Today our guest is the Balinese high priest, Ida Pedanda Gede Putra Watulumbang Manuaba also known as Ida Pedanda Watulumbang. We meet at his house and learn about his path to becoming a priest and some of the spiritual beliefs and practice in Balinese Hindu tradition.
Time notes:
00:01:00 Becoming a priest
00:05:00 Ceremonies
00:06:45 Ritual and adornment
00:10:45 Balinese cremation
00:12:25 Karma and daily correction
00:16:29 Fearless Death
00:19:00 Daily spiritual tending
Ida Pedanda and his wife
Rought transcript, please excuse all errors
[00:00:00] . My name is Olivia Clementine, and this is Love and Liberation. Today our guest is Ida Pedanda Gede Putra Watulumbang Manuaba, also known as Ida Pedanda Watulumbang. Thanks to my friend Made Swastika.
I was able to spend time with him and his village as they went through a traditional Balinese village, cremation. Through that, I met Ida Pedanda Watulumbang a high priest, who was conducting the cremation ceremony. Today we meet at his house and learn about his path to becoming a priest and some of the spiritual beliefs and practices in the Balinese Hindu tradition. [00:01:00]
Olivia: Well, what is your full name?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Well, uh, my name is, uh, Ida Pedanda Gede Putra Watulumbang Manuaba very long names.
Olivia: You were telling me before, a little bit, but how did you enter into this role?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: I had three jobs before become a priest, I working in the hotel, then after that I become a chief of the whole village here and then third I am also assisting the ceremony, yeah. I am doing it for about 12 years but, uh, why I’m decided being and choose this profession now because from my predecessor, which I have to do it, I have to follow it, and I have to do it.
I’m the youngest in the family, but I don’t know [00:02:00] why, uh, the youngest has become a priest. That is actually the journey. This is my life journey. So I’m blessing. I’ve been blessing on 217, which is almost seven and a half years now, when I was 47 years old, the rule is actually, people can do, uh, blessing after 40 years.
And I was blessed on 47 years old. So that basically why I choose this, profession now become a priest, but not an easy job actually. It’s a very, complicated, you know, I cannot go around as I like it. ‘ cause this is, we call it Sasana. Being a, pandita or priest uh, in, in Bali, uh, I have a rule. Which I cannot go like, [00:03:00] traveling as what I like it, like go to the market myself. I cannot. For me, if people are ready to be a priest they have to stay home, do puja and people requested to do puja, and I have to go and pick it up by, the people come to their house to conduct the ceremony.
Olivia: So when you turned 47 and you took on this role, did you have training?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Well, before people entering to be a priest, first of all, uh, in my family role, I have to follow, we call it Walaka. Like my sons today, you see him there, you know, to, to join us in conducting the, the, the procession, you know, we call it Walaka, which is, the, the first step before become a priest.
they have to know, step by step operation, all those ceremony, like temple ceremony, cremation ceremony. So they learn it and they also learn little puja, you know. There are, separate puja, [00:04:00] uh, special puja for the high priest. And then, uh, for him, he only can do just several puja cannot do the, uh, the highest puja like that.
Olivia: So like what would be considered high puja? What are those?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Uh, the high puja like today cremation. My son cannot conduct. Because this is a, a, complicated process, uh, which can be done only the priest. People who would like to be a, a, a priest they have to learn first the basic. Yeah. Will
Olivia: your son become a priest after you?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: I don’t know. Okay.
Olivia: So how does it,
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: we never know yourself. You never know. No. Yeah.
Many people like know, they, they plan themselves. I’m going to be a priest in the end. No.
Yeah. For me and my wife, I flied away from the home last time. That’s why I build a house here. And I buy a house here [00:05:00] because I have my brother, six brother at home. I, I assume that one of them probably will become a priest. Eventually not, you know?
Olivia: In general, like what are the things that you support people with?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Well, in general, I support people for cremation ceremony, temple ceremony, and then also what we call it,
the ceremony for the, for the earth. We call it Bhuta yadnya. and then human being ceremony, from the pregnant ceremony, pregnant and become, uh, you know, born baby. You know. So after that, uh, one and a half years ceremony baby, and after that, the kids become a teenager.
Mm. And then from the teenager tooth filing ceremony and then married wedding ceremony, That’s the human being ceremony. And then the last ceremony is actually we call it the, the ceremony for the nature we call it Caru ca, called [00:06:00] uh, means Harmony. the ceremony for the harmony of the nature.
Being priest In Bali. We have to know a few things we have to learn. First is we have to be able to dance. And we have to do gamalan. We have to sing which is a Sanskrit song that you heard just now from the cremation. We have to do that and then healer.
And why we have to do the holy song because of the puja. the healer why we have to do that because people will come to my house you know to find the solution of their problem.
Olivia: Maybe we could get into some of the ritual items you have and well first of all, you wear white clothes. White is actually
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: uh, it’s a symbol of the holy white color, and I’m using the black color Because as [00:07:00] a human
being. we cannot totally, uh, a hundred percent perfect or right. in, in my life, even though I’m being a priest, I also made a mistake.
This is the symbol black is actually symbol people made a mistake. The other accessories. Yeah, the, this (crown/head piece) is a clear special and the ganatri and this. And when we are wearing this, uh, the capacity of the priest is called paramashiva we cannot upset when we are conducting the ceremony. We have to be very cool, very quiet.
Olivia: and how about the flower around your (forehead), that’s,
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: we call it karawista. Karawista came from the three words kara, we, ista come life, uh, we is actually, uh, water.
The water is came (through the crown of the head) and go down and go to the puja.
Olivia: Mm. So that’s a, the, that represents the water. Yeah. Yeah. And the flower.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Yeah. And the flower, [00:08:00] basically, uh, a what we call it, Kebijaksanaan. Yeah. Wise, wise. Wise.
Olivia: Ah, so like wisdom, water, wisdom, yeah.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Yeah. Yeah.
Uh, you know, this is, this is yoga. the, the water is, uh, the water is came from here.
We call it Ampru, And then it is, came up. Yeah. And go here and down here and goes to the, uh, the, the tirta, that is actually on daily basis we are doing that. So our focus, our concentration is actually here. When you are doing a a, a, A tirta holy
water, uh, the holy water is came from here and up down here we have, uh, we use the karawista.
Because the way is, uh, water, the, uh, here is the, the water flow down. Ah, go to
Olivia: How does it come up?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: At the back there is uh, three [00:09:00] in the yoga, we call it, Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna.
They are coming up from the ida. Okay. Up and down one.
Olivia: So when you’re sitting there doing the puja Yeah. And you have the flower here, your attention is here on your heart.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Yeah. Attention is here. And also here.
This is the third eye, shiva.
I guess we can’t go through all of your instruments. Your bell, the, you have the candle, the vajra,
this is actually some symbol. The, the dupa you know, the incense? we call it symbol Chandra. Chandra is moon, and then the, the light, a symbol of sun. Mm-hmm. And the, what we call that, the one which is stand up in, in front of me.
That is the complete ong kara we call.
When I came to, south of India eight years ago, so I saw one of the priests there, and when they saw this, they said [00:10:00] that 5,000 years ago in India, the priest is using this tool. uh, they do not use it anymore. That’s why, he was kind of shocked to see, how, Hindu priests in Bali. Doing it every day.
Olivia: So in Bali you’ve kept the tradition?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Keep the tradition, yeah. Yeah.
Olivia: And where do you find these, do you, are they made in Bali?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Uh, they’re made in, uh, Bali and also in Java.. this is for the holy water, and this one is for the incense stick.
This is the symbolic of the sun. you light the candle. Yeah, candle. So beautiful. And then you cover them with a lid. Yeah. That has the images of deities on it. Yeah.
Would you want to bring us through all the, the main points in the cremation process?
Yeah. Well, uh, [00:11:00] as I said that the body is actually came from the five element. So inside the body there is a soul. So when people die, they’re doing first process we call it, to returns the five elements to nature where they’re supposed to go to their, uh, basics places. Like why they, they transfer it to the motherland because the motherland is helping complete five element. And then, the second process, which, uh, we are doing it today, it should be processed, the soul. This is actually the process of purification, purification, purification to make them able to reach the, we call it sapta loka (7 upper realms), Hmm. Uh, uh, heavens or heaven or whatever, or God Realm?.
Yeah. Today, the ceremony is actually not the big [00:12:00] ceremony in Bali. This is actually medium cremation ceremony. If they are doing a big ceremony, are they guaranteed to go to the heaven? No again, it is karma.
T he, the ceremony believe in Bali that a smallest, bigger medium or bigger ceremony in Bali, it is not guaranteed there
they can reach the heaven or we call it sorga (heaven).. It is all about karma.
Ceremony is only to quickly the soul reach the place where they’re supposed to go. This is the procession is actually a Purification of the soul. people in Bali, especially Hindu in Bali, they are very believed that what they are doing now is actually because of the last karma. We always have to do like daily correction, correction of doing a good thing on our life, even though at the end we receive bad thing.[00:13:00]
But still, we have to keep doing the good thing. For me. eventhough I’m being a priest now. It’s not guaranteed that, uh, I’m always having a, a, a good thing in my life now, but the bad thing in my life, I use it as a, as a teacher to make me what we call that, uh, able to. To move on, become a, you know, a, a good thing.
Because, uh, you know, being a priest, if someone screaming at me, I cannot answer it. I have to keep it quiet. Mm. I have to, what we call that swallow it all. Yeah. That is difficult. You know, if I answer it, I made a mistake.
When people die and before the procession is started, they call it Preta (trapped spirit/hungry [00:14:00] ghost) in Bali, when the body is cleansed after cleansed, they call it pitara, changed. And today they already call those as dewa pitara there are a lot of step, no.
Every ceremony, uh, change the, the position of the, people who die like first before the processes they call Preta. And after process the yards and then move up to the, what we call the house, they call it pitara. And then after the priest come at the cemetery and they call it Dewa pitara.
And tomorrow. At the sea, they already changed their name become yang dewa pitara.
All about energy and to transfer the energy to them, using the holy water
Olivia: So you’re moving their energy to a higher realm.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Yeah yeah yeah.
Olivia: So then they’ll bring some of the ocean water,
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: [00:15:00] ocean water, you know, with uh, yeah.
Symbolize of the respective,
what we call that, uh,
Olivia: the the body essence of the Yeah, yeah. Their loved one. Then they,
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: they gonna bring it back home and then do a little procession and then put it inside like symbolists. Mm. That is their place now.
Olivia: And then what happens? So like there, their place is in their home temple.
Yeah. And then what happens with that person? Now, the person that’s represented by this symbol.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Uh, well actually, uh, they are not a everyday at the temple. We are talking about, uh, soul. Yeah,
Olivia: yeah.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Soul will come back to do their respective karma, but in every sixth month we have a temple ceremony.
in respective house there, we call them and come and stay only for a couple days. And then after [00:16:00] that we do a procession returning them back like that
Olivia: every six months.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Every six months. And
Olivia: then like all your ancestors, every month,
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: all ancestors we call.
Olivia: And in your own temple every six months your personal temple.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Yeah. Yeah.
Olivia: And does a priest come to your house to show you?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: It’s depend on how big is the ceremony. it the small ceremony, the second priest will conduct it we call it manku the highest ceremony should be conducted by
The top priest, we call it pandita.
Olivia: So also I was curious about death and so in Balinese culture, are people afraid of death? Um, I don’t see much crying at the cremations.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Where this?
Olivia: Yeah. ‘
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Cause this is, uh, the cremation that you can see, only the symbol when they are die and then the family are crying. Why are we afraid of die because, uh, this is actually a circulation, right?
If there is a born, there is a life and then die. [00:17:00] Why do we have to be afraid of dying? For me? I’m not afraid of dying. Yeah. this is very important. during the life uh, we really have to learn why we alive and in life.
What we are doing. And after death, where are we going to go? If we learn these three things, we don’t have to be afraid of dying. Who am I? Why I’m here, and then after here where I have to go. See, yeah. We don’t have, for me, I don’t have to be, uh, scared of dying though
if I have a big house or I have a lot of thing to leave, we are not going to bring it there.
Olivia: It’s true.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: This is a live for temporary, right? No need to be afraid.
Olivia: Yeah. What is your experience of when you think of who I am and why I’m here and where I’m going, what do you
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: For example, me myself. Who I am. I [00:18:00] am is Those who are actually a kind of soul come to the earth to do karma. That’s who I am now. And what should I do?
here now, in the current life? Oh I am here I have to do a good thing to be back there and hopefully not come back again. I have to do a very very good thing in my life if we can, it depends on how karma is, but eventhough like I said, in our daily life
not all people are like us, some people they do not even though we are doing a good thing. keep doing good karma , keep doing a good karma that is for our future. For me my purpose is I don’t want to come back [00:19:00] again to do reincarnation. For me, I think I will come back, but I try not to come back.
Olivia: So more pujas, more reparations and things .
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Everyday I do a kind of yoga because everyday I always burn all of my negative karma inside, but everyday I do it.
Olivia: Is it physical yoga, or sitting yoga?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Sitting Sitting yoga.
Olivia: I wonder too, will you share what does a pandita do everyday in terms of spiritual practice?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: As I said, at first it is Yoga because at the beginning he is doing yoga for himself, they are trying to absorb the energy of sun in the morning, energy of nature you know and then they are trying to burn all of those negative influences inside, karma and all those things, we call it three [00:20:00] geni, geni is fire and three is three. We are using three geni, three fire. Which is from the heart, heart everyday you know move this to here, out this in the middle and take this from the bottom out from the bottom and after that this is white color fire, this is red color fire and this is like dark color fire we combine it mix it and it becomes What we call it? Orange.
After that we move it down here from there we concentrate to burn all the negative things in the body. And after burn, we focus it on putting down the water. The water comes down here (through the crown of the head). here .
here we call it ong kara sumungsang [00:21:00] It processes all the holy water here and down through the body. After that the second step to take down the energy, white energy from the top i don’t know in english and then we focus it and then put it up to mix our body our energy shining every day.
Olivia: So those three steps.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Three steps, this is very important.
Olivia: How long does that take you in the morning to do?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: 10 minutes. Sometimes if I do it quickly, five minutes. But sometimes if I feel it, what do you call it, if I feel very
Olivia: heavy,
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: heavy yeah, I don’t want to stop it because I feel it this is the energy something like that.
Olivia: You need more.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: Yeah need more, need more, especially when I am pulling down the white energy , I feel …
Olivia: you really [00:22:00] need it.
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: I really need it.
Olivia: Then afterwards do you go into puja?
Ida Pedanda Watulumbang: After that I go make the holy water, puja for the holy water
and then after finishing to the water.
You know we call it Surya Sevana in the morning ah , morning puja we call it Surya Sevana
Morning Surya means the sun, Sevana means I am the servant of the Surya in the morning. And then how the priest is spreading the energy of Surya, the sun in the morning to burn the negative energy in the nature like that.
[00:23:00]