Sacred sounds in india

brishti

geewhizz - really???

lil boxes huh?


:brishti
[ but of course, i'm OT as usual ]

Joph

hai sister;-)
I guess that it means you search for such places with good sound vibes, around Rishikesh?
Never been there, so I don't know.
Remember I was singing a lot in empty temples around Hampi too. Some temples overthere had double walls. The corridor between the outside wall and the inside wall was in complete darkness, with lots of bats. Great acoustics over there. Great for experiments with voice and feelings. Got me near to estatic at some moments.
Good luck with preparations.

Atma_raga

There is Nataraja temple in Chidambaram, Tamilnadu state. They believe that there are five basic elements, - ether, air, fire, water and earth. And there are five Shiva temples connected with these five elements. Ether is corresponding to sound. Nataraja temple presents the ether element, and sound. There is especial large bell made of alloy of five metals. At certain time, when they are doing pooja, they ring this bell and it makes the perfect sound of AUM. It is worth to hear.

sister of sound

thanks for the great information, i appreciate your clairity. You obviously were there, is it a easy place to find? or many bus rides later one will find it? Any other suggestion while in the area? Do you study in music in india?
namaste

Atma_raga

It is in Tamilnadu, not far from Chennai. Actually we were travelling with our good indian friend from Shivakasi to Chidambaram by car, so i have no idea about buses and trains there.
You can find info about Chidambaram here: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chidambaram
If you in Chidambaram, you can easily find that temple, it is called Nataraja temple. Curiously, in that place there are two temples together - Vishnu and Shiva. It happened so because one raja of this place was devotee of Shiva and he had built Nataraja temple, and another raja was Vishnu devotee, and he wanted to arrange Vishnu temple exactly at the same place. So he made Vishnu temple within Shiva temple. So now you can see two altars next to each other, - Shiva and Vishnu, and they do those pooja at the same time .
I am not musician at all . I am artiste, painter. But i appreciate tantric concept of sound very much, and classical raga too, and somehow it helps me in my work.

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sub kuch milega!

Atma_raga

sorry, that link to wikipedia was on french. Here is english one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chidambaram
namaste.

WorldDancer

Hi - the Shantikunj Ashram in Haridwar is dedicated to Gayatri. I heard from someone that they recite the Gayatri mantra 24 hours a day there. This could be a good place for your group - check out the website, . I have not been there but plan to go end of August. http://www.awgp.org/

The Gayatri Mantra is a collection of Sanskrit verses and is known to be very powerful. Hope this helps.

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WorldDancer
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sister of sound

I would love to hear what your thoughts are about the place when you return next month? how long are you going to be in India?
I always love to meet more women on the spiritual path while in india.
namaste
Sister of sound

WorldDancer

I plan to be in India from around 20th August to 25th September. I'm planning to do a Hymalayan trek and visit the four sacred temples of Yamonotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, and do some 3 day treks along this path. Then to Rishikesh and Haridwar. I will visit Mumbay for a few days, and may be going to Tamilnadu - though not ure yet! Will keep you posted about my trip. When will you be there?

I agree - its wonderful to meet other women on the spiritual path. I was in Rishikesh last year with my mother and we had a wonderful time. We met lots of women and it was a beautiful experience!!

Regarding sound, there is definitely a tradition of that in Yoga. In fact the first five chakras (energy centres) are each associated with an element (as discussed above), a colour, and also, a Sound. So if there is an imbalance, you chant the appropriate sound... It works - I've tried it - because the vibration of that particular sound vibrates within that specific chakra.

Atma_raga

Hi! Shantikunj is a really nice place, i have been there. I would like to come there again. But i did not hear that they recite the Gayatri mantra 24 hours. I saw, that they do yajna early morning, with Gayatri mantra, they sing very well. But yajna is over about 7 a.m. usually, and then i don't know if they chant Gayatri somewhere else or not. They do those personal saadhana with japa of Gayatry mantra, that is different thing. If you know exactly, where they do this chanting (as the ashram is quite big), i will be thankful for info, and next time will go there.

WorldDancer

Hi Atma Raga - I probably got it confused with personal japa - I met a lady who goes there every year for one month to do 100,000 japas... I really hope to go there next month and will post if there is a room where they do a collective chanting 24 hours a day.

sister of sound

World dancer , great to hear that you are following the sacred pilgrimage. I will be returning in nov, to study more about yoga, and the sound tour has changed into offering 2 10 day reteats in march and april in Rishikesh. feel free to contact me at my email injoyiam@yahoo.ca
on the path awakening to spirit..
in light Sister of sound