Sunday 25 April 2010

Binding Love- Beyond Boundries

by- Ojasi Mehta


The hot summer afternoon of 9th April , a small room laced with a shelf of books and "gaddas" on floor and walls occupied with several colorful posters , a tv and dvd player and 10-15 curious young people - it was the office of Pravah Jaipur Initiative and we all were called up there for a movie screening - a documentary movie on Kabir. Everybody was chatting in low voices , I was sitting quietly as I was new at this place and knew no one particularly. I was quite excited about the movie but was afraid too as it could turn out very boring but I was wondering what others are talking about and not until the movie finished and some people confessed , I got to know they were also anticipating that movie would spoil their precious summer afternoon sleep. But guess what? After watching movie , everyone was in an ecstatic state , upon being asked the experience of movie , no one even could express the joy in words.
The movie was- Had Anhad , made by Shabnam Virmani under a kabir Project. It begins with a question - "Where I will find Ram?" And the first landscape is that of Ayodhya - Ram janm bhumi... but does she find Ram there? Some shopkeepers are interviewed by her and it is very realistic to see that what people actually think about Babri Masjid Case. It is a war between Ego and Belief. A war on God's name - to find God or save God- but does God reside in temple or masjid? God would be pleased by such wars? Such questions take her from Ayodhya to Madhya Pradesh to Rajasthan and finally Pakistan. Through Kabir she tries to find all these answers . She meets different people in her journey who are either local singers (folk singers) of Kabir or related to Kabir in one or the other way. Finally she goes to Pakistan where she feels most closest to Kabir and his philosophy.

Who is Kabir by the way ? - An incarnation of Vishnu ? A fakir or saint? A poet of Bhakti movement? A revolutionary man? Why not go back and see him first as a man... but something definitely makes him different from an ordinary man and that's his knowledge of Self .
Had-Had Karke Sab Gaye,
Per Behad Gayo Na Koi.
Kabir had crossed the limits between Soul n Bramha. There is one fine example in movie to describe Kabir's position that one who is in ship says- "Shore is coming" , One who is on the shore says - "Land is coming" but for one who is above both , no one is coming and no one is going - Kabir was like this.

When one knows himself , his own soul , from this knowledge one can embark on the journey of "search of God". And why kabir is relevant today? There are various reasons like his dohas and songs contain the eternal knowledge about "soul" , "god", "life", "love" but the most prominent voice of his dohas and songs are - "Humanitarian" which today in the world threatened by terrorism , existentialism , depression and loss of faith on God, we need to understand badly. He teaches us to see everyone as human and worship one God whom he called "Ram" - his Ram is not Dashrath's son Ram , an incarnation of Vishnu but his Ram lives in everyone's heart and if we love everyone , we are worshiping God.

Sakal Hans Mein Ram Viraje,
Ram Bina Koi Dham Nahi.

Ram resides in every soul,
There is no abode without Ram.

Through the screening of this movie , Pravah whose motto is - "Me to We" and whose Focus is on both "self" and "society" , tries to help us to see "what we are" , "who we are" , and "What we can do for our society and humanity?"

5 comments:

Bruno said...

Very interested to read your article, am impressed with your searching for the meaning of life. Am always impressed to realise how many people in the world are searching for such answers.
Bruno

@ngel ~ said...

Thank you Gdad! I remember Paulo Coelho's words that everyone is unique and everyone is in the journey to reach to God but every one's ways are different ...

Gopal Singh said...

wowww, discussions start!!

Ravi S said...

Hi, I loved your blog. Best wishes. By the way, do we have lyrics for "Ab to jaag musafir jaag"? I saw this video on Youtube. I will be quoting this in my next blog entry and was just wondering if you could help. Otherwise I will have to use my poor understanding of the song to write lyrics at my own :)

Thanks...

Unknown said...

i have been trying to locate an email id to write to Shabnam Virmani, and i hope this blog connects with her.
i want to thank Shabnam for bringing Kabir to us here in Baroda through the Jyoti Kabir Festival. i have been smitten by kabir and am in awe of Shabnam. I could not attend all the film screenings, but the ones i could i were absolutely heart moving, foot tapping and left me full of intrigue.
I've been wanting to let Shabnam know that my 10 year old daughter 'Aruvi', has been listening to your Heli re - Kin sa karan main prem? and Saheb ne bhaang pilayi....again and again....

thanks for the spark..wish to preserve a fire.

warm regards
zaida