Sohaila’s musical play Mahim Junction that opened to rave reviews in Edinburgh, Singapore and in Delhi comes back on popular demand at the Epicentre in Gurgaon this weekend (18th and 19th) and then at Islamic Centre at Lodhi Road on the 1st of May. Those that missed should catch it if they are able to. It is a great satire on our lives today, and a lot of fun,
Scroll down and you will see the poster and the wonderful reviews,
passion and attachment : a real perspective from Kavitha
Though not entirely related to the main thrust of the original post, it provoked me to write about detachment, in the context of a human spirit every one of us will or have experienced at some point in our lives…
The notion of death and mortality has engulfed my psyche this past week – triggered by a couple of tragic developments (or should I say tragic devastations) in the extended family…one around the completely unsuspected, sudden and symptom-less end of a life…another around the discovery of terminal cancer.
How does one deal with a tragedy such as death of a seemingly healthy being, particularly when it’s timing was so unpredictable? Even more mysterious that it happened immediately following “darshan” at an *auspicious* religious vortex in south india, on an *auspicious* day last week. Was he blessed that he had to endure no pain and suffering and his last breath was a breeze, after a divine encounter? Or was it a misfortune that he jumped the age line to reach life’s finish line, leaving behind many older counterparts in the family to enjoy “longer lives”? So on and so forth.
Earlier in the week it was dealing with news about terminal cancer…..
Continue reading “passion and attachment : a real perspective from Kavitha”
Passion and Attachment
Ray asked “I get conflicted about whether to live life with passion or dispassion? Attachment, passion and egoism aren’t they impurities of the mind? I get further confused when the above comes from you. ”
I never want to take on the mantle of someone that imparts knowledge, Ray, but as a fellow searcher let me explore. Passion belongs to the moment and Attachment is addicted to the past or the future. Attachment is desire while Passion is pure acceptance. Desire brings with it the fear of non achievement, but Passion has no fear. Mira’s passion for Krishna was not a desire for Krishna but a Pure Passion. It was not an attachment to Krishna but a love so pure and passionate that she was one with Krishna. Passion is universal and flows consistently and is limitless, the bhakti of Mira was never ending in it’s force of expression.
Shakespeare wrote a great line for Juliet (Romeo and Juliet) ” he is a beggar that can measure his worth”. She was speaking about love. Passion is beyond measurement, it explodes through the clouds of contextualization. For it has no measure to compare it to.
Attachment and desire are contextualized and contained by measurement – they are reigned in by fear of non achievement – and by comparison, self loathing and envy. Passion is not only selfless but the letting go of the self. Passion is action not addicted to a defined result. Pure Passion leads to pure action. Attachment leads to reaction, not action”.
Lets continue to explore.
It all comes around
This is from Manav. I feel completely humbled. I had no idea when I started the blog this is where it would lead :
“whatever you wrote is so much sense, that it all comes around in the end. My wife has lupus and her kidneys are 80 % damaged. Doctors here in US, have suggested Dialysis and she just believed Ramdev so much, inspite of me telling her not to risk her life, she did all that therapy diligently that she is feeling better.. all her edemas are gone and the blood reports are getting back to normal. She had this clarity & a positive mental Attitude that works wonders for her even at times, when most of the people would probably give in. Now I, not only respect her, there is this feeling that is indescribable. Sometimes, when I am into some trouble, she would just say ” Bhagwan jo karta hai, achhe ke liye karta hai” and now I realize that simple statement to be so true..
So it all comes around.
I have been an avid reader of your blog and read and forwarded your articles to thousands of people (I know off)all around the world to know and understand, at least try once a day to understand as to WHY and WHAT you write…
This world should be better because of people like you.. Like you said ” we must be responsible bloggers”.
PLEASE keep writing. Always.
Manav Malhotra
Nicole Kidman to Baba Ramdev to Isabelle Adjani and the Parisian world of fashion
I was supposed to leave for Paris to edit my commercial with Nicole Kidman, when I got a call from Baba Ramdev to come to the opening of his new Yoga and Healing center in Hardwar. And who could say no to him ? The last time I met Baba Ramdev at a friends house in Mumbai, he just sat me down next to him and held my hand. There was such an auro of peace around him and I just hoped he would not let my hand go.
Can you think of a big center for Yoga and healing ? Whatever you thought multiply it 10 times. The centre can take in 10,000 people at a time and most of the treatment and yoga lessons are free. It amazes me how people like him get things done ! There is something about faith, passion and clarity of purpose that moves the impossible. The universe seems to buckle under the force of your passion and creates the path, like the seas parting for Moses.
There something there that we ordinary mortals can learn. That people with extraordinary passion and clarity refuse even to acknowledge obstacles, for in their vision they are already at their goal. They see their goal and themselves as one, almost in an eternal relationship. The do not conceive failure.
One night of being surrounded by the yogic ambiance and I was in Paris in the thick of the advertising world. Bold, creative, brash, but completely out of the box, French advertising is quite heady and out of the box. I worked with a new agency called ‘Fred & Farid’ run by two young men called (of course) Fred and Farid who have won more advertising awards than is possible, and are turning advertising into an adventure. More power to them. I really enjoyed working with them (and fighting with them over the cut of the film)
And so they arranged for me to have lunch with Isabelle Adjani to bribe me. They won hands down. Who could resist meeting one of the great actresses of her time ? Remember Le Rein Margot ??
After losing my wallet all my cash and credit cards ( it’s Paris – what do you expect ?), I arrived last night to my favorite place on earth. The Hotel Speckbacher near Innsbruck. Came to my room and opened the curtains to let the full moon stream in as she lit up the snow clad peaks in the back. Ahhh , I sat down and did some Pranayam as Baba Ramdev had taught me.
It all comes around in the end.
Need consumption vs Greed consumption
I dont get it. For years we cursed the US and Western Europe for consuming too much and living far beyond the resources that our planet could afford. And now trillions of of dollars are being pumped into the US and Western Europe to stimulate demand, encouraging, for example, the American people to buy more cars ! All in the name of avoiding a global slowdown. Any one see a contradiction in there ?
So does that mean that the only way the Global economies can continue to grow (and therefore not collapse) is for the Western Economies to go on consuming at ever increasing levels at what I call ‘Greed Consumption’ at the cost of the rest of the world ?
I would suggest that if this is really a Global economy, most of those dollars should go to correct the unsustainable imbalances between the ‘greed consumers’ and those that cannot even hope to attain ‘survival consumption’. For till that happens, no stability will come to the world, and therefore no global financial prosperity.
Conception
I conceive myself
in my imagination
and then
lose myself
in my own conception
The G 20 talks will fail,
I was traveling with my producer in the US who was expressing real concern on the environment. ” What is going to happen to global warming when every Chinese has a car ?”. He is a caring intelligent man, who completely missed the contradiction. We were traveling in his gas guzzling Rolls Royce. It’s like a concerned King who is trying to fix the financial problems in his Kingdom, without realizing that the base problem lies in the system that made him King.
The G 20 summit is made up of people committed to current financial/political systems, for that is how they came to power. They will tweak the financial system, but not accept that the political systems are interlinked with the problem. The economic system is embroiled in an unfair political system, not suited to a Global economy. The Global leaders constantly talk about free movements of goods, services, free markets and free access investment opportunities globally. So I have one question to them :
Why don’t you allow free access to jobs world wide ? How about taking away all immigration restrictions world wide ? Not till that happens will we have a truly Global economy.
Afganistan will be Obama’s Vietnam
No one has a won in Afghanistan. For there is nothing to win. The country has been ravaged by a centuries of invasions and attempts to control the irrepressible tribes. All there is left is the fierce pride of the people. And the British, the Russians, the Americans have all failed to control that sense of pride and independence. All that the US will achieve by sending more troops to Afghanistan (as Obama has promised) is to embroil Pakistan into the regions violence. And then for the next decade the war will go on. President Obama says that “the US cannot allow breeding grounds for terrorists to stay free to attack the US”. But this military intervention will cause the region and Pakistan too to become an even more fertile breeding ground for younger terrorists. The motivations are completely unclear as Osama Bin Laden after 9 years of 9/11 is more a myth than an enemy. Is it worth destroying the social structures of a whole region to search for one man ? What needs to happen for the US to have completed its objective ? What is the objective ? The Taliban will live as an idea after you have killed the last standing man in Afghanistan, and will explode again unless the young men of Afghanistan have hope of better and more prosperous lives. For at this moment the only way to earn a living in Afghanistan is to either pick up a gun on behalf of the highest bidder, or grow poppy. The wealth generated from drugs is one thing that keeps the generals of Pakistan Army and the Taliban tied together, not just fundamentalism.
The Talibanization of Pakistan is going to be one of the biggest problems facing India over the next decade. The shifting of the IPL to a foreign country is just a sign of things to come. We will have a Vietnam on our doorstep and we will get embroiled in the conflict.
Is there a new idea for India ?
After all India was formed out an idea. An idea of freedom from the British. India now needs a new idea. Having been formed, what could keep it going ? Democracy was a great idea, but after over 60 years of independence 80% of India’s population does not have any of the basic fundamental rights that our constitutions promised them. Democracy on its own is obviously not working.
India needs social change. A non violent revolution. It stands on the brink of greatness, but is completely brought down by its political system. So do not expect change to be brought our by these elections. India need a leader that can lead the people from outside the political system. For that it needs a new idea. An idea that does not destroy the basic ideas of democracy, but creates a front which ensures that democracy works within our culture, where the promises made in our constitution to the citizens of India are kept.
I had this discussion with my friend Shashi Tharoor, who almost became the Secy Gen of the United Nations. But thankfully he did not, for instead of that he is back in India about to contest elections from Kerala. Hope he wins, for he is a brilliant thinker/writer/administrator and would be a great addition to our Parliament. But will he be more effective outside the Parliament ?
We need a new leader. Like Gandhi, this new leader should be able to motivate our people to change their own lives. Where the motivation comes for the good of the collective, combining all castes and religions.
But what could that singular new idea be ?