Udayagiri | Mountain of the rising sun
As we barely managed to get in at sunset time, I was bowled over by the natural rock formations and carvings at Udayagiri, a tourist hot spot in Bhubaneswar, that are not merely artistic, but also served a purpose…
Udayagiri literally means the mountain of the rising sun (udaya).
Nestled at the outskirts of the temple city of Bhubaneswar, Udayagiri (mountain of the rising sun) is not just a beautiful place to hike and boulder, collect sunrise and sunset panoramas into one’s memory and experiences — It also has a deep historic value for spiritual seekers. Sprinkled and garnished across the Udayagiri hill are scores of little meditation hide-outs at different elevations— Carved directly into the massive rocks, and 6'x6'x4' in size — Just barely enough space to settle down. The hide-outs are large enough to sneak in on all fours, but too small to stand in. There is just enough space to lie down and sit upright and meditate. And if that gets boring, the hide-outs dot the circumference of the hill, giving sweeping views of the city and surrounding hills.
It’s hard to really believe that a society of meditators and cultural aficionados were living, eating, breathing, meditating and progressing on the spiritual path in their small open hide-outs, actually flourished 2000 years back, during 2nd century BC. This was the time of Gautama Buddha and the surrounding areas of Bhubaneswar played a pivotal role in the spread of Buddhist/Jain meditation practices along with sun worship by Hindus [1]
Quantum physics and vibrations
Quantum physics mentions that the atom is not really a fundamental indivisible, that it can broken down into sub atomic particles. String Theory, a beautiful theory of modern physics, that is yet to be proven but mathematically super elegant, goes even further — To posit that everything is a wave-form, just vibrations.
Nothing really matters — Literally
Even in the spiritual path, we talk about vibrations — The subtle vibrations we experience in meditation, the vibrations of people we meet up with and the vibrations of places. It is said that, as we meditate, and wherever we meditate, we enrich the vibes of that place to be more positive and welcoming.
With so many people having meditated at Udayagiri a millenium back, I felt quite comfortable with the vibrations of the place and that’s perhaps why it is my most favorite spot to visit, every time I visit the temple city of Bhubaneswar.
References
- Udayagiri caves. Wikipedia entry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udayagiri_Caves