Kashi

Published on 27th October, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror When we read stories of Shiva, there is a constant reference to how he is forced to marry and produce his children, Kartikeya and Ganesha. When Shiva gets married, he comes down from the mountain Kailasa, which is cold, where no vegetation grows. He descends with his wife and moves to Kashi, a city on a riverbank, which is warm, wet and fertile, where there are markets, crematoriums and pleasure gardens. It is where life happens, trade happens, business happens. Why is this story being told? Why does Shiva, the hermit, turn into Shankara, the householder? Why ..

Published on 23rd December, 2018, in Mumbai Mirror. The holiness of Kashi, aka Varanasi, is perhaps related to its geography. In Kashi, the river Ganga, which normally runs from the Himalayas to the sea in the south, takes a turn and moves northwards. This reverse flow of the Ganga is considered spiritually significant because it is believed that one can manifest certain tantric ideas in such places. In tantra, all our bodily fluids move in a downward direction. We eat food which is transformed into flesh, blood and bone, and eventually, it is secreted in the form of sweat, semen and menstrual fluid, which move ..