Story
Story 50
During the two-month festival of Maha Kumbh Mela, sadhus came to Allahabad from all over India.
They dreamed to have a bath in Ganges River while Maha Kumbh Mela was held.
During the event the river Ganga was filled with holy power that could purify one's soul to the level of nirvana.
All the Hindu communities at Maha Kumbh Mela fed sadhus with respect.
Even outsiders and non-Hindu people were welcomed and fed.
One sadhu showed me how to eat with gestures.
I still remember his warm deep eyes.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Allahabad)
Story 49
Fifteen years before Maha Kumbh Mela 2013, I visited India for the first time.
It was in Varanasi, I watched the Ganges every day.
I had a decision moment of my life back then, and I hoped that the holy river would give me some inspiration to make a good decision.
However, the Ganges did not give me any signs, instead children kept asking me to buy something from them.
They told me that if I did not buy then their parents would hit them.
It was heartbreaking to see such children.
I thought that I could have peaceful spiritual time in Varanasi, but I was just ignorant.
Wherever I go, my daily life continues and all the problems caused by me would follow.
There was no miracle that changes my life in a second only by seeing the Ganges.
I became very frustrated and almost gave up thinking about my future.
To refresh my tired mind, I washed my clothing in the river, and I thought that it would be good to wash myself as well.
I saw many people having a bath about 50 meters up the river from where I was, and the water level was at their waists, so I thought that it was okay to dive into the river there, too.
With a splashing sound, my entire body went underwater immediately.
Actually the river was very deep there, and the stream was brutal.
I drank water and I was almost drawn but luckily the Ganges let me go.
When I met an owner of a cheap inn I stayed, I told him that I accidentally drank the water of the Ganges where people were emptying themselves and dead bodies were thrown into.
While I was talking to him, I remembered that one dead body got stuck at a riverside which was very close to where I dived into the river.
The owner laughed and said.
"Oh, good. You will be purified from inside then."
Next day I became sick badly with high fever and severe diarrhea.
My previous purpose of making a life decision became a minor issue.
I suffered so much, and I thought I would never ever go back to India again.
Time passed, and I came back to India again fifteen years later.
At Maha Kumbh Mela, countless people came to Allahabad to take a bath in the Ganges.
During the event, the Ganges was being filled with the maximum holy power.
People prayed with their whole heart that they would be able to reach nirvana by getting purified in the Ganges.
I was still traumatized a bit from what happened to me in Varanasi, but I knew that I had no choice.
Taking off my clothing, I slowly went into the Ganges.
My ankles, knees, hips and chests went underwater.
The was very cold.
I soaked myself up to my neck, I was nervous.
If I should soak myself completely or I should stop now.
I looked around in the river.
Then I saw many people soaked themselves up to their heads.
They seemed very serious and sincere.
When I saw them praying in the river single-mindedly, I was moved.
No fear was with me, I went underwater completely.
After a few seconds, I opened my eyes.
There was not much sound in water.
Little by little I began to see things at the bottom of the river.
Some gentle beams of the sunlight fell, and the sound of the current was like a song of small birds.
I felt very peaceful there, time seemed disappearing.
I didn't know how long I was in the river.
When I got out of the river, I found something was strange.
Then I realized that I did not actually open my eyes in water.
Funny, but I believed that my eyes were open and I saw the beams of light at the bottom of the river.
So what was that?
I started feeling so moved by the strange experience.
Fifteen years ago, I was rejected by the Ganges and I was almost drawn.
Now, I felt peaceful in the river.
Maybe the Ganges respected who I became after fifteen years, and it gave me a permission to be held in her body as a child of love.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Allahabad)
Story 48
During the world’s biggest religious gathering on earth, Maha Kumbh Mela, she was alone sitting at a riverside facing Sangam where the three most holy rivers of India meet, and praying all day long.
Maha Kumbh Mela is held once in twelve years at a small village called Allahabad.
All the Hindu gurus with his/her communities gather, and stay for two months to spread their teachings as well as getting purified and inspired.
It is said that Sangam is filled with sacred power during the event, and when people take a bath in Sangam, they are completely blessed and allowed to reach nirvana.
When I participated in Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013, approximately 100 million people came in total of the two months.
The three rivers: the Ganges, the Yamuna and the Saraswati river
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Allahabad)
Story 47
I was walking in a village, and found a beautiful family.
Even I was just a stranger, they welcomed me to their yard.
"Have a glass of water," they said.
"In India, we cannot receive visitors without sharing anything."
A son went inside and came back with a cup of water.
"Here you go," he smiled.
"We have nothing to share but water," a father said.
"Well, we have a gorgeous cow. We can't share it with you, though," a mother laughed.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Allahabad)
Story 46
When I was arriving in Allahabad, it was nearly midnight.
It took me for almost 24 hours to Allahabad from Goa, and I was very tired.
I hired a cycle rickshaw, we passed the neighbor district quietly.
The surreal view and fatigue made me feel that I was in a different world.
Most of the houses there were in blue, people covered themselves with big beautiful clothing.
Some were cooking, some were working, some were sitting near the fire.
Everything happened soundlessly.
Before joining Maha Kumb Mela, my soul already tripped to somewhere by the unique atmosphere.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Allahabad)
Story 45
When I woke up in the morning, I found feathers of a peacock in my room which is located outside and simply enclosed with cloth only.
I don't know if a peacock was in my room while I was asleep, or somebody left the feathers for me.
It's a nice gift to receive in the beginning of a day anyway.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Goa)
Story 44
When I saw him for the first time, he was walking in the venue of a music performance.
It was in Latvia, a beautiful European country.
Among the audience seated, he was walking towards the back.
The way he walked was breathtaking.
He seemed to be floating as if there were no gravity around him.
His dark skin, dark shiny eyes, long gray lion-like hair, and thick gray beard made him look outstanding in the crowd.
Immediately he stole all of my attention, and the concert was no longer interested to me.
During the performance, I sometimes looked at where he was sitting, and checked how he was.
At a break, I wanted to talk to him but he was with some people, and after the event, he was again surrounded by other people.
I unwillingly began to go down the stairs to the main exit.
But I could not give up, and one last time I looked back at the venue and I saw him standing there alone.
I ran up the stairs and went to him with joy.
"Excuse me. It may sound funny, but when I saw you I knew that you were going to be a special person to my life," I was shy and blushing a bit, but I squeezed out my thin voice.
He looked at me kindly, and gently said.
"Thank you brother. Let's sit and talk."
His voice was like a sound of mild waves.
He told me that he was an Indian philosophy teacher and a translator of ancient Sanskrit poem.
He was visiting his partner and friends in Latvia at that time.
"Please come to our place. You are always welcome," he smiled.
Since then I started visiting him and I learned inspiring lessons from him.
One time we were talking about dancing.
When I said that I could not dance well, he told me.
"Your fingers dance, your eyelashes dance, your hair dances. Every single part of your body dances, and how come you think that you cannot dance?"
Another time we were talking about sexual love.
He always kissed me on the lips firmly when we were saying good-bye.
It was not my tradition, but I did not feel uncomfortable somehow.
He always said that ”there is no room for gender in love."
By the time I left Latvia, he said that he could invite me to his private school in Goa if I would like to live in India.
I visited India many years ago, and I had a tough time back then.
So I never imagined that I would go back to India.
Now, I am in Goa with him listening to his thoughts.
He is my friend, and he is my mentor.
Again, one meeting can change one's life completely.
The meeting with him was it to me.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Goa)
Story 43
I was sitting on the train bound for Goa for sixteen hours.
The car I got in was full of passengers resting on the floor, on a rack, and every empty space they found.
A man sitting next to me told me some stories about superhuman monks living in the Himalayas, and hidden paradises which allow only few who is brave and clever enough to enter.
The overnight ride was exciting, but tiring at the same time, so hot fresh chai was highly appreciated.
After surviving the cold night, the train finally approached Goa, and the daybreak welcomed and healed all the long-distance travelers.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Goa)
Story 42
There is a statue of Voldemārs Irbe, a legendary and beloved painter of Latvia, in front of a theatre in Riga.
Irbe always went barefoot, he was wearing the same coat almost every day no matter how hot or cold it was.
Because Irbe's old coat was very dirty and stinky, the city gave him a new coat, but he threw it away and kept wearing his dirty coat.
He sold his paintings to people in the street for some pocket money, and enjoyed his free life.
He was killed by a bomb which was dropped on the last day of the war in Riga in 1944.
One said he was lucky, because he didn't have to see how the Latvians he loved so much went through the toughest time of the history afterwards.
I was lucky enough to have found one of his existing paintings before leaving Latvia.
To convey my respect I brought the painting back to him.
He seemed a bit sad to me while I took a photograph.
Maybe because he preferred a cigarette to his own painting.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Riga)
Story 41
The Latvians are regarded as people who are born with trees and who die with trees.
They drink white birch juice in spring, men wear an oak-leaf crown and women throw their flower crowns onto apple trees at the summer solstice, they enjoy watching leaves changing colors in autumn, and they purify their body and spirit with birch branches in a sauna in winter (or through the whole year).
A typical Latvian traditional instrument is Kokle (a lap harp).
Today Kokle is a performance instrument but in the old times it was a private instrument to remember the departed.
When a family member died, the bereaved family went to woods to find a tree that a soul of the departed might have resided in.
When they found the tree, they cut it down and made Kokle out of it.
They only played the Kokle to remember the departed.
By the way once one of my good Latvian friends who is able to smell people's spirit told me that my spirit smelled like an oak tree.
I'm sure it's a good thing as a person who loves Latvia.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Kuldiga)