Showing posts with label sunset. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sunset. Show all posts

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Kanyakumari Pictures

The sunset over the convergence of three bodies of water.
This is a Sadhu sitting outside the temple. Covered in ash, he had made a cozy spot for himself. Sadhus are holy men who have taken up ascetic life. He was quite striking sitting there, white in the sunset. This is one of my favorite aspects of India. I love witnessing all the different ways to worship while trying to imagine that experience. I feel my connection to the spirit world grow. All the extremes exist here. The southern most tip of India has a temple that is dedicated to a Virgin Goddess. It's quite an attraction for Hindu people. This is a place to watch both the sunset and sunrise.

I got a fortune reading from a parrot who picked a card out of a deck. A crowd gathered behind me as the parrot sorted through the stack to find my fortune. (Chandru said they were more curious about me, rather than the parrot)...
The parrot picked a card that basically said, ahead of me lies a year full of chance. I should take chances in the next year because I have a golden opportunity. Travel will bring me Joy. (It said that!) Funny bird.
This is a statue of Thiruvallur. He was a Tamil poet and philospher. Behind it is a memorial dedicated to Vivekananda who was a philospher who rejected Western ideas to pursue Hindu philosophy. We will take a ferry there tomorrow. He found the rocks to be very holy and swam out there to meditate on the teachings of his recently dead guru, Sri Ramakrishana Paramahamasa.