Journey of a Pilgrim (v) : BSP @ Isha - by Nethianathan Krishna Kutty

It's been a long time since my last post. I just came back from Bhava SPandana @ Isha. I would not be sharing anything from the course as it is just too beautiful to explain in words. It is something that you should experience yourself.

My journey began at 4.30am by aerobus from Klang to KLIA2. Flight at 07.40am reached Trichy at 8.50am local time. Took an auto to Central Bus Station and took the 10.55am bus to Singanallur that reached Coimbatore at 4.10pm. 

After nearly 12 hours of journey, took a nice shower and went for a stroll. Coimbatore town is not bad. Lots of shop selling home appliances. RS Puram is a better place to walk around with eateries, clothing shops and other shops.It is brightly lit and nice to walk around at night. I had light dinner and slept early. I also prepared my 'homework' for the BSP course.

Next morning, got up early, checked out, had breakfast and went to catch the bus at Gandhipuram bus stand only to find out the 9 and 9.10 bus to the center did not come. The 10.10 bus was overcrowded. I joined with other guys who were taking taxi to the centre. It cost me Rp 286, but had a comfortable ride. The bus would have only cost me Rp 14. 

Then it was days of BSP which did change my perception of the environment I am living in and my relationship with the universe. Again, words can NEVER describe this course; it is something you have to experience it yourself!

I left Isha Centre a day after the course ended. I made use of the time in Isha to indulge in Dhyana Lingga and also the Theertha Khund.
Next day, reached Gandhipuram at 1.30pm, stayed here for 2 nights. Spent my time walking around the streets of Coimbatore. Also started reading Mystic Eye and could relate with so many things experienced in BSP. Next day, early morning, took bus to Palani from Ukkadam Bus Stand. It was just my luck, I got the chance to visit Lord Muruga @ Palani just 2 days before Thaipusam. Bus from Ukkadam at 7.10am reached Palani at 9.50 am. Palani was so green as most of the area is covered with paddy fields. Had quick bite at bus stand and just walked to the temple. A guy approached me and told me he is a guide, he brought me to a shop to get prayer items. At first, they told me it is only Rs360 for basic prayer items. Knowing all their tricks, i told them beforehand that I dont want any hidden cost. But still they ended up adding garland, coconut and other items and quoted Rp1500. I didnt like this, as I already mentioned beforehand, then they told me the Rp360 is only for milk! I refused to take it. They tried to compromise by reducing the price. I told them this is why their name is already tarnished on the net. Why cant anything be straight forward? Why all the hidden charges?
Then a lady followed me as guide and explained to me at lower temple  itself. She told me it is not necessary to buy the costly tickets at the main temple on the hill. It took about 30 mins to complete prayers at lower temple. Started climbing the stairs at 10.50am and reached main temple at 11.20am. Very steep stairs and few rest areas. I just paid for Rp20 ticket (normal, non expensive one), and managed to see Lord Muruga by 11.50am. As the crowd was moving slowly, I could see the Lord for good 5 minutes. Good vibrations, nice feeling. Came out, bought some prasadam for home and took nice pictures from on top. Took about 15 minutes to get down. I was at the bus stand by 1pm, and took the bus that was about to leave for Coimbatore and reached hotel at 3.30pm.
After shower, went out for final shopping at Chennai Silk and Sree Devi. Had dinner at Gowri Shankar Restaurant. Took a slow stroll and enjoyed the lively streets of Coimbatore before i pack my bags to leave.

-NETHIANATHAN KRISHNA KUTTY-

'The greatest thing in your life is that you are alive and throbbing right now. Everything else is secondary...'

Journey of a Pilgrim (iv): Life at Isha - by Nethianathan KrishnaKutty

I am very happy that this time I am able to write about a place that has been lingering in my mind for sometime - Dhyanalingga @ Isha Centre, Coimbatore.

Image of Isha Centre from Isha Blog.

 KL - Tricy

First, I will begin with my journey to Trichy by AA on 3 Feb 2014. I reached at 8.40 am, took 45 mins for Immigration Clearance. Changed some money at airport, I normally don't as the rate will not be good, but had to as I had mostly MYR only. Tried to get a taxi outside, but they quoted INR 400 for hotel 12 KMs away! Was trying to bargain, but to no avail. I saw an auto and stopped him. He quoted INR 250, so I jumped in. The ride to the hotel was a roller coaster one. Well, at least on a roller coaster you sort of know the next bend or turn.  Sitting in a fast moving auto which only gives inches gap with other motorists is an experience. Respect, bro! 15 minutes of adrenalin rush is worth every rupee spent for this ride.. Haha.

Beautiful Church

Room was not ready at hotel, so left bag and walked around. Ucchi Pillayar Temple is walking distance from the hotel.

Walked along Burma Bazaar where they sell everything from slippers to head gears. 2 guys in their late 50's were offering exchange for 19, which was too good to be true. I accepted to change RM1000 and he gave me 20 notes of INR 500 and 8 notes of INR 100. I told him according to his exchange rate, I should get INR 19,000. 20*500+8*100 is only INR 10,800.
As expected (well, we know that this is a normal practice around 'certain' countries to cheat while exchanging money), the guy started giving excuses that his friend can't hear well etc. he told his friend to give INR 8000, like an innocent man. Anyway, he asked me for a discount from 19 to 18. For me, it's a win win situation. So I took the INR 18000 and gave him RM10 as I know he would have been disappointed for not being able to cheat me.

Took a nap after a heavy meal, then off to visit Ganesh Ji @ 5 pm. Sun was setting and weather was good. Paid INR 20(camera) + INR 30(entrance).

Shady walkway as its mostly covered. Steps were well constructed, accessible by elderly, too. Nice mid day view, overseeing the church and some goats below.

Able to get into the 'sannithanam' and pray at own pace (which is quite rare as in most temples you get pushed away before you even get a glimpse of the altar). It was not so crowded, perhaps it was the timing.

It is a nice small temple at the peak. It it also known as RockFort Temple. It's about 300-400 square feet (the temple). One round and you're done seeing Ucchi Pillayar. Ample space to hang around at the peak as its granite flooring provides good sitting area for hot weather. Spent 1 hour to cover whole temple, comprising of Amman and Sivan. Huge Sivalingam on the other side of temple.

Once down, I planned to window shop but ended up buying Kurta's, cotton pants and shirts.

 Lots of choices for kids but kept some to be shopped before I leave to KL. After light dinner, back to room to have good rest before I continue my journey early on the morning.


Trichy - Coimbatore

Checked out of hotel @ 5.15. Got an auto and reached Sentral Bus station @5.45am.

Wanted to get a quick bite as its going to be a 5 hour journey. Ordered some poori's at restaurant in bus station. The set comes with Vadai and coffee. As I was having my breakfast, a guy approached me and verified wether I am working in Westports. He said he had seen me at Beekay Restaurant, Port Klang many times, (thats where we usually have lunch) and he works there as driver. He was on his way to his hometown, Velanganni and invited me to join him and was offering to show me all the nice places in his hometown.Told him that I already have plans but shared contact details with him. He quietly paid for my breakfast.

Journey from Singganallur to Coimbatore : 5 hrs and ticket price is INR 116 only! From Singanallur took another bus to Gandhipuram @ INR 5 only!
Reached Gandhipuram @ 12.15pm. Bus to Isha was @ 12.45- (14G). As hunger kicked in, I went for quick lunch. Came back @ 12.35 only to find out that 14G has left. Next is 14D, scheduled for 1.25pm. Ordered a tea and waited.

14D came at 1.05 and left by 1.15pm. Ticket price at INR 25 only for a journey close to 2 hours. Isha Centre is the last stop.

At the entrance itself, the volunteers informed that photographs are STRICTLY PROHIBITED . Now I will have to take you through a journey through my very own lenses. As I walked in, I had mixed emotions; puzzled as well as excited. Greeted by a huge Nandi, near a large pond filled with lotus flower and Koi fish.

Image of Nandi from Isha Blog

I went straight to register myself and get room keys. There are dorms and also private rooms. I booked a room for myself. It took about 1 hour to get my keys.just before I left the counter, the volunteers informed that Sadhguru will be coming in and we will have Satsang @ 6pm. The time was about 4pm as I quickly dashed to Isha Shoppe. Looking at my clothes, I will look very odd with a group of people at a Yoga Centre. Thank God, they were selling cotton pants and shirts.grabbed 2 pants, 3 shirts and a pranayama pillow. That cost INR 3390. Also bought a Rudhraksh and Dhyanalingga picture.

Image of Isha Shoppe from Isha Blog

Came back to the room, which was up to expectation with basic amenities.

Image of accomodation from Isha Blog

Left my stuff, took shower and got ready to meet Sadhguru. Was there by 5.30pm and as time flies, the place was filled. I was sitting a mere 10m away from Sadhguru and it was such a good feeling. He gave a short speech about the importance of human being to be conscious and act responsibly. The session was over by 7.15pm. Came back to the room, changed and headed to Bikhsha Hall for dinner.

Image from Isha Blog

 Meal was very 'different'. Boiled nuts, sprouts, cucumber chutney, vermicelli porridge and pickles. Had a healthy dinner, though. . Went back to room for a good rest.

Image from Isha Blog

Image from Isha Blog

Image from Isha Blog

Image from Isha Blog

Image from Isha Blog

Image from Isha Blog

Image from Isha Blog

Image from Isha Blog

Image from Isha Blog

Shoonya - Day 1

Got up at 7 and left room at 8am. Went to Peppervine for a hot cup of coffee.

Image from Isha Blog

To confirm the time for Shoonya Registration, I approached the VRO (Volunteer Registration Office) . She told me registration started at 6am. I had about INR 1k with me so I had to leave to the room  to take some more as I heard that it costs about INR 1750. I took around INR 3k anyway, as if I was gonna shop at the registration booth.. When registering, they told me it cost INR 2750. Thank God, I had enough with me. They asked if I could help to manage the valuable counter as they were short of volunteers. I agreed and helped as much as I could and passed it on to another volunteer at 1.15pm. By that time, program is about to start.

Meditation Image from Isha Blog

The first day was extremely tiring (coming from a person who goes to gym everyday without fail) Kriya's from Inner Engineering + 2 Asanas was physically demanding. I was wondering how I would survive the next 3 days. The program was over at about 9.15pm. Came back to room, took some medication and straight to bed!

Shoonya - Day 2
Program starts at 6 am. The medication I took managed to reduce my body ache. However, Towards the evening, body started to adjust to the asana's. Could sit for longer hours. Program was done by 9.25pm. My universal adapter malfunctioned. Managed to borrow an adapter from Martin, from Norway attending the same course.

Shoonya - Day 3

Program started at 6am. Body was feeling great. Asana's and Kriya's were manageable. Had good experiences. Program ends at 10pm;quite late, but I am still energetic. Started to like the session but missing my babies back home very much. Called it a day by midnight.

Dhyanalingga

Image from Isha Blog

Theerthakhund

Image from Isha Blog

Summary of few days @ Isha.
5 days in Isha Yoga Center was an experience that I never felt before. Being around so many wonderful people makes you to think the quality of life that we have been living so long. One important thing I've learned is that living life without ego is so wonderful. There is really nothing to lose in losing your ego.

Trichy
Came back to Trichy on 9th Feb 2014. Had 1.5 days at my disposal before my flight back to Malaysia. Reached Trichy at around 2200hrs on 9th Feb. The journey back from IYC was quite tiring. 10th Feb was busy shopping. Most of the shopping was done as Saratha's. It's an enormous shop filled with clothes for cradle to grave. Checked out at around 1100hrs on 11th Feb to catch my flight back home.

Magnificent monuments of Delhi & Agra - By Nethianathan Krishna Kutty

Inner Engineering and Architectural Engineering

This time my journey is to the northern part of India, New Delhi. My purpose is to attend a 3 day 'Inner Engineering' program with Sadhguru in Delhi. The program is about creating inner well being as opposed to chasing for fulfillment externally. I would strongly recommend for people that wish to look at life at a different perspective.  Besides attending the program, I took this opportunity to visit nearby places. I covered Delhi and Agra. I was supposed to go to Rishikesh / Haridwar but plans changed along the way as Maha Kumbha Mela festival was scheduled to begin on 27th Jan 2013. The festival is expected to lure 85 million people!.. I changed the plan the moment in got the info.

As I was making transit in Chennai before flying to Delhi, I managed to squeeze some time to get Lord Balaji's darshan before the 'Chennai - Delhi' flight. This is my 3rd visit to Tirupathi and this was the longest wait to obtain His darshan. I waited in the queue for 7hrs despite paying INR300 for Special Darshan ticket. 15 seconds seeing Him was worth the wait!.

Inner Engineering with Sadhguru

Sadhguru , a realised master, mystic and yogi. Being in the same hall with this spiritual master is truly an awesome experience which cannot be explained by words. A realized Guru, full of compassion towards the well being of man kind. You have to experience it yourself.

Delhi:

India Gate

End of that week was India's Republic Day, so,  there were rehearsals going on near India Gate and it was closed. Somehow, we managed to get to the closest point to get a good glimpse and many clicks of India Gate. When I mentioned about the closest point, I'm talking about a good 9 to 10 km of walk from New Delhi metro station to get to the point. It was a tiring day indeed.

Rehearsal for Republic Day 

Qutub Minar

Took metro from New Delhi to Qutub Minar. At ticketing counter, I handed over INR500 for 2 person as tickets for foreigners is INR250 each. The ticketing officer inquired about our origin and recommended us to purchase the local tickets which cost INR10 each. Of course he made INR200 for himself but it was a win win situation. At the entrance, we told that we are from Chennai and we were good to go. Believe the builders had a quite an unusual desire to build the tallest minarets. There was an incomplete minaret that was supposedly be twice the size of Qutub Minar. It was deserted as the life of the aspirant fell short.

I would strongly recommend that anyone who plans to go around Delhi for sight seeing to NOT plan it on Monday! The Lotus temple was closed. Red Fort was closed. Hop On Hop Off was non operational on Mondays. Thanks to Fuji HS10 for its capability to zoom in, we manage to capture some images of the Lotus temple from outside of its compound! Reaching here was made convenient thanks to the metro which was nearly as good as the tubes in London. It was easy to get everywhere in Delhi this way.

Jama Mosque

Quite a big mosque, but architecture wise, nothing spectacular. We paid INR100 to go up the minaret to get a city view. We managed to take some close up pictures of the Red Fort from here as it was closed due to Republic Day. Entrance was free but INR300 for camera which was way too expensive. Around this place are slumps. Crowded, dirty, people living on pavements and lots of beggars.

Chandni Chowk

The rikshawalla brought us in through the aisles of shops. Its a narrow path, filled with people and yet the rikshawalla weather us through it. Though is was a dreadful moment, but definitely one to be remembered. Every possible area's are occupied as everyone is trying in every way to make a living. Chandni Chowk is an area surrounded with slums. Not a nice sight and certainly not a place to bring family.

Akshardam Temple

This was a magnificent temple. It was simply mind blowing. With musical fountains and fine architecture, this is a masterpiece an Indian craftsmen can be proud of. 80% marble stones inside the temple crafted to perfection. It's  very well managed and organized. They have canteen, shops selling books, posters and prayer items. You should be there around 4pm to appreciate the fine craftsmanship and be there till evening to witness the musical fountain and the incredible view of the temple when they turn on the lights! Unfortunately no camera's were allowed in, so we only managed to take pictures from outside. This picture was taken from metro station which was 1km away from the temple.

Agra

Agra Fort

Agra Fort is similar to Red Fort but far more smaller. This is the place where Shahjahan spent his last 7 years under house arrest by his son. Shah Jahan was held under house arrest when his son got to know that Shah Jahan has instructed to build the Black Taj, just opposite of Taj Mahal across Yamuna river. Shah Jahan spent close to 40mil rupees to build the Taj Mahal and this had a significant financial impact. It was said that duirng that time, with 1 rupee, you will be able to have a slave for a lifetime. Knowing that Shah Jahan is building the second Taj, the son decided that its time for him to put a stop.   Shah Jahan was said having poor eyesight and throughout the 7 years of house arrest, he had to see Taj Mahal via a mirror.. tragic!

Baby Taj

Taj Mahal

The grand Taj. We were hoping for a good weather so that we could take some nice photos of the Taj. We spend about 7 hours to cover the beauty of this grand monument. When we were about to leave the Taj, my buddy told me that even Shah Jahan wouldn't have spend 7 hours in a day admiring the Taj! We basically covered every inch of this magnificent Mughal architecture. No wonder it is known as one of the universally admired masterpieces in the world.

At Hotel Host, you can dine at the rooftop while watching the beautiful Taj.

Others

Food

Food was basically prata's n other breads. We ate at hotels, but we did try the ones by the roadside too. Somehow, we did not get any delhi belly. 

Shopping

We did not shop much as there was nothing appealing to us.

Scams

Beware of scammers. There were people trying to sell us high priced tickets and such. We usually discuss on the fare before taking any cab ride.

Transportation
Within Delhi : Metro - It was efficient. Clean and worth to take the metro to move around.
Delhi - Agra : Train - Prebooked tickets earlier. There were meals in the train. It was a smooth ride.


Thats all for this trip.

- Since my wife's travel map is dusty (as she was informed by Tripadvisor), I decided to save her blog from being dusty too - Nethianathan Krishna Kutty