This is the stamp that Tamara Wyndham (P.O. Box 1116, Knickerbocker Station, New York, NY 10002-0620, USA) bought. She wonders what it means. If you know please help her. Post it here as a comment, but even better: send het a card or letter explaining what this stamp is about!
Hi Ruud,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting that mysterious rubberstamp...
I got some replies. I tried to post them on your blog, but it got very
complicated and I gave up.
My friend Claire was in India on vacation. She had the stamp with her
and showed it to two guides. The first guide said, it's a mantra, "Om
shiri" and it didn't mean anything really, just something to chant.
The second guide in Rajisthan said it's the Devanaguri script and
means simply "Om."
I took it to my yoga school, and someone there thought it said "pa"
but didn't know what it meant. They said there is a Sanscrit class on
Sunday and told e to come, but I haven't made it yet....
Michael wrote to me:
Tamara,
They had it partly right. It's "para" meaning "beyond," as in a
transcendental sense, like the Prajnaparamitra Sutra:
Gaté gaté
Paragaté
Parasamgaté
Bodhi
Svaha!
[ Gone gone
gone beyond
gone beyond beyond
Wisdom
Aha! ]
It's on this sutra that they say all of the Zen tradition is built. I
should have recognized it right away. My Sanskrit (Pali, and other
languages) has disintegrated from lack of use.
Hope this helps.
J. Michael
"J. Michael Mollohan"
So that's all the answers so far.... Thanks so much, everybody!
- Tamara