Bliss Bytes

Deep patience and the decision to wait is what I call surrender.

Don't control your body. Just trust its intelligence.

With pure love, you can awaken even a stone.

If you consciously relax your unconscious, you will transform.

All great shrines are resonant with the Existential energy.

Listening itself can lead to enlightenment.








~Paramahamsa Nithyananda

when will the saree arize?

This post is for the fashion dadas and dadis. Please consider my request, give it a thought, this might be the next fashion statement.

My grandmother always wore her saree six inches above the ground. My mothers sarees don't sweep the floor either. My uncle gets his trousers stitched six inches above the floor.

None of us ever wear heels, we prefer going barefoot, or as near the earth as possible. We love walking, and we like to walk with our hands free. We like to feel free. We love to run. We like to be open to the possibility of skipping down the stairs.

I like to be able to pick up a babe from the arms of an exasperated mom. I like to put my brat in the hand cart and run. He likes me to chase him around, even though he has proven it time and again that he is faster.

And, I also like the feel of a saree. I love the fact that a saree is an integrated attire, it does not separate parts of the body into fragments.

Then why do people, mostly women, keep telling me to pull down my saree? Do they want me to trip? No? Then why?

If everything else is arising, when will the saree lift itself a little from the shackles of fashion? Trust me, the saree will come back into fashion if it shows a little ankle.

Speech on Childrens day

I am to give a five minute speech on Children's day in a school. This is what I want to say to them:

Happy Children's day, all of you. And I mean, all of you, all of us.

I find children's day very very special. Do you know why? Because the child in me also celebrates. All of us, including grown ups, have the child within us. Childhood is common to all of us. We are still our parents children, and to God, all of us are his children, aren't we? From the youngest child to the oldest teacher, all of us here are God's children. On this day, let us say hello to the child within us. This day is an opportunity to deeply and truly connect with the child within all of us, and so I wish everyone a very happy children's day.

All of us have heard the phrase, Laughter is the best medicine, isn't it? So do you think it is true? Is laughter really the best medicine? If you go to the doctor for a stomach ache, does he prescribe laughter? have you ever seen a prescription that says, ten minutes of loud laughter, three times daily, followed by a glass of water? Laugh for ten days and then come back to report to me? He should, no?

The fact is, if you have a stomach ache, you will be too morose to laugh, isn't it? But seriously, have you ever tried to laugh off a sickness? Is there anyone here who has a headache or a stomach ache? Children are always getting hurt, no? No one has any aches or pains?

Ok, let us do this experiment. Let us see if laughter is the best medicine.

Once upon a time, there was a teacher in a school. The teacher asked her student,
'How do you spell crocodile?'
'Krokodile.' the student replied.
'But that is the wrong spelling.' the teacher scolded the student.
'Maybe, but you asked me how I spell it.' the student replied cheekily.

One day, the boy asked his teacher,
'Miss, would you punish someone for something he has not done?'
'Of course not.' said the teacher.
'Good. Because I did not do my homework.'

The school is gone on a Himalayan trip. They see a lot of sheep walking about in the mountains.
Then the teacher asks the students, 'How many sheep does it take to make one sweater?'
The student looks baffled. 'I didn't even know they could knit.' he says, wonder-struck.

'So, are you enjoying the scenery?' the teacher asks his students in the Himalayas.
'Yes, Sir, but the Mountains sometimes block our view.'

Now you are laughing at this joke. But if you laugh like this whenever you are in trouble, when you are fighting with each other, when you get hurt, if you include laughter in all your daily activities, it will keep your energy level high, it will keep your lungs clean, and, most important, it will keep you connected to God.

God has made this world for us to be happy. Imagine, if God looks down and sees his children laughing, how will He feel?

God loves laughter. In fact, god has given us the gift of laughter as a secret healing tool. If you laugh continuously for five to ten minutes, your sickness will go away. Always add laughter to your life, it will make you feel light.

There is scientific evidence that proves that regular, long spells of laughter can bring down your blood pressure. Deep belly laughter releases endorphins, the feel good chemicals in your brain.

How many of you have a small statue of the laughing Buddha in your homes? How does he laugh? He has a big belly, doesn't he? And his mouth is open. He has a bag flung over his shoulder. The bag signifies that he is a wondering monk. and how does he stand? With his hands in the sky, like this. What does this posture mean to you? Where else have you seen this posture? Did you know, what this laughing Buddha do all day? And why did he get the name, the laughing Buddha?

He walked from one town to another town, stood in the market place right in the center of the main square where everyone could see him, threw up his hands and laughed and laughed and laughed.

People stared at him, wondering if he is a mad man. But he laughed so beautifully, without any hesitation, without a care in the world, that they also started laughing. Soon the entire market place was laughing. The people who went back home couldn't get over the site of the laughing Buddha. Each time they would remember him, they would laugh. And, because they had laughed so much, the entire village was in a light, happy mood.

The laughing Buddha never uttered a word to anyone, he was in silence. His only job was to laugh.

A small story from a book called Guaranteed Solutions, written by my master, Swami Nithyananda.

Once, there was a conference of Buddhist monks on the meaning of true spirituality.
Each monk went up to the stage and gave a long speech. Finally, it was the turn of a zen monk to speak.
He went on the stage and simply started laughing. He laughed and laughed, from his being. The laughter just rose from his belly. he started shaking uncontrollably with laughter.

And his laughter was so infectious that all the others also started laughing, without even knowing why.
Without their being aware of it, the monks produced a huge wave of positive energy in the room. The monks reached a state of tremendous elevation.

Their thinking was shattered and their being was filled with bliss.
The zen monk finally spoke: 'This is true spirituality.'

barefoot, and bareheaded

Because I am yet to meet other barefooted souls in my neighborhood, I became a member of a barefooters group that shares their experiences with bare-footing online! You will be surprised to know how many people on the earth feel so passionately about bare footing that they need to type it down!

Here is one interesting mail I recently read in the SBL (Society for Barefoot Living) Digest that resonated deeply.

I am a religious leader, a priestess of the Craft.

Being barefoot is part of my connection with the Earth, not cutting myself off, not insulating myself. It's standard for us to remove shoes to go in sacred space, as in many other faiths.

I also value being bareheaded except when it's very cold or thick rain - light rain is nice. My head is touched by air currents, sky, the heavens, the Above of the sacred, mirroring the Below sacred of my feet on the deep Earth..


I once had a problem when talking of doing an interfaith talk at a mosque. To Muslims it is important for women to cover the head in sacred space. This comes from the submission of women to hide themselves, to cover the sexuality of hair, and contrasts with the bareheaded male whose head is open to the sky/ the divine.


Well of course I could not "cover my head in shame." Nor could I go in their sacred space and insult their faith by ignoring their idea of courtesy. I compromised by wearing a wreath of leaves which from all sides looked like my head was covered but from Above the crown of my head was bare.


I don't know of any religious space where it's a problem being barefoot. Though there are some dubious customs around footwashing which represent doing something filthy to express "humility" that is to crush or deny the self. Washing the feet of lepers, or the very poor was historically a symbol of humility for kings and I think the pope still does it.


Psychologically the feet are the furthest from the dominating brain. So they have the greatest degree of freedom from our controlling ideas of being 'proper' or 'correct.' Feet therefore sometimes express the inner self going against what we feel we "ought" to be/ think/ do. It would be nice of footwashing could be a revaluing of the gentle freedom loving feet.


In terms of the spiritual gates of the self, going from head down to feet, feet are the patient 'footsoldiers' the hardworking, simple side of the self. Which sometimes betrays surprising signals of the inner child/ freedom self.

'Teaching in a school,

is more difficult than teaching in a college.' she said. Yup, she is a school teacher. Who 'tested' me today as I gave my first 'demonstration class' in a school, where I may join as an English teacher ( :) ), if I pass the test.

And, she was right. Teaching in a school, one has to go down to their level. I thought being a mother has prepared me, but a classroom is different.

I taught the poem, 'The road not taken,' by Robert Frost. And went hoarse trying to explain to them again and again that the road less traveled is not a geographical location, but a path, a method, a career.

To begin with, city kids these days know not what a 'wood' means. They don't know what a 'grassy road that wants wear' is, cos they have never stepped on one. So sad.

When I asked them to name a different career, they couldn't go beyond Doctor, Engineer, Journalist, Air-hostess. One boy wanted to be an Astronaut. Why are all of them going away from the earth?

And yet, and yet and yet. Why am I feeling so happy? Because twenty kids were raising their hands saying 'Miss! Miss!'?

'Are you going to be our new teacher, Miss?'

Although I have no idea, I gave them a homework: Write a four line poem.

'Our own poem, Miss?'

'Yes, darling. Your very own, fresh poem.'

'So do I pass the test? Do I get the job?' I asked the senior Miss.

'Well, I could tell that you enjoyed yourself. We shall call you on Monday to let you know.' She said, with a sweet sweet smile.

Those of you who want more posts about teaching in a school, pray for me do.

As for me, I know whatever is best will happen. Inshaallaah.

Play the video do

My mother is a smart lady. She is the first software programmer of India. Ok, one of the first. And yet, she knows not how to play the videos on my blog. So either I will have to transcribe all of them for her sake, which is not a bad idea, but then we lose out on the cinematic experience, Mom.

I told her to search for 'how to play a you tube video' on my blog, but she says she is too lazy to even do that.

So this post is dedicated to her and to other blog-lazy group of duffers.

Coincidently, this post is almost exactly one year old.




First, click on the play button. The bottom one, next to the line.

You will see a circle going round round in the middle of the frame. Wait for a few seconds, till you hear a sound. As soon as you hear a sound, click on the play button quickly, so that it becomes a pause button, and then again becomes play, after changing color. If you stare at the place next to the button, you should see a red (or any deep) colour spreading towards the right. If this happens, well done. Now your video is getting buffered. Till this happens, keep clicking the play button, it will work only if you click when the sound is heard.

Another sign that your video is getting buffered is that the circular dots in the center of the screen disappear. And the video stops playing.

Wait for a few minutes till the complete line is coloured, This means your video is buffered. A Buffered video is something that plays continuously. Streamlined. Whatever.

Oh, by the way, I learnt this method through trial and error, so I might have got the technical bits all mixed up.

Sometimes, it is not possible to display a video (because the embed code is not available), but a link is given. Click on the link, you will go to you-tube directly, and play stop play till the video gets buffered, the same as above. You can search for your old favourite songs on you tube and do time pass all day.

And if you want the 'link' to the video even if it is posted on the blog, double click on the image, you will go to the you tube page and the url on top is the link.

This is an old Sunil Dutt and Nutan song sung by Mukesh.

I saw this movie with Aai, long long back. I remember that she noticed how softly Sunil Dutt sits on the floor near Nutans bed as he sings her to sleep.

You taught me to appreiciate this stuff, Aai, called body language and all that. So please play the videos on my blog, do.

user freindly children

Are your kids friendly to you? Can you live with them? Are they user friendly or do they bite?

We have made our children 'employable'. They are useful to society but are they caring? Are they, spiritually smart?

Also, what kind of children are we? Do we really spend time with our elders? Are our parents happy with us? Are we happy with ourselves?

Yes, these are heavy questions, and I might have spoiled your mood.

So please watch this video and lighten up.


This discourse contains vision laid out by living enlightened master Paramahamsa Nithyananda. In this discourse Swamiji talks about how bringing up the kids with the principles of the ancient vedic system, he has been successful in creating and embedding principles of Jivan Mukthi in children. Swamiji, at this discourse laid the framework for establishing 108 Nithyananda Vidyalayas where education will teach life skills and employable skills in an integrated fashion

'Swami Vivekananda says that if you can tell a four year old the great vedantic truths of jeevan mukti, he will be able to accept and understand them.

The reason we do not teach children about spirituality is not because they cant understand it, its because we don't know how (or even what ) to teach it.

True secularism is not is rejecting all religions, but in accepting all religions.'

Film Appreciation Course in Mumbai

This is for my younger sister, Rajashree, a bestselling novelist (Trust me) and award winning film maker (Rebel).

Film Appreciation course in Mumbai

Deepen your understanding of Cinema with a month-long course in film
appreciation and the history of Cinema in India and the rest of the
world. Conducted by an award-winning filmmaker and bestselling novelist
who has taught at FTII, Pune, and some of the best film schools in
Bombay.

This course is suitable for:
• Film buffs
• People who are interested in film-making. (While this is not a course
that teaches you how to make films, a knowledge of the basics of FA and
the history of cinema would definitely help film-makers.
E.g.,cinematographers won't learn how to light up a set, but they would
benefit from seeing the way low-key, high-contrast lighting was used in
German Expressionist films. )
• Film journalists and critics
• Students and teachers of mass communications and the arts FACULTY


Rajashree’s been a film buff since she was a kid – she once stood in a
line for five hours to get tickets for Sholay. She studied film
appreciation at the National Film Archive of India. She has been
working in Bombay after learning direction at the Film and Television
Institute of India, Poona. She’s assisted Mansoor Khan and Sanjay Leela
Bhansali. A film she wrote and directed, The Rebel, was screened at
many film festivals, and won the National Award and the Golden Ten
Award. Her critically acclaimed first book, Trust Me, is a lighthearted
romantic comedy set in the Bombay film industry. According to figures
given by The Times of India and The Sunday Telegraph, Trust Me is the
biggest-selling Indian chick lit novel. She has taught at FTII, Pune,
and some of the best film schools in Bombay. http://rajashree.in

WHEN

Full-day classes on Saturdays over one month beginning on the 31st of October.

CERTIFICATE

The students would be given certificates at the successful completion of the workshop.

WHERE

Classes will be held at Goregaon, Mumbai (urf Bombay :)).

FEES

The fees are Rs 4,900. They would be paid at the time of admission.

Lunch and refreshments are included.

CONTACT

Please call 97694 49556 or email rajashree.in@gmail.com
COURSE CONTENT
UNDERSTANDING THE ELEMENTS OF FILM-MAKING
• 'In the beginning comes the word' - the script Acting Art direction
Costume design
• An introduction to screen grammar: Cinematography: Image Size, Camera
Angles, Camera Movements, Composition, Lighting, Camera Speed,
Graphics, Colour, Rule of Thirds & The Golden Points, Depth of
Field, Selective Focus Editing Transitions – Cut, dissolve, fade, wipe,
bleach Principles of Editing Sound Design: Speech, Sound Effects,
Music, Silence • Types of films Feature films –fiction Short films
Documentary films Ad films
• A brief overview of how films are made would be given to the
students, so that they can understand the process of film-making -
pre-production, production and post-production.
HISTORY OF WORLD CINEMA
• Silent Era Lumiere Griffith Chaplin Eisenstien German Expressionistic
Cinema
• History of World Cinema: Talkies American 30’s films: Analytic
Dramatic Style, Studio System, Genres Italian Neo-Realism French New
Wave The Auteurs. Bunuel, Tarkovsky, Ozu Contemporary World Cinema
Iranian Films
HISTORY OF INDIAN CINEMA • Save Dada, Dadasaheb Phalke Studio Period:
Prabhat’s Sant Tukaram, Ashok Kumar Post-Independence films: Raj
Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar 60’s films: Guide, the rise of Rajesh
Khanna Art Cinema: Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak
• Sholay and the Angry Young Man The Parallel Film Movement 80's and
90's Hindi Films Contemporary Cinema Analysis of the structure of
Commercial Hindi Cinema Analysis of the structure of ‘Multiplex’ Hindi
Cinema

the second time, this year

The title of this post is making me laugh.

Actually, a minute ago, I was in a state of tears. Not for the mobile phone I lost. But for the way it said goodbye.

First, I cant accept the cheque I am supposed to take home, because of some clerks stupidity in spelling my name incorrectly.

Then I have a tiff on the phone with a friend I am supposed to meet for lunch. She is giving me directions to get to her house and she tells me names of every single shop, every bump (there is one gentle speed breaker, then one giant one) on the way. If I go from this direction, I have to turn left, if not, then from right. At this point, I stop scribbling furiously, and say,

'Look darling, all this info is mind blowing. I will just call you if I cant find it.'

'No, please don't call me. I am making kulfis for us.'

'Kulfi? But how will it freeze so soon?'

'Its a special recipe. It will freeze.'

I cannot believe this. She continues with the million directions. In response, I bang the phone on her. ( I switch it off with a vehemence.) And that is the last I time I use my phone.

All I remember is an auto ride where I am resolving not to eat her kulfi.

It is not just men who have problems with women.

Unfortunately, I did not need to call her, her directions had stuck in my mind. Needless to add, I forgot the cell in the auto.

I know not if there is a moral to this story, but I do feel like saying sorry to my phone. I took it for granted and it left me high and dry.

Thank you, phone. You are so beautiful and blue. May you find a better owner.

Is this why I love you?

A fellow disciple of Ramakrishna asked Vivekananda why the latter thought of Ramakrishna as God. ‘After all, he is human, just like you and I. I agree that he knows a lot more than us, but how can he be God?’, this man asked.

Vivekananda countered, ‘What do you think God is like?’

The other disciple said, ‘Well. God is omnipresent, omnipresent and omniscient.’

Vivekananda said, ‘Stop. If God is omnipresent you should be able to see him. Have you? Tell me honestly.’

‘No, but..’ stuttered the other man.

‘You fool’, Vivekananda said compassionately, ‘God to you is a mere concept. You have a few words that you have learnt to describe him. To Ramakrishna, God is a realized experience. He radiates that God. He is the closest you will ever get to experiencing God. Make use of this opportunity.’

To those who try to experience the divine as the formless without realizing it in form, God is a mere concept. He is another intellectual tool to influence, control and terrorize others. He is not the friend, the brother, the mother, or the intimate lover that Kabir, Ramakrishna and Theresa visualize. Without a form first, these relationships cannot be born and nurtured. Once experienced, the umbilical cord of the form gets severed on its own, and the formless experience stays.

---Copied and pasted from a book I am reading, cant tell you more, or I will get caught.----

Who is a genius

A genius is a person who escapes the societal training, of creating a strong logic.

Only then can the deeper logic of the genius penetrate the zones, the spaces in you, because your inner space will be open.

The so-called logical people feel that emotional people who can trust easily are fools. What they don't understand, is that to question, to doubt, you don't need intelligence. Any fool can do it.

Only to trust, to open up, to relax, you need intelligence. Very rarely, only intelligent people can relax. These rare people, for them, living, and leaving, are both so graceful.

For those who are caught in logic, living and leaving, both are hell.

Although I am really enjoying this process of transcribing Swami Nithyanandas talk, I think I better stop. Better hear it directly from the master:

from head to the heart

I ask him to read out from his science book. He takes ten minutes to figure out the first sentence. When he cant read out the word, he spells it out.
F I Z E D. he says. I move away from the gas stove and look at his book, upside down.
'Its FIXED. This is X, Pavan, not Z. How can you forget your ABC?'

'I don't have practice, Ai.'

I leave the kitchen and sit with him in the balcony. I look at the sky and ask for inspiration. I want to say something that will make sense to him, and not vent my frustration.

'Look, kiddo. You don't need practice of ABC at your age. You just have to use your mind more sharply. You allow your mind to become very lazy, just when you are studying. Otherwise, your mind is so sharp. The same mind you have to use sharply when you study. Got it?'

'The same mind?' he wants to make sure.

'Yes, its the same mind.'

Next day, we are going to a friends house on the scooter. I don't want to take the main road, and he claims to know the inside route.

'Turn this way', he slaps my left shoulder.

'Now say the same thing without touching me.' I tell him, slowing down.

'Turn left.' he says.

'Correct. You got it.' I say.

'Ai, this is the same mind that I have to use when I study, no?'

'Yes, baba. Same to same.'

Later , we are trying to figure out how to use the Charkha, a gift from his grandfather, from Ahmedabad.

'How come there is no instruction manual with it?' my friend asks.

'The instruction manual is in our genes. Our father of the nation has done it long enough. We just have to get in the zone, I guess.' I say.

It takes us three days of trail and error, zonal and otherwise, to get the spindle to move with the wheel. We still don't know how to get the cotton to become thread, but both of us are thrilled with our progress.

'Ai, this is the same mind that I need to use in my studies, no?'

'Yes, Tukru, same to same.' I am not too sure I like this mind talk. I don't want to be accused of being an intellectual, ever. I wonder how to get him back in the heart, where he belongs.

Its bedtime. He is too exited to sleep.

'Ai, give me a healing, sing me a song, and tell me a story.' I do the first two, for the story I call Papa.

Papa tells him a quick, half minute story and runs back to his comp.

'I want a longer story.' he cribs.

'Look, I am too tired. Besides, I have to finsih the blog. Why dont you tell yourself a nice long story?'

'Good idea. With the same mind which I am to use in my studies?'

'Yes, darling. Just remember one thing. There is but one mind. In everyone. In everything. Its for all of us to use, whenever we need it.'

As I type in these words, his legs are playing with the pillow, balancing it md air. I wonder if he is daydreaming, and I try to remember what I daydreamed of at almost nine?

This is Pavan on the pradakshina road, in front of the Mountain, sitting down to pat a stray dog.

And this is a close up of them closer.