A Maiden’s Prayer

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Picture of Robin’s mother in prayer on Christmas evening, before the party festivities begin.

A Question Of Confidence

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“O gates, lift high your heads;
Grow higher, ancient doors.
Let him enter.. “
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Translation taken from The Grail Psalter. Picture taken in the Carmelite Seminary, Fort Cochin

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Cloistered

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Salisbury, quite apart from its tall spire and ancient clock, also claims a record for Britain’s largest cloistered quadrangle: 
A slightly odd achievement for this beautiful medieval cathedral, which never housed a monastery.

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Rather than being designed as the enclosed walk for a “cloistered” religious community, it seems to have served the purpose of housing clergy and choir when they assembled prior to processional entrance into the cathedral. 

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An eloquent testament to the grace of Gothic architecture and spiritual aspirations.

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Pictures taken in the cloisters of Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, UK.

Within The Temple Walls

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On entering Trichy’s Jambukeswarar Temple, much of the frantic commerce quietens.

Despite the milling devotees

And in-house retail outlets,

It retains a sense of peaceful piety.

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The temple is a complex brew of dreams, devotion and domestic activities.

But still manages to breathe the air of religious worship.

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A River Runs Through It

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow”

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Hampi sits alongside a river used for ritual bathing

And the washing of sacred artefacts.

The expression of a very human desire:

Release from the taint of corruption.

An aspiration which transcends all religious traditions.

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A Visit To The Hill-Top Temple

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From the wilds of Wayanad and the elephants of Tamil Nadu, we crossed into Karnataka. 

Our first stop was at the Himavad Gopalswamy Betta Temple.

Built almost 700 years ago at the summit of a quiet and lonely hill, it is often hidden by mist. But we had arrived in brilliant sunshine. 

Despite, or perhaps because of the presence of many devotees, there was a palpable sense of quiet and prayer.

Having received the blessing of the temple priest in the inner sanctum, we walked around the temple then made our way back down the steep and narrow track.

On this road, a pilgrim bus had jammed the rear corner of its chassis while taking a sharp hair-pin bend.
With minimal fuss, the passengers disembarked while the bus was re-manoeuvred into a drivable position, then quietly returned to their transport. There was neither shouting nor horn-tooting from drivers blocked by the stationary vehicle.
Something of a rarity in India.

Perhaps the calm and peace of the temple was more pervasive than I had realised…

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The Journey Is The Destination: Part 5

Roadside Stations of the Cross

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Picture taken from the car, whilst on my travels. 

 

The Journey Is The Destination: Part 3

The attraction of spiritual accessories

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Picture taken on my travels in Karnataka

Preparing for a Feast: Sacred

Today is the Feast of St Joseph.

Late on Thursday evening, a friend took me on his motorbike to St Anthony’s Church, Kannamaly – a quiet semi-rural backwater of Cochin -

Where preparations for the annual festival involve the entire community.

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A time of preparation, quiet meditation and devotion.

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A Visit To The Jain Temple

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“Live and let live. Love all. Serve all.”

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“All Souls are alike and potentially divine. None is Superior or Inferior.”

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“Have compassion towards all living beings. Hatred leads to destruction.”

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“A man is seated on top of a tree in the midst of a burning forest. He sees all living beings perish. But he doesn’t realize that the same fate is soon to overtake him also. That man is a fool.”

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All quotes are taken from Thus Spake Lord Mahavir: Excerpts from the sacred books of Jainism