Blessings of Goa Gajah - Bali Trip 4

Suppose I am about to die and my life flashes before me, I wonder what images would be in it. Like my mom hugging and consoling me, the small temple on the way to the school, my maths teacher dictating a formula, the smile of my love by the beach. These came to my mind when I closed my eyes for a second now. But If I were to pick the Images I would like Bali to be part of it. For I feel closer to its architecture/sculptures, the natural beauty and friendly people of this place.

A huge sculpture in the intersection of the road, taken from the car

We travelled to the world famous “Goa Gajah” (A UNESCO world heritage site) cave located near the town of Bedulu. We paid 10,000  Rupaih per person for the entrance and that included a rental of Sarong (the cloth to tie around the waist if you were wearing shorts). The steep valley lead us to the temple area which had some ruins on to the left ( the original entrance we were told) a bathing pond on to the right and the main attraction the cave at the centre. A temple attendent volunteered to show us around.

Click to see the full beauty of the pond.

Archaeologist from holland found this site during 1923 and the bathing pond of seven statues were found only by 1950. These seven statues denote the seven sacred rivers of India. One of them broke during the recent earth quake. I was more than happy to carry my water ritual there. Aarti its not a patel pose :P

I am wearing the sarong to respect the sanctity of the place, the water is coming from the spring.

 The Hindu Buddhist temple/monastery is believed to be from 11th century and sacred meditation place for the followers of the amalgam. “Gao Gajah” means Elephant Cave, and believe to refer to the Elephant god present inside the cave. Some believe the name comes from the Elephant river, Sungai Petanu.

The cave’s gate is protected by two guards, and the demon mouth like structure is called Kala, believe to ward of any evil spirits. The five fingers of the devil represent the five stages one crosses during the meditation inside the cave. Few triangular shaped shelves, big enough to fit a grown man to sit for meditation, are present inside the cave.

Goa Gajah in Sanskrit scripts refers to “Antakunjarapada “(Kunjara means elephant and elephants are not found in Bali) historian believe this place has connections with ‘Kunjarakunja’ the hermit abode where Rishi Agastiya did penance in India. I was told the followers took a dip in the pool before meditating inside the cave.The Cave contains Ganapathy- the elephant God, Buddhist gods and also Trinity.

"canang"is offering of flowers in a container made by young coconut leaves, click to see it clearly.

My love asked me what did I pray inside the cave, I said when we are at a place much higher than ourselves we shouldnt ask for anything silly but rather pray to be blessed. Later we climbed further down to the holy spring where the remains of big Buddha statue are found.

Our attended who spoke decent english and was very happy over a small tip.

Attend said, the huge Buddha statue was believed to be fallen off the nearby peak and archaeologists were not able to complete the statue with the remains.

The remains of buddha statue, a small stream flows behind it

There is also a small temple in that place, and the priest blessed us with holy water. We were told few original sculptures were stolen from this place, because of  thier antique value and never been found.

A view while climbing back.

We climbed back to the sights of rice fields to the car park feeling serene, peaceful and blessed by the energy of the place. More to come..