tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1777434833293748582023-11-15T22:43:44.054-08:00Of tellers and talesThe Kathalaya Story Research Center blogKathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-67802254307690645082014-10-14T07:49:00.001-07:002014-10-14T07:49:46.526-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-47943246805473037172014-09-30T05:55:00.003-07:002014-10-01T05:59:44.566-07:00Even a storyteller needs to listen .....to her own heartbeat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I had learnt a beautiful song in Scotland from an Italian storyteller which went<br />
<i>Rest for a while now, the night is young , Time is short and the road is long.....</i>..]<br />
I experienced this bliss and the feel of the air as I traveled through Tripura and Agartala.....<br />
Tripura is a magical land not because it has the blue waters and castles but because the people are<br />
amazing. There is a sense of calmness and beauty in the way they are. They just seem to be accepting of things that come their way. I wondered why I felt so relaxed despite traveling over 100 kms each<br />
day and also training at the National School of Drama. Went to a beautiful place up the mountains<br />
towards the old capital of Tripura and stopped by the way side deep inside the mountains .Why? I saw a woman weaving and watched her face as she did so. The little children were watching from the windows and she kept weaving a bright orange and red wrap around. I bringing in my urban air asked if I could buy one of them and she answered my colleague Surajid in the Kokporak language one of the main languages here besides Bangla that nothing was for sale. She was weaving it for herself.<br />
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Amongst the beautiful sights and sounds that I observed I came across a lane called LOVE STORY<br />
BAZAAR LANE. All the competition, jealousies aggressiveness and envy that the urban environment was trying to create within me seemed to completely mellow down.<br />
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The 18 students at the NSD centre were amongst the best I had ever trained so far. Their body language, expressions and innovative thoughts of creating stories was unimaginably wonderful. While all of them included songs music and folklore in their presentations many of them used just the local materials around to tell their tales. There were stories of Why we wear shoes and How the knife became the onion’s mentor when the onion asked why people cried while peeling it?<br />
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There were stories of the Red Panda and the Grimms besides the Arabian tales that added to the<br />
repertoire of the story collection.<br />
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When I met an Ayurvedic doctor to discuss a little problem we ended up chatting for an hour and half and he narrating tales of people who settled in spaces like Mother Teresa or foreigners in Benaras who just went by their heart and not the head. I came back healed refreshed and alive. Even a storyteller needs stories.<br />
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Geeta Ramanujam, September 29,2014<br />
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Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-80139266222312908762014-09-29T06:27:00.001-07:002014-09-29T06:27:00.528-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-25033203917252907892014-09-27T00:17:00.003-07:002014-09-27T00:17:20.006-07:00Aspects of storytelling in India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">In
India speech and everything it conveyed was considered to be highly sacred, a
goddess indeed.</span><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">So naturally India has a
long history of storytelling. The oral tradition in India was and is a
powerful, creative force that expresses the mysteries and miracles of
existence, the assorted peculiarities of what it means to be alive. Stories
help communities grasp and express in words the true nature of being.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Every
generation in India for the past 4000 years has been adding to the country’s
retentive folk memory. Storytelling has helped preserve ancient aesthetic and
cultural artefacts which are intangible in nature. All over India, varied
storytelling traditions and styles existed in different languages. Indian
storytelling traditions have a symbiotic relationship with the philosophical,
sculptural, music, dance and literature traditions of the regions they
originate from. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Randy Kloetzli and Alf Hiltebeitel say,
'For a combination of antiquity, volume, and ingenuity, there is nothing like
it - so much so that folklorist Theodor Benfry could imagine India as the 'home
of storytelling and of tale-types''. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Much that is formative in these oceanic
storytelling traditions is anchored in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the
two Sanskrit epics.' <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The form and content of most Indian
performing art traditions reflect the beliefs and philosophical and spiritual
beliefs of their performers. Stories told by tellers in India are often
extracted from mythologies, folktales, vedic legends and puranic legends, as
well as from the two epics or Itihasas – the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Storytelling
performances were and are still held in temples, weddings and in social
gatherings. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 69.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Traditionally
storytelling has played an important role in education and it was used both to
explain abstract philosophical concepts as well as very practical statecraft,
administrative and political science or Raja Niti. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 69.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Again,
ethics play an important role in storytelling traditions. The purpose of
storytelling is often to expound on morality or dharma, to help audiences
distinguish between righteous and unrighteous action. Storytelling has served a
social purpose, acting as a medium wherein various difficult social issues such
AIDS, dowry etc are presented; hence storytelling almost always reflects social
reality and often seeks to improve it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 2.4pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .2gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .2gd; padding: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The bhakti or devotional movement
helped spread regional variants of puranic legends among the vernacular languages
and to communities who did not have access to such stories. 1850-1950 was the
golden age of storytelling India wherein storytelling developed in vernacular
languages in the various regions all over the country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-8354197984501839692014-09-27T00:15:00.001-07:002014-09-27T00:15:13.898-07:00On storytelling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Storytelling is an integral part of
daily life. It happens everywhere – where a group a people come together, to do
something, to share something, to just be together. All families are of
stories, and it is a fact universally acknowledged that all grandmothers are
natural storytellers. Teacher too tell stories to pre-schools and every
corporate is full of its own special stories. Newspapers are full of stories –
extraordinary and sometimes horrific. Human beings are natural storytellers. It
is a natural urge, like breathing perhaps. When people share stories, they make
sense of their experiences while rediscovering their identity through the
narratives they tell and hear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As Walter Benjamin says, 'The
storyteller takes what he tells from experience - his own or that reported by
others. And he in turn makes it the experience of those who are listening to
his tale.<i>'</i><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We listen to stories to experience that
special ‘moment of becoming’ when we can learn something about ourselves and
the world around us. </span><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Storytelling
more than any other cultural act produces and transforms our ideas of identity
and belonging. </span></div>
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Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-82008506586051178552013-01-31T06:38:00.001-08:002013-01-31T06:38:41.039-08:00New Year Thoughts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRG7XFZEOJP5ETC4Aw0HFlWnaOW8lHoo0BNrMmlqR4-n3rpOGeJXjQhYcOmjFserU40Co6opkgtVcevEL9re7THaA9Ur6t-sftCn8YbDCMsNWvTGucZkboqiUTSjHf0VDBxUQQaGqrojE/s1600/IMG_3874.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRG7XFZEOJP5ETC4Aw0HFlWnaOW8lHoo0BNrMmlqR4-n3rpOGeJXjQhYcOmjFserU40Co6opkgtVcevEL9re7THaA9Ur6t-sftCn8YbDCMsNWvTGucZkboqiUTSjHf0VDBxUQQaGqrojE/s320/IMG_3874.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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There was a big bang ! and that's how I would start my story. The story of a relationship between a Huge Mountain and a tiny bird. Our new year has begun with a big bang. News of women rape and violence. They have always existed but it is good that it came to light after all these years!. How many women suffer in so many ways - verbal abuses, disrespect, arrogance of gender superiority, class caste rules, religious rituals and many more which the Mother earth bears and we bear as women in innumerable silent ways. Again the biggest promoter of all which makes everything seem OK -films and TV serials playing a huge and massive role in reinforcing them. Slapping beating and raping on screen showed again and again in different languages and styles through songs, item nos. et al. So, where does one begin to address these issues. At the root shoot, bark, flower or fruit levels? </div>
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Perhaps if we remember the story of Athena we would remember that when Poseidon got the war horse as a gift for building the first city in the world it was Athena who touched the earth or the chasm from where the horse came up and from there grew the tree Olive tree bearing the fruits of peace. She was then allowed by Zeus to build the first city on Earth based on Peace called Athens. Perhaps that is what we need today. To bridge all the chasms and to begin the Peace crusade which means a lot touching things in silence and yet being able to build cities and bridges. Storytelling could be a bridge. </div>
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If we can touch talk and feel the emotions and feelings of one person we have made a great difference. Its so wonderful listening, telling and sharing stories. A great healer indeed and a great need. </div>
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Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-57084054469639554842013-01-30T06:28:00.000-08:002013-01-30T06:28:42.924-08:00Workshop at IIM Bangalore<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="line-height: 12.9pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9pt;">If seeing is believing, then reading is perhaps accepting!!
While I have seen people from all walks of life get trained as storytellers in
the past 15 years, it was wonderful to read the first story written by an MBA
student after I conducted a brief workshop on storytelling at IIM,
Bangalore. Nothing can be more gratifying for a teacher than watching her
students come out with flying colours. Maybe the lush greenery and the peaceful
environment too play a role in learning, but nonetheless, the result is there
for everyone to see.The story has all the ingredients to make communication
a success : twists and turns in the plot, high drama, smooth flow of
ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="line-height: 12.9pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9pt;">The culmination of this workshop is the story given below which
is not only very interesting, but also reflects the importance of communication
with a little twist and turn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-9683519442810675762012-12-17T06:55:00.000-08:002013-01-29T06:56:26.703-08:00Delhi incident<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="line-height: 14.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The whole nation is shamed and angry. The gang rape and
subsequent death of a 23 year old paramedic student in a chartered bus in Delhi
has once again brought out the activists and the common man onto the streets in
protest. While a few politicians have tried to defend the state of affairs by
blaming it on the women themselves, is it right on the part of any human being
to bully another in such a derogatory manner?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: 14.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">What could have been going on in the minds of the five men and a
minor who attacked the woman and her friend in such a brutal manner when they
were so helpless? Was it just for fun; momentary pleasure, without a thought
for the consequences? Was it done just to establish their control over a
physically weaker species? Whatever the reasons for the crime, the culprits
need to be brought to book quickly, so that there is fear of the law, there is
a reason to think twice before another set of goons attack another sister,
daughter, mother or friend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-70162731493820750532012-08-19T19:23:00.001-07:002012-08-19T19:23:43.694-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Myth transplantation need not be performed by masterminding mass conversions from our culture to another, or by accepting all living alien traditions uncritically. All traditions are not equally worthy of revival; the Aztec tradition and its hunger for human sacrifice, for example, is one heritage which should most likely remain dead and buried. Let us instead open ourselves to healthy, life enhancing traditions, activities which may help us revive ourselves. - Dr Robert E. Svaboda <br />
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Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-30798422321974217242012-07-14T03:01:00.002-07:002012-07-14T03:01:52.806-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrwI4Yyk-SfDig8EzPYMLRPb2JLPADxF-DEYRxLWgVsnTfIc3MiqiQsOtluhoY0KvTo7f5jFg6NJIKGEv1t1u1rJusEgvJMQE1hjPaoADqmUtkkYTELWyBq1NKv4A7Qta31U3MJmya_Wd/s1600/P1080394.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $ca="true" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrwI4Yyk-SfDig8EzPYMLRPb2JLPADxF-DEYRxLWgVsnTfIc3MiqiQsOtluhoY0KvTo7f5jFg6NJIKGEv1t1u1rJusEgvJMQE1hjPaoADqmUtkkYTELWyBq1NKv4A7Qta31U3MJmya_Wd/s320/P1080394.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-61774422258375420172012-07-14T02:51:00.001-07:002012-07-14T02:52:51.389-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In a strange tale that is unique to the Oriya Mahabharata, Krishna decides to play a trick on Arjuna while he is in the forest. He approaches him in the form of a monster, the Nabagunjara, a creature that is a composite of nine animals - serpent, horse, bull, tiger, elephant, horse, peacock, rooster and man. Instead of getting frightened, Arjuna sees the lotus flower in the human <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hand of the creature and recognises Krishna. - Dr Devdutt Pattanaik in Jaya, An illustrated retelling of the Mahabharata.</span></div>
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</div>Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-69588750308577889832012-04-11T09:41:00.003-07:002012-04-11T09:41:48.842-07:00While tracing the contours of the philosophical ideas of a Vedic seer, it is to be borne in mind that these ideas are the products not so much of reasoning as of seeing. Reasoning here only follows seeing. This is the common feature of almost all the ideas put forth by the Vedic seers who are seers, rsis first and thinkers only next. It is little truer of Dirghatamas whose life history hinges on the problem of how he happened to see. – The philosophy of Dirghatamas by Satya Prakash SinghKathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-68334229759504352492012-04-03T10:50:00.000-07:002012-04-03T10:50:51.308-07:00Myths are things which never happened but always are. - Sallust<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNF8VSwZroAugG1LmxZ5KQjJnqt48-d9OBt397l-jmEVVjdKBsh93TQJ-zikOMB9Ixz8XsYv222Q1EOQfztcPyxvEqkkB8BT2g3mOZ373H9DY18axjbC4kc9tHBZKN2gZi_hQwHC48BNKq/s1600/Buddha_and_the_squirrrel%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="283" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNF8VSwZroAugG1LmxZ5KQjJnqt48-d9OBt397l-jmEVVjdKBsh93TQJ-zikOMB9Ixz8XsYv222Q1EOQfztcPyxvEqkkB8BT2g3mOZ373H9DY18axjbC4kc9tHBZKN2gZi_hQwHC48BNKq/s400/Buddha_and_the_squirrrel%255B1%255D.jpg" /></a></div>Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-70487315193075036322012-04-01T23:37:00.002-07:002012-04-01T23:37:37.396-07:00“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” - <br />
Italo CalvinoKathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-81496433084609033772012-03-19T07:46:00.002-07:002012-03-19T07:46:31.892-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzV6Rl76L2AcKG6ecjjzq10vAAKtjGbaFU1Wq7HBMRF5mevLDgKNYqcNvw8tYfOdSUT084ZXQg_iMWayD1KX2EHswiNMSHiHyPIkh5iAqDH4RUnHExKUIV0MtdMveBa5BDitqixPRfBrtM/s1600/Staw+Hats+for+Jizo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="283" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzV6Rl76L2AcKG6ecjjzq10vAAKtjGbaFU1Wq7HBMRF5mevLDgKNYqcNvw8tYfOdSUT084ZXQg_iMWayD1KX2EHswiNMSHiHyPIkh5iAqDH4RUnHExKUIV0MtdMveBa5BDitqixPRfBrtM/s400/Staw+Hats+for+Jizo.jpg" /></a></div>Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-76756269843936260642012-03-17T00:08:00.002-07:002012-03-17T00:14:54.998-07:00Hanuman - An IntroductionIn a caste-ridden society like India, the affection of the high born prince Rama for a lowly but devoted monkey fired the imagination of people...<br />
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Hanuman's 'monkeyness' ensures that his awesome power does not intimidate. He is earthy and tangible not ethereal or transcendent. Through him, the divine comes within reach. Hence, the popular North Indian saying: first Hanuman, then God, <i>pahle Hanuman, phir Bhagvan.</i> <br />
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- From <i>Hanuman - An Introduction</i> by Dr Devdutt Pattanaik.Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-81793531959900095242012-01-29T06:03:00.001-08:002012-01-29T06:03:17.571-08:00It would be difficult to overstate the significance of performance in Bharat, that ancient civilization now known as India. Performance infuses the culture still, as is apparent from from its innumerable forms of music and dance, its active celebration of festivals, and its engagement with images and icons, both on the altars and in the streets. All forms of performance are not created equal in this or any culture,but its centrality in Indian life cannot be challenged. - Susan L Schwartz in Rasa - Performing the divine in India.Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-37908474837928417992011-12-22T00:10:00.000-08:002011-12-22T01:01:13.199-08:00Esoteric symbolism of Aditya HridayamThe Aditya Hridayam of the Ramayana could be a reference to the heart lotus that Ramana Maharishi refers to as the seat of the soul. The heart lotus is on the right side of the body (and corresponding to the left brain) which is the solar side in yoga physiology, thus it is aditya in nature. Hridayam is of course the heart. So the lotus heart Ramana Maharishi that laid so much emphasis on in his teachings could well be understood as the aditya hridayam. <br />
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This heart lotus according to Ramana Maharishi is the supreme seat of the self, the consciousness from which everything else emerges. Once this is realised the ego is eliminated. If the Ramayana be read as a an allegorical tale of the supreme awakening of the infinite I consciousness (Ram) eliminating the limited, contracted egotistic existence (Ravan), then the Aditya Hridayam which the sage Agastya teaches Ram in the Yudha Kandha of the Ramayana can be read as a symbol for the awakening of the lotus heart and the supreme I consciousness after which the yogi remains immersed in the infinite consciousness-energy field and ceases to identify with the conditioned egoistic existence. Ram is the knowledge of the cosmic self that removes Ravan, ignorance born out of egotism. <br />
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There are also references to this in the Bhagvad Geeta, ‘Cutting this doubt in the heart, born out of ignorance by the sword of knowledge of the Self, arise, O Arjuna, and engage in Yoga, ‘ and again, ‘Spilt is the knot of the heart; the doubts are removed.’ <br />
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The Sri Ramana Gita published by the Ramana Ashram explains the significance of the heart lotus, ‘The body is the embodiment of ignorance, conditioned by time and space and characterised by inertness. It is suffused with the light of the notion of ‘I’. Its dealings of knowledge and action, like I know, I do etc. result only from the origination of the I activity. Therefore it is proper to infer that the place of the I-activity, the root of all activities of knowledge and action, pertaining to the body should also be somewhere, pertaining to the body....<br />
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Although egoism is surpassed by the I-activity, and all activities having their root in egoism resulting in the culmination in the I-activity, there is nothing wrong in indicating a location as the practice of tracking down to the root of the I-activity culminates in the accomplishment of the Brahmanic state in the form of the throbbing I. As regards the I activity, the bodily site conditioned by time and space, called heart is pointed out. As the true form not being conditioned by time and space etc., being the supporting base of the origin of the I activity is self accomplished there itself, in the groundless, in the unsupported, it becomes established that the same is also the location of knowledge, in the form of the I-throbbing. Thus become appropriate the authoritative statements that proclaim that the knowledge located in the heart itself destroys the ignorance located in the heart....<br />
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The place is on the right portion of the chest; not the left side. From here effulgence flows through Sushumna to the Sahasrara.’ <br />
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One can see that this is a reference to the realization of the atman removing all limited thought constructs which obstruct the same.<br />
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- Swetha PrakashKathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-69405914407635101422011-12-21T06:10:00.001-08:002011-12-21T06:10:31.557-08:00Storytelling as a ritualWhat is a ritual? It is established or prescribed procedure for religious, magical or other rites, a system or collection of religious or other rites, and observance of set forms in public worship. Basically ritual means certain action or set of actions which gives certain results. Man believed that if certain action or series of actions are performed in a correct sequence certain results follow. A ritual is explained by myth. Myth is incorporated in a ritual and gradually the myth-ritual unit grows and evolves further together. - M.L. Varadpande in a History of Indian Theatre.Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-63415434498227380122011-12-10T22:08:00.000-08:002011-12-10T22:08:30.827-08:00'This search led to the mystery of a ubiquitous power that worked like a supreme faculty of self-transmutation. It was called maya. It was then understood as a supernatural force, magical force with the power to change form and appear under innumerable deceiving masks producing illusionary effects. <br />
During the period of Brahmanas, the task of fathoming this mysterious maya was approached through pictographic reasoning of mythology and theology. Superhuman gods and demons were believed to be wielding this magical power and directing the world. Soon, the whole series of masks that could possibly be assumed by this magical power was identified and comprehended and a vast pantheon of gods emerged.' - Rajarshi Muni in Yoga - A synthesis of Psychology and Metaphysics.Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-34397383528685556902011-10-31T21:15:00.000-07:002011-10-31T21:16:12.308-07:00This atman, which is eternal and indestructible, is present everywhere and in everyone; hence, give up all grief O Bharata.<br />
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- Sri Krishna in Bhagvad GeetaKathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-27815905850609724772011-10-18T22:46:00.000-07:002011-10-19T02:25:13.730-07:00Nachiketus! The fulfilment of all desire, the conquest of the world, freedom from fear, unlimited pleasure.. all were yours, but you renounced them all.. - From Katha Upanishad in The Ten Principal Upanishads translated by Shree Purohit Swami and WB Yeats.Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-27031356619731376092011-10-17T00:34:00.000-07:002011-10-17T00:34:16.503-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Bhuvaneshvari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="228" width="140" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Bhuvaneshvari.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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What thoughtful person would ever tire of drinking the nectarine tales of Sakti?<br />
Death comes even to those who drink divine ambrosia, but not to one who hears this act of hers. <br />
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- From Chapter 1 (The appearance of the Great Goddess before the Mountain King Himalaya and the Gods) of the Devi Gita - The Song of the Goddess translated by C Mackenzie Brown.Kathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-35684412981849166472011-09-28T23:43:00.000-07:002011-09-28T23:43:41.054-07:00When thus the non-existence of the mind is realised, it is seen that the ego-sense, etc. do not exist. One alone exists - the infinite consciousness. All notions cease. The falsity which arose as the mind ceases when the notions cease. I am not nor is there another, nor do you nor do these exist; there is neither mind nor senses. One alone is - pure consciousness. <br />
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- The Supreme Yoga - Yoga Vasistha by Swami VenkatesanandaKathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177743483329374858.post-2562067622076727762011-09-27T21:12:00.000-07:002011-09-27T21:12:55.369-07:00Me or my army?Krishna, however, has long been a presence more mysterious and powerful than any role he has assumed. His decision to accept a subordinate place for the battle, as Arjuna's suta is the result of wager in which Yudhishthira the Pandava and Duryodhana the Kaurava were offered either Krishna as non-combatant or the force of all of his armies. When Yudhishthira chooses Krishna for his counsel, friendship, and companionship over the mighty armies he might have chosen in alliance, Duryodhana believes he has received yet another boon from the choice of a foolish idealist who places false hope before realpolitik. But there is never anything false about hope and with Krishna, who then chooses to be Arjuna's charioteer, the Pandavas know they cannot lose: by having chosen from the heart than from the mere exigency of practical reality, they have chosen the divine. – <br />
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Douglas Renfrew Brooks in Poised for grace: annotations on the Bhagavad Gita from a Tantric viewKathalaya Story Research Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09021524286834874084noreply@blogger.com0