indiadivine

Abhisheka of Goddess Lakshmi

Darshana of Sri Brihadeeswarar temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.

Divine darshana of Lord Shiva. om namah shivaya.

Arati of Srinivasa Govinda Perumal

Arati of Maa Samaleswari Devi of Sambalpur.

Arati of Baba Akhandalamani on Monday.

Along the banks of the Salandi River in Odisha, at the ashram of Nityananda Baba.

Noon Arati at Our Jagannatha Temple in Odisha

Shambhu the street bull fell into an open sewer. The fire department came and saved him by pulling him out with ropes. The first thing he did after being saved was run to our temple for his daily free food. We tried to wash him off but he was not cooperating.

Grinding of sandalwood paste for Sri Varaha Narasimha at Simhachalam temple.

Devotees Play Damaru Drums During the Ambubachi Festival at Kamakhya Shaktipitha in Assam

Very Close Darshana of Lord Vittala Panduranga at Pandharpur.

Nityananda Baba and Dayalu Baba Drinking Tea on Makara Sankranti https://www.bvashram.org

Dayalu Baba Sitting at the Dhuni Fire in the Evening on Makara Sankranti

The lotus pond at Dayalu Baba's Ashram which is located on the edge of the Salandi Reserve Forest. We tried for years to get lotuses to grow here. The first few attempts failed, but eventually they took root and now there are thousands of lotus plants, and they come back every year. https://www.bvashram.org

Dayalu Baba shows us one of the lotus flowers from the ashram pond, which he picks and offers every morning to the deities at the cave temple. We tried for years to get lotuses to grow here. The first few attempts failed, but eventually they took root and now there are thousands of lotus plants, and they come back every year in season. https://www.bvashram.org

Dayalu Baba preparing hot water for devotees to bathe during the makara sankranti festival. This clip is from January of this year.

Village children play in a pile of straw at Dayalu Baba's ashram. https://www.bvashram.org

Dayalu Baba sitting with his cows at his ashram in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha.

Dayalu Baba shows us his mud stove at the ashram. He cooks on a mud stove using wood fire. Gas cylinders have not yet come to these areas.

Dayalu Baba making tea for visitors to the ashram. He cooks on a mud stove using wood fire. Gas cylinders have not yet come to these areas. Other than red tea, milk and sugar he also puts cardamom and cloves. Tea is seen as a cheap and quick food, especially among sadhus who don’t have much money. Often they don’t have milk so they drink red tea with salt and ginger, instead of the usual milk and sugar tea. The Britannia Marie Gold biscuit, or a cheaper local version, is often combined with the tea and makes up the breakfast or dinner. These are people who more or less eat one proper meal a day at noon (usually rice, dahl and chutney). For breakfast and dinner they try to make do with things like tea, which are mostly water. They fill their stomach with water, and wait for actual food at noon. They also work physically a lot more than city people like myself. They are always digging in the garden, climbing mountains and trees, and doing all sorts of physical labor which I could never do. There is no money in the villages. They eat the rice they grow themselves. Mostly they can’t just buy vegetables at will, because it costs a lot of money. They have to be very frugal with what they buy and what they eat. They have to trade their rice paddy if they want to buy something, and you don’t get a very good deal when you sell your rice paddy. So their eating of tea isn’t for a stimulant or as sense enjoyment. It’s simply part of the hard struggle of life to maintain their bodies with little money. Some of you may have noticed Baba pouring the first spoon of tea into the cooking fire. In Odisha most sadhus worship fire as Bhagavan in elemental form. All fire is considered as a yagya to them, and after cooking they pour the first amount into the fire as an offering to Bhagavan. https://www.bvashram.org

Sitting with 101 year old sadhu Brahma Chaitanya Das during akshaya tritiya festival at Chakratirtha, in Salandi reserve forest. https://www.bvashram.org

The kunda at Dayalu Baba Ashram is over flowing. The ashram is located in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha on the edge of the Salandi Reserve Forest. https://www.bvashram.org

An interesting ant's nest at Chakratirtha ashram in Salandi Reserve Forest.

Sitting with 101 year old sadhu Brahma Chaitanya Das at Chakratirtha, who recently returned after a year in Jharkhand to again reside at this tirtha.