Radhastami

Hi everybody!

…Left you there hanging on the last update with chocking news.

Well, the day after my arrival there was a big celebration on the community since it was the birthday of Krishnas ”partner” (whatever her name is). So my host, Saranya, who is really religious, asked me if I wanted to join. 

I had to wake up a bit before 7 in the morning, since that was the time when the ceremony started. When I got to the temple I got instructions on how to act inside by one of the WWOOFers. She told me that I had to kneel down on the floor as soon as I walked in and put my forehead in the floor to ”salute” Krishna. Also men & women couldn’t stand on the same side of the room. As I was in there, I just observed all the devotees and the rest of the people in there. Some of them were meditating, others were praying, and most of them were muttering a Mantra that went like this ”Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare”. 

The ceremony started by us praying and sining songs. There was people there with instruments that were playing indian music and a guy singing. After a while some people started going around with candles that you had to put your hands over and then touch your forehead and your heart, as a sort of ritual. After that some other people were going around with flowers in their hands that you had to smell, also as a ritual. Then they opened some curtains at the end of the room and revealed a sort of altar/scene where there were a bunch of statues that represented Krishna and his partner and some other indian gods. They had decorated everything with flowers and balloons. 

After that ceremony I went to the house thinking that I would work for a little while on the garden, as I was supposed to being a WWOOFer, but the lady (Saranya) was not home, she was still at the ceremony. I was resting on my bed when she came home around 30 minutes later, and I walked out to talk to her. She asked me if I liked the ceremony and of course I responded "Yes, It was very... interesting". She also asked me if I wanted to go at 12 o'clock to see some other ritual at the temple where they would wash the mini statues of Krishna and his partner with all kinds of things, I thought *Why not?* and then she got so excited she wanted to dress me in a Sari (indian female garment). So we walked to her room and she took out this beautiful navy blue Sari made out of silk and she started wrapping it around me. And she kept on saying that I was very tall, so she ended up putting safety pin's everywhere so I would get a little bit more length to the Sari. But still it wouldn't reach my feet, just above my ankles. She also made a clay print on my forehead that everybody was wearing at the Temple. 

And away I went back to the Temple. 

Unfortunately I forgot my mobile phone at Saranyas house, so I couldn't record or take pictures of the  ritual of washing the mini statues, but it was mind-blowing. They went on and on washing these little statuettes with milk, yoghurt, ghee, rose water, honey, and who knows what else!

After that they were going to open Radharani's (Krishna's partner) gifts that visitors had left for her. One by one they started opening bags with necklaces and earrings and other stuff that I wondered *How in the world can they put earrings on a freaking Statue?!*. Anyway, by the time they opened an envelope containing 104AUD (Australian Dollars -$$$!) I decided I had enough and bowed down and left the Temple. There's only so much a mind can stretch in one day and I had enough of (respectfully) all the Bullshit. 

I went straight to lunch after that. There was a Huge feast with all the WWOOFers and around 100-200 visitors. 

Tonight after midnight (around 2am) some of the other WWOOFers and me will be going trekking to Mount Warning and see the sunrise at the top. According to Wikipedia: "Due to Mount Warning's proximity to Cape Byron, the Australian continent's easternmost point, it's the first place on mainland Australia to receive the sun's rays each day"

This is going to be MAGICAL :) 

Catch you guys later!

Have a beautiful day :)

xx, Elsa