Eternidade a dois passos, 2013 - 2015 [Série Turista transcendental]

A eternidade a dois passos, 2013 - 2015

[Eternity at two steps]

Vídeo monocanal [single channel video]
formato HDV – cor/som [color/sound]

duração [lengh] 07’07”

edição de video e audio [video and audio editing] – Isabel Escobar



Eternity at two steps, 2013 - 2015

A eternidade a dois passos, 2013 - 2015

[Eternity at two steps]

Vídeo monocanal [single channel video]
formato HDV – cor/som [color/sound]

duração [lengh] 07’07”

edição de video e audio [video and audio editing] – Isabel Escobar


The ancient writings known as the Vedas relate that there was a moment in the history of the world in which gods and demons fought for the pot – kumbh – which held the nectar – amrit – of immortality. During the battle for the possession of the pot, four drops of amrit fell to the earth, each one in a different city in a planetary conjunction that repeats every 12 years. The Kumbh Mela celebrates this event, alternating the locale where it is held before returning, once every 12 years, to the most sacred of the four cities, where Brahma offered his first sacrifice after creating the universe.
On that day, there were about 30 million of us camped on the outskirts of Allahabad for the historic Maha Kumbh Mela, a moment so magical that it would only repeat in the year 2157. There was only one mission, though a very difficult one: to not succumb to the waves of human beings coming and going in the same direction, and to reach the banks of the Triveni Sangam, the sacred meeting place of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati River, for a bath that would cleanse us of the sins committed in past lives and purify our souls. But getting closer to the gods isn’t easy; illumination and eternity require plenty of faith in order to envision paradise beyond those polluted waters and hear the divine calling. But the transcendental tourist is capable of immersing oneself in the muddy waters of triveni and emerging symbolically many kilometers away, at the foot of the Himalayas, the residence of the gods’ souls. There, where the waters of the Ganges, still green and clean, begin their journey toward the ocean, feeding and blessing millions of individuals before becoming diluted in the whole, is a perfect metaphor for the lyrical flow of humanity.