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The grace of swamiji through Geetha akka

Hi ,
so continuing form where i left off,, there were all these questions and confusions and mind blocks and slowly one by one, they were all answered. One day during one of the practices...i could not get one step and Geetha akka kept telling me 'stop using ur mind...don't think too much...'and she told me a lot more things about one of her students being blind and learning oddissi and how she would feel Geetha akka and learn ,not see with the eyes which is simply one of our senses. After that practice, i suddenly realised how much I was being controlled by my mind... for me, it may sound weird to say this but one of the goals i have set for myself in life is to become master of the mind; and suddenly I realised how much i was being controlled by it in seemimgly positive or negative ways. Throughout this year i have been monitoring my mind and I realised finally that the mind is all just full of complexes,going on creating more and more maybe positive maybe negative complexes..and these act as a resistance from allowing the divine grace to flow through us which is what we ought to do in dance. How does Geetha akka just come up with beautiful movements..simply out of nowhere ?.... without any resistance ? I guess people like that just let go and allow the divine energy to flow through. There is no ego..no mind.. the mimd has merged with the soul and the body through years of practice has been traind and is the slave of the mind. The body, mind and soul have all become one...that is Yoga..that is union with GOD..and that is why dance is a prayer.

So now..if we dance as a form of prayer.. what does it matter what it looks like ? if i pray with the correct bhavana...won't GOD accept my prayer ? If dance is going to be such a complicated thing..so many technics and styles and footwork and remembring the lighting cues and formations...why should I waste my time ? Isn't it simpler to just go and do annalakshmi duty and pray to GOD ? Well, one day as i was doing annalaksmi duty...i realised i was wrong.Geetha Akka always kept telling me strength is grace...so i thought okay strength is grace and grace is beauty and love and so on and so forth... now this lead me to understand my purpose for dancing.
From what i have learned in baratha natyam theory, dance was not just and art but, to put it in broad terms.. a medium of propagating religion, bakthi, and love which is GOD. Dance is the practice of religion...religion in action... dancers and all other artists have to take the pains and effort(practice..to perfect the technique..to get stamina..to get that perfect movement that perfect breathing...the style and the list goes on..and all this requires lots of discipline.) to present the artform beautifully to tell the audience that God is not just some big man up there who is going to throw us in hell if we don't pray to him....to tell the audience that God is love..and beauty and GRACE and therefore we have to dance with GRACE and to do that we require God's GRACE. An artist is just like a sannyasi....who has to go through so much discipline and japa and rules like brahmacharya so many complex matters and some infinite hours of meditation..why? so that he/she is pure and sanctified..without any blemish at least 99% perfect so that they can spread the light and love of GOD just like any beautiful dancer..you can't go there and bore all your listeners right ?.. you can't bore the audience....and so i found that the same felling i get when i listen to swamiji's talks(it's so full of fun..and jokes and sweetenes of his voice...) and when i see someone like Geetha akka dancing; and the same concept applies when we do annalakshmi duty..serve with love..swamiji says 'athithi devo bhava'... Leesa mohanty says'rasika devo bhava' it's all one and the same. It is GRACE. So, whether we love the art form or nor, it is a means of connecting with God and to do it with beauty and grace is the sadhana.
I gtg now..all this is what i have learnt by the grace of swamiji through Getha akka... I'll write about Ardhanarishwara next.

Adios..madman.

Labels: report/experiences

posted by madan @ 6:54 PM