Want to really Chill Out? - Try Ice Hotel - built of ice and snow

Ice Hotel Entrance


Lighted Entrance

Reception Area

Main Hall

Main hall

Suite Room - Forest effect

Suite room

Ice Bar

Ice Bar

Ice Church
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The other day I watched a programme about ICEHOTEL on Discovery Channel (on Astro). They showed how is the hotel built. It is amazing and a lot of hard work. A lot of engineering and artistic brains are behind building this beautiful piece of creation. If you really want to chill out in a unique place, go for Ice Hotel. But hang on! it is not cheap! atleast USD1000 per night. :)
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ICEHOTEL is situated in the village Jukkasjärvi, 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The heart and backbone is the River Torne flowing freely through the unspoilt wilderness. Covered with a meter thick ice layer winter time the river is the source of all our art, architecture and design. The pure water and the steady movement of the river creates the clearest ice possible.

Ten thousand years ago, glaciers carved a riverbed and the Torne River was born. Since then, the crystal-clear, pure water of the Torne River has flowed freely along its 600-kilometer path through Lapland out to the sea in the southeast. The entire ICEHOTEL is on loan from the mighty Torne River and is a place where time stands still. When the spring comes and then finally the summer, the entire creation will once again become part of the rushing rapids coursing toward the sea.

ICEHOTEL takes shape
As soon as winter begins, a team of snow builders, architects, designers and artists from all over the world gather in the little town of Jukkasjärvi far north of the Arctic Circle. Under the direction of the ICEHOTEL Art & Design Group, they create each year’s version of ICEHOTEL.

The STORY: about a hotel made of ice and snow
If it is possible to build a hotel of ice in a small village 200km inside the Arctic Circle, which strikes the whole world with amazement, then anything is possible. The story of ICEHOTEL is indeed a fairy tale come true. The free flowing Torne River is the origin and artery of ICEHOTEL. From the river, the ice of ICEHOTEL is borrowed each year. And it is here, on the river shores in the village of Jukkasjärvi that our story begins.
It started off as a summer destination
The company Jukkas (present day ICEHOTEL) has been a tourist operator in the region since the 1970s. For many years the company focus was on the summer season and the magnificent outdoor experiences offered by the land of the midnight sun. During the dark winter the river was frozen and the people of the small village of Jukkasjärvi went into hibernation.
Cold and darkness as an experience
By the end of the 1980s it was decided to turn things around. Instead of viewing the dark and cold winter as a disadvantage, the unique elements of the arctic were to be regarded an asset. Inspired by the work of visiting Japanese ice artists, in 1990 the French artist Jannot Derit was invited to have the opening of his exhibition in a specially built igloo on the frozen Torne River. The 60 square metre building named Artic Hall attracted many curious visitors to the area.
ICEHOTEL known all over the world
One night a group of foreign guests, equipped with reindeer hides and sleeping bags, decided it would be a good idea to use the cylindrical shaped igloo as accommodation. The following morning the brave group raved about the unique sensation of sleeping in an igloo. Hence, the concept of ICEHOTEL was born. A lot has happened since. Today ICEHOTEL is world famous for its unique concept, its fantastic works of art and its extraordinary experiences. The fairy tale nature of ICEHOTEL brings out the child in guests of all ages.
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Source: http://www.icehotel.com/

India's First Mission To Moon - CHANDRAYAAN - 1

Moon Impact Probe

Polar Satellite Vehicle (PSLV-C11)

If all goes well, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, to be launched by the Polar Satellite Vehicle (PSLV-C11) on October 22 at 6.20 a.m. from the Sriharikota space port, will reach the lunar orbit on November 8, according to M.Y.S. Prasad, Associate Director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

About 1,000 engineers and technicians of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have rolled up their sleeves and are working hard for the past two months to ensure a flawless launch. The 52-hour countdown will begin on October 20 at 4 a.m.

On Saturday, the PSLV-C11, which is 44.4 metres tall and weighs 316 tonnes, looked majestic in the huge Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) of the state-of-the-art second launch pad on the Sriharikota island. As it gleamed in white and brown colours, the VAB’s massive doors, in contrast, shone in speckled grey.

“All checks on the vehicle are completed. The vehicle is now ready to receive the satellite,” declared T. Subba Reddy, Manager, Second Launch Pad, when journalists visited the complex.
A few kilometres away, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which weighs 1,380 kg, is undergoing a battery of tests to test its flight-worthiness.

The spacecraft will be moved to the VAB on October 14 and married up with the PSLV-11. The “marriage ceremonies” such as filling Chandrayaan-1 with propellants and gas, and cobbling of the heat-shield which protects the spacecraft through searing heat when the rocket climbs through the atmosphere, will be performed over the next four days. On October 18 will begin the extremely slow journey of the rocket with the spacecraft, as if it were a temple chariot with the deity, from the VAB to the launch pad.

The PSLV, which stands on a mobile platform, will be wheeled on rail tracks to the launch pad, also called the umbilical tower, which is one km away. A powerful hydraulic bogey system will slowly pull the vehicle. The one-km journey will take two hours!

“The movement of the vehicle to the launch pad will take place on October 18. There will be minimum four days of work on the launch pad. The launch will take place on October 22 at 6.20 a.m., provided the weather supports us,” said M.C. Dathan, Director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

However, V. Krishnamurthy, the Range Safety Officer for the mission, is a confident man. “Rains do not matter. The launch vehicle is rain-proof. It can get drenched and we can still launch,” he asserted.

The PSLV had lifted off earlier when it was pouring over the island. Only a cyclone would pose a problem to the launch on time. Since this was the time when the north-east monsoon set in, Mr. Krishnamurthy said ISRO had formed a team of weather specialists who would be in Sriharikota six days before the launch.

Depending on their inputs, ISRO would take a decision on when to ignite the rocket.

Chandrayaan-1 will carry 730 kg of propellants. About 600 kg of these propellants will be used to put the spacecraft into lunar orbit at an altitude of 100 km. The spacecraft will have a mission-life of two years and use up 70 kg of propellants during this period, Mr. Prasad said.

Chandrayaan-1 has 11 scientific payloads — five from India and six from abroad. The payloads from abroad includes those from NASA, the European Space Agency and Bulgaria. The payloads will map the chemicals and minerals on the moon, and also prepare a 3-diemensional map of the entire lunar surface. The mission will also give clues on the early origin of the moon.

Mr. Prasad said, “We will be able to confirm whether there is water on the surface of the moon near the Poles with the help of the Chandrayaan mission.” Water on the moon was first identified by a NASA mission called Clementine. Based on that, NASA concluded that there could be a possibility of water in the moon’s South Pole, he added.

Moon Impact Probe
S. Satish, Director, Publications and Public Relations, ISRO, said an important Indian payload on the Chandrayaan-1 was the Moon Impact Probe (MIP). When the spacecraft reached the lunar orbit at an altitude of 100 km, the MIP would eject from Chandrayaan. As the MIP sped towards the moon’s surface, its video-camera would take pictures of the lunar surface.

Its altimeter would measure the instantaneous altitude from the moon. A third instrument, a mass spectrometer, would sniff the tenuous atmosphere above the moon. V. Seshagiri Rao, Deputy Director, Range Operations, Sriharikota, said each payload on the Chandrayaan, was subjected to different tests at Sriharikota.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/12/stories/2008101260901000.htm

Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satasang Society of India: Unfolding of a Great Vision

Excerpts from a talk given by a monk at Self-Realization Fellowship's 75th Anniversary World Convocation, Los Angeles, July 14, 1995

"Renaissance" means rebirth. In the West, we look at history as a linear progression and assume that the farther we go into the future, the more evolved and refined things will be. But the yogis of India teach that history is cyclical. It moves in giant 24,000 cycles - from higher ages to lower ones and back up again, over and over.

The Florentines in the Renaissance looked back to the classical cultures for a model of ideal civilization; they idolized ancient Rome. And whom did the Romans idolize? the Greeks, who in turn idolized the Egyptians. Do you know why? Though very few Western historians could answer, it is because the Egyptians were a higher-age culture. Truths from past ages that were much more advanced than ours were encrypted in the Egyptians' hieroglyphics, in symbolism we still don't understand.

In his Autobiography of a Yogi, our guru Paramahansa Yogananda mentioned the civilizations of higher ages in ancient India, Egypt, Japan, China, Mexico - all over he world. Everyone of them has long since disintegrated, except India's. India's wisdom has survived all these centuries because, instead of carving their legacy in symbols and stone, her masters maintained a living spiritual tradition from guru to disciple. Even when history descended to the dark ages, the guru-disciple relationship continued to produce realized saints who kept that sacred flame alive, century after century. This is the key point - these teachings that our Gurus ( Self-Realization Fellowship Gurus) reintroduced to the world are not new; they are he wisdom of the highest ages becoming known again. And now that in our time the great cycle of ages is beginning to ascend once more, people are not only ready again to understand this higher wisdom , they are demanding it.

In his Autobiography of a Yogi, our guru tells us: "Unknown to society in general, a great spiritual renaissance started in 1861in a remote corner of Banaras." That was when Lahiri Mahasaya, at the request of Mahavtar Babaji, began initiating disciples into Kriya Yoga. And it was 1920 that the final stage of this renaissance truly got under way, for it was in that year that our Guru, Paramahansaji - whose work had begun in 1917 as Yogoda Satsang Society of India - beheld in a great vision a panorama of Western faces and heard God calling him to America. After a few days later he was ordained by Babaji to begin his world mission of spreading the science of Kriya Yoga worldwide.

"India has sent these Self-Realization Fellowship teachings," our Guru said, "to show you how to expand your consciousness to receive the infinite wisdom, the infinite love, the infinite joy of God."

As Guruji often said, he did not come to bring a new teaching or a new religion, but the essence, the truth, behind all religions. These teachings are more than religion; they are the truth that upholds life itself. If you want to be a good parent, you'd better have more than platitudes to answer your children's questions. If you want to know the secrets of getting along with others, of creating fulfilling relationships, you need more than religious dogma. Or if you want to be a successful businessman, these teachings are going to help you more than anything else you could ever study, because they give you the divine laws of success. Our Guru's teachings give a practical understanding of the basic laws of life that is incredible in its breadth.

Once a devotee of this path (of Self-Realization Fellowship) was talking about how the teachings applied to his work, and mentioned the words work and service. I asked him, "What is your definition of work and how does it differ from service?" He thought for just a minute and said, "Well, in work you produce something and in service you become something." I thought, this is Truth! Sincere members of Self-Realization Fellowship are not just sitting and studying about truth - they are living it; they are manifesting it; that's how exciting it is. And that is why these teachings will be at the core of the coming age.

Source: Self-Realization Fellowship magazine, Issue: Fall 1995

Picture: Self-Realization Fellowship International Headquarters Building on Mt. Washington in Los Angeles.