[Jonquil's Journey] Innocence
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Jonquil
Jul 18, 2012, 8:29:30 AM7/18/12
to countryside-mansarov...@googlegroups.com
To be expected India was a blast. Hot and extremely humid, it was like a sauna and for the first time in my life I actually desired to be inside with air con! But that's only the weather! I had to make a film and in five days work out the necessities for our story. Plus, the area was security central and we had no authority or permit.
We decided to journey to Shirdi for Guru Purnima, a once in a year celebration for the guru. The belief in Shirdi Sai Baba is so strong there was approximately two million people and all hanging around the equivalent to Westminster Cathedral. Walking across the road was like trying to dodge a stampede of buffalos coming at all directions. There were trucks and processions, jeeps and motorbikes with families, no cows exactly but I saw a dead rat and once easing into crossing the road, time felt well to be honest rather timeless.
The extraordinary super powers of Shirdi Sai Baba live on and stories of miraculous healing for His devotees are testament to the power and belief but I find it's a strange world. I interviewed people who claimed to have seen Jesus (no different to a vision I had of Baba I suppose?) and Mother Divine, I met those who had car accidents and been saved by the divine grace of Baba. He was even seen in the cctv footage of the incident. There was a man who was told by the doctors he had only a short time to live after being diagnosed with a tumor the size of a football but he had a vision of Baba and followed it to Shirdi, where he now teaches and helps in the local hospital twenty years later. When he told me the story he broke down in tears.
Aside from the high end of divine reality, the dual aspect of human nature was never far from reality. Political issues ran rife. Only a few months before we arrived the trustees of the Temple were all sacked from looting money and the government put in place three other guys and who knows the truth behind all that? I don't think I'm alone in not trusting governments. I mean? Shirdi Temple accumulates enough wealth even footballers would be surprised by the amount.
I wonder what Gandhi would think of modern India. Ironically, right now some of his items are being auctioned. This is from a man who didn't even believe in possessions!
I think what upset me the most was all the poor that waited hungry outside the Temple. If Baba, like all the great, enlightened beings taught us, to help the meek, to save the poor, why were these folk left to beg? Whilst inside, life carried on with gilded, gold roof tops donated probably from black money anyhow.
It was also amusing for me, to see how some people even competed or compared their 'devotion' to others. Or even assumed they had the same powers and offered 'healing' in the Temple compound. All the while complaining about false gurus and wanting to expose the whole charade!
To put a lid on it all when I returned to England I went to a workshop, where I was informed the moon wasn't what we're led to believe and instead it's a placed satellite to bombard us with negative energy, forcing lunatic behaviour and deprive us from our true solar selves!
I've come back to a place inside myself. I don't care about 'truth' anymore. There's one for every dime, nickel and pence. It's not as if I can do anything about the 'moon' or about the power in governments or other peoples' desire for power and corruption. It's being going on for too long, causing strife, confusion, fear, control.
I'm interested in freedom and in these last few days I've been asking what exactly is that?
It's more than being free from fear, having space, feeling the elements and feeling undying love.
I think it comes down to finding the innocence. Where there is no truth but play and the beauty of life is in the miracle of what is in every moment. Not just the stars at night or healing gurus, however enlightened they may be.
We decided to journey to Shirdi for Guru Purnima, a once in a year celebration for the guru. The belief in Shirdi Sai Baba is so strong there was approximately two million people and all hanging around the equivalent to Westminster Cathedral. Walking across the road was like trying to dodge a stampede of buffalos coming at all directions. There were trucks and processions, jeeps and motorbikes with families, no cows exactly but I saw a dead rat and once easing into crossing the road, time felt well to be honest rather timeless.
The extraordinary super powers of Shirdi Sai Baba live on and stories of miraculous healing for His devotees are testament to the power and belief but I find it's a strange world. I interviewed people who claimed to have seen Jesus (no different to a vision I had of Baba I suppose?) and Mother Divine, I met those who had car accidents and been saved by the divine grace of Baba. He was even seen in the cctv footage of the incident. There was a man who was told by the doctors he had only a short time to live after being diagnosed with a tumor the size of a football but he had a vision of Baba and followed it to Shirdi, where he now teaches and helps in the local hospital twenty years later. When he told me the story he broke down in tears.
Aside from the high end of divine reality, the dual aspect of human nature was never far from reality. Political issues ran rife. Only a few months before we arrived the trustees of the Temple were all sacked from looting money and the government put in place three other guys and who knows the truth behind all that? I don't think I'm alone in not trusting governments. I mean? Shirdi Temple accumulates enough wealth even footballers would be surprised by the amount.
I wonder what Gandhi would think of modern India. Ironically, right now some of his items are being auctioned. This is from a man who didn't even believe in possessions!
I think what upset me the most was all the poor that waited hungry outside the Temple. If Baba, like all the great, enlightened beings taught us, to help the meek, to save the poor, why were these folk left to beg? Whilst inside, life carried on with gilded, gold roof tops donated probably from black money anyhow.
It was also amusing for me, to see how some people even competed or compared their 'devotion' to others. Or even assumed they had the same powers and offered 'healing' in the Temple compound. All the while complaining about false gurus and wanting to expose the whole charade!
To put a lid on it all when I returned to England I went to a workshop, where I was informed the moon wasn't what we're led to believe and instead it's a placed satellite to bombard us with negative energy, forcing lunatic behaviour and deprive us from our true solar selves!
I've come back to a place inside myself. I don't care about 'truth' anymore. There's one for every dime, nickel and pence. It's not as if I can do anything about the 'moon' or about the power in governments or other peoples' desire for power and corruption. It's being going on for too long, causing strife, confusion, fear, control.
I'm interested in freedom and in these last few days I've been asking what exactly is that?
It's more than being free from fear, having space, feeling the elements and feeling undying love.
I think it comes down to finding the innocence. Where there is no truth but play and the beauty of life is in the miracle of what is in every moment. Not just the stars at night or healing gurus, however enlightened they may be.
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Posted By Jonquil to Jonquil's Journey on 7/18/2012 05:29:00 AM
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