Shiva descends to Bangkok from Mt Kailash: Eye witness account

Part I
(January 11, 2011)
By
Willard G. Van De Bogart

In the early evening of Jan 11th 2011 around 8pm I was standing in front of the
Devasthan Brahman temple on Dinso Road in Bangkok waiting to see Shiva descend
from his mythical abode on Mt Kailash in the Himalayas. I wasn’t alone in this quest
to see Shiva as a small group of devotees were also waiting with anticipation. Once a
year Lord Shiva is invited to earth in Bangkok during the Giant Swing Ceremony
known to Thais as the Sao Ching Cha. In 2007 the Giant Swing, Thailand’s most
iconic symbol, was re-dedicated by HMS King Bhumibol after it had been refurbished
with two new teak wood pillars. The press covered every aspect of this event which I
had watched on TV. In June of 2010 I found a small book titled Traditional Festivals
in Thailand (Gerson 1996) preparing for a class assignment at Bangkok University.
The Giant Swing Ceremony was mentioned in this small book but it also mentioned
how Shiva would visit the earth during the Giant Swing ceremony. After reading how
Shiva would descend to earth I decided that I must witness this event for myself. Six
months later I was waiting for the temple doors to open so I could witness this other
worldly event. The anticipation was growing among the small crowd gathered in front
of the temple as preparations were still being made inside. Then a sudden impulse
overcame the crowd which seemed to pull everyone into the temple to see Shiva. We
all entered a newly decorated temple with gleaming white marble floors, crystal
chandeliers and found ourselves sitting in awe at a festooned altar filled with aromatic
flowers, fruits lining the walls, freshly cut bamboo stalks lying on the temple floor
and the many Shiva statues looking down from a glass enclosure upon a very
expectant crowd.

Never before had I attended a ceremony with the explicit intention to receive a deity
arriving on earth. What would I experience was foremost in my mind as the head
Brahmin took his place on a mat in front of the many ritual objects used in the
ceremony along with a small lamp placed on a small table illuminating a very old
manuscript containing the instructions for this auspicious event.

But before Shiva could arrive on earth the gates to Mt Kailash, (Shiva’s home) needed
to be opened and this was done with extensive chanting by the Rajaguru. The opening
of the gates of Kailash would be like trying to open a portal or entry way into another
world and in these circumstances the entire temple space acted as the gates for Shiva
to pass through. The reading of the sacred texts and the periodic blowing of the conch
shells along with the elaborate preparations by the Rajaguru defined the atmosphere
and the sanctity of the space in which Shiva would be received. One unique aspect to
the ritual included purifying every aspect of the body. The Rajaguru spent a great deal
of time on this part of the ceremony preparing his whole human vehicle to be worthy
of inviting Shiva to this earthly realm. Shown in (Fig.1) is the purification of
breathing before inviting Shiva.
 Figure 1. Rajaguru purifying breath

It is necessary that every aspect of the body is purified before the ceremony can
continue including counting of the sacred mala beads (Fig. 2.).

Figure 2. Counting of the masala beads

The Brahmins are all dressed in white as well as many of the devotees lending
brilliance to the temple enclosure with its new white marble floors illuminated by the
crystal chandeliers. Many hours of reciting the sacred text by the Rajaguru last well
past midnight before all aspects of creating a sacred space for Shiva’s arrival are
completed.
Slowly the temple enclosure was transformed into another kind of sanctum sanctorum
separated from the world in which all of us came from. A sheath or subtle glass like
luminous light filled the surroundings and with the continuous sounding of the conch
shells (Fig. 3.) the temple reverberated throughout the early morning hours with only
the sound of one lonely cricket penetrating the sanctity of the ritual.

Figure 3. Blowing of the conch shell

Sitting among the devotees I had no idea what to expect as the ceremony was
reaching that climactic moment when Shiva would be invited to visit the earth.

Figure 4. Shiva’s
attendants
The time was slowly approaching when this most auspicious event would take place
as the Rajaguru was making his final gestures of sprinkling the lustral waters on the
offerings at the altar, raising the flaming candles up to the heavens with his right
hand, and ringing a bell with his left hand as the conch shells resounded repeatedly.
All eyes were focused toward the glass enclosure where all of Shiva’s attendants
reside (Fig. 4.). It was during this moment the world occupied by objects and things
mutated into a gossamer translucent scene where the edges of reality dissolved and
muffled silence filled the temple. Perhaps it was due to the many hours of
concentration and solemn chanting that created an image of a shimmering corridor of
light emanating from the high altar where the Rajaguru’s sight was fixed awaiting the
arrival of Shiva that these temple rays lights seemed to define a pathway on which
Shiva could descend. All thoughts about what I thought I might witness were instantly
suspended and I found myself engulfed in the height of the ritual where all the
elements of sound and light where fused. It was the very moment in which judgment
as to whether I was witnessing what was real left me and the gradual combination of
the ritual observances coalesced into an aura of supreme sanctity. It was a moment
where awe and reverence combined diluting my logical world only to be replaced
with a complete sense of existing in a presence where there were no comparisons but
just recognition that everything became disconnected creating a hollow cavity filled
with unbounded luminosity.

The gift of recognizing that the one human attribute we humans possess, which is
more predominate than all other human attributes, was the recognition of life itself.
The boundary between luminance and profane reality defined by our own awareness
was dissolved for a short moment, and in that moment when my own awareness
returned was the moment I recognized that I had experienced a presence beyond my
capacity as a human to understand, but even still that presence made itself appear
before me. The Brahmins knew the secret to reach other worlds which we read about
in so many treatises of the Rishis of India. For all the doubt and rationalizations one
could offer up to explain how such a visual apparition was achieved before the minds
eye would not deter the fact that for those that are devotees or just curious observers
the intentions of the this elaborate ritual allowed Shiva to arrive on earth and for the
next ten days he would be part of my personal world and those of his devotees until it
was time for Shiva to return to his celestial abode on the full moon.