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A Bollywood movie will aim to recreate the magic of a 1980s blockbuster Indian television serial based on an ancient epic Hindu text that portrays a clash of dynasties and the victory of good over evil.
Ravi Chopra, the director of the legendary series, Mahabharat, which ran for 94 episodes between 1988 and 1990, is getting behind the camera again to make two, three-hour films with special effects he says will rival those produced in the West.
“This is something which I always wanted to do because it’s a great epic and was made into a hit serial which international audiences should get to see on the silver screen,” Chopra said. “The film will be made with great special effects like people saw in the film, The Lord of the Rings.”
The Mahabharat television series was inspired by the epic, Mahabharat, one of two Sanskrit epics of ancient India, and was one the biggest television hits in Indian broadcasting history. The most sacred Hindu text – the Bhagavad Gita – forms a part of the Mahabharat, a tale of how two branches of a royal family fight over their kingdom.
In India, people were glued to their television sets and streets emptied of people as its one-hour-long episodes were aired. Trains were delayed at stations as passengers refused to board during broadcasts, while television sets were installed at weddings to ensure guests turned up.
The tale, one of the world’s longest written epics, has been translated into different Indian languages. Its commentary on goodness, charity and prudence is read out to many Indian children by their parents.
“The people loved the television serial and now they should also taste the same at the cinema. I will make it a world-class movie but will not digress from the Indian spirit which the Mahabharat has,” Chopra, son of the legendary Bollywood filmmaker BR Chopra, said. “I will start shooting the film in 2008. I am still finalising the script and then I’ll select the cast.”
Prithwish Ganguly, Reuters
This is a summary of a speech by Mr Claes Nobel, Chairman of United Earth and the grandnephew of Alfred Nobel (creator of the Nobel Foundation). The speech was given before Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi’s program on Self Realisation and Sahaja Yoga at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Thursday 3 July 1997.
Mr Claes Nobel spoke of his vision of a world in which human beings would live in harmony and peace, both with themselves and with Nature. However, in order to know how to act rightly to achieve this end, we need a reference point. It is Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi who enables us to distinguish what is right by granting spontaneous Self Realisation, through which we can know absolute truth and absolute peace.
He stressed the importance of the inspiring insights of women, such as those of Shri Mataji, particularly in relation to achieving peace. Mr. Nobel distinguished four aspects of peace in his notion of “Earth Ethics”: first, inner peace within the individual; second, the peace among men and nations, religions and races; third, the peaceful relation with Nature and the Earth in which we listen and respect; and fourth, the peace between man and God, which precludes all violence and war. Shri Mataji enables us to perceive the underlying and eternal spiritual laws which govern the cosmos and life on Earth.
Shri Mataji’s followers, whom he had met all over the world, were all radiant with inner peace and balance and should be called “Ambassadors for the Earth.” Shri Mataji’s gift of Self Realisation gives discrimination to know the truth and to avoid the extremes of blind faith and fanaticism.
There had been enough talking about a sustainable future for the Earth. What was needed now was action. An Indian fable pointed the way forward: the greatest fulfilment and satisfaction are attained not by thinking of self, but through a true insight into our collective identity.
Jesus Christ
The energy centres or chakras, which are placed along the spine, are at the core of our subtle, spiritual being. And the sixth of these chakras, the Agnya, is situated in the middle of the brain. It is the gateway to the seventh and last energy centre, the Sahasrara Chakra. It is the penultimate step on the journey to our self-realisation, our yoga, our union with Divinity.
It is the Kundalini, the life force within each one of us, rising from its coils in the sacrum bone at the base of the spine, rising up through each of the energy centres and eventually piercing through the fontanelle bone at the top of the head, that brings about our enlightenment, our moksha, our self-realisation. And to our great good fortune, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, has devised a very simple way for us to take this wonderful leap forward in our evolution, this realization of the self, this manifestation of the spirit, this ability to feel the very essence of our being on our central nervous system. It is through self-realisation that we gain sweet meditation, health, well-being, peace and joy – our oneness with the spirit.
The Agnya Chakra is situated at the crossing of the optic thalamus (the pineal and pituitary glands). It influences, and is influenced by, what we see, what we hear, what we think.
The day of the week that the Agnya chakra is associated with is Sunday, its colour is white, its planet is the sun, its element is light, its gemstone is diamond, its place on the hand – where we can feel if the Agnya energy centre is clear – is the ring finger, and the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ is directly related to the opening up of this chakra.
Like all the other chakras, the Agnya has a right, a left and a central aspect. Planning, over-organising, dominating others, can take us further and further into the tensions, anger, even violence, of the right. Memories, conditioning, over-emotionalism, lack of self-confidence can take us further into the depression, insecurity, pain and fear of the left. Self-realisation, meditation and the resulting development of our balance, detachment and knowledge can bring us into the joys of the centre.
The right channel, the channel of action, with its potential for out-looking and on-going demands and activity, eventually ends up in the brain area as the ego – a balloon of out-turning self-centredness. And the left channel, the channel of desire, with its potential for insecurity, fear and self-harm, eventually ends up in the brain area as the superego – a balloon of in-turning self-centredness.
To gain our self-realisation the Kundalini must thread its way between these balloons of ego and superego. It must draw them back into the centre and establish a balance so that it can rise and take the last step to the Crown chakra, the Sahasrara, to attain yoga, the union with Divinity.
Thoughts come from either the left side or the right side – they are concerned with the past or the future. That’s all thoughts are. So, the more we think, the more we are dragged out of the centre into what-has-been or what-is-to-come. A hundred years ago western societies tended to be oriented towards the left. Conditioning ruled attitudes, patriotism was basic to politics, everyone tended to know, and defend, their particular place in the social scheme of things. Nowadays, however, the pressures are very much from the right. We are encouraged to get out and buy. Everybody must purchase things to sustain the nation’s wealth. We must plan for the future. Newspapers want us to think about things, opinionate.
Often our thinking pattern itself moves from right to left, even back again. We remember something from the left, move into the right to plan some action to change the situation, then move back into the left to worry about it.
With this thinking pattern there is a tiny gap between each thought and the next, a quiet split-of-a-second thoughtlessness – not of the past, not of the future, but of the here and now. And it is in this silence between thoughts that the spirit speaks to us. This is where creativity is at its most vital and revealing. This is where peace and joy exist.
Through meditation we can lengthen this split-of-a-second thoughtlessness into an ever-present now, and through this meditation, gain the balance of knowledge, perception, detachment, love.
How? How do we clear the distractions of left and right out of our Agnya and gain this valuable meditative state? Well, we can light a candle and place it on something so that it is behind the head during meditation. This helps to burn away the mental garbage. We also have – as Shri Mataji has told us – a very useful mantra: the Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father,
Who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory
For ever and ever.
Amen.
Among the most important sections of this prayer is, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” If we say that, from the depths of our being, we have to humble down and see ourselves as we are, a part of God’s creation. Another very important section is, “we forgive those who trespass against us.” Forgiveness clears away all the resentment, jealousy and hate that can so harm us. Forgiveness is another very valuable means of clearing out the Agnya Chakra.
So, saying the Lord’s Prayer helps us to gain the humility and the freedom from obsessions which allows us to clear the “gunk” out of the Agnya Chakra and open ourselves up to the spirit.
So, by using the light of a candle, by saying the mantra of the Lord’s Prayer and by forgiving, we can gain compassion and love, which are the main qualities of the Agnya Chakra. From the balance of the centre, we can draw appropriate action and dynamism from the right side, and memory and emotion from the left, allowing the Kundalini to flow freely and grant us oneness with the spirit.
Brian Bell
(Illustration: en.wikipedia.org)
The Yuva Shakti Universal, made up of young people in Sahaja Yoga, is producing a new film called “Two Worlds”.
The film tells the story of angels that come from the school of angels and face a world completely different from the one they used to live in. They are here to help and enlighten humanity but some of them forget their mission and fall in love with the world they should transform.
“Two Worlds” will be produced in 2007. You can find out more about the film by visiting the blog of “Two Worlds” at:
http://www.ysuniversal-e.blogspot.com/