Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Yadu's Message

Gopinagar, West Bengal

I sat with Yadubhar on a shuttle bus to the village mentioned above for mere two hour drive to somewhere between Mayapura and Kolkata. The engagement was a 24 hour kirtan in the native village of Ajamil, a long time friend and veteran of kirtan.

Yadubhar, himself a seasoned devotee of bhakti for 40 years talked about the process of photo-assignments and film assignments (his field of expertise) and of journal writing and of "murdering the darlings." What he was referring to was that part of the process in presenting an assignment before it goes public, you get your work assessed. At that time you have an objective audience, maybe a group of critical well-wishers to view the material. "It's what the experts do. Even great directors of film are constantly trying to find what the audience will find pleasing."

In anything we do it is not a bad idea to get a kind of clearance, a kind of okay or approval as we all should hope to approach excellence. We may "think" we have done well because we are attached to our results or "our darlings".

After arriving at Gopinagar, settling down and eating great Bengali subjee (vegetable dishes) our turn for kirtan began. Local villagers came to chant under a pandal (tent). Men tended to stand at the periphery for hours while women sat closer to the kirtan group in a lotus posture. I prided myself in doing the lotus position for 5 straight hours while leading or supporting the kirtain sessions.

These legs which like to walk don't necessarily care for a long lotus stretch. Let's say some empowerment came my way. We can't do anything on our own strength. We can only take credit for making the right choice.

6 KM