
The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and months begin when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. Because the Islamic calendar has no correction for the fact that the lunar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Ramadan (Arabic: ????? ) migrates throughout the seasons.

...”Concentration which leads to meditation will happen automatically after you do these yoga postures and you do these breathing exercizes, your eyes are closed you are already in meditation. You don’t have to believe in any of it. But you do an hour or so some sort of yoga and fifteen twenty minutes for instance alternate nostril breathing or something like that. You will be already be in a state of heightened awareness… Which will lead you to meditation. Then you incorporate a mantra of a deity that resonates with you very gently and you will be already in that state…”

Last year we saw the preparations for Durga Puja in Varanasi but during the festival we were already back home.
The nine-day period from the new moon day to the ninth day of Ashvina is considered the most auspicious time of the Hindu Calendar and is hence the most celebrated time of the year known as Durga Puja (4-11 October). The festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil.
Goddess Durga represents a united front of all Divine forces against the negative forces of evil and wickedness. The gods in heaven decided to create an all-powerful being to kill the demon king Mahishasur who was ready to attack them. At that very moment a stream of lightning dazzled forth from the mouths of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh and it turned into a beautiful, magnificent woman with ten hands. Then all the gods furnished her with their special weapons. The image of Durga, the Eternal Mother destroying the demon, Mahishasur is symbolic of the final confrontation of the spiritual urge of man with his baser passions.

Durga, in Sanskrit means “She who is incomprehensible or difficult to reach.” Goddess Durga is a form of Shakti worshipped for her gracious as well as terrifying aspect. The Goddess Durga is Mother of the Universe, she represents the infinite power of the universe and is a symbol of a female dynamism. [LINK]

Originally uploaded by
Jennifer Esperanza.

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