Wednesday 22 December 2010

Kalpana Tanwar's Story: A Guest Post by Kalpana Tanwar

Here is a guest post by Kalpana Tanwar who is trained in process oriented psychology and teaches at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore. Kalpana was part of the Kabir Project's four-day engagement with psychology teachers at a recent Refresher Course at Delhi University. She shares with us a story she wrote up as part of her presentation.

--

After seeing all of Shabnam's films on Kabir, I was wondering if I knew him any better. And since I am devoted to story telling, I thought, why not write a Kabir story of my own. So here goes.

Once upon a time there was a Kabir. When in his mother’s womb, she learned to lay her hands on her belly, and it was as if she suddenly knew what to do. Difficult decisions and complicated issues, frustrations and disappointments, all fell away to reveal simple truths.
After Kabir was born, his mother continued to know! Over the many months of Kabir’s gestation, she had got into the habit of accessing the deepest part of her inner knowing self and wisdom. After his birth, without even knowing it, she continued to connect with this inner source.

Kabir grew up and became - Kabir. He took to wandering and seemed to follow where ever his feet would lead him. His simple musical instruments played his fingers, and words found a way into his mouth. And when it all came together, Kabir went into a state of bliss. His lips moved to the words that flowed into his mouth and his breath resonated with the wind and the waters, and his feet shod a steady rhythm. He sang, he walked, and even as he moved he moved all those who heard him.  And his simple words, born of nature, carried on the wind, which lifted them high up into the air. There his words perched on the backs of birds and flew high up and far away, travelling  to distant lands, where they spawned more and more Kabirs.

So it seemed that where ever you were, and however far away from home you went, you would always meet a Kabir. And if you did not, it became easy for the traveler to become a Kabir himself.