Tuesday 16 February 2010

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Gurus to Consider

Mayapur, West Bengal

We can take lessons from anyone.

For the last few days I have been conducting drama practices in the Samadhi Auditorium of the Mayapur Complex. After handing over scripts to those doing voices for the miming actors, I get approached by some of them, “Maharaja, could I use ‘such and such’ a word instead of what’s in the script?” Momentarily I may experience a mental halt. The mind may say, “How dare you challenge my chosen words.” As author of the script I could feel slighted by such a question.

How I resolve this momentary objection is to eat some humble pie and to accept that it is all a work in progress. My business is to serve and if I ask someone to become a character and they do their job of immersing themselves, they must be gaining some realizations from the part they are speaking for. Perhaps I’m too subjective and may not always see things from the objective standpoint.

When those suggestions of minor change come I am usually pushed to the truth and that’s what you want to extract from the story. I may be the director of the play but behind our direction are many gurus. Mind you, anyone who does approach me for a request of change does so in a most genuine respectful way. So the pride is swallowed with some ease.

The heat is beginning to escalate in Mayapur. More fans are put to use and less blankets are used at night. Mosquitoes although not as bad as they could be, are enjoying all the extra pilgrims here including the 800 that just arrived from Russia. Regardless of the condition, the post-morning sadhana at 5:30 am is an ideal time to make that early trek by the fields and forests where jackals howl the whole night long.

6 KM

No comments: