applicable to me these days --- “bhokto hoyechhe bhogar maa, nityo cheera khaye”... Chirwa or flattened rice is called cheera in Bengali, which is consumed by folks inclined towards religious practices, rites and rituals as a replacement of rice....the concept is rice makes you impure(??!@#$^%^@*%!???)...got nothing to do with my feeding habits...but my new found interest of discovering beautiful yet unknown religious institutions within my city....i am not too religious by heart and soul...i tend to make friendship with the gods in my mind rather than placing them in the light of sacredness; which helps me get rid of all devout customs...no wonder my father-in-law teased me calling ‘matlabi’ J .....This time I discovered an ayurvedic ashram with the undertone of Hindu religious sentiments, very close to my house, on NH 7 called the “Sai Geetha Ashram”... more than an ashram, it seemed a biodiversity project to me... as the name suggests, the ashram housed a beautiful temple of Sai Baba...presiding on a stone chair wrapped with decorated silver foils, the marble idol of Sai Baba has a very pleasing demeanor...a passive smile on his face would lead you to imagine that he is very pleased to see you visit him.... unfortunately, photography was not allowed therein...the Ashram imparts the name of a god to each plant, relating the identity of the god with the tree...each tree is believed to possess healing properties, not only for the physical body, but also to relieve mental and sociological problems like a hostile relationship between mother-in-law and daughter in-law, between husband and wife, siblings so on and so forth....each tree had a board hung on its branch, which depicted the history and the relevance of the tree in present times....circumnavigation round the tree in specific clockwise or anticlockwise directions at a definite holy hour or important day like birthdays, wedding anniversaries etc would eradicate the problem the tree promised to cure...few trees also provided astrological solutions to folks not getting a job or getting succumbed to enemies....sarees were draped around few trees with the front pleats and the pallu, which was hung from the branch like a flag...probably those were feminine trees or a goddess resided there....it reminded me of the Jungle book song " Jungle Jungle baat chali hai, Chaddi pehn ke oops, saree pehn ke per nikla hai"....
i remember the religious significance of Peepul tree, which, according to the ashram is an incarnation of lord Vishnu....watering a peepul tree by a lady increases her chances of conceiving a male baby...another medical utility of Peepul is that, if a green twig containing young leaves is inserted to the ear of a snake bitten person, the twig will absorb the poison and turn black, thus saving his/her life...had it not been something so severe as a snake bite, I would have loved to get a demo...by sundown, all the trees had a lamp, agarbatti and garland encircling their bases...few trees were given Prasad, which was also curious in its own way.... on a disposable aluminum foil, the trees were offered white rice and some cooked yellow curry....
The ashramites worship ‘The Value of Time’.... we saw a huge HMT clock mounted on a big wall, with 2 ladies blowing a conch on either sides....they attempted replicating the ‘clock’ technology from the Nizams of Hyderabad, but could not do a decent job of it....certain things are best in their pristine and authentic state....very similar to the Nizam watches displayed at Salar Jung Museum and falaknuma palace, where a doll came out to ring the bell as the minute hand touched 12 every hour; the Ashram clock had a doll do the same...the only difference being that this guy was late by a minute or two....
The ashram also had pet rabbits and swans loitering around... we saw 3 white and 1 pied swan....one of the swans didn’t seem to like me, and every time I approached them to get a better shot in my camera, it charged me with a craned neck and a straightened protruded beak, in full mood to attack....the rabbits were definitely more polite than the swans...and happily munched young shoots which we offered them...
The day we went had a volunteers meet .....The dress code for the volunteers working in the Ashram was ‘white’... probably they have formulated some herbal super strong stain removal gel or something like that to keep their dresses so sparkling white...a satsang was hosted in the evening...we attended it for a couple of hours despite my aversion ...and finally headed home..
The ashram, as I captured in my camera
PS:: good things about the Ashram:
1. They give medicines for migraine, sinus, eye problems etc free of cost every Sunday
2. They have yoga and meditation classes
3. They sell herbal medicines, and offer alternative therapies for almost all problems
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