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Posted on September 16, 2006 @ 10:54 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, india, people, travel, wordpress

sadhu pushkar rajastan aynaku illustration adobe

Madness and Holiness change our lives deeply. The Indian concept of holiness is quite different from that in the West and it is not necessarily associated with the “good.” Actually there is a long tradition of ‘divine madness’ in Hinduism; it may come as no surprise that people who became holy and got spiritual enlightenment, must firstly go through lunacy. Since spiritual enlightenment (a state of being attainable by everybody) always represents the highest goal in life -the very thing that gives it meaning and purpose-, the one who is desperately searching for it does absolutely care nothing of material needs. And this makes a change very hard to allow! In Pushkar, a holy city in Rajastan, famous for its Brahma temple, winding narrow streets, old buildings and ghats all centered around a beautiful lake that is one of Hinduism’s holiest sites, I was definitely stunned by the vision of a holy man who perpetually sat in the same place by the lake, meditating and contemplating. I spend a month in town and the man was always there, surrounded by the crowd of visitors, pilgrims, beggars and supposed priests trying to lure me down to the lake to take part in some sort of blessing ceremony…I do some yoga since ten years and have an interest in meditation but I’m hopelessly not strong enough to overcome my multiplicity: and everybody knows that holiness can’ t be even duality.

Illustration Friday’s topic is: change

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 16th, 2006 and is filed under blog, india, people, travel, wordpress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 people have left comments

Well said….one must also live in one’s time, and it’s a very difficult era in which to live a truly simple life. Lovely work as usual…very hypnotic!

Amy Zaleski wrote on September 17, 2006 - 2:45 pm CEST

I love how you added the curly pubes!

Wendy wrote on September 17, 2006 - 5:45 pm CEST

A very beautiful impression of colors. Calming and soft. :)

cristosova wrote on September 17, 2006 - 6:39 pm CEST

Yes for most of us it is hard enough to ride the waves of duality, ie good and bad, wanting and not wanting,etc. Great post once more and a beautiful illo!

valgalart wrote on September 17, 2006 - 7:48 pm CEST

Nice piece! I love the colors.

Digital Scott wrote on September 18, 2006 - 6:37 pm CEST

wonderful post… as usual… so enlightening… i’m not sure if or how much time you have spent in the southern united states… but you comments on spirrituality and lunacy sure do explain a lot of things… as does your comment that holiness is notnecessarily associated with being good…

great illustration…

Michael O’Connell wrote on September 21, 2006 - 3:19 pm CEST

I love where you go with the topic - always so enlightening. Gorgeous illustration. I love the glowing translucent color to it.

Tiffini Elektra X wrote on September 21, 2006 - 10:55 pm CEST

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