Posted by admin | Posted in Festivals, Hindu, Indonesia, Nature, Photography | Posted on 15-08-2010
Just added Indonesia photos to the Travel section at Buggslife Photography.
Posted by admin | Posted in Bali, Festivals, Hindu, Indonesia, Lyrics, New Year, Religion, SE Asia | Posted on 29-06-2010
I randomly came across some Sanskrit text which got me curious and I started to scratch the surface of a culture / religion / world that I know nothing about. After visiting Bali this year I caught my first tastes, smells and sights of Hindu culture having experienced the Balinese Hindu New Year – Nyepi and all of its associated festivities…notably Melasti (or Mekiyis / Melis ) and the Ogoh-Ogoh parades (part of Tawur Kesanga on New Year’s eve), both of which feature heavily in my Bali gallery. There is a nice summary of the festivals on indo.com here. Nyepi itself is a wonderful day of serenity, where people are forbidden to leave their homes and to make noise.
So my mind started wondering toward these things and, being a huge fan many years back, thought of some Kula Shaker lyrics such as:
- “Tattva, acintya bheda bheda Tattva …”
- GOVINDA JAYA JAYA
GOPALA JAYA JAYA
RADHA-RAMANAHARI
GOVINDA JAYA JAYA
NRSINGADEVA JAYA
NRSINGADEVA
The latter praising Krsna (or Krishna) and the former meaning something along the lines of:
Same same, but different
Slightly more eloquently would be:
“simultaneous oneness and difference”
Which, according to one source is about:
“Though we come in various forms and though we are all individuals, we all come from the same source, we are made of the same material/substance, but we are very much different from each other physically. The same is true for everything in nature.
As for “Tattva”, tattva means reality, principle, and truth. It can be thought of as an awakening, when one realizes that there is more to life than what he sees through his eyes.”
I just thought that was great!