Tumpek Landep 2022, selamatan
In march 2022 i decided to go back to my roots, back to the basics, back to my own keris pusaka, spending more time with my family, my private life, my keris instead of being busy with other people. After is decided to stop, I received 10! new family heirlooms from march until November! The highest "pecking order" in keris are the keris who are donated as heirlooms, sacret heirlooms, the keris pusaka. Then comes the keris who are specially made for you. And then the keris who are bought by Mas Kawin, by dowry.
This is the first time all keris were cleaned and loaded to make the energy stronger.
The Nawa Sanga, the Indonesian spiritual compas.
An old Nawa Sanga from the Majapahit periode
Offering place with left the Tombak Pataka and right the Payung pusaka. In the middle the Gunungan, the tumpal. The Wayang left is Batara Guru, Siwa.
The small offering on the botom is called a Tjanang Tjeper and is used for personal small offering like a ring or a stone.
The bigger square offerings are called Tjannang Sari.
Preparing the Slamatan
Marcel had a nice mantra for this special day starting with Ohm, Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa. Sang Hyang Widi Wasa or Acintya, the supreme god, the Batara Guru. Since WW2, the Pancasila was implemented in Indonesia, the 5 principles, which allows freedom of religion. It requires however that the religion must believe in a single omnipotent deity! To comply with the regulations, the Indonesian Hindu's have felt the need to reinforce the monotheistic component of the faith, thus the more emphasised role for Acintya. To refer to him, they selected the term Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa, the al mighty god, a term witch was coined in the 1930s by Protestant missionaries to describe the Christian god. This was also thought to be well adapted to describe the Hindu supreme deity. The name is now more commonly used by modern Hindu's in Bali. Outside of Indonesia we didn't have the time of Suharto and Sukarno were millions of people were arrested and killed, lots of people having keris, and we didn't have the implementation of the Panca Sila. That is why we still use Siwa, Batara Guru. Note: since 2017 Kejawen is also accepted as religion!
The little statue on top of the mountain is from Karbouw horn and it is Batara Guru, the highest divine energy.
Nasi kuning. It represents the holy mountain Semeru, according the Javanese legend it is a part from the holy mountain Meru in the Himalaya, the mountain Kailash, with on top the place were all the spirits live, the gods, your ancestors. The Indonesian holy mountain Semeru.
In the Tantu Pagelaran manuscript, the origin of the universe is described from the cosmic egg. This old document, written in Kawi, the old Javanese language, also describes the origin of Java.
", terwijl de aarde op zee dobberde. Vervolgens schiep Batara Goeroe negen góden en zeven werelden. Daarna wilde god Goeroe het eiland Java vastmaken. Door gedachtenconcentratie schiep hij een berg in het Westen van de wereld, den Djamoerdipa in die zoo hoog was, dat hij met zijn top den hemel bijna raakte. God Goeroe gelastte Wisnoe en de andere góden den bergaf te breken en naar het Oosten te verplaatsen. "
When Java was still floating on the ocean, Shiva wanted to populate Java with people. To do this, Java had to be attached to the bottom first, the island was shaking and moving on the waves of the ocean. He ordered Brahma and Vishnu to move a part of the holy mountain Semeru, the mount Kailash in the Himalaya, from Jambudvipa India to Java. Vishnu then turned into a giant tortoise and took the mountain on his back, Brahma turned into a serpent and embraced the mountain.
Part of the Mount Pawitra but the main part is the volcano Semeru. The top of the sacret mountain Semeru is were the spirits and gods reside including Siwa. Mount Meru is also the symbol for Shiva, just like the piramide shape commonly used in Indonesian art, the tumpal. The keris is also the symbol of the holy mountain!
Vishnu became the first king of Java, Sultan Randiawan who founded the first kingdom. The keris with the tumpal shape therefore also respresents the holy mountain Meru, the mountain Kailash.
In the link below is an Englisch explanation of the Tantu Pangelaran text by Universitas Indonesia, Solo december 2018. I mentioned the Tantu Pangelaran here on my website in 2008 when peolpe in Holland even never heard about the Nawa Sanga or the 5 elements.
https://eudl.eu/pdf/10.4108/eai.21-12-2018.2282768
In the text they give an Indonesian explanation of the Nawa Sanga. You can see in the drawing that the Naw Sanga we use is the old version with 4 wind directions and 5 deities, while the new Nawa Sanga, the Swellengebel, has 8 wind directions and 9 deities. Also it gives a little explanation about mount Semeru, or Mahameru. Also they speek about the Mandala. I alsways place the highest offering, a Mandala offering.
So following the Tantu Pagelaran, the keris as representation of the holy mountain, is more like a gate way to the spirits, may be more like an oracle, a spiritual object to get in contact with the spirits? So how about the energy of the keris, the devine energy the Mana? And what does an Empu do, attach a spirit to the keris and give it a mystical order by forging the keris in a typican dapur and pamor?
Selamat makan. The Slamatan is to protect all users, to make it kuning, yellow, i used not only fresh Kunir, but also Safran. Safran is also spiritual used because it is very good for your brain and memory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oV05HuZfHI
Incense is important to clean the room and make a gate to the cosmos. For Incense i use 2 kind of incense for ceremonies like this. The yelow is Madu keraton what is actualy pertified honey and Indonesian black amber, the smell of the Indonesian utang from cenruties ago...
Now I think it's important that these traditions are preserved. And just like Christmas, you have people who celebrate it as a family celebration, and people who see it as a purely religious holiday. Everyone celebrates Christmas, but everyone a little differently. In my case there is another practical purpose, the cleaning and loading of the keris, the annual maintenance. Then you have to go through a number of steps, such as purifying the space, purifying the leaf, blessing the leaf and loading the leaf. And I'm very precise about that...
The Javanese Ghenta to call the spirits. Sound is the guna of ether, the spirit, just like coffee (bitter) the center of the nawa sanga.
On top of the Javanese Ghenta you can see the Vajra, with 4 sides, like the directions of the Nawa Sanga, with in the middle the lingam, the symbol of Siwa. The keris is also a lingam, the representation of the mount Semeru in Java, derived from the mount Meru in the Himalaya, the mountain Kailash.
The Indonesian Ghenta is a very interesting object. It contains multiple spiritual symbols, is good to keep the Buta's away, it calls the devine powers and feeds us people.
It has the compas on top, with in the center the lingam, it has the 7 chakra's with the 2 thicker chakra's representing the Samkya origine theory, ans the 3 circles on the bell representing satva raja and tamos, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. So the female energy, the Shakti uses the satva raja and the tamos to make things happen...
Rose water have strong spiritual properties, it is believed that rose water can clean negative energy. I always use rose water to clean and holy water from Indonesia to bless.
Water from the holy source Sebatu, from my friend Robin Block, who brought it from Indonesia. I have a large collection of bottles of holy water from Indonesia.
The holy source of Sebatu
This is a new keris, i don't know him yet, so i choose to do nothing with it. What if the spirit comes alive when working on it. I experienced that once... No i choose to leave new pusaka first and the time will come to start with the blade, or maybe not...
Oil to give the blade a good smell so the spirit becomes active.
About the energy of a keris; Before the Javanese Hindu Boeddhist tradition, there was an animistic believe in Indonesia, like still in Papua Nieuw Guine or Borneo. The primal animistic energy is called Mana.Mana is not a person or a ghost, that is in the movies. Mana is the cosmic devine energy what is in everything around us. In stones, in trees, in animals in us...To keep the enery present, offers are needed. If you don't offer the energy is gone! The highest offering is blood, because blood contains the most of Mana. That is the reason when you go to Bali, on special days, away from the tourists, there is blood everywere, from offering mostlu chickens. In Java we use the Ayam Cemani.
So when cleaning with one of the new keris, and i already saw the beautiful dress and mendak with inten, one of the keris took blood...
Goodbye my good friend
The rest of the keris, on a day like this i cleane and oil all my keris so some can go back in their places for the next 210 days
The music on the background on the video is Javanese spiritual music, Gamalan Nyai Saraswati. This is real old Javanese ceremonial music.
Sangat klasik, hati saya tergetar mendengar gending ini...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwLTFyMsXrY