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Osho – The Art of Living 1

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Osho – The Art of Living 1
(This first one is a long one)

Q – You said recently that most of humanity is vegetating rather than living, please explain to us the art of living so that death may also become a celebration.

Man is born to achieve life but it all depends on him. He can miss it, he can go on breathing, eating, ageing… but it’s not life. It’s gradual death, 70 year long. And because millions are dying slow like this… you also start imitating them. Children learn from those around them and they are surrounded by the dead. So first we have to understand what I mean by life. It must not be simply growing old, it must be growing up. Any animal is capable of growing old. Growing up means moving every moment deeper into the principle of life, going farther away from death, not towards death. The deeper you go into life the more you understand the immortality in you. When you see death is nothing but changing of clothes, houses, forms… nothing dies. Death is the greatest illusion there is. For growing up just watch a tree… as the tree grows up, it’s roots are growing down, deeper, there is a balance… higher it goes, deeper the roots go. Growing up means growing deep within your self, where your roots are. To me the first principle in life is meditation, everything else comes second. And childhood is the best time. As you grow older you come closer to death, so it gets more and more difficult to go into meditation. Medatation is going into your imortality, eternity, godliness.

The child is the most qualified for with, unburdened by knowledge, religion, education, all kinds of rubbish. He is innocent but unfortunately his innocence is being condemned as ignorance. They both have a similartity, like a state of not knowing. The great difference overlooked by humanity up to now … innocence is not knowledgable but it is not desirous to be knowledgable either. It is utterly content, fulfilled. A small child has no ambition, desires… he’s so absorbed in the moment… just a butterfly, beautiful colours and he’s enchanted and he cannot concieve that there can be anything more significant, richer. Innocence is rich, full, pure. Ignorance is poor, a beggar, wants this and that, wants to be knowledgable, respectable, wealthy, powerful. It moves on the path of desire. Innocence is a state of desirelessness. But because they bother are without knowledge we have remained confused about their nature. We have taken it for granted that they’re both the same.

The first step of the art of living is to create a line between innocence and ignorance. Innocence has to be supported, protected. The child has brought with it the greatest treasure that sages find about so much effort. They say they have become children again, they are reborn. The real Bhramin in india the real knower has called himself ‘dwij’ – twice born. Why? What happen to the first birth and what is he going to gain in the second birth. He is going to gain what was in the first birth but they people around him destroyed it. Every child is being stuffed with knowledge. His simplicity has be to somehow removed, because simplicity is not going to help him in this competitive world, it will look in the world as if he’s a simpleton. His innocence will be exploited in every possible way. Afraid of the society, of the world we have created. We try for every child to become clever, cunning, knowledgeable, being the powerful not the powerless/oppressed. And once he starts growing in the wrong direction, he goes on moving that way.

When you understand that you have missed life, the first priciple to be brought back is innocence. Drop knowledge, forget scriptures, forget religions, theologies, philosophies… be born again. Become innocent and it is in your hands. Clean your minds from what you don’t know for youself, all that is borrowed, all that has come by tradition, convention. Given by others, parents, teachers, universities… drop all that. Once again be simple, a child… and this miracle is possible by meditation. Meditation is simply a strange surgical method which cuts you away from what is not yours. Saves only that which is your authentic being and burns everything else, leaves you standing naked, alone under the sun, in the wind. As if you’re the first man, who knows nothing, who has to discover everything, who has to be a seeker, to go on a pilgrimage.

The second priniple is the pilgrimage. Life must be a seeking. Not a desire but a search. Not an ambition. Not to become a president or something but a search to find… who am I? It is very strange that people who don’t know who they are, are trying to become somebody. They don’t even know who they are right now, unaquainted with their being but have a goal of becoming. Becoming is a disease of a soul. Being is you! Time to discover your being is the beginning of life. Each moment is a new discovery, each moment brings a new joy, a new love starts growing in you, a new compassion that you have never felt, a new sensitivity about duty, goodness. You become so sensitive that even the smallest blade of grass takes an immense importance for you. Your sensitivity to you makes it clear that this blade of grass is as important as the biggest star and without it existence would be less than it is. And this small blade is unique, irreplaceable, it’s own individuality. This sensitivity will create new friendships for you. Friendships with trees, birds, animals, mountains, oceans, stars. Life becomes richer as love grows, as friendliness grows.

In the life of St. Francis, there is a beautiful incident… he is dying, he’s always travelled on a donkey from place to place, sharing his experiences. All his disciples are gathered to listen to the last words. Last words of a man are always the most significant ever uttered because they contain the whole experience. But what the disciples heard they could not believe. He did not address to the disciples, he addressed to the donkey. ‘Brother, I’m intensely indebted to you. You have been carrying me all over the place, never a complain. Before I leave this world all that I want is forgiveness from you, I’ve not been humane to you.’ As you become more sensitive, life becomes bigger. It is not a small pond, it becomes ocean. It is not confined to you and your wife and children. It is not confined at all. The whole existence becomes your family and unless it is your family… you have not known what life is. No man is an island, we are a vast continent joined in millions of ways. And if our hearts are not full of love with the whole in the same proportion our life is cut short.

Meditation will bring you sensitivity, a great sense of belonging to the world. It is our world, the stars are ours and we are not foreigners here. We belong intrinsically to existence, we are part of it, HEART of it. Secondly meditation will bring you a great silence because all rubbish is gone. Thoughts that are part of the knowledge are gone too. An immense silence and you are surprised that this silence is the only music there is, all music is an effort to bring this silence somehow into manifestation. The seers of the ancient east had been very emphatic on the point that all the great arts, music, poetry, dance, painting, sculpture… are all born out of meditation. They are an effort to bring the unknowable, in some way, into the world of the known. For those who are not ready for the pilgrimage, just gifts for those who are not ready to go for the pilgrimage, perhaps a song may trigger a desire to go in the search of the source. Perhaps a statue. Next time you enter a temple, of Buddha or Mahavir just sit silently, watch the statue because the statue has been made in such a way that if you watch it, you will fall silent. Because it is a statue of meditation, not concerning Buddha or Mahavir. That is why the statues look alike (he names lots of enlightened folks). All alike, exactly.

I used to ask my father in my childhood, can you explain to me… is it possible 24 persons same nose, same face, same body. And he was puzzled himself. But as my meditation blossomed I found the answer not from anybody else, I found the answer that the statues have nothing to do with the persons, they have to do something with what was happening inside the 24 that was exactly the same. What matters is that inside there is an ocean of silent. In that oceanic state the body takes a certain posture, you have observed it but you have not been alert. When you’re angry have you observed the certain posture, you cannot keep your hands open, you cannot smile. The body has to follow a certain posture with a certain emotion. So the statues are made in such a way if you just watch and close your eyes, and if a negative photo enters you start feeling something different. Those statues and temples were not built for worshipping, they were built for experiencing. They are scientific laboratories, they have nothing to do with religion. A certain secret science has been used for centuries, for the coming generations to come in contact with the experiences of older generations, not through books or words but through something which goes deeper. Through silence, meditation, peace. As your silence grows, your friendliness and love grows, your life becomes a moment to moment dance. A joy. A celebration.

You hear the fire crackers outside… have you ever thought about it… throughout the worlds in every society/culture there are few days in the year for celebration. These few days are just a compensation because these societies have taken all the celebration of your life, and if nothing is given to you in compensation, your life can become a danger to the culture. Every culture has to give some compensation to you so that you don’t feel that all lost into sadness/miseries. But they are false, outside fire crackers and lights cannot make you rejoice. For you it’s only for children, only a nuisance but in your inner world there can be a continuity of lights, songs, joys. Always remember that society compensates you, when you feel it is not compensated, the repressed my explode into a dangerous situation. Some way for allowing you to let off the repressed, but this is not true celebration and it cannot be true.

True celebration should come from your life, in your life and true celebration cannot be according to the calendar. That on 1st Nov you will celebrate, it’s strange the whole year you’re miserable then on 1st Nov you come out of misery dancing. Either the misery is false or the date is. And once 1st Nov is over you’re back in your dark holes, in misery, anxiety. Life should be a continuous celebration, a festival of lights, continuous. Only then can you grow up, blossom.

Make a small thing transform into celebration e.g. in Japan they have a tea ceremony. In every Zen monastery and house that can afford… they have a small temple for drinking tea. Now tea is no more an ordinary, profane thing, they have transformed it into a celebration. The temple for the tea is made in a certain way, beautiful garden with beautiful pond, swans, flowers, guests come, they have to leave their shoes outside. It is a temple, and as you enter the temple you cannot speak, you have to leave your thinking and speech with the shoes. You sit in a meditative posture and the host preparing tea, her movements are so graceful as if she’s dancing. Moving, preparing, putting,.. as if you are gods, with such respect. And you will receive it with such respect. And the tea is being prepared in a particular (something), which makes beautiful sounds. A music of it’s own. And it is part of the tea ceremony that everybody should listen to the music of the tea. Everybody is silent listening, birds chirping, and the tea is creating its own song, and a peace, and when the tea is ready and poured into everybody’s cup. You don’t drink it like we do everywhere. First they smell the aroma, they will sip as if it has come from beyond, they will take time, there is no hurry, somebody my play on the flute or sitar. An ordinary thing, just tea and they made it into a beautiful religious festival and everyone comes out refreshed, feeling younger, juicier.

What can be done with tea can be done with everything, your clothes, food. People are living almost in a sleep, otherwise every fabric has its own beauty, its own feel. If you are sensitive, then the cloth is not just to cover your body, then it’s something of the expression of your individuality. Something expressing your taste, culture, being. Everything that you do should be expressive of you, your signature on it. Then life becomes a continuos celebration. Even if you fall sick and you’re in bed you will make those moments in bed, moments of beauty and joy, of relaxation and rest, of meditation, listening to music, poetry. There is no need to be sad. You should be happy that everybody is in the office while you’re in the bed like a king relaxing, someone is preparing tea, a friend has offered to come and play flute for you, which are more important than any medicine. When you are sick, call a doctor, but more important call those who love you.

No medicine more important than love, call those who can create beauty, music, poetry around you because there is nothing like a mood of celebration. Medicine is the lowest form of treatment but it seems we have forgotten everything, just depend on medicine, be grumpy and sad, as if you’re missing some great joy that you were having in the office. In the office you were miserable, just one day off and you cling to misery too! You wont let it go. Make everything creative. The best out of the worst, and thats what I call the art. And if a man has lived life making every moment a beauty, a love, a joy… naturally his death is also going to be the ultimate peak of his whole life’s endeavour. The last touches, his death is not going to be ugly as it is ordinarily happening everyday to everyone. If the death is ugly then your whole life has been a wastage. If should be a peaceful acceptance, a loving entry into the unknown, a joyful goodbye to the old friends, old world. There should not be any tragedy in it.

Lin Chi was dying, 1000s of his disciples had gathered to listen to his last sermon but Lin Chi was just lying down. Joyous, smiling, but not saying a single word. Seeing that he’s going to die and not saying a word somebody reminded Lin Chi… an old friend who was a master in his own right, not a disciple, thats why he could say to Lin Chi. ‘Lin Chi, have you forgotten that you have to say the last word? I have always told you, your memory is not right. You’re dying, have you forgotten’. Lin Chi said ‘just listen’ and on the roof 2 squirrels were running. And he said ‘how beautiful’ and he died. And for a moment when he said ‘just listen’… there was absolute silence, they thought he was going to say something special… but only 2 squirrels. He smiled and he died, but he has given the last message. That don’t make things small and big, trivia and important, everything is important. At this moment, Lin Chi’s death is as important as the 2 squirrels running on the roof. There is no difference. In existence it’s all the same. That was his whole philosophy, his whole life’s teaching. Nothing great or small, it all depends on him, what you make out of it.

Start with meditation and things will go on growing in you. Silence, serenity, blissfulness, sensitivity, and whatever comes out of meditation… try to bring it out in life. Savour it because everything savoured grows fast, and when you have reached to the point of death, you’ll know there is no death. You can say goodbye, there is no need for any tears of sadness. Maybe tears of joy but not of sadness. You have to begin from being innocent, first throw out all the crap you are carrying. Everybody is carrying so much crap (Paras note: He says worse things than crap) and for what? Because people have been telling you these are great ideas, principles… you have not been intelligent with yourself. Be intelligent with yourself. Life is very simple, it is a joyful dance. And the whole earth can be full of joy and dance. But there are people who are seriously wasted their interest that nobody should enjoy life, nobody should smile, laugh. That life is a sin, punishment. How can you enjoy when the climate is such that you have been told continuously that it’s a punishment. That you are suffering because you’ve done wrong things, that it’s a kind of jail, where you have been thrown to suffer. I say to you life is not a jail, it is not a punishment, it is a reward. Given only to those who have earned it, deserved it. It is your right now to enjoy. It will be a sin if you don’t enjoy. It will be against existence if you don’t beautify it, if you leave it just as you have found it. Leave it a little more happier, more beautiful, more fragrant.

Osho – The Art of Living 1 | Osho – The Art of Living 2 | Osho – The Art of Living 3
Osho – The Art of Living 4 | Osho – The Art of Living 5 | Osho – The Art of Living 6
Osho – The Art of Living 7

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ART Excel Malvern 19th – 25th August 2010

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Pictures are on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=262919&id=500304440

Thursday 19/08/2010 – Pack, busses to link with Viv. Get some junk in our tummies. Watch Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Busses to Ameet’s listening to Vive la Fete remixes album. It’s just too good man! Ameet has guests so listen to a dentist convo. Read a pre-published version of a book.

Friday 20/08/2010 – Drive to Letchworth. Such a beautiful area man, Ameet was at work so Khushbu and I check out the area. I check into a library to send you guys the weekly blog. Langar for lunch at the local Gurudwara. Drop by a frame shop where Ameet was sorting out his and Khushbu’s wedding picture and one with Guruji in it. Read. Drive to Malvern. Hellos and all. My boy Soham has moved up from the ART Excel course to Yes! and my boy Alex moved up from Yes! to Yes! Plus. Hunt for my room… the Malvern St. James school is crazy… like the building I was staying in was a proper maze. Some of the rooms you get to through washing areas or another entrance. Glad to see some of last years ART Excel kids. Ryan hooks me up with Ferrero Rocher. Lol him and Timin remembered how much I loved chocolate. Timin’s dad had told me earlier that he’s gonna hook me up. Debrief with other teachers and assistants. Now I had also paid to do the Eternity Process so link with Katie to discuss when she can fit me in. Head ART Excel teach Su said I can’t take time off while the ART Excel course is on so Katie was like it’s better I do it during dinner and satsang as I’ll need time after that to recover. It didn’t happen but will get to it in the next few days. Hunt for food and drink. Unpack. Read.

Saturday 21/08/2010 – Had a dreamy long Kriya. Something about brekkie fruit. And something about hair mess… I think the pics will explain better. (Shit just deleted the notes about todays processes but it was the usual… meet kids, make them fill forms and make their ART Excel books). Oh yeah we played footie and Benjamin tried to score but my foot saved it but the kick was so hard it twisted my ankle right. Now I’m limping around and start hunt for pain killers, ankle support or deep heat at lunch time. Finally find Fatima… ask her to hook me up and she shows me 2 doctors. I tell the doctors my problem and here’s what they tell me… we didn’t bring anything with us so go to boots. !?!?!?! Jai hippocratic oath. I didn’t wanna bother Fatima more as her and Deepak organised the whole thing this time and they had bigger fish to fry. Everyday kids do a day chart for what we did in the morning and afternoon. Kids were hyper man… usually we don’t allow junk or chocolate but the cafeteria had hot chocolate and the kids were bouncing off the walls after lunch. Usually making them play footie or something after lunch does the trick but this time it didn’t work. Now when I saw the registrations for our course I noticed 3 brothers in the course and was like oh boy hope it doesn’t get crazy… man it was more than crazy. One bro Harrison was deaf so he needed a hearing aid and we gotta face him when speaking so he can lip read. Harrison was VERY violent and disruptive. Then there was Benjamin who has autism but what a wicked dude always high fiving everyone. Ben was like a BFG (a term I learnt there which means Big Friendly Giant). And there was Gregory who was normal and cool and stood up for Ben whenever Harrison bugged him. Harrison called Ben a retard and Ben walked off. That was not the first time… Ben, Harisson and Greg would be walking off a lot. Harrison asks me about smoking and what I smoke and stuff like that which I didn’t take too seriously till the next few days. We decide to hike up the Malverns (hills). Ria and Peter hit it off so well talking about geeky things and they were like in their on nerd world which was sooooo romantic lol. I tried to get a vid of it but the audio is not all that.

Ben runs off again and we send Ryan to get him back. One of the rules was stick with the group… as long as you can see each other you’re fine. It was so funny coz brothers Timin and Shaan wanted to go with Ryan too but Su said no and you could see them inching faster and faster till they disappeared too. So 4 kids lost… we were kinda freaked and decided to take a bit of a shortcut to see from higher ground. My ankle was killing but I managed. Oh then there was Aarjav who asked really dumbass questions just for attention and Su flipped and had a lil moment with him. Kids behaved after that. Some dude tells us that 4 kids were shouting for Su and finally we see the lost crew. They join us, have a lil discussion about responsibility etc. Ben apologised but he wanted to show he was best as he loves hiking. We all go to the top. Pics and amazing views and etc. Slip and crew up my ankle even more.

Get to class and change. Timin hooks me up with chocolates. He’s become crafty but it’s nice to see he’s entrepreneurial. Our bed had After Eight chocolates and he decided to collect them for me and says I owe him some so we negotiate. I think he’s been getting pocket money too as every time he’d be like lets go buy this and that or whatever we needed for the games and processes he’d be like we can buy it here and there. Dinner. Debrief. Note: I hardly see the other teachers or assistants sitting with the kids and for me thats when you can do some real work coz it’s smaller groups and more personal. My usual questions are what time they sleep, what they eat and what they watch and take it from there. Since it was a mega meet of courses from adults Part 1 and 2 and yoga and meditation and both the Yes! courses we all gather in the Part 2 course hall for satsang. It was such an awkward satsang. Khushbu and I kept laughing at folks fighting for the microphone just to sing a satsong nobody else was interested in singing along or that was really bad singing. Join with the kids in The Hex, which is where we do the ART Excel course and one of the rooms has a foosball, table-tennis and pool table. This time round I told the folks I’ll take care of the kids till 10 and then send them to their rooms. So did that and the kids ended up in Peter’s room making a racket with their own versions of X Factor and the like. Read. For some reason I thought I fell asleep at 12 but it was just 10.30 or something.

Sunday 22/08/2010 – Priyanka’s mom brings her dog Tonka over so kids play while my group (the Ninjas) do Saturday afternoon chart. Decide a play and sort out auditions. Ben walked out to write a whole list of plays to do which were basically movies and our criteria was 1 – a part for everyone, 2 – fitting the story in 10 minutes, 3 – realistic or something something. Play dog and the bone. Harrison walks off. Ryan tries to get him back but didn’t work and to our amazement Ryan sat down and did the Victory breath (for anger, sadness, fear). I followed Harrison and found him 3 times so those are my 3 strikes coz he walked off again. Debbie found him in a bush and I was like wow dude does not want to be found. Kids learn their Kriya (Happy breath). Now the food was not all that satvic and after a while we noticed it gave us gas big time. The good part was it was sooooo much gas that it was not vibrating bootie noisy gas it was more like blowing cigarette smoke gas. But some of the kids were leaving some very smelly ghosts. An amazing teacher from New Zealand (Parul) visits us. See I was sharing a room with Suresh and we saw Parul’s name on our room too and we’re like thats the first time they’ve mixed accommodation but thats coz someone thought Parul was a guy. She was so natural with the kids and wow the way she handled them and answered dodgy questions etc. Anyway swimming time now and I forgot my trunks so Suresh was like we’ll do it in our boxers but then Ryan hooked me up with his dads spare ones.

Do a trust walk where we blindfold one kid and another kid is entrusted to take them around kinda thing. Quick dinner so we can get back to The Hex and sort out our costumes and props for the play. Oh yeah we decided on The giraffe, pelly (Pelican) and me. Satslang? I’m sure I put slang for a reason but can’t remember but yeah once again another awkward satsang and this time quite a few of us refused to carry on we just closed our eyes and meditated while whoever was interested carried on clapping or singing. Lol we stayed silent till the song changed and then when Josh got on the mic we blew up… and just then the dude that was playing Djembe played a garba beat so I went to give him props and he handed me the chair and djembe. See some singers and DJs need to realise when theres audience participation you have to do familiar easy to follow stuff not what your favourite. Alex comes to me like ‘I’ve finally met someone that high fives more than me’ talking about Benjamin. Birthday celebrations and cake… chocolate again. I can’t believe this man we need some rules and discipline… I mean I love breaking the rules but not if it’s going to interfere with the amazing bliss you’re gonna feel. Debrief. Read.

Monday 23/08/2010 – Wake late. Oh man totally forgot to add the other mornings when my ankle was twisted the swelling was like a golf ball. Then the other bit was Suresh was amazing not only would he wait for me to go for yoga and short Kriya every morning but he was amazing with the kids and strict when needed to be. I was not please with the other two as just like the kids making their own groups these two did the same and they were more into each other than helping with the kids. It seriously felt like they didn’t exist. Sorry but thats the facts! I guess coz they were older ladies or … I don’t know just need to give myself a good excuse for why they were so passive! And today is the day I needed them most. Anyway back to the day. Miss yoga and just do Kriya and usual and I kept going into amazing trances… coz of my ankle I was sitting on a chair and would just about catch myself every time I was about to flop. Now at brekkie another thing I’d do with the kids and steal food of their plate if they were not alert or make them get me stuff or even not take too much on my plate and finish whoever couldn’t finish theirs. This time I think I wanted cocopops and was making Thomas (the cutest kid on the course) do it for me. He got up from the chair and he’s like I’m not gonna be here to do this for you all the time, you have to grow up some time! Man he was too cool… he’s from France too so we’d talk French and he’s pretty gangsta man. His mom told me the girls couldn’t make it this year but they say hi and I was like oh please talk to me some more, her accent was mesmerising. Prep for the play. And I’m even giving the lady assistants eyes to help me but they’re just AHHHHHHHH…. See I was producer of the play and getting these guys to focus for even a minute was good enough but I needed help to maintain the ones that calmed down so we could carry on. The YES! crew invite us to join them but before that we do my groups chart. Yes! crew have their own building and they don’t even join the rest for satsang… they do their own thing man. We learnt something like rocks, paper and scissors from them which was giants, wizards and elves. Play splat with them. Yes! go back while we play the 3 legged race. The cutest couple were Thomas and Priyanka coz they were the smallest and I was teaching them the trick and they’re the only ones that got it asap. Lunch. Rehearse play. Go to old peoples home to do the play, Sun salutations and sing… OH YEAH… sing! Trisha taught the kids an Italian number while I got to teach them Kalinka, a Russian number and the russian leg kicking dance. I was so jazzed about that. Get back to class and do the cut the past and shut the future process. In a way the future is more a sneaky way to tell their parents to behave themselves and sometimes parents will shout at kids and say ‘you always leave a mess’ when they should not turn it into an always thing if you know what I mean. Art Excel game which is more like British bulldog. Ben won… at one point we were trying to get Harrison and I didn’t even realise the way I’d caught him I was actually choking him. Sorry :oS. Rehearse but it’s getting crazy man and Harrison was doing his usual getting violent with folks… and with him and Ryan it was more of an alpha male thing as Ryan knew the stuff and was good at it coz of last year. This time round Ryan wasn’t having it and had to show Harrison who the boss was… I was pulling Harrison off and Su had Ryan but Ryan’s feet were closer to us and he roundhoused Harrison soooooo hard… we thought Harrison’s head would do an Exorcist on us… total silence! The only time I’ve seen a kick like that is with Yoshimitsu on Tekken. After that the other 2 brothers stuck around with Ryan and Ben was even like you’re the coolest Ryan. While Aarjav and his bro Avik stuck with Harrison and kinda entertained Harrison’s behaviour. I wasn’t surprised about Aarjav that way and it was so hard to tell the parents he was a good boy when I wanted to tell them the truth but in the end Su is the head teach and I didn’t want my say to clash with hers. I just feel for Harrison’s mom coz she was on silence and had to break it. Harrison had this attention grabbing down so well he had 6 adults giving him all the attention he wanted for a few hours and when he was fed up he was like ‘you may go now’. Anyway after a while Ryan and Harrison are buds playing sport again. Rehearse. Dinner.

Take props and costumes in the Sri Sri Yoga room and face paint kids. Chill and mess around. Oh and while we were deciding what else to present to the rest of the people there Thomas does these amazing stunts on the diabolo… check out the vid… only way to explain it. I want a kid like that! While Ryan did the caterpillar… he’s pretty good at breakdance. It’s show time so we join the rest for satsang and can’t remember the order … it was something like do a song, Thomas does his diabolo thing, do the play. Now I was backstage trying to keep things in order and all the boys were trippin over Priyanka… thing is she liked the attention. See she plays the Dukes wife and Ryan the duke and they had romantic innuendo going on too. At one point Priyanka was like she has feelings for me and I was like hey I have feelings for me too! Anyway so while these guys were going nuts back stage I had to keep them away from her and at the same time keep the cast ready for their time on stage. Then we do the Italian song and my Russian Kalinka song… I got to make the adults dance too and it gets faster and harder as the dance carries on but the adults were such good sports lol. More chocolate cake.

Debrief in Debbie’s… man she had a room and a half… since it was a girls school we got the girls rooms which were pretty big and had like 3 spare beds and what not but Debbie’s looked like a teacher room with micro, oven, tv, kettle… basically a house in the building! Talk and we were told Carolina donated her money so that some of the kids could do the course for free. Props! And Debbie describes her as a blond Angelina Jolie too! Guruji has agreed for the course fees to be reduced for ART Excel. Just hope UK Board hook it up. Pack and chat with Suresh… he shows me a vid of Guruji’s visit with someone in MTV and Guruji is shooting at someone with something like giant paintballs and then goes for a ride in a Smart car version of a Formula 1. And in the end the driver is stuck with his seatbelt so Guruji’s like here let me release you and frees the guy. Might put it up on here.

Tuesday 24/08/2010 – Man there was this white pigeon or dove thing just chillin with eyes closed so I thought I’d go chill with it and it didn’t even wake up or anything so I started petting it and it didn’t realise till after a while, woke up and just tried to walk away a few steps to avoid my hand so I moved closer and it just wont run away or fly away… ended up hiding inside a bush. That was yesterday… today tried to wake it up and poor thing just stayed still. RIP white pigeon dove thing. Anyway so Soham and Vatsal hook me up with a mocha latte. Simona came over to our class to play the violin for the kids… can’t believe some of the kids remembered from last year that the string thing was made from horse hair. And this other dude did some acting thing… wasn’t paying attention and didn’t even get to take vids or pics coz I was helping with the charts that were still left to do. Parents come over to see what we’ve been teaching the kids and show that youtube of when the kid silenced the world. Parents leave, do the painting meditation and this time we got to do our own drawings or paintings too. Around this time I tell Ria what I do and she was so interested and kept asking me or telling me what she does and how she takes pictures of her sis and edits them etc… I was like wow you sound like you really enjoy it so keep doing it. If you were in London I’d have talked to your folks about giving you Photoshop lessons. Snacks and drinks. Now everyday the school staff would bring like 2 crates of fruit with cereal bars and 4 packs of juice. But no one was having it apart from me… I know it was for the students but they weren’t having it and one of my rules is ‘be shameless when it comes to food’. So my pockets always had cereal bars and well I was drinking enough water but whenever I got bored … there was the juice! ;o) Play heroes and compliments but some of the kids weren’t having it… by the end of it I realised one of the boys that had stayed in the background was really the best one in the class, so big up Peter. I mean Ryan was my inside man this year since Soham moved to Yes! and Thomas my stepson :oP Lunch. Goodbyes. Get props from Ben, Greg and Harrison’s mom, Thomas’ mom, Timin and Shaan’s pops and Priyanka’s mom. It was so weird coz when we start the course we have to sign this crap about not being alone with kids without parents around or something and no holding them so I guess the others were being cautious but I didn’t care man… kids need as much affection, love and nurturing as they can get. Like those few moments when the shy ones get out of their shell… it’s so amazing to see them blossom and you need to be off your guard for that to happen because thats the best time to remind them how much they can shine. I remember Moksha (already an amazing name) was shy and even though she made friends easily she was different. Her accent and pronunciations and in a way buggin with repeating the same stuff or questions but when she let her guard down one lunch time I told her to be aware of how great she’s feeling at that moment and not to let the kids bug her out. Kids can be brutally honest and sometimes it gets much right but use that same freedom they’re using to be you kinda thing. Ok I’ll stop ranting.

Help Katie pack… I’ll be going back to hers for the Eternity Process since we didn’t get to do it there. Beata and Miho will be following us and they get some water from the source. Drop by organic food shop and Katie is hungry as hell. I was just plain tired. Along the way back some weird stuff happened and I’m sure Katie was doing it. See when I sleep sometimes I jerk but just lil ones here and there. Then I did the Sahaj Samadhi meditation with Su and during the meditation I got big jerks and Su explained that impressions were being released. So I got used to that… but in the car this time round I was getting JERKS! Like such gangsta spasms my hands nearly hit the roof of the car. More than twice this happened so I kinda freaked out and stayed awake. I don’t even know why I freaked out coz releasing impressions is a good thing. Aaaaanywho… Get to Katie’s and what a magical place. Again part of me freaked out coz add this up… a lovely charming sweatheart of a lady living in the country side in a very old but well maintain house, amazingly big garden that joins onto a field with sheep etc. You know those magical Narnia kinda stories where you’re so charmed by everything it feels like too good to be true and imagine you’re gonna be locked up any second so that you can be fed to be plumped up just so you can be the meal (for those that don’t get it … Hansel and Gretle). So yeah that flashed my mind for a second but then again I was charmed by the plums and berries and apples and artichokes growing in her garden. Swing bench. Forget all that… I didn’t even know how gorgeous an artichoke flower looks. You know me and trees so the trees def did it for me… and there was this one tree that had spikes but the spikes on the end of each stem changes colour (pics will tell a better story). Su comes over to leave her bike and stuff while she’s in Italy. We have dinner and stories etc. Su leaves and Gordon starts playing guitar. We start having a satsang and Katie gives us pots, pans, spoons etc to play percussion. Have so much fun and laughs. Crazy dreams. Note: I have a feeling some folks have been doing long Kriya more than once a week, the symptoms are there! Lol.

Wednesday 25/08/2010 – Wake up and Katie and Beata gang up on me about the walls I’ve put up and … well the rest is for my private notes ;oP but wow Beata read my energy so well she even said stuff I’ve thought about and discussed only with Twinx, Taz and Nikita. We decide I was not ready for the Eternity Process till after I get regular with my short Kriya and instead Beata works on me with some other stuff and wow she pinched the hell out of the flesh on my lower back… I don’t know what she did but she’s like after I’ve finished stay lying down for a while and get up when you’re ready… I was not ready for a longgg time man… and after that as I type I’m still in a bit of a daze. Then again the stuff she told me kinda blew my mind too. And she kept wishing me happy birthday so I guess it was like a rebirth or something? Hell to celebrate that change I was planning on chopping my hair off but I still have plans for that. Oh and speaking of change, you know how you see signs… check this out… my main man Naruto changes the world in the episode that will be out tomorrow. Was listening to Eminem’s new album and he’s flipped the script on us too which was really nice … hell he’s even got a song called Going Through Changes or something like that. This book I’ve been reading has been an answer to the questions I’ve had and about crazy changes or like the knowledge in there was just so timely it was like…. wow. Anyway so since I’ve been good for these days I’ve decided to carry on with practices and see how much longer I can stop meat this year. I just hate telling folks I’ve stopped coz thats right about the time when I start again kinda thing and … I better finish this blog coz it’s getting late.

So … next …. Katie had been telling me about Biodynamics which is a step higher than organic food and stuff… I’ll try post that next to this post so you can check it out. Took info on other stuff like why Ghee is so good etc. Her area has a few places that do that, her area has a lot of Scientolog-ists too. So get back to hers after shopping at one of these places. I see a deer in the back and try to get a pic of it but I have a face and they recognise that as a threat I guess. Ayurvedic cooking. Katie does my numerology and again another sign. Not only that but the repeating numbers. 17.17, 8.8. Over heard Gordon on the phone talking about Prison SMART and that’s something I wanted to get into and since Viv started work in prisons I was just discussing that with him the week before! Catch the train to London, back in the crowd and city life and noise at home. Still so dazed it didn’t matter. Hell all I did tomorrow was float with a weird headache spending time with my lappy. Note: I’m starting to like the tense of the last sentence as I’m writing about tomorrow which would in this current moment be the past. Gotta explore that ;o) Jai Gurudev.

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Lohanas … from Wikipedia

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Lohanas (from Wikipedia) (Persian: لامياحاءأنأ, Gujarati: લોહાણા, Sindhi: لوها ڻا, Hindi: लोहाना) or ‘Master of Swords’ are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group and are a suryavanshi Kshatriya[citation needed] community ofIndia that originated in Iran and Afghanistan. In India, they mainly reside in Gujarat, Mumbai and other parts of the country. They have also spread to all parts of the world.

 
Languages
Indo-Aryan languages, primarily Gujarati,Kutchi, Sindhi and Hindi. Also English in the UK,USA and Canada, Arabic in Afghanistan.Swahili is spoken as a second language by some Lohanas in East Africa.
Religion
Primarily Hinduism. Those who converted toIslam are referred to as Memons or Khojas and are now separate independent communities.

[edit]Overview

Originally Lohanas were a prominent community of the Kshatriya jatt caste (Sanskrit क्षत्रिय Kshatriya) that originated in Iran and Afghanistan[citation needed], then in the region of Punjab and later on migrated to Sindh and present day Gujarat state in India around 800 years ago[citation needed]. As administrators and rulers, Kshatriya Lohanas jatt were assigned with protecting the people, and serving humanity. Over time, however, as a result of economic and political exigencies, the majority of Lohanas are now mainly engaged in mercantile occupations.

Some of the Lohanas converted to Sunni Islam, they are called Memon (Gujarati: મેમણ).

Ismaili Dai’ Pir Sadardin converted many of them to the Ismaili sect of Islam. They are known as “Khoja” (ethno Khawaja).

[edit]History

[edit]Early History

The Lohanas, also known as Thakkar (and hence often holding surnames including Thakkar and Thakrar ), trace their roots in history right up to the emergence of Aryans[citation needed], a linguistic of Indo-Iranians in the Indian sub-continent (which then included today’s Afghanistan). It is believed by Legend that the Lohanas are descendants of the hero Rama (Raghuvanshi, descendant of King Raghu), who bore two sons: Luv (Also spelled as Lava) and Kush. From the elder son Luv, the Lohanas are supposed to be originated along with Kurmi (later settled in North-East and some Western part i.e. UP, Undivided Bihar, MP, Gujrat, Maharashtra of India.)

Descendants of Kush are known as Kushwaha. His younger son Luv was given the North (uttar Kaushala) of his kingdom (Refer :Valmk Ramayan Uttar Kand sarg 107), which came to be, called Luvalka or Luv’s land consisting of present day Lahore (Pakistan) as it’s Capital.

Luv is portrayed in the Ramayana as a great warrior. In one of the episodes of the Ramayana even though he is a mere boy in the hermitage, he brings the entire army of his father Lord Rama (under the command of his uncle Laxman) to a standstill by the prowess at archery (of course along with his older brother Kush). His descendants too were cast in the same mould, but they were not satisfied with Luvalka and pushed to the west and annexed today’s Afghanistan and adjoining areas.

Around 580 BC., when king Bimbisara ruled over Bharat (India), the society came to be divided into different communities based on their occupation. One of their communities was called Kshatriyas and King Luv’s descendants were classed with them and came to be known as Luvanam, which was also referred to as Luvana. The Luvanas from Loharghat became known as Loharana (masters of swords; or iron (“Loha”) chiefs (“Rana”)), which later became Lohana.

Chinese traveller Fa-hien, who visited India between 414 and 399 B.C., calls Lohanas a brave community ruling the northwest territory of India,[4] in his diary. Another Chinese traveler, Kurmang who came in the eleventh century A.D. speaks of a Lohana kingdom as a mighty power. Historian Burton writes Lohanas were brave people and says they were spread over today’s Baluchistan (Pakistan), Afghanistan and eastern fringes of Central Asia. Col. Todd, who delved into history of Rajasthan, describes Lohanas as one of the oldest Kshatriya community.

The likely reason for this title of bravery is that they were the first line of defense for the Indian subcontinent in the direct path of invaders from northwest like Persians, Macedonians, Huns, Mughals, etc. Meanwhile, Muhammad established Islam. His followers spread out in different directions to establish his religion world-wide and in due course they turned East towards India.

Between the 7th and 11th century the Lohanas held their grounds in Afghanistan, blocking the advent of Islam eastwards. In the 11th century, they finally had to fall back and moved initially to the Sindh province of today’s Pakistan, where again for over two centuries they provided the frontline of defense against the invading hordes. Finally, at the turn of the 13th century, the Loharana king, Chahir Ray, was betrayed by his confidant Kualnger, who turned traitor for a large fortune in gold and gems. The Lohana kingdom disintegrated into smaller segments. After the community split, a new leader emerged who again unified the Lohanas. Veer Jashraj, who is revered as Veer Dada Jashraj, was born in the city of Lohar (today’s Lahore in Pakistan), which was the capital of Lohargadh. His domain extended from Lahore to Multan (also in Pakistan today).

As the folklore goes, Mongol invader Changez Khan, attacked Multan and was killed by Dada Jashraj, Rana of Lohargadh.

This finds mention in Mongol folklore, which say, “King of Mongols was killed by Mirana, the tiger of Multan fort”. His descendants who proudly carry the surname of ‘Mirana’ preserve the memory of this great warrior king. Dada Jashraj was also treacherously killed when only 28 – a life so short but full of heroic deeds.

After the death of Dada Jashraj, the decline of Lohana kingdom began and their reign at Lohargadh ended. King Dahir ruled for a while from Narayankot (today’s Hyderabad, Sindh). After his demise in a war against Muslims, Narayankot and Sindh fell to Muslims. It was around this time that some Lohanas converted to Islam. Many migrated to far-off regions like Kutchchh, Saurashtra and Gujarat and gradually became a trader community like Agarwals and Baranwals.

[edit]Recent history

In 1422 AD, 700 Lohana families comprising of some 6178 converted to Islam at the hands of one Yusuffuddin Qadri in Thatta Sindh — these are now known as Memons.

It was around this time, that Uderolal who is revered as Jhulelal (by Sindhis) or Dariyalal (by Gujaratis), son of Ratanchand Thakur and Mata Devki of Nasarpur, about 90 miles from Narayankot (now Hyderabad, Sindh) took on the mantle of Lohana leadership. Uderolal fought with Muslim chief Mirkshah, and initiated him into the true meaning of religion. Uderolal won the freedom of religion for Hindus from the Muslim rulers and devoted the rest of his life to spiritual and community service. Today Uderolal is revered as Jhulelal, the patron saint of Sindhis, both Hindus and Muslims visit the site of his samadhi.

The Lohanas felt their identity was increasingly threatened in Sindh and they began to migrate towards Kutchchh, Saurashtra, Gujarat and even as far as Thailand.[5] In Gujarati, Lohanas performing the puja (ritual worship) of Dariyalal are known as Pujaras and Dariyalal’s descendants as Ratnani.

Famous warriors once, Majority of Gujarati Lohanas took to trade and business. However, their mettle as warriors past was again tested in 1764, when Gulam Shah Kora attacked Kutchchh and they had to account for themselves in the battle of Zora. Lohana women fought alongside their men in this battle and the land of Kutchchh is strewn with memorial stones marking the deaths of Lohanas. A saying in Gujarati eulogies Lohana women thus: Only Rajputani, Loharani and Miyanai bring forth gem of children.

[edit]Lohanas today

Lohana culture has diverged over the centuries between different regions. Thus there are significant differences between the culture, professions and societies of Sindhi Lohanas, Kutchi Lohanas and those of Gujarati Lohanas.

Gujarati Lohanas gravitated towards trading since the eighteenth century. A large number of Hindu Lohana from Gujurat migrated to theBritish colonies of East Africa during the early part of the 20th century. Gujarati Lohanas in East Africa were great entrepreneurs. The Ruparelia, Madhvani, Mehta and Jobanputra families being the prominent industrialists in Uganda. The descendants of these East African settlers have moved to either Kenya and Tanzania or Great Britain in recent decades. Many of them can be found in North West London andLeicester.

Today, a good number of Gujarati Lohanas reside in Gujarat and in other parts of India. In Gujarat, many of them are in Rajkot, Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat. Outside Gujarat, they can be found in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Bangalore, Mangalore, Kolkata, Varanasi, New Delhi. and other major Indian cities. Also, Gujarati Lohanas own the majority of food businesses, especially “farsan marts,” in Ahmedabad and Vadodara. They also have a noticeable share in other businesses. A significant number of Gujarati Lohanas also reside outside India.

Sindhi Lohanas, including the Bhaiband community, were primarily engaged in Agriculture, Industries and Professional Services before thePartition of India. However, after the partition, Sindhi Lohanas dispersed throughout the world, and having lost their agricultural property, have focused on Industry, Trading and Professional Services. The Khudabadi Sindhi Swarankar (Sonara) community, also affiliated with the Sindhi Lohana faction of the warrior Kshatriya caste of Hindu society, were mostly in the jewellery business. In fact, the 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica stated in the article about Sindh that:

“ More than half of the Hindus are Lohanas, originally traders, who have almost monopolised government service and the professions.[6][7][8] ”

Lohanas are still to be found in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are now Islamic states. In Afghanistan, they still maintain their Hindu religious identity and are known as Lokhathra. The Lohanas who keep their Hindu identity in Sindh are known as Sindhi Lohana.

Those Lohanas who converted to Sunni Islam are known as Memons. Those who converted to Shia Ismaili Nizari Islam or became IsmailiNizari Muslims are known as Khojas. Many of them retain their Hindu surnames from which many are ancient Persian surnames. Among them was the creator of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, whose father’s name was Jinabhai Poonja and grandfather was Poonja Gokuldas Meghji, a Hindu Bhatia from Paneli village in Gondal state in Kathiawar.[9]

Not only Khoja Ismaili Muslims but Memon Sunni Muslims also retain their Hindu and Persian surnames, among the most famous of these isLakhani.Some of the major groups derived from the principal professions they follow or the crafts they practice, for example, the cattle-breeding group takes the significant name of Gawli, derived from a Sanskrit word for cow. The names of the shepherd castes seem to be derived from words meaning sheep. Such is at least the case with Gadaria from ‘gadar’, on old Hindi word for sheep. Many others of these major groups called castes bear merely tribal or ethic names. Such are for example: Arora, Gujjar, Lohana, Bhatia, Meena, Bhil, Dom,Oraon, Munda, Santal, Koch, Ahir, Mahar, Nayar, Maratha, Gond, Khond, etc.[10]

[edit]Notable Lohanas

  • Late Shree Premjibhai Bhawanji Thacker – (1) prominent Lawyer of Kachchh District (2) Member of Raj Shabha – 1952 (3) Advisor to Chief Commissioner of Cutch C State 1956-1958 (4) Deputy Minister P. W. D.Departement in State of Bombay 1958 – 1960 (5) Minister P. W. D. in Gujarat State 1958 – 1960 (6) Cebinet Minister for Revenue and Law and Justice portfolio in Gujarat State 1967 – 1972 (7) Member of Gujarat Legisletive Assebmble – 1975-1976 (8) Pionior of Kachchh Rastra Bhasha Prachar Samiti and Today’s developed Kachchh visionary.
  • Padmabhushan (Late) Shri K. J. Somaiya, Industrialist
  • Lord Dolar Popat, founder of TLC Group also known as Lord Popat of Harrow.
  • Dr. S. K. Somaiya, Industrialist and Philanthropist
  • Sagar Thakker – Investment Banker, Industrialist and Philanthropist
  • Uday Kotak – Investment Banker
  • Cheteshwar Pujara – Cricketer
  • Bhairavi Raichura – T V Actress
  • Karishma Tanna – T V Actress
  • J.D.Majethia – Gujarati film star , T V Actor and producer ( producer of serial like Baa, Bahu aur Baby and Sara bhai vs Sara bhai
  • Deven Bhojani – T V Actor( Gattu)
  • Mr Shashikant Lakhani (Lawyer & ex Minister Gujarat State)
  • Mr Kirit Somaiya ( B J P leader Mumbai)
  • Mr Shailesh Bathiya (Leading Chartered Accountant)
  • Cheteshwar Pujara : 1st Lohana to play Test Cricket for India…
 http://www.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/32540.html

[edit]See also

Harshil kotak-student Shree Chatrabhujbhai Juthabhai Kotak-1st lohana president,bussinessman,social worker,president ofcloth merchant’s association and sister to Lt. Shrimati Indira Gandhi

[edit]References

  1. ^ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OJlpWwZkRDAC&pg=PA17&dq=Lohana+population&hl=en&ei=Wmp5TMutNpO94gahqZmPBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Lohana%20population&f=false
  2. ^ http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?rop3=112775&rog3=IN
  3. ^ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nUsOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA34&dq=Lohana+population&hl=en&ei=Wmp5TMutNpO94gahqZmPBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Lohana%20population&f=false
  4. ^ http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/fa-hien.htm
  5. ^ http://lohanamahajantrust.com/whoarewe.asp
  6. ^ http://www.foamcorinthiancapitals.cz.cc/wiki.php?q=Sind
  7. ^ http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Sind
  8. ^ http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/SHA_SIV/SIND.html
  9. ^ Ahmed, Akbar S. 1997. Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin. London: Routledge. 320 pages. ISBN 0-415-14966-5. page 3.
  10. ^ Caste And Race In India by G.S. Ghurye (an eminent sociologist) Popular Prakashan 2004 reprint page: 31,32,33.
  11. ^ “Lohana History: Where do Lohanas come from?”. Lohana.info. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  12. ^ “INSIDE STOREY -Youngest doctor joins UCLH”. uclh.nhs.uk. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
  13. ^ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nZ2SHSk3k6cC&pg=PA101&dq=Lohana&hl=en&ei=UT95TPPoJoqm4AbxhbCeBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Lohana&f=false

Oonk,G, The Changing Culture of Hindu Lohanas in East Africa, in Contemporary Asians Studies, 13, 2004, 83-97.

[edit]External links

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Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers

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Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway – How to turn your fear and indecision into confidence and action (is the full title with strapline).

Love it! It has profound knowledge and looks at fear in different angles to show us how we can tackle it, dance with it and eventually take it to bed and bang it’s brains out so it can leave us to have a cigarette. (Sorry, been off cigarettes for a while and feel like having one). Like all good knowledge Susan gives us a small line or two at a time and expounds on it. E.g. in the first chapter I found the best knowledge in the whole book and all that line said was… I CAN’T HANDLE IT. Then she’ll go on to why our fears are really just the thought of us not being able to handle a situation. Below are some of the lines or angles on what she shares in the book. I wont give too much away mostly for legal reasons :os but yeah… another one is about our loved ones being so caring they install that fear in us kinda thing and I might even put up my own bicycle story in a separate post as an example. On a final note she kind of sells herself short in the book by first giving these small points and then saying things like ‘I know you’re probably not juming up and down about it’. Well of course I’m not how else am I going to carry on reading… and I’m not the exercycle anyway!

So there’s the snippets of the knowledge…
- Fear is you thinking you can’t handle it.
- Fear will never go away as long as you continue to grow so go and do what you fear coz not only are you going to experience fear on unfamiliar but so is everybody. Pushing through it is easier than living with the fear of helplessness.
- She’s got this table where you can either choose Pain or Power. With pain comes helplessness, depression, paralysis and with power comes choice, excitement, action. Stuff like even your working is important like if you say I can’t it comes from pain, I won’t comes from power.
- Taking responsibility for everything. Don’t blame others, don’t blame yourself, knowing when you’re not taking resonsibility, handleing your ‘chatterbox’, being aware of payoffs (like staying in a situation coz you’re comfortable with the rut and know how to handle it even if it’s drama), knowing there is more than one choice in any situation.
- Affirmations and positive thinking and one that I’ve stuck to since I came to London… avoiding people that make you feel like you’re not capable of things. And how to handle these people if they’re loved ones.
- Seeing every situation as a win-win. A great example – a plane in the air is never on course till when it gets closer to the landing strip.
- Filling your life with lots of things so your focus is not only on one thing like a relationship coz if that ends you’ll feel empty and useless kinda thing. Of course allocate time for different stuff and give it your 100% when you’re focusing on that.
- Genuine giving in love and not in expectation of getting.
- Surrounding yourself with people you want to be like.
- She gets into her version of spirituality and some of the knowledge there too is amazing! And some cool visualization/self-hypnosis thing.

Big up Ameet for lending me the book… I’ve had .pdfs of these selfhelp books but not been bothered since I don’t like reading on the comp and don’t wanna waste paper…. that Kindle’s calling.

Contents
INTRODUCTION – Opening the Door
1 – What Are You Afriad of … and Why?
2 – Can’t You Make It Go Away?
3 – From Pain to Power
4 – Whether You Want It or Not … It’s Yours
5 – Pollyanna Rides Again
6 – When “They” Don’t Want You to Grow
7 – How to Make a No-Lose Decision
8 – How Whole Is Your “Whole Life”?
9 – Just Nod Your Head – Say “Yes!”
10 – Choosing Love and Trust
11 – Filling the Inner Void
12 – There Is Plenty of Time
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OTHER RESOURCES
EXTRACTS FROM READERS’ LETTERS

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Interesting facts about Religions … from Mukund

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Interesting facts about Religions … from Mukund
Paras note: Oh stir it up!

Christianity ….One Christ, One Bible, One Religion…
But the Latin Catholic will not enter Syrian Catholic Church.
These two will not enter Marthoma Church .
These three will not enter Pentecost Church .
These four will not enter Salvation Army Church .
These five will no enter Seventh Day Adventist Church .
These six will not enter Orthodox Church.
These seven will not enter Jacobite church.
Like this there are 146 divisions in Kerala alone for Christians, each will never share their churches for fellow Christians!
How shameful..! One Jesus Christ, One Bible, One God???

Now Muslims..!
One Allah, One Quran, One Prophet….! Great unity?
Among Muslims, Shias and Sunnis kill each other in all the Muslim countries.
Religious riots in most Muslim countries is always between these two sects.
The Shia will not go to the Sunni Mosque.
These two will not go to the Ahmadiya Mosque.
These three will not go to Sufi places of worship.
Like this, it appears there are 13 divisions amongst Muslims.
Killing / bombing/conquering/ massacring/. .. each other !
The American attack on Iraq was fully supported by all the Muslim countries surrounding Iraq !
One Allah, One Quran, One Prophet….????

Hindus – They have 1,280 basic religious texts,
10,000 Commentaries, more than one lakh sub-commentaries for these foundation books, Hundreds of dieties and forms of numerous Gods, innumeable Aacharyas, thousands of Rishies, And, Hindus speak hundreds of languages.
Still, all of them go to All the TEMPLES.

Paras note: Then again Hinduism is more schools of thought than a religion.

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Aks Production’s Acting Workshop June-July 2010

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Aks Production’s Acting Workshop June-July 2010

Big up Ambarish for the pics

Since I’ve been extra busy I’ve not got down the dates.

First Workshop meeting – Meet with the Aks crew, introduce ourselves and chit chat. After that we did some exercises for stage awareness, voice projection, trust, etc. Quite a few of them were what we teach kids in Art of Living’s ART Excel course. I was excited about the trust one as I’ve always wanted to be the one in the middle being pushed around. So that was cool though for the first one I think there was more talk and lets just say it’s a good thing Ankur is funny.

Second meeting – Get an email assigning me to Team 1. Basically we were divided into 2 groups and each group would further be divided into 2 plays. So meet up at Sanket’s beautiful place facing the docks. Our director Charan had mailed us 2 scripts and we went through them. Get an email telling me I’ve been given the part of Paul in the Growth. I was like yay… I have to sleep most of the time lol. So I recorded my script and put it on my mp3 player to listen to throughout the day. I must say the bus rides got interesting as I’d pretend to be talking to someone on the empty seat next to me or an occupied seat opposite the isle. Most of the time I’d get away with it coz the folks would think I’m just on my handsfree or something. But then there are some lines e.g. did you book that seat or did the airline stick you way over there? And folks would have that expression like this guy looks totally sane but why is he talking like this and how should I react to it.

Third meeting – Get to Tina’s for rehearsals. She’ll be playing my wife Sue and Sejal would be the hallucination/angel Monica. We go through our bits and get direction from Charan. Voice was the main problem and would be in coming rehearsals. So far so good. Note: Charan was talking about the 4th wall and representational/presentational act and I was like… I WANNA KNOW MORE!

The rest of the meetings took place in Regent’s park at the bandstand. We finally realised why Charan kept telling us about volume. We couldn’t hear anything just a few steps away from each other. So now we had to work on voice AND talk to the audience when speaking and look at the person when they were speaking… difficult concept and we’ve come a long way but still need to work on that bit. As in it’s just habit to face the person you’re talking to right? Oh and Paul has been a bit too stiff for a caring husband and I was told to work on that. It was kinda difficult coz that ‘nice guy/lovey dovey guy’ is a part of my past and my ego was like you’re not gonna be needy… till Charan mentioned something about what is needy to me is called love to the rest. I was still beating myself up for not getting it coz it was just acting so after rehearsals it was time to calibrate. Asked myself when I felt that lovey dovey caring stuff. Only with 2 people and music of course. I thought I was gonna have to confide in Tina to feel that but I felt it… and confided anyway lol. But yeah… every emotion I linked to a song and either one of the two people that I used to show all my emotions to. It did help coz Sue has a tumor and I’m trying to be caring and all just like how I used to be with moms wheeling her around.

So every time we meet we work and build on something. After voices and looking at the audience came emoting the lines with all the lovey dovey stuff. Note: I think this is the first time I’ve held a skinny girls hand… and it’s not too bad ;o) Note 2: Was meant to design the poster and tickets for this production but its a not for profit thing and that means no income which aint happening since my seva time and resources are booked for Art of Living till end of August. Plus Aks was formed by folks wanting to get away from their work and I was spending enough time and money for the workshop. Hell by he time I get home I just have time to sleep… maybe change. And sleep was getting hard enough as it was as the Alam brothers seem to like rearranging their furniture every other midnight while my Bangla housemates in the living room next to me feel a song coming on every other minute.

Workshop 2 with Ankur’s parents and sister – Intros etc… right of the bat I was told to stretch the R and S in my name. Oh and thats the other thing… out of all the cast I thought I’d be the loudest and it turns out I was the softest. Let me reword that… I was the least loudest!? Shows you just how much your perception is not what is reality. But I’ll come to that in a bit. We do some more exercises and then do our plays right… now the parents give us tweaks and stuff. They were amazing… in a nutshell… try and express each and every word spoken and every space before, after and in between. Only bit I was heart broken was when I was told to tone down the anger and be more caring in a very emotional bit which I had to dig into my past to get out… and it’s still hard to show it but yeah Charan confirmed it’s all good and the emotion stays. Anyway so sacrificed a major fam reunion after ages for it but I had to do it… my been there done that reflex kicked in. By the time I joined the fam reunion it chilled out and I’ve been trying something different especially by staying away from the music but towards the end I ended up there. Teaching belly dance and farting around lol. That Polish beer was sooo strong I had to sleep it off the whole next day.

More meetings at Regents Park bandstand. More rehearsals and I totally forgot one crucial bit but we got to it… it was emoting and reacting to our partners lines. So we had to add to that and now I’m feeling comfortable with it coz it’s starting to flow. Sue and Paul are starting to feel like a couple. Funny bit: The director knows what he wants so he’s directing that way and sometimes the cast feel like they can word it better or help and ends up being a ‘too many cooks…’ situation. So yeah… the shouting lines at each other is starting to feel natural too. It’s getting there but at the same time lots of tweaks needed. Note: Usually I’d get to Regents Park extra early so either catch some sleep or chill by the lake/pond thing. This time round I was eating my carrots and feeding some of the ducks there and a gaggle of geese come uncomfortably close. One was right next to me and I’m like does this fool want a carrot or is he gonna bite me. He was saying something to me… if only I had subtitles. It was nice though… till a silly girl decided to chase them around. I think I took their spot coz they settled quite close to me. It felt like the main one was yelling cuss words my way. Note: Using that world, gaggle, just took me back to Std. 7. What were those books called again? First Aid in English or something?

Meet again at the Peacock theatre for proper rehearsals. Usually we’d say a few lines and Charan would panel beat it when needed… now it was time for us to do it fully. First time we were better. The other plays are so much more funny and have much more movement. Ours is just in a flight sitting and talking. And one of the plays has cuss words man! The cocksucker bit makes my day every time…. where was I? Oh the first time round Charan even recorded our bits and we watched it and realised that one of the biggest things we needed to bump up was our hand and body expressions as our facial expressions were lost in the distance. And this theatre is not that big even. Second time we were really crap… but louder so that was good. I personally thought that main bit where I lose it was good but no one else giving me props so I guess I gotta work on it. Yo, but Neha Jain said I was a cute husband… Paras felt a flashback when he used to be sweet and cute and all but just to clarify… I’M PLAYING A CHARACTER so she was talking about him OKAY! LMAO! My dear Sue was not happy with her part and I was feeling this need to be there for her. So I guess this acting stuff is helping me feel for stuff other than music. Anyway get home and I don’t have work the next day so I’mma sleep my ass off!

Yeah right… my body clock is programmed to wake up by 9 atleast and after the energy drinks last night for the play… I think I fell asleep when it was getting bright so say 4am in summer. Spend some quality time with the lappy… I ignored her for a whole week man.

After a weekend break we met again at the usual Regents Park Bandstand and Ankur joined the second performance. Dude gave us some pretty deep mindsets to think about especially for the emotions and how they transition. So now my lovey dovey-ness is good but my sarcasm is missing and I gotta work on the reaction while Sue is talking but yeah out of all the plays ours is ready to go. Can’t remember if I mentioned this but our play is the most static, sad and some other S word (I think slow) and it’s been slotted in to be the second one in the 4 short plays.

Rainy windy day… it was dry by the time we got to the bandstand and time we did something called gabble where we just blurt out our lines fast and try to do it without mistakes. Then did a straight run I was not at all pleased with… even the second straight run I was not happy with my execution. Charan asks us to take note of our props list. Get home and pack and go stay elsewhere to try get some decent sleep but that didn’t happen.

Friday (2 days to the play) – Just got named and shamed coz I didn’t pay the workshop balance lol. Ok so we meet for a proper dress rehearsal at The Cockpit. I was early as usual and it was closed so try out this minced lamb on a naan pizza like thing next door and I realised these guys on around Edgware road are either trying to be rude or don’t have it in them to look you in the eyes. Anyway, Tina tells me to meet her at the sheesha place we usually hang and get coffees from. Sejal joins us. Rija was there too and we didn’t even realise. Dude next to us leaves the sheesha for Sej and me. The waiter is not too pleased with that and tries to take it away. Then I ask for another glass for mint tea and he refuses to bring it! Oh well… back to the play… see now the crew has already beautiful women so when they came out dressed I was like that Boyz II Men song … if there could only be 3 more of me…. So our first rehearsal went ok and Charan let us go, from now on we’re on our own but we need to work on that volume. Do some more gabble and get a chance to rehearse once more which came out great… hell I was happy with my bit finally. But yeah it’s freaking me out a little as I start feeling my heartbeat and shakes and cotton mouth. We’re told alcohol would not help as it’ll interfere with our voices. Bit of a challenge but exciting too. All the plays are coming out well… you can see there is chemistry between the characters and now it’s basically fine tuning.

Thought I’d wake up early… go to the gym at 9 and meet with the crew to hang as we couldn’t do much without Sejal. Even skipped my workout and just did a run and still got there late. And on the bus a kid threw up on my Converse shoes which I rarely take out for a walk. It’s all good, it was more water than anything else and didn’t even smell the bus out or anything. I’d go into more detail about it but this one’s about Aks sooo… Charan had left The Rag Factory by then so I watched the other teams rehearsals. Man Sarah’s expression are soooo amazing even though her second character plays the perfect ‘kinda crazy about measurements’ partner. I don’t mean measurements in that way! I just realised the other plays have a kink… one has some psycho-ness, another has swearing and the other has sexual references.

The Big Day – Wake up early thinking I’ll squeeze in a run at the gym… worked out my vocal instead by singing and rapping after ages. Get there early and wait for the rest. Rehearse sound and light and curtain calls. During the curtain call Ankur calls me Paras Shah and my reaction was ‘thats not my surname mother f***er!’ as I walk on stage (in a funny way of course). Lol I was like if that happens during the main show I’m gonna replace it with most famous swear word in one of the plays. Find out the print outs have mine and Heteash’s surnames wrong on there but Charan nipped off too his office to fix that. Rehearsed a few times and the last minute changes were hard to incorporate especially pretending to sleep with my chin up so the audience can see my face. Make up time. Back stage was wicked… we thought the place was small but more rooms lead to more rooms and they have this speaker system where you can hear whats going on ‘on stage’ so clearly. Just hope nobody was bitching about anybody else. The guys dressing area had a piano and washing machines etc. Everyone’s starting to look fly… Neha Datta hooked up the older person look on Sanket and Sejal. Suddenly felt like prep with Blue Sky Films all over again.

The performance – First the musicians went on. Ali knew these guys separately and got them together for this show. They sounded crap on the backstage speaker thing but the crowd loved em. First short play goes on… sounds good. We’re next and I was trying to find a quiet place to go blank but didn’t and saw Sarah with her headphones on… BRILLIANT! Thats what I usually do to drown the rest of the noise anyway. Still end up getting advice and I can’t remember what anyone said coz it stitched through my ears. Our play had 2 screw ups… first one from yours truly of course saying the wrong line. The second screw up kinda covered up the first and the audience had no clue so it’s all good. After that my stomach turned into a washing machine. OH the whole day I don’t know what was up but before the play I had to go 5 times! Anyway so I suppress this feeling of Alien wanting to break out of my stomach with a whiskey and serious flirting in Albanian with the Kosovan barmaid. Feel better and get backstage again. Wait for the the plays to finish. Curtain calls. Meet my fam and friends at the bar again. It was pretty packed so we left for a shawarma at Helen’s. Can’t believe after all this time practicing it was over so quick. Everyone was full of nothing but compliments but I wanted to know which bits were off. I was told the bad words caught people off guard mostly since there were kids in the audience. Note: Gotta find out what that feeling in the stomach was coz it was BAD! Hell I took a day off work to recover.

So yeah… the Workshop was worth it … total £95 (mostly to sell tickets) plus lots of time rehearsing. We were told we’ll get more of a practical experience from it instead of learning stuff, but some acting for dummies advice now and then would have been good. The producers and directors were great, the crew was amazing… in a few weeks we were already like a family. Was hoping for some kinda drama but they were all too cool, full of jokes and they saved the drama for the stage. Cock suckers!

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