World of A.K Sircar
"Beauty is the footprints of God"
Beauty is the divine language in forms
“In the world of forms a violation of Beauty is as great a fault as a violation of Truth in the world of ideas. For Beauty is the worship Nature offers to the supreme Master of the universe; Beauty is the divine language in forms. And a consciousness of the Divine which is not translated externally by an understanding and expression of Beauty would be incomplete conscious ness.
But true Beauty is as difficult to discover, to understand and above all to live as any other expression of the Divine; the discovery and expression exacts as much impersonality and renunciation of egoism as that of Truth & Bliss. Pure Beauty is universal and one must universal to see and recognize it…”
– The Mother, Prayers & Meditations, January 29, 1917
HAKONE GARDENS
In 1916, two San Francisco arts patrons, Oliver and Isabel Stine, purchased the 18 acres site on which Hakone now stands. Inspired by her trips to Japan, Isabel Stine modeled the gardens upon (and named them after) Fujit Hakone Izu National Park. She hired Japanese landscape artists and architects to design the gardens and the Upper “Moon Viewing” House.
From 1932 to 1966 the ownership of the garden changed many hands.
In 1966, the partners offered a beautifully maintained Hakone for sale to the City of Saratoga. Today Hakone is administered by The Hakone Foundation, a non-profit organization, which was established in 1984 to restore and enhance the gardens independently of public funding.
Hakone Gardens is now a tranquil place of peace and harmony, ideal for enjoying the beauty Of Nature, and meditation.
Entrance to Hakone Gardens
“Hakone Gardens is a traditional Japanese garden in Saratoga, California, USA. A recipient of the Save American’s Treasures Award by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it is recognized as one of the oldest Japanese-style residential garden in the Western Hemisphere, and an enduring American treasure.
Bamboo Garden
ZEN GARDEN
HILL & POND GARDEN
Hill garden
Strolling Garden
Hakone Garden House
An authentic representation of a 19th century Kyoto Tea merchant’s house & shop.
Garden & pool
Wedding photography at the garden.
Strolling path
For Tea ceremony
Tea ceremony in progress
Japanese calligraphy
Pond garden
Inside Hakone Estate
An old tree
Autumn leaves
Inside Hakone Estate in the evening
Dressed for the occasion
Sayonara
Sunset
Whenever I see a sunset, it reminds me of ” Sunset in one country is sunrise in another”.
“The distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, however, persistent,” wrote Albert Einstein. Similarly, it is a common knowledge that though we see sunrise and sunset daily, it is the earth rotating round the sun, that gives us the impression of sunrise and sunset, and the sun is neither rising nor setting. Birth and Death, in this way neither beginning of life nor the end of life, but are relative realities. Life is everlasting. “ The Wise One is not born, neither does he die: came not from anywhere, neither is he any one: he is unborn, he is everlasting, he is ancient and sempiternal: he is not slain in the slaying of the body.”
World of A.K Sircar 