|| Om Sri Vishvaya Namaha Om ||

bhutabhavyabhavannathah pavanah paavanonalaha |

kamahaa kamakruth kantah kamah kamapradah prabhuhu || 32 ||

Pronunciation guide:

bhoota-bhavya-bhavan-naathah-pavanah-paavanO-nalaha |

kaamaha-kaama-kruth-kaantah-kaamah-kaama-pradah-prabhuhu ||

Name: Kamaha

Pronunciation:

kaa-ma-ha

kaa (ca in car), ma (me in mercy), ha (hu in hut)

Meaning:

One who has limitless joy

Notes:

Namavali:

Om Kaamaaya Namaha Om

I’ve read the Kama Sutra (read? seen?), and I have to say, Alice Stockham’s Karezza Manual is much, much better.

Da bin ich wieder, oder nochmal,

tja ich habe so wirklich Lust, Lust auf den Artikel zur Lust.

Fangen wir erst einmal mit den Begriffen Kama und Bindu an.

Kama ist im Sanskrit der Begriff für Lust, aber leider im Europäischen als körperliche Lust reduziert, Kama ist aber auch der Liebesgott, so wie unser Amor (griechischer Liebesgott) .

Bindu ist ein Punkt, der Begriff für einen Punkt im Sanskrit.

Frei übersetzt bedeutet Kama Bindu, ein Lustpunkt, oder der Lustpunkt, dieser liegt körperlich auf verschiedenen Ebenen, davon später. Denn dies wäre ein spezieller Erfahrungswirklichkeitsweg in einer Meditation.

Doch was nutzt diese Definition, nichts! Gar nichts! Ist aber auch nicht schlimm, denn die Definition gibt uns einen Wink, sogesagt leitet uns Armorspfeil! Wir müssen diesen Pfeil nur spüren und zwar in uns, in unserem Körper, nur dort. Das Bild von Kama/Amor und dem Punkt ist wunderschön und enthält so viel! Einfach mal hinfühlen und hinschauen, es wird sich für uns einfach offenbaren!

Aber erst einmal weiter mit der Lust. Oder wo können wir die Lust treffen oder erfahren?

Was treibt uns denn so an? Was bewegt uns? Werden wir angetrieben oder bewegt und wenn durch was oder wen?

Ehrlich, mal eine ganz konkrete Frage, wer hat schon einmal Lust empfunden, wirklich gespürt?

Wohl am ehesten in seiner Sexualität, Achtung dies wird kein Beitrag über Sexualität!

Doch Sexualität ist eine wahre Giganten-Kraft, ein mächtiges Gefühl, eben gigantisch, wir haben sie nur nicht mehr integiriert. Wäre bestimmt einmal interessant darüber in sich zu fühlen.

Doch was ist dann unsere persönliche Lust? Wie fühlt sich unsere Lust an, kann jeder sie erfahren?

Lust ist so etwas Leichtes, ein wahnsinniger Motor, eben diese Gigantenkraft. Lust ist die bewegende Kraft, die wirkliche Kraft zu bewegen und zu erschaffen, Materie zu bewegen.

Lust ist das Sehnen, das sich Sehnen in diesem Lustgefühl zu bleiben. So leicht und kraftvoll.

Also stellen wir fest Lust ist ein Gefühl, unser Gefühl für eine unserer Kräfte in uns und außerhalb!

“Aber Feststellen wird nichts nutzen, nichts, aber auch gar nichts, denn Lust muss man spüren, fühlen, in sich strömen lassen!”

Wenn schon einmal der erste Anfang gemacht ist, dass man Lust für irgendetwas empfindet und zwar schon bei dem Gedanken daran, der bloßen Idee von etwas, ja dann wird man so richtig lebendig!

Wirklich egal für was man Lust empfindet, Essen, Trinken, Waldspaziergang, Musik, Hecke schneiden, Meditation, einen Menschen berühren,”Probleme” lösen … also egal für was. So beginnt es immer!

Und dann, was kommt dann?

Wenn diese Kraft der Lust dann lebendig wird, dann ist die Kraft der Lust  gelöst, frei, frei zu irgendetwas zu werden.

Was wir dann mit dieser gelösten Lust anfangen ist unsere Freiheit, da sind wir ganz frei, manchmal aber dennoch blockiert, aus vielen Gründen, aber davon vielleicht ein anderes Mal.

Diese gelöste Lustkraft können wir dann benutzen, um etwas in unserer Wirklichkeit zu bewegen, einer lustvollen Idee dann eine Form zu geben. Sie einfach umsetzen, oder zumindest damit zu beginnen. Somit geben wir diese gelöste Lustkraft ein in eine Form in unserer Wirklichkeit. Wir beginnen z.B. ein leckeres Essen zu bereiten, egal wie und was, eine Dose mit Ravioli geht auch.

Wenn dann die eingegebene Lustkraft uns dann zum Essen auf den Tisch verholfen hat, tja dann, dann wird es noch viel schöner, noch lustvoller!

Jetzt werden wir diese formhafte Lust in uns als Form der Wirklichkeit aufnehmen! In unserem Fall die Raviolis essen und zwar mit all unseren Sinnen, diese manifestierte Lust in uns aufnehmen, diese Kraft uns zu eigen machen. Das nennen wir dann himmlischen Genuß! Aus dieser aufgenommenen Lust wird dann eine freie pure gelöste Lust in unserem ganzen Körper! Wir fühlen es mit allen Sinnen. Es ist soetwas wie Extase, Erfüllung in unserem Körper, jetzt wird es wieder sehr körperlich! Grins! Purer Rausch aller Sinne! Aber so kann man es wirklich erfahren!

Und das Schönste ist, man muss wieder nichts dafür können, aber so gar nichts! Ist schon alles durch unsere Geburt in uns drin. Wow!!! Welche Geschenke! Kostenlos, just for free, nur hier rufen und lebendig sein, annehmen und bewegen, mehr nicht!

Durch diese gelöste Lust in uns, die wir uns selbst erschaffen und die nur für uns ist, sind wir uns ganz nah und berauschen uns selbst am Leben, an der Liebe zur Welt, an unserer Welt, an uns.

Daher hilft nur eins Lust! Macht was, lebt dieses Wunder, erfahren und fühlen, gestalten und genießen.

Lust ist eine wahnsinnige Kraft.

Aber ehrlich, wie oft macht man Dinge, zu denen man nicht mal ansatzweise Lust hat, aber warum?

Dazu vielleicht mehr im nächsten Text? Oder mehr zur Meditation, aber dies war Meditation, lustvolle Meditation!

Ich wünsche allen Menschen einen wundervollen Neumond und eine lustvolle Zeit!

Bis bald

Chers lecteurs,

Je l’avais dit, je vous gardait un Ruel au chaud pour la fête de la Trouille ^^ Parce que le vieux radin est peut être bien mon personnage préféré de Wakfu. Seul truc dommage, y a eu des problèmes de net à la résidence universitaire le soir ou le concours finissait (qui était aussi le soir ou je l’ai fini). Quel dommage… (surtout quand je vois ceux qui ont gagné…)  Enfin bon, je me suis quand même fait plaisir à le faire, du crayonné à la colo en passant par l’encrage. Voilà, une quête d’Halloween à base de demande de kamas… Je me rattraperais au prochain event y a pas moyen ^^ (Jme suis grave fait plaisir sur la colo de la barbe X)

Sur ce, a ciao bonsoir!

EDIT > Hoputin les couleurs sont désaturées… Caca *__*

Viimasel ajal olen saanud täielikuks küpsetamishoolikuks. Kui mul piisavalt finantse oleks, siis vist ainult ahju taga istukski. Aga seetõttu jälgin innukalt kokkamistega seotud blogide uusi postitusi. Kui Ragne eile, või oli see juba üleeile, avaldas oma Õunaplaadikoogi retsepti natukese kamajahu ja hapukoorega, siis teadsin, et pean seda kohe järgi proovima. Täna olin terve õhtu küsimuse ees, kas minna magama või hakata kooki küpsetama. Lõpuks siis südaööl jõudsin otsusele, et kook ikka vaja ahju panna:)
Minu kook sai teistsuguse nime salapärast, mille tekitas kamajahu. Kooki süües tekkis tunne, et tahaks veel ja veel seda salapärast õrna maitset seal tunda. Paljude jaoks ei ole see maitse kindlasti väga ära tuntav. Ootamatult sattus üks sõber hetkeks läbi astuma ja ka tema oli sellest salapärasest maitsest lummatud ja ei osanud arvatagi, et see kama on:)

Igatahes siit nüüd tuleb retsept ja nagu juba öeldud Ragne blogist

Põhi:
200 g võid, toasooja
200 g suhkrut
7 dl jahu
1 tl küpsetuspulbrit
näpuotsatäis soola
2 muna

Kate:
4-6 õuna
1 sl suhkrut
1 sl kamajahu
1 tl kaneeli
4 dl hapukoort
2 muna
2 dl suhkrut (minul läks umbes, ja kook tuli meeldivalt magus)

Sega kokku või ja suhkur. Lisa omavahel segatud kuivained ning seejärel munad. Sega tainaks (tainas jääb pigem muredapoolsem). Kata tainaga kandiline ahjuplaat (Ragne retseptis on viidatud

25×35 cm plaadile, minu kasutatud tavaline ahjuplaat oli kindlasti suurem).

Eemalda õuntelt südamikud. Viiluta õunad ning aseta põhjale. Sega omavahel suhkur, kamajahu ning kaneel js raputa see õunaviiludele. Seejärel sega kokku hapukoor munad ja suhkur ning kata seguga õunaviilud. Küpseta 190 kraadses ahjus 3o minutit.

…profitant des derniers rayons de soleil automnaux.

Einfach hab ichs mir ja nicht vorgestellt, eher hab ich mir garnix vorgestellt. Ich wollte es ganz nach meiner neuen Einstellung unkompliziert und situationsbedingt auf mich zukommen lassen.

„Einen Job zu finden kann doch nicht wirklich ein Problem sein. Wenn, dann gibt es immer noch Amt, Eltern oder Freunde (mit denen man ne Weltreise machen könne), um nicht zu verkümmern.„
Platzierte ich so den Gedanken in mein Hinterhirn.

Doch der neue Way of Life scheint Früchte zu tragen. Nimmst du das Leben nicht so schwer und versuchst nicht Bedenken und Befürchtungen zur Tagesordnung zu machen, bleibt dein Geist rein und frei, um sich zu entfalten und bereitet sich für die Zukunft mit viel mehr Weisheit vor. Aber man kann auch Karma dazu sagen, denn du erntest was du säst.

So hatte ich zB. meine Kamera in Sardinien dabei mit dem Hintergedanken von dem Camp ein Image-Video zu drehen, dass ich bei Glück an Akzente verkaufen könne und mit noch mehr Glück weitere Filme in der nächsten Saison drehen dürfe.

Doch es kam so, dass die Geschäftsführung von dem Video so begeistert war (und von meiner Kompetenz), dass man mich prompt als Marketingmanager eingestellt hat. Nach der Übernahme von Akzente Reisen im Frühling hat man viele Pläne und viele Positionen sind zu besetzen – Glück(?) für mich.

Also werde ich ab nächsten Monat mein neues Quartier in Leer (Ostfriesland) beziehen und mich der Vermarktung von Tourismusangeboten widmen.

Dass das Meer nur 20km, Holland 50km entfernt und viele Möglichkeiten zum Surfen auch im Winter ringsum liegen, ist der Summand des positiven Denkens.

Quem disse que o técnico em informática é um cara carente, tem dificuldade de relacionamentos e dificilmente faz sexo?

Além de fazer, ainda tem o seu próprio kama-sutra.

Você que é leitor do blog e ao mesmo tempo técnico em informática, conhece ou já fez algumas das posições?

Today was one of the highlights of my weeks; Gyoza day!

Yeah I sorta felt a bit better than yesterday so I decided to try school, it went fairly well if only my back hadnt gotten worse…so freaking painful
Plus my throat was a tad bit clogged and my nose was running, but my stamina was alright…still need more time to mend though…

Gyoza at this place I go eat Gyoza at is pretty okay…could be cooked a bit longer and with proper meat inside, but its the only stuff we get to eat from school, so it´ll have to do.

I have always been a fan of Gyoza, but many places dont serve very decent enough meals.
JFK is good, and also my dad can make a hefty piece of Gyoza.

My love for Gyoza drove me to make a movie graphically and audio-excplicitly depicting some Gyoza-sexual content.

Haha just kidding

But really, food and sexual activity can be fun, I know many people in the world enjoy such stuff…Like George Costanza for example.

I myself…enjoy the more subtle and traditional combination;
Maybe some sensual chocolatesyrup and some strawberries, both afrodiziacs and also very tasty….
Just pour the sauce over you partner and lick off, stick the strawberries where the sun dont shine and fuck them till they become strawberry smoothie…

Then you take a crowbar and stick it up her pussy and start pulling out her intestines, dont forget to ducttape her arms and legs so she cant struggle against you.

With her long intestine pulled out, wrap it around her throat and pull until she loses consciousness, but that comes naturally from the bloodloss so this wouldnt be nessesary, but you can still wrap her up if you want.

Next, take a chainsaw; and saw off her head!
Then you stick the head in the oven on high heat, stuffed with springonions for that frisky taste!
-Now, just fuck her down the throathole and when its time to cum just SPAZZAAAAGD inside of her.

When you are done; dont forget to put the Chocolate syrup away.
And blood may stain so you´ll wanna wash any dirty clothes asap.
After about 20 minutes the head in the oven should be ready to serve, some Castello del Diablo is pretty tasty with that

Enough about that…I cut my hair today!
I dont really know if I am 100% satisfied right now…maybe just because I am not used to the shortness, but it will come in time.
After it grows out a bit more, I must go to Björn Axen and get it modelled
Damn it has been so long since I have been there, hope the receptionist doesnt think I skipped town because of my dissapointing ask out…
Hope she still works there, even though I am not that interested anymore, it would be nice to see her sweet face and soothing voice

What do you think?
-Is it me?

Dalam Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.1.17), Srila Rupa Gosvami menjelaskan enam ciri yang sangat khusus dari Bhakti sejati yaitu,

1.  klesa-ghni ~ Dia menghancurkan segala jenis dukacita
2.  subhada ~ Dia menganugerahkan segala jenis keberuntungan dan kebaikan
3.  moksa-laghuta-krt ~ Dia membuat krt, kenikmatan dari pembebasan impersonal (moksa) menjadi tampak laghuta, sangat remeh
4.  sudurlabha ~ Dia sangat sulit sekali dicapai
5.  sandrananda-visesatma ~ adalah sifatnya diresapi segala jenis kenikmatan dalam tingkat yang tiada taranya
6.  sri-krsna-akarsini ~ Dia adalah satu-satunya sarana untuk menarik hati Krishna

Bhakti Menghancurkan Segala Dukacita

Ada tiga jenis klesa (duka dan penderitaan), yaitu dosa (papa), benih dosa (papa-bija), dan kebodohan (avidya). Kegiatan berdosa digolongkan sebagai pataka (berdosa), maha-pataka (sangat berdosa), dan atipataka (amat sangat berdosa). Semua ini disebut dosa (papa). Bagi orang-orang yang dalam hatinya terwujud suddha-bhakti secara alamiah tidak akan terlibat dalam segala jenis kegiatan berdosa. Keinginan untuk berbuat dosa, yang disebut papa-bija, tidak akan tetap diam dalam hati yang sudah dipenuhi Bhakti. Avidya berarti ketidaktahuan akan jati diri sejati. Begitu suddha-bhakti terbit untuk pertama kalinya dalam hati sang jiva, maka dia akan memahami dengan jelas, “Saya adalah hamba Krishna” dan kegelapan akan musnah seketika. Ini berarti bahwa segera setelah Bhakti-devi memancarkan cahaya terangnya, kegelapan dari papa, papa-bija dan avidya segera terusir dari hati seseorang. Pada masa datangnya bhakti yang mahamujur itu, segala jenis dukacita akan pergi jauh.

Bhakti Membawa Segala Kebaikan

Di dunia ini, segala jenis kasih sayang, segala sifat baik, dan segala bentuk kesenangan yang bermacam-macam dianggap sebagai subha (kemujuran). Seseorang yang di hatinya Bhakti telah mewujudkan diri akan dihiasi oleh sifat-sifat mulia yang berjumlah empat yaitu, kerendahan hati, belas kasih, bebas dari kesombongan, dan senantiasa bersedia memberikan penghormatan kepada orang lain. Karena itu seluruh dunia mengasihinya. Segala jenis sad-guna (sifat-sifat mulia) secara otomatis akan terwujud pada suddha-bhakta. Bhakti juga mampu memberikan segala jenis kenikmatan. Bila seseorang menginginkannya, dia dapat memberikan kenikmatan duniawi yang menjadi hasil dari karma yoga. Dia juga memberikan pembebasan yang diidamkan oleh para jnani dan yogi, yaitu kebahagiaan menunggal dengan brahman yang tidak berpribadi (nirvisesa-brahma-sukha, nirvana), juga dapat memberikan segala kekuatan gaib, yoga siddhi.

Bhakti Membuat Kenikmatan Moksa Jadi Tak Berarti

Bahkan apabila sedikit saja cinta kepada Tuhan (bhagavad-rati) tumbuh dalam hati seseorang, maka dharma (agama), artha (perkembangan ekonomi), kama (kenikmatan indria), dan moksa (pembebasan) secara alami akan tampak tak berarti.

Bhakti Sangat Sulit Dicapai

Bhakti akan tetap sulit dicapai selama seseorang melaksanakan pengabdian suci tidak dengan sepantasnya, bahkan sekalipun dia telah melaksanakannya berjuta-juta latihan rohani (sadhana). Disamping itu, Bhakti-devi kebanyakan mengganjar sebagian besar orang dengan pembebasan impersonal saja. Dia tidak akan memberikan Bhakti sejati bila dia tidak melihat seseorang itu sangatlah tinggi kualifikasinya. Karena dua alasan inilah Bhakti dikatakan sulit dicapai. Sadhana berupa pengembangan jnana akan membawa seseorang menuju pembebasan dengan menunggal ke dalam brahman yang tak berpribadi, perwujudan dari pengetahuan. Juga sangat mudah mendapatkan kenikmatan duniawi dengan melaksanakan perbuatan saleh seperti yajna dan sebagainya. Akan tetapi, seseorang tidak akan pernah mencapai Bhakti kepada Sri Hari tanpa melaksanakan Bhakti itu sendiri atau hanya dengan melaksanakan disiplin spiritual lainnya.

Bhakti adalah Wujud Kebahagiaan Tiada Tara

Bhakti adalah kebahagiaan rohani yang abadi, itulah sebabnya mengapa pelaksanaan Bhakti akan segera menempatkan seseorang dalam samudera sukacita. Bila seseorang menggabungkan seluruh kenikmatan duniawi, kemudian menambahkan kenikmatan yang didapat pada saat menunggal ke dalam brahman, dan lalu melipatgandakannya berpuluh-puluh juta kali, jumlah seluruh kenikmatan ini tidak dapat dibandingkan dengan setetes saja kebahagiaan yang didapat dari samudera bhakti. Kenikmatan yang berasal dari alam duniawi hanyalah sejumput kecil tak berarti, dan kenikmatan yang diperoleh dari menolak segala kenikmatan duniawi adalah kenikmatan yang kering. Keduanya tidak dapat diperbandingkan dengan kenikmatan sejati yang ada di dunia rohani. Seseorang tidak dapat membandingkan dua hal yang sangat berbeda sifatnya. Oleh karena itu, seseorang yang telah mengembangkan sedikit ruci (keinginan merasakan) kebahagiaan dalam melaksanakan Bhakti akan mendapati bahwa kenikmatan yang berasal dari menunggal ke dalam nirvisesa-brahma adalah sangat tak berarti seperti air pada bekas injakan kaki anak sapi. Hanya mereka yang sudah mengalami kenikmatan ini saja yang dapat memahaminya, bukan orang lain.

Bhakti Menarik Hati Tuhan

Bhaktilah satu-satunya yang mampu menarik hati Tuhan Yang Maha Esa Sri Krishna, Pribadi yang paling menarik. Sri Krishna beserta mereka semua yang dicintai-Nya akan segera tertarik dengan kuatnya dan dikendalikan oleh seseorang yang di dalam hatinya telah hadir Bhaktidevi. Tak seorangpun dapat menarik hati Krishna maupun mengendalikan-Nya, dengan sarana apapun, kecuali hanya dengan Bhakti.

Bhakti Bukan Berasal Dari Dunia

Bhakti dan Sri Krishna berada di balik segala batasan-batasan duniawi, jadi kecerdasan manusia tidaklah mampu mencapai Mereka, karena akal pikiran manusia bersifat kasar dan sangat terbatas. Walau demikian, seseorang dapat dengan mudah memahami intisari pengabdian suci (bhakti-tattva), bila dia telah mengembangkan bahkan setetes ruci saja, berkat pengaruh berbagai kegiatan saleh yang telah dikumpul-kannya pada masa lampau. Tak seorangpun kecuali jiva yang beruntung saja yang dapat memahami bhakti-tattva.

Logika duniawi tidak memiliki kepantasan yang dibutuhkan untuk dapat mengerti kesukacitaan rohani. Logika tak ada gunanya dalam menegakkan vastu (zat sejati) apapun, karena apapun yang seseorang telah tegakkan hari ini melalui logika dan argumentasi maka keesokan harinya seorang yang lebih pandai akan menjatuhkannya (Vedanta-Sutra 2.1.11). itulah sebabnya mengapa dikatakan logika tidaklah berarti apa-apa. Semua pernyataan vedanta menegaskan bahwa logika tidak dapat menjelaskan hal-hal yang bersifat rohani.

Dapatlah kita simpulkan bahwa Bhakti adalah merupakan dharma sejati bagi sang roh. Bhakti bercahaya sebagai perwujudan jati diri sang roh yang sesungguhnya. Dia kekal bersama roh, dia merupakan sifat alamiahnya, karena hanya dalam Bhaktilah hubungan antara roh dengan Tuhan diungkapkan secara sempurna.

Sekarang kita ingin mengetahui bagaimanakah ekspresi tertinggi dari Bhakti ini, kesempurnaan tertinggi yang merupakan perkembangan sempurna dari ketertarikan sang roh yang tiada terjelaskan kepada Tuhan, Kekasih yang sejati.

Sathya Sai Baba

In March this year I was privileged to be in the residence of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba along with devotees. As we waited eagerly for the sudden flash of the Red Robe, He appeared beaming with a smile; his eyes flashed “Vidyullekha”. I waited in grateful expectancy for events to unfold themselves. In Baba’s Presence we learn the art of waiting for things to happen; anything unexpected can and will happen!

He suddenly turned towards me and said: “So, you have been transferred to Bangalore!” He was asking me this question after several months of my transfer even after I had first reported to Him before taking charge of my assignment! Like others I have also wondered why Baba the ‘Omnipresent’, the ‘Omniscient’, asks such questions and sometimes even feigns ignorance! I have found an answer which I believe is true.

Supposing Baba starts telling in front of everybody about us, what is in our mind and all our deeds and misdeeds, how many of us will have the courage to go to Him again? If He reveals all the time His Divinity and the attributes of “Omnipresence” few of us will dare go to him; the skin-deep facade of a devotee which we all maintain even in His Presence, is so fragile that it will be shattered and there will be no scope for improvement and the ‘transformation’ for which He has incarnated. So, in His mercy He gives us the impression that He is merely human and envelopes us with this Maya that is essential for our transformation which, unfortunately, is slow. ‘Kramakramena’, ‘gradually’ you will have to give up your undesirable habits, He says in His infinite patience!

Returning to the occasion when He asked me the question, I said, “Yes! Swami” and I thought that was the best occasion to volunteer additional information. “Swami I have only 71 days more before I retire.” I hoped that He would say, “Yes! Bangaroo! Time will pass and you will join Swami’s service.” He suddenly turned round and looked at me with those penetrating eyes. Out came the Sadguru’s mantra: “Whether it is 71 days, 71 hours, or 71 minutes or 71 seconds, quality is most important” and in His characteristic style. He turned round and conveyed the same message to all. “Quality is important, isn’t it?” He asked them, His way of confirmation.

This is Sathya Sai Baba’s method; He uses all occasions to convey important lessons of spirituality in daily living by such mantra. He aims the mantra not only at the direct recipient but also at others who might care to learn the lesson. One will miss the import of His statements if one thinks that it was meant only for the individual who happened to be the target..

Sathya Sai Baba shook me from my stupor. He has repeatedly said that all work is His; there is nothing like Sai service and government Service.. All that you do is for Sai only; in fact it is for yourself, for awakening the Sai within you. Not that I did not know these teachings of His. But again I had forgotten the lesson and the ever vigilant Sadguru had given me the lesson again at the right moment.

What a great formula for Ananda! What is important is not what happens after 71 days. What is important is that till that last second we do not forget that it is His work and that we should carry out the work assigned with the highest quality since it is His Worship through whatever He has assigned. “The past is beyond recovery. Those days are gone. The future you are not sure of. The given moment is NOW! Sanctify it with holy thoughts, words and deeds,” He has declared. “Quality” means sanctifying every moment with holy thoughts, words and deeds. “The most important thing in life is not doing what you like, but liking what you have to do”, Sathya Sai Baba has told us. These are the keys to spirituality in daily living.

Can we do this in the office, in the factory, in the kitchen or in any other vocation and avocation? Yes! We can; we should try to bear in mind some of the other mantras He has given us. We can sanctify our thoughts, words and deeds if they are not motivated by the six enemies which the ancients had correctly identified, Kama (passion), krodha (anger), lobha (greed) moha (attachment) , mada (pride), matsarya (envy). Difficult? Yes but not impossible if we try. Read any book on modern psychology; you will learn that all our diseases are due to these six enemies; our diseases are psychosomatic caused by these passions.

There is another aspect to filling every moment with “quality.” We must be fully involved in enjoying the quality of the work we do! That itself becomes “fulfillment” rather than the fruit of the act. In fact the real fruit of the act is the sweetness of the process. The game is more important than whether we win or lose! That is the real meaning of the Lord’s statement, “Work alone is thy concern; not the fruits thereof.”

Knowing that we are all forgetful I pray: “Baba give me the wisdom to remember your mantra when it is most needed and fill every moment with the highest quality, for which you have endowed me with abilities..”

(Extracted from an article by M.V.N.Murthy, published in Sanathana Sarathi, June, 1981)

Anand Krishna

http://www.aumkar.org/ind/?p=199

No Matter Race or Creed, the Law of Karma Affects Us All

Perjumpaan pertama kita dengan kata kama kemungkinan besar melalui istilah Kamasutra, karya klasik tentang seks dari timur. Kama, kendati demikian, tak hanya mengacu pada seks dalam arti bercinta. Kama lebih tepat didefinisikan sebagai hawa nafsu, atau hasrat.

Sutra ialah benang, atau senar. Kata ini dipakai di sini dalam konteks pemain boneka yang memegang bonekanya dengan benang atau senar. Gerakan boneka-boneka itu dikendalikan dan diarahkan. Oleh sebab itu, pemain boneka disebut Sutradhaari, seperti juga Tuhan, Sang Pemain Boneka yang Hebat. Sekarang ini pun, pengarah acara dan film disebut sutradhaar dalam bahasa Sansekerta, atau sutradara dalam bahasa Indonesia.

Kamasutra mengimplikasikan bahwa hawa nafsu atau hasrat harus dikendalikan, ditata dan diatur secara memadai. Karena nafsu adalah energi, dan hasrat ialah energi.

Ada pepatah lama dalam bahasa Sansekerta, “Pemborosan Energi ialah Pemborosan Hidup.” Dikatakan juga bahwa, ” Energi ialah Kehidupan, dan Kehidupan ialah Energi.” Kita semua memiliki sekecil-kecilnya energi itu di dalam diri kita, dengannya kita hidup dan membuat anak. Energi seksual inilah yang memastikan kelanjutan kehidupan.

Jadi hawa nafsu, hasrat dan seks semuanya saling terkait. Mereka semua ialah manifestasi energi. Inilah energi yang menciptakan. Energi yang sama berada di balik kreatifitas kita di bidang lainnya, dan kemampuan untuk menganalisis.

Apa yang terjadi jika energi ini hanya digunakan untuk aktivitas seksual, misalnya bercinta, masturbasi, dll? Kita tak tersisa lagi energi untuk mengekspresikan kreatifitas kita pada bidang lainnya. Kita bisa jadi tetap produktif, tapi tak lagi kreatif. Sama halnya, kita dapat tetap berpikir, tapi tak dapat berpikir mendalam, menganalisis dan memilah-milah.

Di sisi lain, filsuf sibuk berfilosofi tentang hidup, sehingga tak tersisa lagi energi untuk sungguh-sungguh hidup, menikmati dan merayakan hidup.

Saya pernah bertemu dengan beberapa politisi yang begitu larut dalam politik sehingga tak tersisa energi untuk hal lainnya. Kasus ini terjadi juga dengan para profesional di bidang lainnya.

IInilah sebabnya kenapa para leluhur menasehati kita untuk mengatur kama secara efektif dan efisien. Tak ada larangan untuk memakai kama untuk aktivitas seksual. Kalau kamu mau menjadi Caligula, maka gunakan seluruh energimu untuk itu. Tak masalah. Kendati demikian, kalau kamu ingin menjadi kreatif di bidang lainnya, maka moderasi dalam aktivitas seksual akan bermanfaat.

Sama halnya, kalau kamu ingin menjadi kaya raya, maka kamu bisa mengarahkan seluruh energimu untuk mencari uang. Jangan pikirkan hal lainnya.

Hidup menawarkan pilihan yang tak berbatas. Hidup semuanya tentang pilihan-pilihan. Seorang filsuf bisa berfilosofi tentang tak memilih. Tapi itupun sebuah pilihan. Tak memilih sama juga dengan lebih memilih satu hal ketimbang yang lainnya.

Kita harus, oleh sebab itu, berpikir mendalam sebelum membuat pilihan. Kita harus menganalisis semua pilihan yang kita miliki, sebelum menetapkan satu pilihan di antara mereka. Ini juga alasan kenapa para murid dinasehati untuk menarik diri dari kegiatan seksual. Sepanjang tahun-tahun di sekolahan, mereka perlu memfokuskan energi mereka pada begitu banyak aktivitas lainnya sehingga konsentrasi atas seks tak ada gunanya.

Itu semua, kendati demikian, ialah sekedar pedoman perilaku. Bagaimana kita menggunakan energi kita – bagaimana kita memakai kama – sepenuhnya menjadi keputusan kita. Kita ialah tuan atas diri kita sendiri.

Ada sebuah fenomena berbunganya kama, ketika nafsu berubah menjadi kasih. Ini ialah sebuah fenomena universal. Kita semua dapat mengalaminya. Kita semua memiliki potensi untuk mendaki tingkatan yang lebih tinggi dari nafsu dan menggapai kasih.

Nafsu dan kasih, keduanya ialah manifestasi kama. Ketika kamu terobsesi dengan kemakmuran personal, kemakmuran keluarga, komunitasmu, lembagamu, ini mu dan itu mu – maka kamu menjadi penuh nafsu. Nafsu selalu egois dan mementingkan diri sendiri. Ia tak tahu bahasa tanpa pamrih.

Kasih, di sisi lain, tahu bahasa tanpa pamrih. Ia dapat berkarya untuk keuntungan semua, untuk kemakmuran semua, untuk kebaikan semua, untuk kemajuan dan pertumbuhan semua. Kasih ialah ketika kita sungguh memahami semangat di balik kata-kata, “Satu untuk Semua, Semua untuk Satu.”

Di antara nafsu dan kasih ialah tangga cinta. Dalam nafsu, kamu ialah kamu, dan aku ialah aku. Nafsu itu individualistik. Cinta ialah persaudaraan, persahabatan dan kebersamaan. Cinta ialah persatuan kamu dan aku. Cinta ialah perjumpaan individualitas kita yang tadinya berjarak. Cinta ialah di mana kita bertemu. Cinta ialah di mana aku untuk kamu, dan kamu untuk aku.

Mari kita ringkas:

-Nafsu ialah Kamu ialah Kamu, dan Aku adalah Aku, Nafsu ialah mengambil, mengambil, dan mengambil.

-Cinta ialah Kamu dan Aku. Ini saling memberi dan menerima.

-Kasih ialah Semua, Semua, Semua. Ini adalah memberi, memberi, memberi.

Pada tingkatan nafsu, kama telah memproduksi para Alexander yang haus kekuasaan, para Mahmud dari Ghazna, para Genghis Khan, para Napoleon dan para Hitler.

Pada level cinta, kita menjumpai para Mahtma Gandhi, para Martin Luther King dan para Mandela. Ini di mana kita peduli pada sesama.

Pada tingkatan kasih, kita bersua denga para Krishna, para Buddha, para Yesus, para Muhammad, dan makhluk spiritual lainnya. Ini ialah tahapan pelayanan tanpa pamrih.

Kama ialah purushartha ketiga, atau pilar terpenting nomor tiga dalam struktur kehidupan manusia. Kita sebelumnya telah membahas dua yang pertama, dharma dan artha, atau kebajikan dan kekayaan.

Di atas lapisan kesadaran yang lebih tinggi, kama merubah dirinya menjadi sankalpa, atau kekuatan niat. Lebih jauh tentang itu nanti.

Sementara waktu ini dulu, kita berjumpa lagi minggu depan untuk mengeksplorasi purusharta keempat sekaligus terakhir, moksa, kebebasan mutlak, pembebasan, keselamatan, atau apapun sebutan kita untuknya. Sampai jumpa.

Terjemahan Indonesia oleh Nugroho Angkasa dari tulisan Bapak Anand Krishna di Bali Times berjudul

No Matter Race or Creed, the Law of Karma Affects Us All

Ιδρυτής του Shito-Ryu ήταν ο Kenwa Mabuni, απόγονος μίας σπουδαίας οικογένειας samurai, την Onigusuki, που γεννήθηκε στο Shuri της Okinawa το 1888. Στην ηλικία των 13 ετών από τον δασκαλό Anko Itosu διδάσκεται την τεχνική του “Shuri-te” και αργότερα από τον δάσκαλο Kanryo Higaona την τεχνική του “Naha-te”.

Ενώνοντας τις δύο αυτές τεχνικές και προσθέτοντας την τεχνική του δασκάλου Makabe “Tomari-te”, ιδρύει το “Hanko-ryu” που αργότερα για να τιμήσει τους δασκάλους του Hiagona και Itosu, το ονομάζει “Shito-ryu” που προέρχεται από τα αρχικά ιδεογράμματα των ονομάτων των δασκάλών αυτών (Shi) και (Ito) και μεταφράζεται σαν “Σχολή του Itosu και Hiagona”. Αργότερα τελειοποιεί τις γνώσεις του στο kobudo, με τον δάσκαλο Sakumoto καθώς και την τεχνική του Bo, Sai, Tonfa, Kama και Nuchaku, με τον δάσκαλο Arakaki. Το 1920 διδάσκει στο πανεπιστήμιο και τις σχολές της αστυνομίας στην Osaka της Ιαπωνίας.

Μετά το θανατό του τον Μάιο του 1952 σε ηλικία 64 ετών και έχοντας ιδρύσει μία από τις πιο διαδεδομένες σχολές Karate στην Ιαπωνία, ένας από τους κορυφαίους μαθητές του, ο Ryusho Sakagami, ιδρύει το 1957 την δική του οργάνωση, την “Itosu-kai”, που είναι διαδεδομένη σε 26 χώρες. Και στη συνέχεια ιδρύθηκαν και άλλες οργανώσεις όπως η “Genbu-kai”, η “Shito-kai” κ.α.

今日我好早起咗身睇報紙，估唔到今日又有新聞令我諗咗一個朝早。

o靚模熱影響　 11歲男生想援交

“【本報訊】援交成為少男少女搵快錢途徑。香港基督教服務處調查發現， 34%受訪青少年為想搵快錢及希望得到性趣等，所以考慮參與援交活動。令人意外的是少男考慮參與援交比例較少女高，原因是少男希望透過援交得到性趣。考慮參與援交的受訪者年紀最細更只有 11歲，是小六男生和女生。有學者表示， o靚模熱潮易令青少年視身體為賺錢工具，擔心他們參與援交數目會大增。　記者：馮永堅”

我發覺我細個真係好L蠢，應該話我地嗰一代好L蠢，睇咁多４仔咸書，一個星期去１９几次好景信和，有時仲不惜犯險「借」老豆啲４仔（雖然佢鐘意鬼妹，我鐘意村島和津實）。點解？！點解我地細個嗰陣淨係想得到性趣，完全冇諗過可以去做援交，點解李麗珍，徐若宣，舒淇，村島和津實，以至李華月點化唔到我地呢班自慰青年？我好清楚記得李麗珍渾圓嘅雙𡶶，徐若宣粉紅嘅乳頭，舒淇塊鮑魚（我細個以為係內臟），村島和津實一面嘅豆漿，同李華月嘅(＊)。究竟係乜鬼嘢我地呢班賤精要好賤咁將啲精咁沖咗去屎坑而諗吓去援交？

但係Angelababy, Kama, 周秀娜，Lavina, A.Lin, Yumi, Rainbow等等等等𡃁模可以連半點都冇露就可以令３個１１歲嘅小六學生想援交？令34%嘅學生考慮會援交？諗吓都道德淪亡呀！！！

我諗咗好耐，上網睇咗周秀娜嘅寫真，同上成人討論區睇啲好hardcore嘅肉搏片。終於俾我喺個男優中出嗰一刻諗通咗！我發覺睇周秀娜嘅寫真就好似一個巴士乘客咁，喺巴士上慢慢咁去到目的地，喺中途你可以瞓覺，打NDS，PSP，睇街，𥄫女或者思考人生嘅意義。但係睇肉搏片嘅時候就好似一個揸緊戰鬥机嘅机師，眼裡面只有敵机，心裡面只係想將敵机打落嚟，敵机打咗落嚟之後已經好攰，攰到唔想做其他嘢。

意思係喺𡃁模嘅寫真裡面有太多空間俾啲小朋友喇，為咗我地下一代著想，我建議𡃁漠們唔好再影啲有著衫嘅相，周秀娜應該喺個廣告除咗件泳衣露出下體，而angeababy應該喺個廣告裡面裸跑，咁一來個廣告唔會俾人話抄，仲可以令青少年唔會再諗援交！（MC Jin上身，yo!）

by the way, 點解我細個嗰陣冇呢啲調查？冇援交？

Adorei as intervenções do artista Kama.. ele utilizou alguns stickers colados em escadas rolantes e teve um resultado super bacana!

Sringara…

a gopi whose half-moon forehead is glorious with glistening red sindura dots, a gopi whose blossoming lotus face is graceful with black-bee locks of curly hair, a gopi whose glorious vine eyebrows mock the great powers of Kamadeva’s bow, a gopi whose passionate, languid, amorous glances enchant and bewilder her beloved

How we get attracted to people, things and ideas? What makes us beautiful and fascinating? In this article you will read about the following:

• Sringara Rasa: colours & costumes
• Why the devas hate most senior classical Indian dancers
• How we catch various desires (kama) that make us do all kinds of things
• How Rati bhava is related to Kama’s wife as well as to his mother
• What makes “hot girls” hot?
• Intimacy, and how Goddess Kamakshi and others are treated in Tantra
• How and why the young wife of the bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church shunned Sringara and removed it in her Kalakshetra style
• How Sringara expresses itself in bodily movements
• Can classical Indian dance be secular? Bhakti, atheism and the hidden wars of cultures.
• Why men cannot dance in the Kaisiki style, and why Brahma created 23 apsaras
• Why no dancer of today can portray Urvasi’s attempt to seduce Arjuna
• Why Balasaraswati’s condemned Rukmini Devi’s treatment of Sringara
• Balasaraswati’s own stupidity, and why Mangudi Dorairaja Iyer despised her relatives (of Tanjore Quartet)
• Can we really “love” Pepsi-Cola?
• What exactly did Balasaraswati mean by “degenerating into the human“?
• Left Path and the Right Path of Tantra
• How the original (celibate) devadasis managed so well to portray Sringara.
• Two warring schools of abhinaya
• Sensual longing and how love grows further
• Why most young people find the classical Indian dance recitals boring,  and what makes the movies interesting and exciting.
• How Priyadarshini Govind failed in her workshop on Manmadan
• Why the devas must be portrayed only by young girls
• Alarmel Valli’s secret of youthfulness
• Role of beauty and grace in  Sringara
• What the senior dancers are scared to talk about
• Why Anita Ratnam envies Shobana
• What American women lack
• How the Christian and the Arab mores killed Bhakti in India
• Types of attraction: spiritual, intellectual, aesthetic, emotional and pranic
• Sex appeal and Narthaki Nataraj
• Why the Arab men introduced us to burkas
• The psychology of homosexuality and masturbation, and why some girls love Prince Charles
• Swapna Sundari and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
• Why men rape goats
• Why Kali does not care to be attractive
• Gandharva or Pig? Find out what type you are!
• Why Hahuman was not just a monkey
• How much Sunil Kothari gets paid for praising the modern garbage “art“

This article is not intended to please those contemporary Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi or Odissi dancers who view Natya as merely a “dance form”, an “Art for art’s sake”, a pastime, a hobby, a career, etc. Such individuals may find the statements made by Bharata Muni to be offensive, inappropriate, inapplicable, undemocratic, threatening their professional dance career, pride, social status, ethical values, personal contacts, business transactions, sex life, etc. Such individuals, especially those suffering from an acute lack of any sense of humour, are advised not to read this article to prevent any accidental heart attacks.

(Special thanks to Smitha Menon for her contributions)

Sringara: Hindu gods vs Mexican film stars

“There are three expressions of Sringara: in words, in dress and in action”. The light green paste on the face of a Kathakali dancer is a common sight, but few know why Sringara’s colour is light green.   Colours are not mere symbolisms: Krishna is dark blue because such is his aura, which is the kind of explanations given to the spiritual seeker for a practical purpose. A figure called Aroopa (lit.”bodiless”) Laxmi is in the north circuit facing north. Puranas declare that she got this “ugly” form (formless, rather) as she mocked the dark colour of Vishnu. Vishnu thus having rendered his wife unseemly in a moment of hasty indiscretion showered the red kumkumam of Kamakshi on Laxmi resulting in restoration of her beauty. Vishnu is also seen here enjoying this transformation. This place is called ‘Kalvan Sannadi’. So, why is Laxmi, Vishnu’s wife, seated on a pink lotus and wears red clothes?  Of course, we can imagine Vishnu as a light green center of a pink lotus. I always wondered why the flowers’ centre is always of different colour than the petals. The “male” (unmanifested) single principle is in the centre, the multiple petals are the manifested Shakthis.  Actually, kAmeshvara or nirguNa brahman is like a sheet of canvas which is completely without any colors. Family relationships can be confusing at times: “Pleased with the devotion of Brahma and Narayana, Sri Kamakshi looked at them respectively with her left and right eyes. From her right eye appeared Sri Saraswati (kA) and Sri Lakshmi (mA) appeared from her left eye.” Ka-Ma… Kama???

So, what about the dancer’s costume? What costumes are best for expressing Sringara? If you look at Kamakshi’s costume in the picture below, you will understand what colour is evocative of Sringara. If the dancer appears in some dirty gray costume, there is no chance…. What about the fashion? Few of the dancers know that the currently popular Bharatanatyam costumes were designed 60 years ago by Rukmini Devi’s… Italian seamstress. (Below we explain in detail why Rukmini Devi wanted to eliminate Sringara from the dance – and from the costume too). Prior to that, the devadasis danced in heavy sarees. The next logical step would be to dance in burkas, which would please Osama bin Laden, for sure. However, after the suppression by the Arabs and the British, the soul of India is emerging victorious: the success of the Indian movies is largely due to the emergence of the Sringara-accentuated costumes where, for example, the dancers stomach and shoulders are not covered. Do you know the reason the senior “dancers” (except, perhaps, for Alarmel Valli and Urmila Sathyanarayanan) would hate appearing in costumes like that?

“Sringara appears in the interaction between men and women, and is connected with the fullness of youth”, the latter being an attribute of the devas and the immortal rishis. No temple scupltor so far dared to portray Nataraja in the shape of an ugly crippled old man on a pair of crutches.  Well, Osama bin Laden was wiser than Aurangzeb: he sponsored His holiness Shri Syed Sallauddin Pasha to choreograph Bhagawad Gita On Wheels,  where Krishna is presented as a neurotic psychopath. Why haven’t the “specially abled” students of Ambika Kameshwar and George Bush bothered to choreograph a Koran-in-used-Sanitary-Napkins, a Bharatanatyam item portraying Mohammed as merely a cruel pedophile or a schizophrenic victim of an African gang rape?

However hard Aurangzeb and King George tried, Hinduism is still somewhat alive. The naked or scantily clad statues of beautiful devas and fascinating apsaras were meant to attract people. Contemporary classical Indian dancers routinely complain of poor attendance at their performances, yet the same dancers are much more daring than the temple sculptors, though in other ways. When the pregnant-looking Sudharani Raghupathi dressed like a clown in a recent ballet was acting as a wretched “Mammudha” (Cupid), didn’t it look far more grotesque and idiotic than the elderly Veronica Castro from “The Rich Also Cry” attempting the role of a 18-year-old girl? Well, “when it comes to the veterans, still forces to reckon with in their seventies and even eighties, minor lapses in tone or movement are often forgiven as natural concomitants of age, by an audience drunk on nostalgia“

Guess this ugly old clown's "feeling": or is he struggling - before rushing to the toilet?

“It costs about Rs.10 lakhs (to “produce” Mammudha”). Thankfully, we have got some nice sponsors”, proudly  announced Sudharani’s son. The rich old dancers don’t cry: they know where to milk some nice idiots to get the funding to fool around and publicly insult the religious feelings of the Hindus. A French poet noted that Manmadan (or Mammudha) himself probably ran away from most places in India on an extended holiday, leaving the country at the mercy of prudent parents and arranged marriages that don’t require any love or – god forbid! – anything from Kama Sutra.

Kama, of course, should not be erroneously interpreted as merely an erotic urge. “Almost all Rasas proceed from the Desire (kama). Kama is of different types. There are for example dharma-kama (passion for virtue), artha-kama (desire for wealth) and moksha-kama (desire for liberation)”. Those who have desire for liberation are a peculiar sort of audience who are attracted to the margi dance, the one Padma Subrahmaniam wanted to resurrect. Desire is the core engine of the universe. Without desires, we cannot do anything unless we apply the karma yogic approach to actions. Mother has three eyes and rules the world as Raja Rajeshwari as Lalitha, beauty of beauties and as a destroyer of all ‘Kamas’ love and thus as Kameswari

Natya, the classical Indian dance is do be done as an offering to the Divine. Fame-seeking, self-promotion and stardom-hunting are not part of Karma Yoga, yet the classical Indian dance instructors are somehow called “gurus”.

Kama is the son of Vishnu, the governing spirit of Sringara, says Natya Shastra. The lesser gods are the inferior manifestations of their “parents” and inhabit the lower worlds (lokas). In Svarga, the lower heaven, Kama is the master of Manas, the sensational mind. While animals and more primitive people have well-developed manas, they lack buddhi, the intuitive intelligence of Chandraloka (Moon world). Just as the light from the Sun is reflected by the Moon (Chandra), so is Kama’s wife Rati a dim and distorted reflection of Lakshmi. Rati, is the name of the sthayi bhava of Love. Lakshmi is called the daughter of the sea; since the moon also appeared from the ocean during the churning, the moon is called her “brother”. By the by, you know who is the owner of the divine cow Kamadhenu?

Kamakshi

In Tantra, goddess Kamakshi is a form of Tripura Sundari (also called Shodashi or Lalita or by other names). “She is the one whose eyes awaken desire”, “She who has beautiful eyes”. (Below we will speak about glances)

The attraction of divine beauty generates the most sublime desire of union with the Divine. Tripura Sundari as Shodasi is represented by a 16-year-old girl (actually, a 16-angle yantra, each angle of different colour, of course), and embodies 16 types of desire. The Shodasi Tantra describes Tripura Sundari as “the radiant light in the eyes of Shiva“. She is described as of dusky color, and is depicted in an intimate pose with Shiva.

To see the reason that the people of high sex appeal are called “hot” , look at Kamakshi. Red. The reason Bharatanatyam dancers are asked to sit in proper araimandi is because this position stimulates the Muladhara chakra (guess what color it is!), so the subjective (and even objective) temperature rises. Want to see? Bring your infrared camera. Scientifically speaking, red is the colour that we subconsciously notice most, therefore it is used as the most important colour in the traffic lights. Red attracts attention. Full stop. If you want to persuade Bharatanatyam dancers to paint their fingers and feet in blue, think twice.

“The radiance of a thousand raising suns, three eyes, resplendent in red clothes, wearing a crown with the crescent moon, holding in her hands a bow of sugarcane, goad, arrows of flowers and a noose.” Oh, the flower-arrows of desire? And the goad of displeasure? Here we see the reference to the twin egocentric reactions of attraction and aversion (râga and dvesha)

Intimacy is a necessary circumstance of every spiritual practice, this is the reason the temple dancers, devadasis, originally danced unwatched in the sanctum sanctorums. But how many of us would be able to pour our innermost feelings in front of a 300-strong crowd made up of drunk foreign tourists chewing chips, and of the sex-starved local cheri boys? Let’s be realistic: 99% of us try to avoid even thinking of any relationship with God.  It is much safer not to focus too much on our soul.

Shringara: The clash of civilizations: the Devadasis and the Kalakshetra times

Don't I look sexy, darling?

The young wife of the bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church, Rukmini Devi Arundale, had to please the pious Christian conquerors who were used to the western ballet and cabaret dances, and also the degraded Brahmin caste who had lost Natya Veda, an appendix to Sama Veda. She had no choice but to remove any traces of Sringara in Bharatanatyam.. Unfortunately, this kind of a “refinement” cut off the most essential expressions, the movements of the neck, lips, eyes and many more gestures and body movements, the very soul of Sringara, the life of Natya. So, most hip and the chest movements became a taboo. Karanas and angaharas were replaced by “clean” ballet-like moves. After all, Rukmini Devi originally wanted to learn the Russian ballet from Anna Pavlova. Ironically, it is Anna Pavlova who persuaded Rukmini to destroy Bharatanatyam.

E .Krishna Iyer said about Rukmini Devi, “There is no necessity to say that before she entered the field, the art was dead and gone or that it saw a renaissance only when she started to dance or that she created anything new which was not before”

In Chapter 26 we read, “Women’s moves should be in delicate angaharas. The hands, feet and other limbs should be graceful (lalita). But men’s movements of these should be restrained (dhira) or excessive (uddhata)”. “The Kaisiki dance with the Sringara is related to the interaction between a man and woman when they are in love”, yet hardly any classical dancer of today is able to – or would – portray Urvasi’s attempt to seduce Arjuna.

K.J.Sarasa portraying seductive Urvasi

To please the materialistic Indian elite and the “civilized” British colonialists, the spiritual layer was discarded almost totally, and the new notion of “secular” Bharatanatyam started to be marketed for those who had no moksha-kama whatsoever. “One who will perform well the dance created by Mahesvara (Tandava dance), will go free from all sins to the abode of Siva”, unequivocally states Bharata Muni. He did not bother to specify where the folk, ballet or modern dancers will end up. “The Tandava dance is mostly to accompany the worshipping of gods, but its gentler form (sukumara-prayoga) relates to Sringara”. Interestingly, the two correspond to the 2 spiritual methods: the tapasya and the path of surrender to the Divine.

Tandava dance consists of the 108 Karanas, which were wisely banned by Rukmini Devi. The young beautiful Indian girl certainly did not fall in love with the elderly, out-of-shape British gentleman, so no topics of Sringara were allowed for fear of making George Arundale too horny and committing a marital rape. Love and intimacy were simply out of place. “Kama is the attraction between a man and a woman. For all people, this attraction, may end in joy or sorrow. It leads to happiness even in unhappy situations. The union of man and woman is Sringara. It brings them happiness”.

When Balasaraswati asked, “If you remove sringara from dance, what will people like us do?” Rukmini Devi replied, “I have no problem with sex or love (has Rukmini herself experienced ANY?), nor with portraying sringara, but the dance should not be sexy. Sexiness has no place in our arts.” Balasaraswati lashed out at this cleaned up brahminised dance, calling it in her turn ‘vulgar’. So, what exactly appear as “vulgar” to an individual? Every humanoid creature belongs to a certain type or race (check out what type you belong to), and will consider as vulgar everything characteristic of the lower types/races. That’s why you probably don’t feel particularly attracted to monkeys.

Balasaraswati’s clash with Rukmini resemble the clash between the Left Path and the Right Path of Tantra. The yogic point of view contradicts the western science’s. Yogis say that normal women are naturally brahmacharini’s in the sense that they cannot experience any physical “lust” because there is a golden belt of concentrated prana around their lower stomach. Without a physical contact, a lustful desire has to be extraordinarily powerful to pierce this belt. Practically speaking, until she has actually had a physical intercourse, a woman’s body cannot experience any lustful urge, which applies also to the teenage gopis of Vrindavan who certainly had not been exposed to porn movies. After all, the men of Satya Yuga did not even have sex with their wives: the only thought of conceiving a child was enough for the wife to actually conceive a child. In the next Yuga,  in case of most men, it was enough for a man to touch a woman’s stomach to make her conceive.

Balasaraswaty obviously did not read the old Natya Shastra (written lo-o-o-o-o-ng before Tamil appeared), otherwise she would not have said, “In the 11 early dance forms (performed by Mathavi), valour and wrath are the predominant emotions. Yet, Sringara – which was later to become the ruling mood of abhinaya – was pre-eminent in the Tamil dance tradition right from the beginning“.

Balasaraswaty, a rajadasi who always dreamed of becoming a devadasi, wrote nonsense like this: “In the two important dance forms, the court dance and the common dance, which relate respectively to the inner and the outer life of man. Sringara belongs to the court and to the inner life. This explains the eminence of sringara as a mood.”

Balasaraswaty further exposes her shallow-mindedness: “The composer of a Sabdam or a Varnam might have dedicated it to a prince or a noble man. But as far as the dancer is concerned, the hero can only be the King of Kings, the Lord of the wide world. It is impossible for her to dedicate her art, which has sanctified her body and has made her heart sacred, to a mere mortal. She can experience and communicate the sacred in what appears to be secular”.

“Microsoft Corporation and the US dollar are the sacred things to me”, says Bill Gates. In fact, most Americans worship the divinely green buck. The sacred is what is the most important in our life (our career, of course!) Did Balasaraswathy mean that the dancers can communicate the sacred even while dancing to a Pepsi-Cola hymn, and fall in love with a Hero Honda motorbike????? And when the dancers from Andhra developed those condom songs for the live demonstrations on the stage, did they actually imagine lingams and Shiva himself by looking at the condoms? I have a big big doubt. Of course, one can write that a saint-poet can compare the Lord with a rotten egg, but there is a limit in the metaphor, isn’t there? Interestingly, Mangudi Dorairaja Iyer specifically barred his students from performing items dedicated to the non-divine beings. He probably understood that there was a difference between a Disney Land and the Chidambaram Temple. Balasaraswathy didn’t.

Bala continued, “After all, our composers have been steeped in the tradition of bhakti. While singing the praise of secular heroes, they begin to dwell on his devotion to Brihadeeshwara of Tanjavur or to Tyagesa of Tiruvarur or to Padmanabha of Tiruvanandapuram. The dancer, taking the cue, enters the realms of bhakti, enjoys the play and pranks of the deity concerned, and displays them in her abhinaya. The divine, so far mixed with the secular, now becomes explicit in the dance and impresses itself deep in the heart.

The contemporary “secular heroes” are atheists who have no devotion to Brihadeeshwara or Tyagesa or any god except the god of greed, falsehood and deceit.The very music and the lyrics determine the state of mind of the dancer and the audience, so when the love-songs dedicated to some mean medieval kinglets are recited by a Bharatanatyam dancer, all this play and pranks will look like a horseplay rather than bhakti. Mixing the divine with the secular… is possible only for those like Balasaraswathy who have never had any real spiritual experiences, and who watched Diisney’s Mickey Mouse instead of reading the Mahabharata!. The idea of mixing the divine with the secular is in vogue at the end of Kali Yuga: in the temples they now play… Bollywood and Mollywood pop songs. Soon Michael Jackson’s divine compositions will replace Thyagaraja’s in the temple’s ceremonies..

Balasaraswathy added, “Various rhythmic movements are intertwined with her abhinaya; this saves her from degenerating into the human, and keeps her fresh and pure in the yoga of the dance”.

What is “degenerating into the human“? Silly, this is what Bala was a master of! Have you heard of the Pepsi-Cola yoga and McDonalds yoga? Everything is now yoga in the USA. Even British prostitutes proudly call themselves… devadasis! Oh, how divine are the hamburgers and beer consumed by 300 000 000 self-styled “Tantric yogis of the Vama Marga” of America! How divine are their SUV cars! Oh, how romantic! No wonder Pamela Anderson is considered a saint, and George Bush an Avatar!

There is indeed no limit to the human imagination and the human talent for self-deception. There is no chance for a contemporary Bharatanatyam dancer to enter into a true Samadhi by focussing on praises to some medieval employers of mediocre poets/composers. If you are such a great yogini, you can concentrate on a piece of garbage and see the Brahman there, but Balasaraswathy was certainly not capable of doing so. Actually, I don’t know any dancer who could. Ok, if you want a challenge, take a commercial song praising inflated mattresses, choreograph to it, and see how divinely inspired will your audience be when they watch you dance and listen to the song. Try, idiot, try. Imagine that the Mattress is Sri Krishna, and try to fall in love with Him. Work hard to convince the audience.

Today’s elderly dancers conveniently ignore how the early devadasis, who were celibate all their life, understood and portrayed Sringara. “Only a woman who gets up in a morning to find her lover gone knows what viraha is,” stubbornly repeated Balasaraswati, a wannabe devadasi. Understanding the symbol does not, however, automatically bring the understanding of what this symbol stands for. Symbolism is lost when metaphors start being taken literally. It is not necessary to become and American astronaut and taste the moon sand in one’s mouth in order to know what kind of life is there in Chandraloka. The modern dance gurus like to complain that even the children in their early teens somehow can’t understand the adults’ relationships and cannot “adequately” portray them. What is “adequate”? There are two warring schools of abhinaya. The “realistic” or even grotesque abhinaya is portrayed by the basest of actors in the Indian movies. Should classical dancers try to be as vulgar and primitive as Bollywood?

Gowry Ramnarayan,  like many elderly dancers, was mistaken to believe that Sringara’s expression is somehow limited to a sensual longing: “Abhinaya posed problems peculiar to the times. Earlier, the devadasis had other performers in the family, street and village as role models to serve as the basis of a personal style. But the new upper class entrants had no such visual examples. How could they pick up the techniques of abhinaya from their male te achers to evoke the essentially feminine experiences detailed in the songs they danced to? Especially as the nattuvanars were hampered by the need to curtail the sringara quotient for the new class of trainees. “This art is just emerging out of decadence. Let us keep it dignified,” was the refrain of Chockalingam Pillai. An old student recalls, “Edo oru vahaiyil varugudu” was taught to me as a bland and literal “Something is happening to me”. It was much later that I realised it referred to a woman’s sensual longing!”

Well, what did she understand by “sensual“? And by “longing“? Natya Shastra says that longing (abhilasa) is the first stage of love. The next stages are Anxiety, Recollection, Emuneration of Merits, Distress, Lamentation, Insanity, Sickness, Stupor. If the union has not been achieved, the last stage of such love ends in death. For some reasons Bharata Muni advises that this stage should not be presented on stage. Unlike in Bollywood, in Natya “There should be on the stage no ascending of the bed-stead, no bath, no use of unguents and collyrium,  no decoration of the body and no doing of the hair…The prohibited mode of dress will suit only the women of inferior type because of their low nature. But they too are not to be represented as doing what is improper”.

Sringara: Expression of love and the connections with other moods

Natya Shastra puts it plainly that the young audience are only attracted to the scenes of love. The youth happily abandoned the bland classical Indian dance performances for the spicey movies’ abundant love scenes, even though these were normally rendered in the most vulgar and crude manner. The current ever-growing popularity of porn videos among the Indian youth proves that no cinema can compete with something that appeals to the lowest (and strongest?) of the animal instincts. Not all people are just two-legged dogs. We are all different. “A woman of high family is to awaken her beloved by the sound of her ornaments; the courtesan by the sweet scents; the handmaid by fanning the beloved with her clothes”.

Alarmel Valli said, “Though Chokkalingam Pillai often told us not to dance like a jadam (zombie), I suspect that the masters had to shed much of the full blooded quality of the repertoire to be accepted by the `respectable’ Mylapore matrons. I sensed that when they described Pandanallur Jayalakshmi’s abhinaya, for padams like `Velavare.”‘

“A courtesan overcome with love should be represented by making her express the feelings by casting side-long glances, touching the ornaments, itching the ears, scratching the ground with her toes, showing the breasts and the navel, cleansing the nails and gathering (adjusting) her hair”. On treating a lover at fault, “When taken by her hair, hand or dress the woman should enjoy the touch of the beloved in such a way that he may not perceive it. The woman should slowly release her hair from the hands of her beloved one by standing first on her toes with limbs bent and then taking to the Asvakranta posture”. The contemporary classical Indian dancers forgot how use their eyes, even though there are 36 glances in Natya Shastra.. “The glance where the eyelids are not fully opened, the look is sweet, and eyeballs are still, and there are tears of joy, is called Snigdha (loving). It grows out of love”. “The glance in which the eyes are playful, tearful, half-closed, upper lid is drooping and eyelashes are throbbing, is called Kamya”. But… will the spectators in the last rows in a huge auditorium see your eyes at all???

Natya Shastra states that “Sringara is of 2 kinds: in union and in separation… Sringara in separation should be represented by indifference, languour, fear, jealousy, fatigue, anxiety, yearning, drowsiness, sleep, dreaming, awakening, illness, insanity, epilepsy, inactivity, fainting, death and other conditions…. Sringara in separation relates to a state of maintaining optimism arising out of yearning and anxiety”. Indeed, any mood – except for the happy Hasya – proceeds from Sringara in separation. The white-coloured Hasya is there in the playful joyfulness of love.

“Sringara originates from the sthayi bhava of Rati. Its soul is the bright attire, for whatever in this world is bright, pure and beautiful is associated with Rati. For example, one who is elegantly dressed is called a lovely person, sringarin”. “Sringara Rasa arises in connection with favourable seasons, garlands, ornaments, enjoyment of the company of beloved ones, music and poetry, and going to the garden and roaming there. It should be represented on the stage by means of composure of the eyes and the face, sweet and smiling words, satisfaction and delight, and graceful movements of limbs”. In Priyadarshini Govind’s recent workshop on Manmadan in Narada Gana Sabha, did we see any of such expressions and movements? No, we didn’t!

Srungara: age, innocence and little kittens

Gods have 3 stages of life. People have one more: the old age. Why don’t the Divine Beings grow old, and always stay youthful? Krishna is imaged as a little boy or a teenage girl, Manjari, and when we see a clumsy ugly old dancer trying to portray such roles, how disgusting it comes out, even if the this old dancer’s students say, “Wonderful! Fantastic!”.”Dance students learn how to be professional liars, not professional dancers“, aptly noted one person.

The King is Naked, and that’s what we see. Bharata Muni bluntly puts it that gods must be portrayed by young girls only as“the nature of gods is delicate”. Gods are not just delicate but playful and care-free too. These qualities neither.the adult cats nor humans manage to preserve. The little kittens are lovely, but old grumpy cats?

“It looks so flirtatious but childish and innocent at the same time“, commented one person on YouTube. The children will look fascinating without sexually arousing the viewers. Innocence is the quality of the ambience we create. Few can clean the atmosphere of all thoughts and desires of the sexual intercourse. In a traditional Bharatanatyam recital, the first items are to purify the ambience. For young children, it is easy. As we know, the Ayappan temples admit only the girls before they attain puberty.

The most disastrous consequences of losing touch with our inner worlds after reaching puberty and establishing “an adult, down-to-earth relationship”   are explained by… Oscar Wilde: “

“before I knew you, acting was the one reality of my life. It was only in the theatre that I lived. I thought that it was all true. I was Rosalind one night and Portia the other. The joy of Beatrice was my joy, and the sorrows of Cordelia were mine also. I believed in everything. The common people who acted with me seemed to me to be godlike. The painted scenes were my world. I knew nothing but shadows, and I thought them real. You came–oh, my beautiful love!–and you freed my soul from prison. You taught me what reality really is. Tonight, for the first time in my life, I saw through the hollowness, the sham, the silliness of the empty pageant in which I had always played”.

Adi Shankara has Kanchi Kamakshi in his mental vision. Manmatha also has sugarcane bow and flower arrows. Devi also holds them. The meaning is Manmatha has surrendered his weapons to the Devi. Subtle meaning is for a Devi upaasakar, Manmatha will not come near! Devi carries in her lower left arm, the sugarcane bow with a string of bees and in her lower right arm the five arrows of five flowers. In her upper right arm the goad and in her upper left arm the PasA, the noose. Shining like coral is the devi’s waist which is slightly bent by the weight of her breasts, resembling the frontal ear lobes of a young elephant. Such a form of Devi is favourite of Lord Shiva who is the Tripura Samhara.

Well, there are some10-year-old children’s faces that look as if they were 60. The drug addicts grow older very fast. One of very few things 50-year-old women may manage to preserve well may be their faces. Alarmel Valli’s and Urmila Sathyanarayanan’s faces look very youthful. These are exceptions. Most 50-year-old womens faces look like men’s. Not just the facial features, but the voice’s timbre can either change a lot or change very little, depending on our feelings, thoughts, actions. “You know why I came to look so ugly and boring?”, asks K.J.Sarasa,”It’s because I have been teaching all those clumsy rich students whom I hate!”

Sringara: grace and beauty

Most of the classical Indian dance performances nowadays take place in the evening, yet few know that 27^th Chapter reads: “In the evening, the items portraying Sringara in the Kaisiki style,  full of vocal and instrumental music, should be performed”. Soft grace and tender beauty are the expressions of Lakshmi. “Everyone’s ordinary feeling, when based on Sringara and when it reveals itself through graceful movements (lalitabhinaya), is called the graceful expression of feeling (hela)”. What is grace? Easier to say what is not: the funeral procession’s dances resemble a heavy metal rock disco, when people move their limbs mechanically, robot-like. Being able to contract only large groups of muscles will not make you a dancer. “Graceful movement of hands, feet, brows, eyes, lips, etc made by women is known as lalita” . Graceful movements are the free movements of the pranas in our body. With age and with a lack of regular practice, there comes a degradation and loss of the nerve cells as the dancers lose control of more and more muscles.

Shri Shri Radha-Krishna who are glorious with the splendor of youth, who are filled with the beauty and handsomeness of youth, who are two monsoon clouds of the nectar of handsomeness and beauty, Shri Shri Radha-Krishna who taste the nectar of joyful pastimes, Shri Shri Radha-Krishna who, gazing at each other's limbs, give a festival of bliss to each other's eyes, . . .

“She had laughed at him and answered that wicked people were always very old and very ugly”. The ugly things are soon forgotten, but Nefertiti’s and all things beautiful stay for long, very long. If this girl can give a soul to those who have lived without one, if she can create the sense of beauty in people whose lives have been sordid and ugly, if she can strip them of their selfishness and lend them tears for sorrows that are not their own, she is worthy of all your adoration..When she acts, you will forget everything. These common rough people, with their coarse faces and brutal gestures, become quite different when she is on the stage..

“Classical Indian dance” is supposedly “classical” because of something in it that has survived millenniums. In dreams, even the 100-year-olds see themselves as… 18-year-olds. After we die, we look as young as 18- in our subtle body.  There are no wrinkles, no bellies, no sinewy hands, no deformed noses and no slouched backs. All that differs is how dark our pranas have become here and there. No need to spend your money on skin fairness creams!  ...the face on the canvas bear the burden of his passions and his sins; that the painted image might be seared with the lines of suffering and thought

There is a man the size of a thumb seated in our heart”, mention the Upanishads. “God created man after His Own image”, says the Bible. If you saw your soul (the one in the heart is called Chaitya Purusha), you probably don’t remember seeing any nails or hair on your arms or any teeth.  That’s the kind of the body a Bharatanatyam dancer with his makeup and his costume are to look like. We try to make people forget our body’s animality and try to imagine what the next human race – after Homo Sapiens – will look like.

Like madhurya (sweetness) in the vocal music arises out of the effortlessness of the singing, so does grace arises if there is a relaxed and joyful state of the limbs. “The change of limbs (angaja) is of 3 kinds, next the natural (sahaja) change of 10 kinds, and involuntary (a-yatnaja) change is of 7 kinds”. Here is what modern Bharatanatyam or Odissi dancers are scared to admit: they cannot move! “The involuntary (natural) graces of women are Beauty (sobha), Charm (kanti), Delicacy (madhurya), Radiance (dipti), Self-Control (dhairya), Courage (pragalbhya) and Dignity (audarya)”. The success of the Indian movies, not the classical Indian dance, is due to the film directors’ success in selecting the actresses that posess the necessary qualities for a particular role. Anita Ratnam writes, “At least with Shobana, one is not confused with her blatant sexuality and commercial eyelash fluttering, hip swaying style. She is over 35, a movie star and only mother roles being offered to her in films”. About Anita herself, The New Indian Express’ article’s title was “MAKING ‘FACES’ AT BHARATANATYAM“, mocking her attempt to present the clumsy American gimmicks as “classical Indian dance”.

Identifying Sringara as “Beauty” has been the latest trend in the dance community, especially in the US, where the physical perfection has become a national religion so much the gyms with cosmetic surgeons replaced churches and priests.“Decoration of limbs on account of good physical form, youth and loveliness being rendered manifest after enjoyment is called Beauty (shobha)”. Shobha is elsewhere translated as Brilliance. Brilliance is literally the irratiation of the prana. A healthy and happy person irradiates joy.

What are the things the adult dancers have lost? “The 10 natural graces (alamkara) of women are: sportive mimicry (lila), amorous gesture (vilasa), dishabile (vicchitti), confusion (vibhrama), hysterical mood (kilakincita), affection (mottayita), pretended anger (kuttimita), affected coldness (bibboka), lolling (lalita) and indifference (vihrita)”. Most of these things are nowhere to be found in the contemporary classical dance performance, especially this particular element: “Dishabille (viccitti) is the great beauty that results from the slightly careless placing of garlands, clothes, ornaments and unguents”. Well, a few schools occasionally allow the dancers to have lovelocks. LOVE-LOCKS?

If you want to see how the modern (western, to be precise) dance is different from true classical dance, look at the range of movements. “Moderation in the movement of limbs in all conditions, especially in Radiance (dipti) and in Lolling (lalita), is called Delicacy (madhurya)”. After the dancers grow beyond their early teens, their performances lose many of the involuntary changes, and all the delicacy, brilliance, charm and grace is gone, often thanks to the gurus’ over-corrections.  Compare this girl and her again 4  years later:

The sahaja kind of changes is often replaced by some artificial (“clean”) robotic moves. “Erotic movements and changes of features which are not deliberate and which grow out of a tender nature, constitute Playfulness (lalita)”.

After 16, such spontaneous and uninhibited movements disappear gradually. “you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away” Even if someone tried to restore these lost capacities, such attemps are as good as trying to attach a prosthesis to a semi-paralized body.

In America,  like many people observe, they normally lose everything not by the age of 16 but much earlier: by the age of… 2.

when my mother last week corrected my abhinaya (expression) in a piece I’m preparing for a November performance, I’ll admit I was somewhat diffident about performing the piece at all. This was because I wondered whether there was even a possibility to capture such an emotion: the shyness exhibited by a young bride when her to-be husband touches her hand for the first time. I made several attempts at this expression as my mother repeatedly told me that my expression was far too bold and needed to look more coy. It made me wonder, however, if girls growing up in America are even capable of expressing the emotion at all.

No, the superficial NRI’s normally can’t: they are devoid of lasya. After getting used to the artificial strawberry flavor, they can’t distinguish it from the REAL strawberry.  After watching too many Hollywood cartoons, they can’t distinguish hava from bhava.  “Bhavas which are full of Sattva appear in the relation to the people of the opposite sex”, explains Bharata Muni in Chapter 24. “And the ordinary expression, hava, should be marked as relating to its various conditions. There emotion (hava) should be known as arising from the mind (citta) and manifesting itself in changes of eye-brows and the Recaka of the neck, indicative of Sringara”. Many Kalakshetra style teachers, such as Urmila Sathyanarayanan, condemn any recakas of the neck as…. “childish”! The reason we like children’s performances more is simple: they move their necks in a far more interesting way than the stiff-necked senior dancers. Children’s faces produce 1000 more expressions too.

Shrungara, bhakti, moral restrictions and religious prejudice

Madhurya-kadambini’s 7th Chapter says, “The devotees relishing different moods are of five types: santa (neutral), dasya (servants), sakhya (friends) vatsalya (parents), and madhurya (amorous lovers). The names of the ratis thus differ in them: santa-bhaktas have santi-rati (neutral mood), dasya-bhaktas have priti-rati (affectionately serving mood), sakhya-bhaktas have sakhya-rati (fraternal love), fathers and mothers have vatsalya-rati (parental love) and preyasi-bhava-bhaktas have priyata-rati (amorous love).”

Priyata-rati (amorous love) may be the highest form of Bhakti, but is also the most difficult to portray in dance, especially if the dancers know only 10% of the Natya Shastra’s arsenal. S Kalidas, former art critic with India Today observed, “When Devadasis were edged out of their traditional arenas by girls from urban middle class families, the art of abhinaya suffered. Middle class mores demanded that exciting sringara be replaced by boring bhakti.” Boring Bhakti??? Even the common uneducated audience of the pit and gallery lost their interest in the play. They got restless, and began to talk loudly and to whistle. The Jew manager, who was standing at the back of the dress-circle, stamped and swore with rage.

Shri Shri Radha-Krishna whose waists are graceful and playfully curved, whose broad hips are decorated with tinkling belts, whose delightful thighs are two graceful boats in an ocean of passionate amorous pastimes, whose lotus feet are decorated with tinkling anklets, the glorious moonlight of whose toenails makes millions of Kamadevas bow their heads in shame . . .

Caitanya-caritamrta mentions that Mahaprabhu came to distribute the four spiritual sentiments of Vraja loka: dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and sringara. How come the dancers forgot Sringara and were content with expressions of piousness and devotion withing the boundaries permitted in the Middle East? The “morals” (Semitic customs) of the Arab and the British replaced the traditional Indian, Vedic values. Despite being prescribed by Agama Shastras as an intrinsic element of the Sodasa Upacharas, Natya was conveniently substituted by rice offerings. The Arabs invader in Egypt even cut off the falluses (that symbolised the creative power) of the statues of various Egyptian gods.

In the good old tradition of Inquisition when all beautiful women in Western Europe were burnt alive for “witchcraft”, the Pope himself stated that the Hindu gods and especially the seductive apsaras, such as Menaka and Urvasi, are highly immoral nymphs and evil spirits. For Chandralekha, Bharatanatyam itself has become a diabolical art! The pious Christians shrug on imagining Brahma chasing his own daughter. Is Kama Sutra still considered by the Christian clergy as the most dangerous work of Devil? How did the Indians abandon their ancient beliefs – and clothes? GenX believes Draupadi is merely an immoral woman who had too many husbands. But drinking imported brandy and dancing salsa in bars is now a high social status symbol.

Varieties of attraction , sex appeal, role of the imagination and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

We have to distinguish between the attraction on the spiritual, intellectual, emotional and pranic levels. Someone with a spiritual inclination may be fascinated by a little flower. An idea may appear captivating to a philosopher. A voice may be entrancing to our aesthetic and vital mind. There is also the attraction that can turn on the animal instincts in a horny creature. Dogs are exited to sniff the fragrance of meat. A male spider is exited to discover a female spider ready to mate. What neither dogs nor spiders understand is how on earth (or rather, in the Middle East) the excessive sexual activity came to be looked down upon as a major sin while gluttony and alcoholism and other vices are still considered as “minor” weaknesses!

Prana, or vital energy, reflects the inherent duality of the manifest existence. Prana circulates very much like electricity: its intensity depends on the difference between the 2 extremes. Therefore the strongest pranic magnetism is between an extremely feminine woman and an extremely masculine man. On a full moon day too.  Besides, you can experience the attraction on all levels only when that person is of your human type or of a higher type (see more detail below).

Perhaps, you would be curious to see Narthaki Nataraj’s comments on this score, wouldn’t you? As well as on the following, “The third gender of people will be hermaphrodites in whose case women’s gait, with the exclusion of their (partial) male character, should be applied”. At Bharata Muni’s times the third gender people did not have any problems identifying themselves as neutral gender. Today, due to the social stigmas imported from the Middle East, they try to identify themselves as either men or women. Narthaki Nataraj, despite being ineligible by Bharata Muni for performing Sringara items, still claims that he/she somehow “does” it. Pure fraud.

The Arab women wear burkas. Why? Many Sheikhs get sexually aroused whenever they see a woman’s hand or feet, and become totally insane whenever they see a beautiful woman’s face or, Allah forbid, her loose hair. At the same time, you may find on a nudist beach in Holland the demonstration that men there don’t at all get sexually aroused with all those naked beautiful women around. We may remember that the Indian women did not cover their breasts before the Arab invaders started to change our customs. Gradually, the customs of the barbaric invaders came to be accepted as “Indian” moral standards. Cricket became India’s national game.The violin became a “traditional Carnatic instrument”. The nude statues of deities started being covered in “proper” garments.

A visit to San Francisco, the world’s capital of the homosexuals, shows that some men or even women get to feel utterly horny at the sight of a piece of underwear or the sight of a pig. Even a car or a motorbike is presented to us as “sexy” in TV commercials. Will some try to rape their innocent vehicles or refrigerators one day?

Contrary to what you may imagine, it is not people that invented homosexuality, even if the western “culture” is now actively propagating it. Deprived of a female company for a long while, a sex-starved male dog will try to rape even male dogs without bothering first to check out their sex. If no other dogs are to be found, this dog will try to rape even an old rag (here is the origin of sexual fetishism), which probably appears to its imagination as a lovely bitch. Imagination is an essential ingredient in masturbation and homosexuality. With a good dose of imagination (or brandy), one can be attracted even to Kalanidhi Narayanan, Prince Charles or a pig.

lovely senior dancer

When some rasikas enjoy the performances of Swapna Sundari, I get an impression they are eagerly masturbating. Not surprisingly, most of them don’t actually watch Swapna’s dancing but close their eyes and imagine some other dancers.

This type of imagination is rooted in idleness, a state unfamiliar to those seeking spiritual enlightment. These are not interested in any entertainment just to kill the time. In Shakespeare‘s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”,  Oberon punishes Titania’s disobedience by asking the mischievous Puck (who did Kama’s role) to apply the magical juice from a flower called “love-in-idleness”. (Note that Kamakshi’s arrows are made of flowers like kamalam, raktakairavam,kahLaram, indIvaram, sahakAram). Titania magically falls in love with an ass-headed crude laborman Nick Bottom the Weaver. The BBC reports’ (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4748292.stm ) headlines are: “A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his “wife”, after he was caught having sex with the animal“.

Sringara: not all cultures and sub-races are created equal

Natya Shastra mentions 3 types of human beings, the noble, the average and the low. From the most subtle and refined to the most gross there may be but 6 steps. In the expression of Hasya rasa, a slight smile (smita), smile (hasita), gentle laughter (vihasita), laughter of ridicule (upahasita), crude laughter (apahasita) and excessive laughter (atihasita). Atihasita happens to be Kali’s attribute because Kali does not care to be attractive, she is the opposite of Lakshmi. Kali sports a garland of sculls. Not many women are like her. Every normal woman (except for those whose soul is a unadulterated vibhuti of Kali!) harbours a hidden desire to be considered as attractive.

Sringara is associated with the blossoming of youth, says Bharata Muni

"Priya had left no stone unturned in her quest to be convincing as a beautiful Amba wronged by Bhishma, who is subsequently reborn as man-woman Shikhandi"

Priya Murle put it this way, “I often have quarrels with people who call me “fat”. I really feel bad about it. At times, I feel that I should do something about it and start working out”. Priya Murle said: “Why go after performances? I broke all the mirrors in my home after people started asking me why Sudharani allowed me a quota to try to pretend that I can still “dance” in her DVDs instead of  Sri Devi”. The secret of remaining young is never to have an emotion that is unbecoming.

Natya Shastra’s 24^th Chapter classifies women of various nature into different categories – and the sexual habits are one of the most important parameters. It  would be a political blunder to publish a classification of the well-known dancers of today according to Bharata Muni’s categories: Devi, Asura, Gandharva, Raksasa, Naga, Bird, Pisaca, Yaksha, Tiger, Human, Monkey, Elephant, Deer, Fish, Camel, Makara, Ass, Pig, Horse, Buffalo, Goat, Dog and Cow. What if Chitra Visweswaran will be classified as…  Yes, we are all different

The classification of human beings is further clarified by the following: “Prajapati manifests as Vishnu Upendra incarnate in the animal or Pashu in whom the four Manus have already manifested themselves, and the first human creature who appears is, in this Kalpa, the Vanara, not the animal Ape, but man with the Ape nature. His satya yuga is the first Paradise, for man begins with the Satya Yuga, begins with a perfected type, not a rudimentary type. The animal forms a perfect type for the human Pashu and then only a Manuputra or Manu, a human, a true mental soul, enters into existence upon earth, with the full blaze of a perfect animal-human mentality in the animal form. These are man’s beginnings. He rises by the descent of ever higher types of Manu from the Bhuvaloka—first he is Pashu then Pishacha, then Pramatha, then Rakshasa, then Asura, then Deva, then Siddha”. It means, genetically we are different. The lower you are on this scale, the greater foodie you are (which affects your waist line!), and the more addicted you can become to drugs.

Mylapore brahmin at the end of kali yuga

Naturally, the more refined human beings will portray any relationship between a Man and God in a very different way from how the Pishacha actors would render it. Moreover, the rendering of a Pashu who has actually had no spiritual experience will be very different from the Asura who may have had some.  “Women of the superior and the middling types should not use any lipstick” may sound like a heresy to the contemporary dancer’s ear – only if the owner of these ears believes herself to be wiser than Bharata Muni.

The abolition of the caste system may be a politically progressive step and it is very fashionably democratic to proclaim all people in Kali Yuga as equally shudras. But I cannot take it seriously even if a well-known modern dance Pashu writers like Sunil Kothari wants us to believe that “There is much scope for inter-changeability of the marga and the desi. This only indicates that in aesthetics we need not consider hierarchy – that one is superior to the other”. Well, in what kind of “aesthetics”? The westernized “modern aesthetics” now puts all art on the level of such “compositions” made out of garbage dump items. The true Indian aesthetics has always been founded on the Hindu spirituality which is by nature very hierarchical. In spirituality, we have to find out where the source of a particular inspiration lies, as there are many hierarchical levels.

O Orkut tá sagaz.

Só tinha que ser kama com -k.

Via e-mail, para mandar sugestões mande um e-mail para sidcley_lyra@msn.com.

Siva Siva MahaPuranam:

Previous : Siva Mahapuranam Vidyeswara Samhitam First Adhyayam.

Next: Siva Mahapuranam Vidyeswara Samhitam 3rd Adhyayam

Siva Mahapuranam Vidyesvara Samhita – 2

Suta answered the query of Saunaka and others.

He explained that the Siva Purana is the gist of the Vedas, redeems one of all Papa (sins) and gives one the Paramartha – ultimate goal, meaning and purpose. (Traditionally Hindus believe that there are 4 goals to our existence, Dharma (Duty, ethics and social order), Artha (Wealth), Kama (What we desire), and Moksha (Liberation). These are called Chaturvidha Phalam or Chaturvarga Phalam. Of these, Moksha is considered the Paramartha).

Siva Puranam eliminates the pollution of Kaliyuga and even sins of the level of BrahmaHatya (killing a brahman.) It ends all the debates about which Tirtha (Sacred water spot), mantra, dana (charity), Siddhanta (principles/treatises/ways of thinking) or which Deva is the best.

Of all the days the 14th (Caturdasi – Choudvi) day of  the lunar month is the best for reciting the Siva Mahapuranam. (Since the Siva Puranam is full of stories of astronomical significance, the darkest nights, in which the stars are the most clearly visible are the best suited. I think the Jagarana (Jagaram), staying awake all night long on Sivaratri is also connected to this point.)

The Siva Mahapuranam was first told by Siva himself. It was later abridged by Vyasa. (Maybe Vyasa could only rescue 7 of the 12 Samhitas that constitute the Siva Puranam). Only Siva himself could completely understand the Kailasa Samhitam. Suta himself said that he could only understand half of it.

Siva took the Sudha (Nectar/Giver of Good/Amruta) that was obtained by churning the Ocean of the Upanishads and gave it to Kumara (his son, Karthikeya), who became immortal.

(There are also the Sanatkumars, sons of Brahma and Ganesa also, who may be called Kumara. Further study will illuminate us. The interesting thing about the above sloka (41), is that, the Bhagavad Gita has been referred to as the milk of the Cow called Upanishads, which the cowherd Sri Krishna, extracted for us. Here too, the Upanishads are compared to the Milky Ocean (Ksheera Sagara)).

The 12 original Samhitas of the Siva Mahapurana are,

1. Vidyeswara or Vidyesa (Vidyesa means Vidya – Isa, the lord of Vidya (knowledge), tt may refer to Brahma) (10,000 verses)
2. Uma (Uma is a name for Parvati Devi, the divine wife of Siva.  Aumam, meaning ‘of Uma’, as the samhita is referred to sounds exactly like Aum (Om).) (Pratyeka Ashta Sahasrakam)
3. Vinayaka (another name for Ganesa, the son of Uma) (10,000 verses)
4. Rudra (a name for Siva and also the name of a Vedic Deva associated with Arudra (Betelguese)) (10,000 verses) (13,000 verses)
5. Matra (of the mother, duration/size/quantity/only/any measure of quantity) (Pratyeka Ashta Sahasrakam)
6. Ekadasa (related to eleventh) (13,000 verses)
7. Kailasa (the abode of Siva, often taken to mean the Mt. Kailasa in the Himalayas ) (6000 verses)
8. Sata-Rudra (100 Rudra) (3,000 verses)
9. Koti-Rudra (100,00,000 Rudra) (9,000 verses)
10. Sahasra-Koti (1000 Koti)
11. Vayaviya (North-West) (Khabdi Satam)
12. Dharma (Ravi-Sahasrakam)

The Siva MahaPuranam referred to here totally had 100,000 verses in 12 Samhitas. Vyasa’s Siva MahaPuranam is the 4th version , having only 7 samhitas and 24000 verses. The earlier 3 were not traceable at the time of Suta’s Recitation of the Siva Mahapuranam to Saunaka. Suta said that the first version, at the beginning of creation, had 100 koti (crore) verses. In the Dvapara Yuga, Dwaipayana (Vyasa) and others reduced the Siva Mahapuranam down to 24000 verses and put it into 18 parts. (18 is a favorite number with Vyasa, – 18 Puranas, 18 Upapuranas etc. 24, is another favorite number. He appears to have favoured multiples of 6. I read somewhere that since the equilateral triangle was the easiest to construct, so 60 degrees was a favorite of ancient times.)

The Seven Samhitas that were kept are,

1. Vidyeswara or Vidyesa
2. Uma
3. Rudra
4. Kailasa
5. Sata-Rudra
6. Koti-Rudra
7. Vayaviya

The Siva Mahapuranam expounds Dharma, Vignyana (Science) and Vedanta (philosophy of the Vedas). It is the best of the Puranas and is a SatPurana (True/Good/Real Purana).

… I feel a little wistful that Veda Vyasa, chose to abridge the Siva Puranam or could only rescue one fourth of it, as I feel about his re-ordering of the Veda Mantras. In his wisdom in preserving the essence of what he recieved, we may have lost some of the historical clues from the order of the Veda Mantras and the edited slokas. However what remains itself may be beyond my little brain, I should be grateful that he saved what was the most important…

With Salutations to the Great Vyasa, Devotee of Siva of indescribable antiquity and greatness, I end my rendering of the second chapter of the Vidyesvara Samhita of the Siva Mahapurana. It has 755 words in it.

Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula

Siva MahaPuranam:

Siva Purana Mahatmya from Skanda Puranam

Siva Mahapuranam Vidyeswara Samhitam First Adhyayam.

Siva Mahapuranam Vidyeswara Samhitam 2nd Adhyayam.

Siva Mahapuranam Vidyeswara Samhitam 3rd Adhyayam: To attain Sivapadam, listen to the Siva Puranam, repeat it, think about it and understand it with devotion.

Siva Puranam, Vidyesvara Samhita – 4th Adhyayam – Sravana, Kirthana, Manana

Siva Puranam, Vidyesvara Samhita – 5th Adhyayam - Siva Linga Archana

Siva Puranam, Vidyesvara Samhita – 6th Adhyayam - Brahma and Vishnu Clash.

Siva Mahapuranam Vidyesvara Samhitam 7th Adhyayam : Siva Intervenes

Siva and Gautama Maharshi

Siva and Daksha

Insanity. A good friend of mine pointed me towards this mix featuring Luciano and Christiano going back to back for 5 hours straight, they go on for about an hour each. Christiano is a resident deejay at ‘Kama, Kama’, recongized for his deep funky house style, meanwhile Luciano does what he does best, and that is to make us dance via his latin-induced beats and addictive basslines. Quality set. If you want to fast forward to Luciano’s part, go to 102 minutes mark. ‘Don’t be alarmed, remain calm – Do not attempt to leave the dance floor – The DJ booth is conducting a troubleshoot test of the entire system. Somehow while the party was in progress, an unidentified frequency has been existing in the system for some time…’.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8SXHB25U

So my roomates and I are getting set up for our Midsummer Nights Dream party on Friday… shit’s going to be wild.  Charger girls, playboy playmates, and run of the mill college slu’s.  Life is beautiful, ain’t it?

Also in the news, I’ve been pulling strings to get this Tantric Foreplay DVD shot for you guys. Here are a few of the products I’m looking at putting together with sexual energy guru Ron Shane.

Energy Arts Sexual Foreplay – How to get her energy on point and prepare her for the ultimate sexual experience.

Heart Connection – Why you need to give her what she really wants (a soul connection) and how to do it.

Anxiety Buster Guided Meditation – Thinking too much? Stuck in your head? Having trouble just chilling and flowing in the moment? Well, all those problems are GUARANTEED to screw up your sex life, not to mention your whole damn life. This meditation will get you back to that nice chill state where your energy, vibe, tone, conversation is all ON POINT.

Better Sex Lifestyle Makeover Program – How to implement a holistic lifestyle change, and start having, among other things, the best sex of your life.

Elite Sexual Mastery – Live demonstration on the actual techniques you NEED to be using, if you’re interested in really being the master lover she YEARNS for.

Sex, Love, and Rock & Roll – How to implement a cocky swagger that will have the hotties’ panties wet after a few seconds of staring at you, by balancing your own sexual

Strengthening Your Etheric Body – The etheric body is a way of describing all the energy that is invisible but real, and flows through your body. Build it and she will cum. Explains secret martial arts practices to give you that “rockstar edge” that the hottest girls are magnetically drawn to. Live demonstrations by Dr. Ron Shane, 6th degree Tae Kwon Do blackbelt.

I know you probably know this by now, but I have to repeat that Ron’s comprehension of this stuff is absolutely amazing. The guy’s a f***ing genius…do yourself a favor and read his ebooks here. They won’t be up for free much longer.

And here’s a list of the top ten things you the normal dude needs to know about Tantra, to get on your way to Elite Sexual Mastery.

1.IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO EJACULATE TO COMPLETE A SEXUAL EXPERIENCE.

Men, if you would like to increase your sexual pleasure, consider the possibility that withholding ejaculation heightens and amplifies pleasure beyond anything that the chronically ejaculating male gets to experience in sex.

2. MALE EJACULATION IS NOT THE MOST ECSTATIC MOMENT.

For a man to reach ecstatic states in sex requires that he spend lengthy periods of sexual activity in high states of arousal without a genital discharge. Calling ejaculation “the climax of pleasure” is really just a bad habit left over from early programming.

3. EJACULATION AND ORGASM NEED NOT BE ONE AND THE SAME.

In truth, they are two distinct physical processes and it is very useful for men to learn how to separate them out from each other. Orgasm is a full-body, peak, physical, emotional, and energetic experience that may even have mystical overtones. By contrast, male ejaculation is trivial —- little more than a localized genital experience.

4. WOMEN ARE SEXUALLY STRONGER THAN MEN.

Tantric sexual techniques were designed primarily for men in an attempt to attain sexual equality with women. In the sexual arena, women have two clear biological advantages over men. First, they don’t have to attain and maintain an erection to have sex. Second, and more to the point, unlike men, women generally do not lose energy through sex.

5.THE FREQUENCY OF MALE EJACULATION SHOULD BE REGULATED.

In order to prevent chronic energy loss, the single most important thing a man can do to reclaim his health and sexual vitality is to master the art of seminal retention. He must learn to come away from a sexual exchange feeling energetically engorged rather than sexually depleted.

6.FEMALE SEXUAL SATISFACTION IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE TO BOTH MEN AND WOMEN.

Real sexual satisfaction can exist only if it is mutual. A man’s greatest motivating force is his desire to please his woman. To create consistent and harmonious relationships, men must learn to make love with the attitude that serving their woman is their first and foremost goal.

7.DYNAMIC LOVEMAKING INVOLVES BOTH THE HEART AND THE GENITALS.

Women generally share tantra’s viewpoint that sex and love are synonymous. Women seek a soulful experience in sex that relates to the heart as well as the genitals. Their craving for it is so deep that its absence insures her dissatisfaction at a primal level. Generally, men require more training in the sexual arts in order to unify their hearts and genitals so that something truly memorable can take place.

8. RECYCLED SEMEN IS A RENEWABLE SOURCE OF ENERGY.

We all know that semen with its sperm power, when combined with a female’s fertile egg, has the power to create new life. Less well known is that when semen, and the energy field that emanates from it, is internally recycled, it can regenerate a man’s life by nourishing his organs, glands, and nerves with copious amounts of life force energy.

9. THE CONDITION OF THE PLEASURE MUSCLES DETERMINES THE DEGREE OF GENITAL HEALTH AND SEXUAL PLEASURE.

Weak pleasure muscles reduce the capacity for sexual pleasure and genital health for both men and women. Well-toned and healthy pleasure muscles prevent the leakage of vital energy and expand our orgasmic capacity. Strong pleasure muscles allow the male ejaculation process to become a conscious choice rather than an involuntary reflex.

10. THE WAY WE BREATHE DETERMINES THE DURATION AND QUALITY OF OUR LOVEMAKING.

The purpose of breathing is not primarily the movement of air, but the movement of energy. The rate of breath controls the degree of sexual arousal. The breath cycle when mastered can be used to stimulate us or calm us down. It can increase our sexual charge or tone down our sexual excitement.

Thanks to my buddy Victor Gold over at Sexual Healing Now for the information. Now get over to brucebrykowski.com and get in on the hottest, rawest, most useful sex newsletter available anywhere for any price.  And of course its totally 100% FREE.

Thanks for reading, catch you on the flip side.

~Bruce

So what exactly is the Kama Sutra and how does it relate to Tantra?

The term “Kama Sutra” (or its misspelling, “Karma Sutra”) gets thrown around as a term for some ancient list of sex positions. That’s not exactly the case.

The Kama Sutra is actually the earliest surviving example of a written Hindu love manual. Complied by the wise man Vatsyayana about 300 years before the birth of Christ, it’s actually a compilation of customs and norms from the Indian culture around that time.

This all-inclusive guide to the rules of love was written for the wealthy male city dweller. It’s timeless value lies in the author’s psychological insights into the interactions of lovemaking.

The Kama Sutra sex positions are great though.

Check out the full text here:

The full Kama Sutra

And do me a favor and let me know what topics you’re interested in. Anything related to sex, higher consciousness, whatever.

Brucebrykowski@gmail.com

~Bruce