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Beloved friends,
Recently we went for a short holiday with Neerava and Garimo who were visiting from Perth, Australia to stay at a quaint village in the Northwest of Bali, famous for its snorkeling opportunities.
When we visited there for the first time more than 10 years ago, one just had to walk into the ocean to immediately see beautiful corals and an abundance of tropical fish. A few years later on another visit we were horrified to see a devastated wasteland instead of vibrant colors and plenty of fish – local fishermen had destroyed their livelihood by using bombs and arsenic for fishing, dropping anchors without any thoughts of the habitat and dragging nets along the seabed.
Now, again a few years on, a rather miraculous change has happened.
Narayanadeva (you might remember him as one of the main gate guards in Pune 1) who has also been living on Bali for many years, got together with scientists, environmentalists and the local communities to breathe life into the seabed. The project is called Karang Lestari (protected coral) and uses a unique technology called Biorock. It has been very successful and has won several international environmental awards.
The system consists of metal structures (domes, elongated tunnels, etc.) that have been lowered into the ocean and receive a weak current of electricity. This builds up limestone on the metal bars and then coral fragments are transplanted onto them. This incredible technology makes corals grow up to three to five times faster and it was found out they are more resistant to stress (by pollution and warming water). It is the largest project of this kind on the planet – and has resulted in bigger catches for the fishermen and also has become an attraction for eco-tourism. Now the locals have learned about the importance of conversation of their own resources and support the restoration.
In the wake of this, I just recently viewed a ten minute discourse on video, "How We Wrecked the Ocean" by coral reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson, which will give you an idea what we as a species have done to the natural balance and the future we are facing.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jeremy_jackson.html
Rashid and Nisheeta reside near Devon in England. They live a kind of rural and quiet meditative life that includes keeping bees (he sent me a wonderful jar of honey when his son Noa visited Bali once) as well as chopping wood and carrying water so to speak. Rashid is a painter and the author of many articles on a variety of subjects; two books of his extraordinary poems have already been published. Nisheeta is a singer of Ragas and English and Bengali Folk songs and when they recently had an opportunity to visit a very special concert, they didn’t hesitate for a second.
Here is Rashid’s recollection:
ONLY THE SINGING WAS LEFT
Nisheetha and i just drove a 200 mile round-trip to hear an unknown and illiterate Bengali sing for twenty minutes. You’ll maybe remember the Bauls of Bengal are the itinerant mystic poets of India, the drunken laureates of the spirit. In the local language they are known as the madhukuri, the honey-gatherers. Like the minstrels of mediaeval Europe they travel the villages and small towns of Bengal offering their songs and their inspiration to all and receiving in return rice and dhal and vegetables.
At the Old Vic Theatre in Bristol the writer on Indian spirituality William Dalrymple was reading excerpts from his latest book ‘Nine Lives’. Two Bauls were seated beside him on the stage. He introduced one as the singer Paban Das. Paban stood and tuned his five stringed instrument for a moment. When he opened his mouth the honey poured forth.
I keep bees. At the end of summer we take the boxes with frames full of honey off the top of the hives up to the kitchen. With long knives we cut off the wax cappings, put the dripping frames into a centrifuge tank and crank the handle until all the honey is extracted. Then we leave it to settle for twenty four hours to allow bits of wax and pollen to rise to the top. The kitchen at this time is redolent with the smells of summer, of the fragrance of flowers and the sweetness of the nectars. Then the moment comes. With sparkling clean glass honey jars lined up beside me, i hold one beneath the tap at the foot of the tank. As i open it a rope of thick golden honey flows noiselessly into the jar. This is the beekeeper's moment of fulfilment, the consummation of a year-long dialogue with nature and the bees.
When Paban began to sing my heart was pierced with sweetness. Tears poured down my cheeks. He sang another song and the roof and walls of the theatre came off and the place was filled with light. In his third song everything disappeared, the singer the audience, the song; only the singing of was left.
Later when we met him and his wife, his soft hands, his warm embrace, his brilliant smile were ordinary markers of an extraordinary master honey gatherer.
The lover
who wholly loves
can reach reality.
The secrets of death
are revealed to him
while he is fully alive.
What does he care
for the other shores of life?
A movie produced in the early seventies was called, ‘No Sex Please, We’re British’. That phrase became a popular tease to ridicule the ‘stiff-upper-lipped Brits’ for many years.
Well, they’ve come a long way since and the latest hype is an audio book of the Kama Sutra selling like hot cakes!
As the Economic Times reported on August 6, 2010, “Now Britons can listen to the classic text on erotic love in bed or on the bus or train, reports express.co.uk. The publishers - Beautiful Books - hope that through this, a whole new generation will learn from the 1,600-year-old Hindu self-help guide to friendship, marriage and relationships.”
Simon Petherick, managing director of Beautiful Books, said: "Now there's no need to feel embarrassed by reading a copy of this wonderful book in public - simply download it on to your MP3 player and liven up your commute to work." I just hope nobody listens to the Kama Sutra driving a vehicle!
“Hindu Tantra … very ugly. If you just look at the Tantra paintings you will be surprised. These are the people who say that I am destroying their culture! And what kind of culture do they have? -- Khajuraho and Tantra treatises and Vasayana’s ‘Kama Sutra’ and Pandit Koka’s ‘Koka Shastra’. What culture do they have?
“All this nonsense has happened because sex was repressed. In the West sex became indulgence. Both are wrong. But that’s how the mind is: it always goes from the frying pan in the fire! It cannot stay in the middle, because to stay in the middle is the death of the mind.”
OSHO
Zen: Zest Zip Zap and Zing, Chapter 3, Question 1
The uplifting effects of listening to the Kama Sutra?
Last but not least here’s a mind-blowing update on information technology which was shown by Sony Corporation at their executive conference earlier this year – hold on to your hat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSYW
With love, Bhagawati
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