A Journey to the Home of the Gods in Bali!
Mount Batur has a 1,717m elevation! Home of the Gods, it is a unique spot to meditate and connect with the power of the Earth!
It is 3 in the early morning and the darkness is so intense. Right now I am ascending the steep slope of #MountBatur, the active #Volcano in Kintamani district, in #Bali. I aim for the top and I wonder if I can make it. It is so dark… the only thing I can see is the rock under my shoe as I shine the thin ray of light with my flashlight on each of my steps. My feet slip on the loose rocks and the incline is unbelievably upwards… sometimes I need to really climb and I am not a climber.
The quietness is so big that I can hear my heart pounding as I hike and hike. Despite the hardness there is a peaceful serenity surrounding the mountain something that is very distinct even at the top.
Mount Batur has a 1,717m elevation and it last erupted in 2000. Its #caldera formed more than 29,000 years ago resulting to the existence of Lake Batur right under the volcano’s nose.
This is one of the four sacred mountains and according to the Hindus of Bali, the #mountains are where the Gods reside.
The Balinese #Hinduism derives from the combination of Hindus and Buddhists from the near #island of Java which came here searching for a new home, and fought the indigenous people, who incorporated the #animistic part of the Balinese religion. The Agama Hindu Dharma #religion or Agama Tirta which means 'religion of holy water' is the order of the Cosmos (Dharma). This order is the basic principle and in it there are three layers. The upper layer is heaven, the dwelling of God and God, the next lower layer is the Man (human) and the lowest is hell, demons and the #spirit of Man which is punished due to a bad life on Earth. The pre-existence of native Balinese, adds to the faith one more aspect, the animistic; the different manifestations of this one God, because as a Balinese man said to me, "it is not enough to believe in this only one God". The manifestations of the God are placed also at the middle level and this belief actually gives life to the Deities of nature.
As I gaze at the sunrise at the top of Batur I think to myself that this philosophy is so familiar! It’s like listening to the Greek and Scandinavian #mythology. And again... all these might finally be only ONE?! We may be so connected and not even know it, being so busy hiding behind the conflicts of our so-called differences and our political divisions. So I decided to change that for me...
It is so amazing to look at the magic of the nature. From this top I can see the sun rising, the #lake shining and the great Agung #volcano, the greatest of them all. I sit on a flat rock, I take it all in.
#Exercise: I breathe deeply in a steady, slow pace and I close my eyes. I imagine that all the life energy from MY Batur (because I really feel like I have become the volcano’s sister) comes right from my feet up to my head. The warmth and the strength are inside me now and I feel stronger as ever. I imagine the light from the rising sun entering my head and flooding my whole body. My cells are happy and are bathing in energy and I imagine the water breeze from the lake cleaning my skin and my aura.
It doesn’t really matter if I am a believer or not, what matters is that being here makes me become one with the volcano and I really want to call the Volcano God and share with him my gratitude for this majestic experience. It is not often that I get to be on a volcano and smell the smoke of the Earth. And this is what I do... I finish my #meditation with gratitude and I say “thank you universe for giving me this chance, thank you Volcano God who ever and whatever you are for existing”.
I feel a smooth weird touch. A monkey, the ‘official beneficiary’ of the mountain is next to me and plays with my hair. It seems that this serenity brings me closer with the beings as they want to feel a bit of this energy that runs inside me.
I will never forget the Volcano. I will always remember one of the great palaces of the Gods!!!
Making new friends on top of the smoky volcano and over the caldera that reflects in Lake Batur's waters!!!
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*Danai Fassouli is a writer and self-development consultant traveling around the wold with the sole purpose to decode the ancient sacred truths and use them for her personal development as well as to spread them to all women that want to work for their own health of the mind, body and soul. The articles are purely informative and do not replace the doctor or the psychologist and generally any specialist in physical and mental health.