Orchids

After all that meditation it was good to get out on the road again to clear my head. Nothing like a spin on the motorbike, a little fresh air, and a trip to the famous Royal Gardens of Chiang Mai.

This time the tour guide was Lalita Canti. She knows Chiang Mai well, speaks Thai, and suggested a visit to the Flora Festival 2014, just a short motorbike ride from the jungle ashram of the Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Here she is with the tickets.

Here at the park are many banyan trees. In Bhagavad-gita 15.1 

ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ-śākham

aśvatthaḿ prāhur avyayam

chandāḿsi yasya parṇāni

yas taḿ veda sa veda-vit

It is said that there is an imperishable banyan tree that has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas.

The banyan tree is curious because the branches grow out, touch the earth, form roots, and create another branch. It is a metaphor for endless entanglement. Here is one such banyan tree. It is a confusion of branches and roots, On the right  is part of an orchid. While normally thought of as parasitic, orchids are not really parasites. Actually they live on nutrients in the environment. They are true "breatharians," 

Here at the park is an amazing assortment of orchids of all different sizes and shapes. These are all highly colorful and would make excellent decorations.

So I wandered admidst the orchids, trying to make sense of it all. I need to hurry home and finish the script on Angkor, but it's difficult to stare at a wall and a computer screen and be creative. The fresh flowers help clear my mind for the task ahead. 

Royal Flower Park

As we walked and talked, I made some observations about patience and the need for careful cultivation. I remember when I was a child and the teacher would bring seeds to class. We would carefully plant them in little paper cups of earth on a Friday afternoon. When I came to school on Monday, the first thing I wanted to see was my plant. I ran to class. But I was disappointed to see the same paper cup with nothing but a little dirt. "When can I see my flower?" "Patience," I was told.

Here I am surrounded with flowers. I don't want to leave this paradise, but it's time to move on.

Royal Gardens

Maybe I'll be back sometime. For now it's time to hit the road again. 

Ready for action

We'll talk more later. Right now I have to get to work. Sayonara, Adios,  Do Svidanya, and Dandabats.

Local Color

Here in Thailand, Maya is popular.

But here, just as elsewhere, people yearn for peace.

And while in the West everyone is setting up the Christmas tree and roasting the chestnuts, waiting for Santa Claus, here in Chiang Mai, the prince of peace is Buddha.

We took a little tour around the local area to visit a community project centered on documentary makers in Asia and found this charming complex of Buddhist temples. The doors were closed and the peaceful Buddha was resting or perhaps meditating, but we passed the gates just to look around.

I'm with Nana Priya on the left and Vrinda Devi Dasi 

A Local Buddhist Temple, closed for the afternoon.

It is pleasing to take a quiet walk around the grounds and absorb the contemplative atmosphere of the gardens.

A dragon (or is it a Naga?) guards the entrance

In the gardens behind this newer wooden structure is an older shrine built in stone, carved and crafted long ago.

As Buddha was resting for the afternoon, we left him in peace and moved on. The Documentary project was down the street. 

This is the community project on Documentaries. http://www.doc-arts.asia/current-exhibition/ "Documentary Arts Asia." They have a bookshop and a library and show documentaries on Asia made by local film-makers. Since we're having a go at documentary-making it seemed worthwhile to pay them a visit.

I rooted around in the library for a while, looking for information on Angkor, but there was nothing in their library about Cambodia. With the American action in Cambodia during the War in Vietnam, and subsequent regimes and troubles including Pol Pot, academic research and archaeological finds have been limited and the literature is not as extensive as one would hope. 

So, in my best documentary style, I caught a photo of this cat taking the sun. Cat on a hot tin roof, anyone?

Determined to find some more local color, and curious about the way of life of average Thai citizens, I spurred my friends to drive me to the Big C supermarket. Supermarkets always teach me a lot about the places I visit and each one has a different character. So we hopped in the hero-wagon and drove to the big C.

What strikes me about the Big C is the vast number of motorcycles outside. But the produce section also has a great quantity of strange fruit. Papayas, Mangos, Lichee fruits, huge bags of tiny mandarins. 

Shiny Apples wrapped in plastic

Green Pumpkins: very popular

Dried Tamarinds

Shiny red apples wrapped in plastic, bright green pumpkins that look like dinosaurs. Green on the outside but screaming orange on the inside: great for pumpkin soup. Huge bags of dried tamarinds for making a piquant iced tea.  Perfect for those hot tropical December afternoons.  So while in Boston people are drinking hot mulled cider, and in Moscow its hot black tea, here in Chiang Mai there's nothing like a tall cold glass of tamarind tea on a balmy evening.

But tamaraind's not really my cup of tea. I was looking for some Lapsang-Souchong but settled on good old Jasmine.

I find the Jasmine tea helps me to focus the mind, while the soothing fragrance of the Jasmine improves my over-all mood. Thanks for checking in. 

The Garden

We are responsible for what we cultivate. If we sow the seeds of discord we cultivate anger, and if we carefully plant the seed of faith, we cultivate devotion. We are like gardeners. There is much also to be learned from the expert gardener.

Our expert gardener

An expert gardener loves the soil, the plants, and the water. He lives close to the earth and the plants.

Our gardener's house.

By living in touch with nature, one is sensitive to the needs of the plants. An expert bhakta takes good care of the seeds of devotion or faith, avoiding dangerous weeds, and nourishing faith with good association.

The truth-seekers who populate the ashram here are all expert in many things. They have degrees in physics, musicology, philosophy, and information technology, but don't show off their knowledge. They are seeking a higher light, the light of devotion which illuminates the lives of those who serve guru and gauranga with humility.

Working in the kitchen

Here, people have come together from around the world, China, India, Russia, America, Mexico, to meditate, pray, chant Hare Krishna, read scriptures, and teach and study the message of Shri Chaitanya and his followers. 

So in this way we cultivate the flowers of devotion.

We are responsible for what we cultivate. So I do my best to cultivate my own garden. 

Papaya tree on the property

A Tropical Flower

Unusual flowers

Bamboo

Wandering here and there between papaya and banana trees, meditation is natural. Kokila birds chirp, children discover hideaways. And below the bamboo in the hollows of the canyon, a quiet stream meanders. The quiet here is satisfying. A human voice hangs in the air, chanting an old mantra. It is a good place to find your inner life.

Bamboo sways gently in the morning breeze. Bamboo is flexible, open to new directions. But its flexibility belies its great strength.

We are taught that humility and tolerance are great virtues. Sri Caitanya said, "be humble like the grass, tolerant as a tree." Bamboo is both grass and tree. Both humble, flexible, and tolerant. But  still, strong. There is much we can learn from bamboo.

Comic

One of the projects I'm working on here in Thailand is a graphic novel of the Mahabharata to be covered in 6 books of 120 pages each. Here I am with artist Igor Baranko and Swami Avadhuta. We're looking over a few story-boards, spread out on the floor for easier viewing.

After we check over the story-boards, I'll add dialogues. Then Igor will have them colored and finally we'll go to press, probably early next year. See you at ComicCon.

Peace

I've spent most of this week recuperating from all the travel and from the cough I was developing in Moscow. Gupta Govardhan in Chiang Mai is a quiet place of contemplation.

The property here is divided into two important areas: One houses the temple environment with deities and prayer and meditation room, the upper floor dedicated to the full-dome animation studios and video projects with living quarters for the permanent sannyasi residents: Swami Avadhuta and Goswami Maharaja. The other building has living quarters for the regular acolytes, yoga students, and serious brahmacharis/inis. 

I am housed between the tall bamboo and papaya trees. Here I meditate on my Angkor Wat script and the Mahabharata Graphic novel, both of which are progressing. 

During the day I have long rambling conversations about metaphysics, the origin of the universe, and the ontological meaning of the ancient temple structures at Angkor. At night I'm also talking, reading, and writing a bit, trying to tighten up the script we will be using on location.

Devotees live a quiet, contemplative life here, working in the kitchen, helping with computer animations, meditating, chanting their japa, and having deep discussions about the nature of spritual life.

Even the birds sit quietly in the trees. This one didn't mind that I came very close to take its photo. As I sit and write, I hear the sounds of odd oriental birds. One of them keeps saying, Ka-Cacao, Ka-Cacao, as if advertising chocolate. But here in Thailand, Green Tea is preferred to Cacao. People like to smile and frown on conflict.

Until next time, Hare Krishna and Peace. Mahayogi.

Dueling Umbrellas

Everyone liked the blast from the past so much, and I'm still exhausted and recuperating from the trip so here's some more photos from last year. This is a video called "Dancing Umbrellas" with Goswami and myself clowning around and blowing off some steam.

I hadn't seen him in 25 years. Here we are dancing an irish jig of joy and peace.

Aerial View of Chiang Mai.

Here's a view of Chiang Mai taken from high atop the museum of carved wood. Below is another photo with the umbrellas.

Downtown Chiang Mai is a  noisy blend of tropical familiarity, friendly people, tuk-tuk taxis, motorcycles and scooters, traffic jams and colorful street stalls. This is close to the downtown market.

The Red Taxi

The Red Taxis are really pickup trucks with an open passenger section in the back. You negotiate with the driver and hop in the back. They go to all the popular destinations and are cheap and fun.  When you reach your stop you pound on the side of the wall, the driver makes a quick stop and you hop out. Here we are in the downtown market.

 All kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables are available, from leechee fruits to mandarins.

. 

In the tropical heat of early afternoon, even the fruit-sellers take siestas

Maharaja found these umbrellas on the property

I'll post more later. It's time for breakfast. So Adios, Chiao, Hari Bol, and Dandabats.