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| Butterfly Barn, Sve Dame community, Auroville |
I
am very pleased to tell you about a great evening kirtan taking place the
auspicious night of the Venus Transit with Upahar Anand
Upahar, originally from the UK, now divides the year between Italy and
Tiruvannamalai in south India, site of Ramana Maharshi ashram, sacred
mount Arunachala and a town of spiritual pilgrimage where the transformational energies are strong.
I was blessed to attend his kirtan several times during my recent trip and always achieved a wonderful feeling of connection and love.
Our paths kept crossing. We first met over idlis at the Sheshadri Bhavan in Tiruvannamalai, introduced by Lillah, friend and fellow Glastonbury yogini who I was visiting. Then I attended two evenings with Upahar in Auroville where I was a long term guest.
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| Sea of souls - Tiruvannamalai |
Upahar was excited to know that I was from Glastonbury as he had played the ashram in 2010 and was keen to return, Would I hook him up? Of course!
I hold such strong and positive memories of Sunday morning kirtan, sitting cross legged in Upahar's house, knees touching my neighbours as the room was so full of people, including several familiar faces from Glastonbury.
Many people I did not know, nonetheless we were sharing a powerful experience. One morning in late January felt particularly strong, I witnessed an ecstatic sensation something like being part of an ocean, the congregation of singers rising and swelling as a single entity as my heart surged in my chest, carried by the sacred songs. Utterly moved, to tears, several times and I looked around the room and saw that I was not alone.
Fortune also gifted me the blessing of an afternoon session in a temple, the day of my birthday, when I had travelled to Tiruvannamalai, having left Auroville after two months, I surrendered to the lure of the town.
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