Every night
The aarti fire
Five priests
Pay homage
To Shiva’s gifts
While one boy
In their shadow
Shines bright
The aarti fire
Five priests
Pay homage
To Shiva’s gifts
While one boy
In their shadow
Shines bright
Tag: Hinduism
Spirits Cleansed
They come to bathe
In waters pure
Then, with spirits cleansed
They dry their saris
Upon the steps
Which bore them down
To Mother Ganga’s shore
In waters pure
Then, with spirits cleansed
They dry their saris
Upon the steps
Which bore them down
To Mother Ganga’s shore
Devotion
I wonder
Sometimes
At my devotions
Sometimes
At my devotions
Could I have been better
At this or at that
Had I offered more devotion
But of all the this
And all the that
Just two devotions have mattered
Fire, flowers and flow
In the moonlit night
Release flowers and fire
Into Ganga’s flow
Release flowers and fire
Into Ganga’s flow
For pilgrims and believers
A gift to Ganga, river goddess
Holy of holies
Source and purifier
Bhagwan on the Ganga Banks
Saffron
Colour of fire
Bringer of light
Burn away ignorance
Flame of insight
Colour of fire
Bringer of light
Burn away ignorance
Flame of insight
Saffron
Colour of purity
Symbol of abstinence
Purge the tainted
Cleansing ritual
Wood
Piled high
As kites can fly
And like the spires
Of Hindu Ghats
The wood of Kashi
On Ganga banks
As kites can fly
And like the spires
Of Hindu Ghats
The wood of Kashi
On Ganga banks
To build the pyres
For funeral blaze
Lit from embers
Of Shiva’s fire
Burns every hour
Of every day
Four thousand years
And still today
Culture Feast
The frame is full
With teeming activity
Colour and humanity
My eye
Cannot find a place to rest
With teeming activity
Colour and humanity
My eye
Cannot find a place to rest
And then it does
But only for a moment
Until something else
Pulls it away
In this visual cacophony
Of a culture traveler’s feast
Ritual and Playful
Mother and daughters
New moon Ganga ritual
Splash! Splash! Splash! They’re cleansed
New moon Ganga ritual
Splash! Splash! Splash! They’re cleansed
Playful ritual
Paddling on styrofoam
While mother washes
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