I am fascinated by the synchronicities here in Auroville. The mental, spiritual, physical and emotional spaces that intertwine here often do so over several days, seemingly effortlessly, intuitively, easily.

I was exhausted. A friend had left his body, as they say here. The community had provided support for over a month, many had grown together. The death ceremony Karumadhi was held in a small circle, a certain kind of puja on the 16th day, when the soul leaves this world.

I have been studying the Prashna Upanisahd with my teacher for a few weeks now. The topic of rebirth and deep sleep are the parts that are particularly deep. Like every Saturday we met, but this time not on his terrace, but we drove to a ruined temple to continue our discussions there.

Afterwards I slept more deeply than I have in years, and I actually always sleep very well... Emerging from the night I went into a deep meditation on deep sleep, which has nothing to do with sleep phases, but is a state of being that lies before our consciousness, similar to deep sleep, from which consciousness virtually emerges and into which it dives again.

I then fell back into a deep sleep. The whole day actually, only to go to the temple around the corner in Irumbai. We are working on a project about the temple. A small case study on a 1000 year old Chola Temple, which is very beautiful and active, but actually nothing special in Tamil Nadu, but it is if you pay attention to the details, as most things are. There was a big celebration, the gods in the form of bronze statues would be carried around the temple, they would be the biggest of the other gods in the form of stone statues. And then they danced together. As if from another world, an intermediate realm, they came to life.

I slept again - all night. The next day I went to a yoga class with a new teacher. I learned that the asanas are actually just a preparation for Shavasana. I was curious because Shavasana was always a mystery to me. Of course, it made sense that there should be a relaxation phase at the end of a yoga class. But what should I focus on? Where should my mind go and what should my body become 'aware' of in the relaxation? Andres works towards this throughout the class with breathing exercises, concentration, body awareness and energetic exercises. And finally, in Shavasana, we consciously followed the nerve pathways, focusing our attention on the connections.

And I had to think of the 72,000 nerves in the Upanishads, and of the wrapping of the water jug with the thread during Karumadhi, because the thread symbolizes the 72,000 nerves of the body. And so Karumadhi, Shavasana, Prashna and the many stages of sleep and levels of meditation merged into one picture within a few days.

One year of Auroville

I have lived through some intense years. Moving to a new country is always a major transformation - that was the case when I moved to London, then to the USA, France and now India. It's always important to me to leave my own culture in the background as much as possible and to embrace the new, which of course isn't new at all, just for me. And so one important task - especially in the first year - is to forget. Making space in your head, breaking down prejudices, surrendering to the magic and enjoying the rush a little.

The senses feel very fresh, the self very young, a childlike curiosity and naivety spreads that allows everything to take effect without prejudice.

I'm moving further and further away from the place that socialized me, and it's becoming increasingly clear why I'm doing this. Two things go together: the unease in a culture that I have always perceived as somehow foreign and the longing for a culture that would be more of a home.

India

India has always been this place of longing, and I'm certainly not the only one. Of course, it is the search for spirituality that brings people like me to India. Mother India calls and carries. The adventure that awaits you here is almost incomprehensible. It can hardly be grasped, neither by the act of grasping nor by the act of comprehending. The world as such reveals itself to be a different one. The European traditions of the Christian religion, occultism, exorcism, enlightenment, empiricism, romanticism, transcendentalism, modernism, postmodernism, etc. do not apply here. They are perceived as possible points of view, but no more.

Indian spirituality is about a synthetic understanding of life. It is not primarily about a scientific picture, the explanation of the material world or the construction of a simulation. In India, the question of consciousness is at the center. Consciousness is the starting point of everything. It has its starting point in consciousness itself. It is actually obvious that consciousness itself must exist, I have one, the reader has one, we can exchange ideas with other consciousnesses. Why is it so difficult to accept this in the West? (Husserl was quite close) But why is the statement of this fact branded as speculative? Just because it eludes the small-minded paradigm of scientificity? Isn't it much more the case that only what I find in my consciousness has any kind of relevance? Isn't that why the West celebrates so-called culture so much. But it is objectified, it does not invite a serious exchange about our own existence, but a discursive reflection. It is representative, it represents something as something else and it is used to represent, that is, to communicate power and powerlessness.

Adventure

It is this adventure of consciousness that makes traveling in the Indian cosmos so fascinating. Of course, you have to tame your skepticism and that immediately opens doors to all kinds of worldviews. Many are very strange to me. But they have a subjective validity. It would be presumptuous to want to place my consciousness above that of someone else. The contradictions that this creates must first be endured. This is not easy and causes a large number of crises in me. Crises in the sense of disorientation, restlessness and impatience. But the nice thing is that these crises can quickly be transformed into opportunities. They are invitations to meditate. An adventure of inner synthesis.

However, this synthesis is only possible if I admit to myself that my existence does not only consist of rational consciousness. I have a material and biological body, a life spirit and rational thinking, I have a world view and am capable of experiencing the sublime. I can reach higher levels of consciousness that move beyond the stimulus-response scheme. And I can approach the big question of our existence. I cannot answer it, but I can stay close to it. Many questions that present themselves as dilemmas to the rational mind are almost irrelevant on other levels of my existence, or even dissolve there.

This adventure is made possible by a whole series of different knowledge systems that have their origins in prehistoric times, i.e. the time before written language. The complex system of the Vedas was not written overnight. It is true that the knowledge it contains was revealed to the rishis. And no matter how skeptical one may be about this idea, one central question remains. Where does the idea of creation come from? And even more importantly, what is creation? How could such complex knowledge systems emerge at the beginning of history, of orderly time? What does inward vision see? Who hears by hearing, who sees by seeing?

Temple

I have decided to approach Indian culture through the temples. They are infinitely complex and I have to be patient with myself. It takes several lifetimes to even scratch the surface here, yet I want to try and capture an approximation. It will be amateurish, but perhaps that is precisely why it will be interesting.

The temples combine the knowledge of the Vedas, the Agamas, Tantras... It is architecture, sculpture, dance and music. They are places of worship, learning and coming together. They are embedded in the economy, ecology and social structures. They are intertwined with cosmology, meditation and spirituality. The bindu, the mantras, yantras, tantras, describe the relationship of the individual consciousness to the great, to the one. Unity and diversity manifest themselves in the temple. They are the living core of Indian spirituality. Many traditions seem to have existed unbroken for thousands of years.

I am still pursuing my project of reading Deleuze in India. Apart from difficult ideas like immanence in Deleuze, what interests me in Deleuze is the house in relation to art:

"Art perhaps begins with the animal, at least with the animal that marks out a territory and builds a dwelling (the two complement each other or sometimes merge in the so-called habitat). With the territory/house system, many organic functions change - sexuality, procreation, aggressiveness, food; but it is not this change that explains the appearance of territory and dwelling, rather the other way round: the territory implies the emergence of pure sensual qualities, sensibilia, which are no longer merely functional, but instead become expressive features and thus enable a transformation of functions. Certainly, this expressivity is already widely scattered in life, and one can say that even the field lily praises the glory of the gods. But it is only with territory and house that it becomes constructive and erects the ritual monuments of an animal mass that celebrates the qualities before gaining new causalities and finalities from them. This emergence is already art, not only in the treatment of external materials, but in the positions and colors of the body, in the songs and cries that mark the territory." (Deleuze, Gilles, Félix Guattari, 2003. What is philosophy? p.218)

What fascinates me about Deleuze is that his philosophy essentially describes how ideas come into existence. They emerge from the Implicitness, out of immanence. Ideas become active, they fly, form a flight path and thus connect. They create complexity. This way of thinking, which manages without axiomatics and without ideology, seems to me to be structurally very similar to the thinking of the Upanishads. Brahman unfolds itself in order to be able to experience itself. Where else but in the temple could this best be experienced?

So I sit in temples a lot, listen to the chants, bow to impermanence by smearing ashes on my head. From the inner chamber Garbhagriha the vibration spreads and manifests itself in the images on the walls of the temples. The Garbhagriha is only entered by the priest, who recites the mantras for the devotees. The bell, the incense sticks, the ablution and bedding of the gods, all this happens in the Garbhagriha. Here is the origin. "the territory implies the emergence of pure sensual qualities, sensibilia, which are no longer merely functional, but instead become expressive features and thus enable a transformation of functions." (see above)

Many of my friends have a strong will, they are creative, they design, make, act, do... They confront the world with their own will and add themselves to it or refuse to accept it as it is. This generates creativity, change. It is the power of Shakti, the creative energy of the universe.

I am different, I observe, I try to understand the world as it is. I don't want to change it, even though I see a lot of suffering and injustice, I observe, I listen... It all seems to me to be a question of perspective. Changing your own position means seeing things differently, I don't have the urge to change the world. A work of art, a cultural configuration, a temple, a birthday party, a planned vacation, a project idea... these are all things that I see, I like to participate, help and get involved. But I don't have this urge to create and I always ask myself why that is. Is there something missing in me? Do I have no driving force within me, no will to create?

It seems to me that my way of creating lies in meditation, it is the way I change my own perception, change my perspective, see the world differently, focus on a different aspect. Is this a form of passivity, of procrastination, or a form of reflection, a power of consciousness, a manifestation of the spirit?

The world needs different perspectives of a consciousness that holds it together, in the truest sense of the word. It is the writers who create worlds. Schriftsteller is a beautiful German word, because its root means that someone uses writing to present, set out or depict, set up and set down, impute, juxtapose something. In the act of writing, a world is created that does not attempt to change the world itself. The presented writing, a text, can change the world if it is read and stimulates action, but the text itself is pure consciousness, the writing merely the medium, it can be translated and transcribed conditionally, set to music, or illustrated... (This paragraph is mistranslated by Google translate)

A contemplative consciousness, in concentration and meditation, is a kind of writing.

Greetings to Kafka

Thanjavur

Chola Temple Brihadeeswarar Temple 11th century.

Sculpture collection (here 8th-13th century) in the palace of the Thanjavur Nayak dynasty

" ' of 3 ' "

Images from Tiruchirappalli 3.5.2023:

• Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple
• Sri Veera Anjaneya Temple
• Lalitankura Cave Temple and Rock Temple
• Tiruvanaikovil Arulmigu Jambukeswarar Akilandeswari Temple

Tiruchirappalli

The Archaeology Department of Tamil Nadu has officially 44,121 Temples in Tamil Nadu counted. With 72,138,958 (2011) that is 1635 inhabitants per temple. Germany has 84,270,625 (2022) inhabitants and 45,600 Catholic and Protestant churches. That makes 1848 inhabitants per church.

However, many estimate that the actual number of temples in Tamil Nadu is much higher (between 200,000 and 300,000). In Germany, on the other hand, all churches have probably been recorded.

The Christian churches concentrate largely on the message of the Bible, and other systems of knowledge are quickly demarcated as conspiracy theories by secret orders such as the Knights Templar. The Hindu temples, on the other hand, are based on the Agama Texts that connect to the sciences, cosmology, the arts, spiritual wisdom, architecture, music, ceremonies, urban planning, economics, yogas, yantra, tantra, mantra...

Temples in India are one of the many keys to thousands of years of knowledge, where it is still not really clear where it came from, because the oldest texts in India, the Rigveda, is not just any textual testimony, but a highly complex system of knowledge of all kinds.

How yantra (the geometric form, which can also be found in temple ground plans), mantra (the spoken/sung text) and tantra (the 'instruction', the teaching) are interwoven can be seen beautifully in the Gayatri Mantra. You can listen to it here: Gayatri Mantra by Manish Vyas

I would like to link the Vāstusāstra here, because it is not easy to find an English translation:

Vastu shastra VL. 1: Hindu Canons of lconography &Paining (76mb, 822 pages)

Viswakarma Vastusastram: A Treatise On Town-planning Etc. 

The standard work of art history on temples in India is here:

Kramrisch, Stella. 1946. The Hindu Temple Vol .I . http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.282158.
Kramrisch, Stella. 1946. The Hindu Temple Vol. 2. http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.40420.

Here from page 32 Vol.1 a diagram of the arrangement of the gods in the temple:

The CADALfest took place in Adishakti from December 16 to 20, 2022. I hadn't planned to go, but I was very surprised by the four days of round-table discussions, poetry and film screenings, concerts and theater performances by a fascinating Group by artists, activists and academics. I picked out a few things and went to the "Adivasi Round Table discussion with Vandna Tete, Ganga Sahay Meena, Seral Murmu & Ashwini Kumar Pankaj, moderated by Gopika Jadeja" followed by the "Thudumbu Percussions Performance by Unique Folk Son" on Saturday.

Above all, what I would call a 'performance lecture' by Ashwini Kumar Pankaj was energizing, evocative, charming and critical. He spoke in a mix of Hindi and English about the Adavasi cultures and their language and narratives. Ashwini Kumar Pankaj emphasized that the Adavasi have no expressions of violence or villains and therefore it is difficult to write in this language the popular narrative formats that revolve around crime stories and violent excesses. The Adivasi culture is not only different historically and culturally, as it lives in harmony with nature and collectively, but also in its languages:

Ashwini Kumar Pankaj_20221219

The Thudumbu Percussions performance of Unique Folk Song is, if I have understood correctly, in the tradition of Thudumbu drummers from Kerala, which tie in with temple rites.

Thudumbu Percussions Performance by Unique Folk Son

Then on Monday I saw Abhimanyu, or Chakra Vyugamstreet theater play in the tradition of Therukootu. This type of temple/street theater is typical of temple festivals in Tamil Nadu. The performers sing, dance, play music, it is a complex tradition of dramatic storytelling. For me, it has qualities of an opera. The group here has worked with Cirque du Soleil, among others. It was an impressive performance.

CADALfest

THERUKOOTHU

And finally, a small excerpt from a performance by Tenam.

„Tenma is an Artist, Composer and Curator based out of Chennai, India. With an educational background in visual communication and music production, he is invested in the uplifting and development of artists from the lower cadres of society. He has co-founded two iconic bands that revolutionized the music scene - The Casteless Collective with film director Pa. Ranjith, and the Tamil rock band, Kurangan. Simultaneously, he built two important platforms for indie artists - the Madras Indie Collective and Madras Medai. His recently released film Natchathiram Nagargiradu was critically acclaimed for its unique sound design as well as the brilliant use of the theatrical idiom." https://dalitadivasitext.wordpress.com/adishakti-participants/

Tenma-at-CADALfest

RoundGogu Shyamala, Salma, and Meena Kandasamy, moderated by Nicole Thiara, Ritu Tyagi, and Chandra Sekhar.

I recently met a young Indian here. He comes from Delhi and for him, South India is also a foreign world, although not as foreign as it is for me. He doesn't speak Tamil and his spirituality is also a bit more serene or enlightened, as you might say. I met him again on the street and we went to the afternoon school Thamarai on the outskirts of Auroville, which offers an afternoon program in a village that has a lot of social tensions. That was exciting, I will try to support it.

He then asked me if I would like to see the temple he had told me about. He is helping to build it and the priest is a fortune teller. It was around the corner, on the piece of land that the family had bought and had just that day - after 14 years - officially received the documents from the local court. The family has been building a temple for 14 years. They do not want official support or donations, and they have almost nothing themselves. The living conditions are bitterly poor, a shelter serves as living space, which is shared with the animals, there are no doors or windows, a gas stove and fridge are evidence of modernity.

The country

On this piece of land in Alankuppam live about 15 cows that they have raised themselves, starting from two cows that have visited their land and are reproducing magnificently with the help of the family, plus 9 dogs, 40 Parrotswhich are in a large walk-in shed just to give visitors the opportunity to interact with the birds - plus geese, turkeys, chickens. To celebrate, we were offered fresh boiled cow's milk from a cow that had just given birth to a calf 5 days ago. This milk, they said, was something very special.

The center of the temple is finished, but the monkey god has not yet moved in; he also lives in a tiny shed next to it. We received the blessing there. The drop of water I was supposed to drink seemed very suspicious, but I tolerated it well. There are eight pillars on the site, made of a very pure white stone, interspersed with an even distribution of small black dots the size of seeds. As there are no wave patterns or anything similar, this stone is considered to be particularly pure and powerful. They drove 700 kilometers to get the stone. Now a sculptor from Mahabalipuram come and carve the figures. The 7 chakras will be at the base of seven pillars, with figures from mythology above them.

The temple is intended to stand for 2000 years, unlike the many quickly built temples made of concrete and plaster.