From Shrinivas Sugandhalaya’s Oriental series comes Celestial. A powerful scent that sweeps into the room and takes no prisoners and offers no apologies. Aww, who am I kidding? It is pleasant, enjoyable and absolutely nothing to write home about. Like the others scents in the Oriental series it is built on a base of vanilla and sandalwood and that at the very least gives you a pleasantly warm, sweet, and slightly earthy scent. It just doesn’t do much more than that.
I am a big fan of sandalwood. A fact that should be obvious if you have read very many of my reviews on incense. I am also a fan of Shrinivas Sugandhalaya and the incense they produce under various names. I am still having a hard time figuring out their Oriental series though. The series is based on a sandalwood and vanilla mixture with other scents added in to make up the individual offerings in the line.
Shrinivas Sugandhalaya is probably best known for the famous and widely loved Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa in the iconic blue box. They do however offer many other scents. Although I have found that it is sometimes a bit hit and miss with those other scents. For instance Satya Patchouli Forest is absolutely wonderful while this offering from the same Oriental collection is a bit generic and plain.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find that the stick is quite good actually. Fresh from the box it is strongly scented of lavender. So strong in fact it would make a good addition to a lavender based potpourri. It isn’t perfect though because it has a perfume-y note that real lavender lacks. It isn’t unpleasant though and I think that maybe later I will put a couple of sticks beside the bed when I lie down to sleep.
Well, there is actually. Although I am not 100% sure what its official name is. Is it just “Purple Stuff” or is the made up word “Superliminal” a part of the official name as well? At any rate, the can has printed on it “CALM DOWN”, “RELAX THE BODY” and “FOCUS THE MIND”. Although it isn’t very relaxing to be shouted at in all caps by an inanimate object. Perhaps the artists that designed the can were all fans of energy drinks of various kinds.
The big Morning Star Incense Review Roundup is almost complete. I have but one scent left to review and there is a very good reason I saved it for last. I don’t like the smell of roses. I never have and unless a spontaneous genetic mutation causes them all to start smelling like sandalwood, I doubt I ever will.
When I was about eight years old I would while away hours in the summertime by sitting in the uppermost branches of an old pine tree and daydreaming. This would of course terrify my poor mother because the sorts of pine trees we have here in the south are known for falling over due to things like wind, no wind, excessive moisture, too little moisture, birds landing in them, etc.
Anyway, jasmine is a wonderful fragrance. Exotic, rich, sensual and very memorable. I have been impressed with Nippon-Kodo’s Morning Star line before and I was looking forward to seeing if they could deliver on this scent as well. The unlit stick is impressive and except for a slightly too sharp note I could close my eyes and easily imagine I was holding jasmine from my garden in my hand and not an incense stick.
The practice of meditation is to gain control of your thoughts and to learn to focus your concentration on the subject you are meditating on. Whether that is an issue you are having with your personal life, a Zen saying or story or some other matter that would benefit from your complete focus and concentration. Meditation with incense can either be a means of itself, or as an aid to unlock some part of your consciousness in order to help you understand some matter a bit more clearly.
