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absolute contrastsmall, square, affording minimal visibility and near barren of all carvings. Our eyes are meant to focus on the Shiva Linga and the message it conveys: We have entered a realm where the dualities cease to exist. We have entered the realm of pure essence that exists beyond the world of time and the cycles of life and death. |
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Ultimately the entire temple speaks of symbolism. The cave is deep inside the mountain, under the highest peak. The connection is with Mount Meru, where the Shiva Linga reinforces the all-important spiritual axis. The garbhagriha or womb chamber translates into a Brahmasthana that sends out immense spiritual power. |
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The vastu guidelines, which are used in the creation of the temple, accentuate the Vedic philosophy. The viewer who stands before the garbhagriha is filled with nothing less than reverence. After all, few symbols can be as potent as the womb. It is from the womb that life defines itself. It is in the womb that the merged forces of the male and female union create the new essence with its distinct form and its own vital force of energy. It is in the womb, as in this temple chamber, that all the five elements have their role and importance in the manifestation of life. |
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It is from the womb of the temple that the spiritual energy of the form radiates outward and beyond its essence. We feel it and it fills us with its spiritual energy, reminding us of our connection to the Supreme Essence symbolized by the Shiva Linga, which carries our thoughts up to the highest kalasha and finial that hold the nectar of immortality. This is the aim of earthly existence and this aim is mirrored in all religions. "The amrit of immortality is the most difficult goal to reach," Sudesh would say whenever we talked about vastu and temple architecture. |
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At one of my meetings with Sudesh, I had tried to get him to talk about a new temple complex that was in a state of perpetual construction on the outskirts of Delhi. The ongoing construction of the site dripped with a lav- |
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