Mirror Mirror On The Wall!

Most girls grow up knowing who Snow White is and they also all know that her skin is as white as snow. But what some fail to realise is that it is not the skin that the magic mirror saw to be fairest of them all. It was Snow White from within, the gentle, loving, innocent and humble being that she was that made her fairer then the wicked and vain queen. The magic mirror is nothing but our conscience. We recognize who we are within. And whatever is reflected within shows in our appearance too. That is why sometimes people with the most perfect features could look ugly and those with very ordinary features look beautiful. Though most of us do not realise it, what we see in another person comes from within...its not the eyes, the nose or the slim figure or the skin tone. No, what we see is beyond all these. We see the person as reflected from within. 

I am sure, we have all experienced this, we meet someone for the first time and think they are absolutely gorgeous or handsome but then after getting to know the person suddenly they seem very ordinary, or even ugly! While some that we thought looked very ordinary, gradually look prettier and prettier day by day until one day you think they are the most beautiful person you have ever met. Ever wondered how that happens??

Obviously, it is the inner beauty that overpowers the outer physical appearance. The more human one is the better they look. This is why i neither believe that "Black is beautiful" nor "White is Lovely"! It has got nothing to do with colour. We need to recognize people beyond colour to see who really is good looking!  

What inspired me to write this is the recent posts on FB trying to prove that those with darker skin tone are beautiful and to be proud of it and so on. But it made me wonder....what has the skin got to do with beauty?? Dark or fair, tall or short, plump or slim doesnt capture the attention of the magic mirror for the mirror recognizes only the person inside! While we are desperately trying to improve our appearance on the outside the mirror goes on reflecting from within. And it does not only recognize us but also superimposes that image from within for everyone to see. We can never hide it! We can hide the marks on our faces maybe...but never whats inside!

This doesnt mean i dont believe in make up or dressing up. That too is necessary but we have to remember that it is just the toppings....you can make the cupcakes with the most beautiful toppings but the moment people eat it, it is the taste of cake itself that matters, right??! Toppings are only for viewing pleasure which may look good in photos too but the review will surely be based on the taste!! Just the same, we need to work on the inside more then the outside if we want to look good :)

So keep your magic mirror polished for it reflects who you really are :) 

When Moths stick to you!

Two weeks ago i was in Fraser Hill, Pahang for a holiday organized by my music school, Swara Community Arts Center. It was my first time at this lovely hill resort. Unlike Cameron Highlands which has been commercialized to the level where the nature of the hill has been altered totally, it was relieving to see Fraser untouched with its greens and misty hills intact! 20 of us including children, parents, students and our Sitar Master's family stayed in a huge bungalow perched amidst the serene hills. We all fell in love with the environment the moment we stepped out of the car and started breathing in the fresh, cool air.

There were nothing but hills all around us....and the sounds coming from the jungle was absolutely soothing, below are the pics of the views on the right, left, front and back of the bungalow.

The garden and view

While we were all indulged in the surroundings...something interesting happened. Master's brother in law came walking to me with a grin pointing his index finger and i noticed a small moth on his finger. And i said "hey lets take a pic of it before it flies off! but he coolly said...it is stuck to my fingers, wont fly off!...then he walked around trying to get the moth to fly off....but it stayed comfortably on the tip of his finger. So he walked into the bungalow and placed his finger on the dining table and tried pushing the moth so it would shift itself away from his finger...and it finally did. Then i was watching the moth...and touched it lightly to see if it would fly off but instead of flying off she decided to stick to my index finger! hahhaa....i was delighted. Can you blame me? I mean how often do we get moths sticking to you like magnet? Most of the times it is us stuck in the traffic jams of KL! So i happily walked around the bungalow with the moth, showing it off to my other friends and everyone was amused!

So here she is....first time meeting a leaf moth up so close! she sure looks like a leaf with wings!! so pretty! I couldn't help talking to her. Asked her to reveal the secret behind her beauty. And she told me this..

"Just stick to nature...she is the secret of all secrets"

Simple! right?? And that explains why everything seems haywire in the city....we are so far from nature...what do you expect! The moths cant even get anywhere near you through the concrete walls! We have blocked ourselves from all sources of energy and then we go on complaining about life! 

After having a few minutes with her, i decided to put her back home, reluctantly walked to the garden and placed her on the leaves of a plant and said....thank you for the message. And i will see you again...sometime, somewhere...in some form ...till then...bye with love :)

There she is....happily one with nature...  

So that was one experience at Fraser Hill...theres more to share. To my delight, our master took us hiking in one of the many beautiful trails in Fraser. Will share pics and the experience in my next post :) 

Till then....just stick to nature and watch out for the moths :)

The Places In Between

 

We often have an overview about everything in life. We look at it from a broad point of view where we think we see it all and we make conclusions without even getting close to it. We say things like life is beautiful...or Life is difficult...or Life is a mystery and so on but how many of us are able to SEE why exactly it is "beautiful" or "difficult" or "Mysterious" ?? 

This book is a true account of a traveller who WALKED across Afghanistan, from Herat to Kabul merely accompanied by a dog in 2002 (just after 911) to see what was really going on between these places. Before i go any further i would like to share a quote from this book which is stated as an introduction to the story.

"The country is quite covered by darkness, so that people outside it cannot see anything in it; and no one dares go in for fear of the darkness. Nevertheless men who live in the country round about say that they can sometimes hear voices of men, and horses neighing, and cocks crowing, and thereby that some kind of folks live there, but they do not know what kind of folk they are." 

- The Travels of Sir John Manderville

chapter 28

3 years ago, when i was flying from Malaysia to England i remember how amazed i was when we flew over Afghanistan. All three of us (my aunt, cousin and i) walked to the rear end of the plane to look out through the big window so we could have a better view of the landscape below. That felt pretty amazing...as i watch the endless stretch of mountains with its deep, narrow valleys in between, all looking dry and brown everywhere ...no hint of green with its villages here and there which mostly looked like boxes made of stone and mud-brick, the first thing that came to my mind was an image of a little kite runner, hahaha..couldn't help it! It was truly weird having an overview of a piece of land which contained SO much history!! I was wondering....all these people living below....how do they feel about life? what do they know about whats beyond this land? how do they think? what do they want?? And even more disturbing thought was how many were walking around with guns and bombs at the moment while we were looking from above? 

Though we have some idea of how life is there, from reading Afghan based novels, seeing the place for real, though from a few thousand feet above made a disturbing impact! Wished i was able to snap a pic of the landscape then....but my camera was all packed in the luggage. So here's some pictures from the net i found which looks almost like the view we had. 

So anyway, that experience was like having an overview of a place and knowing that i would most likely never step on the soil to know the real thing, i decided to grab this book the moment i spotted it at big bad wolf sales early this year. And it was great that the story was based on journey by foot!! So, u cant possibly miss anything in between! The villages...the people, the pets and other animals, the landscape...routes, paths, rivers, mountains...historical buildings, food, the culture...language, dressing, religion, political views (if they had any) and understanding of life, believes, traditions and daily conversations....yes EVERYTHING! You get a feel of everything that is going on between these places...from one village to the next...for months after months...by foot. Now i am satisfied! The overview i had now makes a complete picture with whats inside!

Somehow the conclusion i came to was, people in there have absolutely no idea of how life is beyond their land...they live in their own world and don't look to be any likely to being convinced about an alternative view of life. Right or wrong...they are SURE about what they believe in. 

Thanks to the this unbelievable traveller, Rory Stewart who dared take this dangerous journey which gives the world a clearer and detailed picture of life inside of Afghanistan. 

Just like him, we ALL need to take such journeys into life. Not necessarily by foot but by heart and soul. Feel the places in between the moments...touch it...experience it ...live it! Don't glance through life in a hurry! Be into EVERY moment! Walk it barefooted...feel the ground! Make it REAL! Enough overviews...enough blur visions...enough dragging! Get to LIFE now! And....

See you somewhere in between :D 

LOVE UNLEASHED

We grow up hearing words like "family is important" "Love your neighbours" "Take care of your little brothers and sisters" "Be nice to your friends in school" " Respect your teachers" and so on. And thats exactly what we try to do....we obey these rules as much as we could and then when we become adults we say the same things to our children. So our mind is conditioned to love a certain group, care for certain people in our lives and we go on thinking we are truly a loving human being. 

Then, what happens is, we meet new people...we move to a new environment, maybe into a different culture and atmosphere. And suddenly we are lost. How do we love strangers?? how do we care for things that doesnt belong to us. How do we deal with situations? Now comes the trouble! We judge one another...we hate people...we think the world is cruel and ugly and evil. Then these feelings spreads into our daily life and it takes over all those LOVE YOUR FAMILY...LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOURS chantings! Then suddenly we are choking with emotions! We feel betrayed, lost and angry! Most of the time we cant even figure out the reasons either because theres too many or theres none at all. 

Somehow we human beings forget that we are made of love and nothing but love. Theres no need to teach a child to love. It is their natural state..until we interfere and confuse the child with all these restrictions. Let the child be...and they will love everyone and everything. 

When we grow up in love ...we can only attract more love. We can connect to everything and everyone around us because the whole universe is made of this energy called loved. Now dont ask me questions like....should we love the robbers or rapists then? Coz that is my whole point. If we let a child grow naturally they will not become a rapist or robber. When we teach them to hate, they attract people to hate ...and they dwell in hatred and their contaminated soul looks for an outlet by doing evil things. 

It is not about love something or someone...it is simply about being love itself. Then you attract love like a magnet. Be love itself, no separation between the feeling and you. You are it! It is you! Love unleashed :) Then watch what happens...

See how the music flows through every vein....watch how much brighter the flowers in your garden looks, watch how the butterflies flutter around you...watch how people even look at you in awe. They cant help recognizing themselves when they look at you. Watch how you feel like dancing whenever it rains. Watch how thankful you are for the sunshine. Watch how your world changes! Feel the joy that it brings...feel the excitement! Feel rejuvenated! above all FEEL LIFE! 

Why contain Love when it can be unleashed! let it go! and go wherever it takes you! It always knows the best routes of life :) 
BE LOVE!

Naked in Eden

"Can you feel it in your bones? I felt like the forest had been awaiting my arrival" says Robin Easton in this true story about her and her husband who decided to go live in the a rainforest in Australia simply to get in touch with life. 

When i read those lines above, i remembered how i felt when i for the very first time in my life stepped into the rainforest at the National Park. While our guide was leading the way explaining something about the rainforest, i stood right in front of a gigantic bunch of bamboos and the beautiful path that so invitingly leads you deeper into the forest. In amazement i was mumbling over and over "oh my God! this is so beautiful!" And he smiled, nodded and coolly said "yes, it is" I was like how could you be so calm about SUCH beauty? Then i realized he has been going up and down that path for 15 years, everyday. It has become his home. He is not breathlessly crammed up in a concrete jungle like the rest of us in KL. No wonder he could be so calm about it! The forest is calm...and it is contagious! Its nothing like the little hills around KL where we go hiking. No this was really home! Every leaf, branch, trunk, flower, root, or fern was old...as old as life! and you could feel it your bones! yes after about 6 years i finally realised that is how i felt, in my bones! Thanks to Robin Easton for putting it precisely in her book, i didnt know how to explain the feeling before this :)

"Life is curious about itself" 

This is another line in the book which made me think. Its so true. We ARE life and yet WE are curious about life. We are looking for ourselves forgetting that WE ARE IT! what is there to look for? We've got to live it and be it. Nothing to look for....chasing our own tails as Osho says :)

 "Aah, the marvels we take for granted. Could you create a living butterfly? Life isnt only intelligent; it's dazzling creative in its self expression"

She says this after witnessing the miracle of a butterfly emerging out of its cocoon. How the very fragile life flutters out beautifully. Yes, do we even think about it as a miracle nowadays! We have take it for granted. But just for one moment pause to think how amazing a butterfly is! 

When the movie Avatar played in the cinemas, i heard some friends saying..."imagine there really was a world like Pandora" And i told them...what is there to imagine? If there really was a world like Pandora we would have gotten used to it and started destroying it just like what we are doing to Earth now. We wouldnt think it was beautiful or amazing or a miracle. If we can take Earth for granted...what difference would a Pandora make!?? 


"Mother nature doesn't judge, that's a human thing"

Yes, and that is why the human species is still surviving. If nature took revenge, we would not be here for we have been the worst pest infecting the surface. Destroying and polluting earth incessantly, and yet we go on wondering why all the chaos. Ever forgiving mother nature is only trying to help by balancing itself everytime we break her, still, if ever she looses her balance it is not her that is in trouble...she will just make adjustments and go on for another billion years. It is US who are in trouble. For we cant live without oksigen, or rain, or clean air or food. If any one of those changes happen...it is us who will be wiped out ...probably making way to a better species who will be intelligent enough to know how not to interfere with nature :)

Anyway, if you love the rainforest, you will love this book. Awesome experiences in the jungle especially the spiritual ones. How she is connected to the trees...the messages she received. The things she learnt about life. Its all inspiring and joyous. 

I sure loved it!! 
  

Went through Hell?

How often have you said or heard others say "I went through hell" or "i am going through hell"?

Just sometime last week, as i was reading a book, suddenly it occurred to me that no one says "I went through heaven" We might say...those were the good old times or those were memorable events or something like that but never that we went through heaven? Why? I questioned myself and an answer did pop up in my head. I decided to post it as my FB status immediately so i wouldn't forget the exact words.

So here it is:

"It is because heaven is always here, right at the center of our being, while hell is only the path to it. Once we reach the center, we stay, theres no going through it anymore. But because many do not recognize the center, they try to make a heaven halfway through hell and then go on wondering why they are not at peace. The trick is this, if you are not at peace then don't stay there. Just keep going. You will know it when you get there."

We have been asking another question for centuries "why do good people suffer while some evil ones seem to be better off in life? Why so unfair? Right?

But out of my own experiences plus some readings i realise that, we will never come out of our comfort zone and enter the path to self discovery if we are not put in trouble! We will be spoilt kids who have everything in life...yes we may live happily ever after and die. But then what? Why were we even here in the first place. We die not knowing head or tail of life. Who we are, what are our strengths, our limits, our capabilities, and above all the breathtaking beauty of life itself. No we would NEVER see it if we lived in our comfort zone all our lives. That is why Hindus call it "Sleeping" because it is like we are sleep walking, living in a dreamworld. Not seeing anything beyond matter. Not seeing ourselves...not feeling how we are throbbing with life. How beautifully connected we are with every atom of the universe. 

Nature does us a favour by throwing a few stones at our sleepy heads. To wake us up. And to SEE what really is going on. But problem comes when we refuse to wake up with the small pebbles, then we are hit with rocks and it gets bigger until we start bleeding These wake up calls become hell and we start wondering why everything is going wrong. 

It doesn't get better until we realise what is really wrong. Its not life that is wrong. It is not the people around us. It is not the place we live, not the weather, not the country, not the government, not the parents. husband or children. No, it is simply ourselves. We are lost. Groping in darkness, hitting ourselves on every wall and pillars and hurting ourselves unnecessarily. As life keep throwing stones at us....suddenly at ONE POINT we wake up! And it leaves us dazed for sometime not so much because we are amazed at what we see but because we can't believe what we have been missing! especially because it is so plain and clear! You don't need any scriptures to tell you what it is. You don't need to attend classes or meditate day and night. No you can see it simply just like that! You either see it or you don't...theres nothing in between! No almost there...or kind of...or on the way. Nope! when you see it ...you see it ALL! 

Some of you maybe asking "what is it that we see?" 

First of all, i SEE why no religion in the world is able to explain LIFE. There is NO possible definition to it. It doesn't even make any sense! But it is just there! And we are IT! 

Then i SEE oneness. No you...no me...no planets...no trees...no moon...sun or anything on its own. No...it is all merged in ONENESS. There are no boundaries...not even individual souls...everything is into everything else. Like ice cubes melting into water.

Then i SEE what controls this ONENESS. The energy called LOVE. Put love into ANYTHING and it grows. Gardening..cooking..music..painting..business..relationships...

The amazingly beautiful secret ingredient to LIFE! 

But you cant love your husband and hate your brother for instance..because that only means you are filled with both love and hatred. The tiniest pinch of hatred within us contaminates all the love we have and creates chaos in our lives. It doesn't get peaceful till we fill every nerve of ourselves with love and nothing but love. I know its easier said then done. Of course, but we can always work on the percentage for a beginning. Love is a stronger energy. A tiny bit of love will take over a large chunk of hatred. Then it spreads itself. 

Then i SEE beauty as a whole. Everything and everyone is beautiful. Everything is a miracle...from bugs to the galaxies, everything is beautiful beyond our imagination. 

Above all i SEE that what we SEE is just a fraction of the never ending mystery of life. Imagine we are ants. Can you explain to an ant how vast this world is! No matter what level of science or religious scriptures you use, no words will make an ant understand how big this universe is for it cant even SEE a full view of a human with its tiny eyes. 

That's exactly how big the TRUTH is to human beings. We cant see it...at least not with naked eyes. And this is where the most beautiful part of being human comes! Nature has given a telescope called the consciousness. The moment we look into it...we get to SEE it ALL! Its like an ant SEEING the universe. Crazy but true!

So getting back to the question. If you went through hell then, try to recognize the place you have ended up in. If it doesn't look like heaven to you, pack up and keep going! Don't dwell in the wrong place for too long. And don't worry about not knowing when you reach the center. YOU WILL KNOW. For you will feel like dancing all day, it will be a different world with NOTHING that you saw before. You WONT and CANT miss it! :D

So, good news IS...going through hell isn't bad after all unless you  stay stuck halfway. So, keep going!! Don't stop no matter what! 

Have faith in life. It always knows the best way!

Meanwhile...stay as cheerful and as happy as possible till it becomes the only reality!

And just in case you are wondering...yes, i went through hell.

Strings Attached

I was at the Big Bad Wolf sales 3 weeks ago....and i was lost the moment i entered the hall as there were thousands of books and i didnt know where to start! After about a minute or two of looking dazed, like a child who had just entered Charlie's chocolate factory, i finally regained consciousness and started looking at the Biographies.  

As i screened through the stacks of books...trying my best not to miss anything interesting hidden behind other books, this particular title caught my attention. "STRINGS ATTACHED" and the cover had an image of violin and a silhouette of a teacher and a young student. Though people say, don't judge a book by its cover, sometimes...covers do matter! Especially when you are having to pick from thousands of books....its the title and the cover which first catches your attention. First it was the image of the violin and the string which got me looking at it since Ive been learning how to play the Indian instrument Sitar for the past few months. So, i picked it out and read the title properly...it said "Strings Attached, One tough teacher and the art of perfection"! Ok now, i was even more interested in this book. Because the first person that came to my mind was not my music teacher but my dance teacher, Ramli Ibrahim from Sutra dance theatre. So, i turned to the back of the book to read the synopsis and it said...

"A Ukrainian-born taskmaster, who yelled, stomped and screamed and who, through sheer force of will, made them better than they had any right to be." 

By now i was like...."ermm...is this really not about Ramli Ibrahim?" hahaha...yeah it sounded so much like him. So in went the book into my trolley. It was the first book i picked out of the 8 books i bought that day :) and it was also the first one i read the moment i got home. 

And when i finished it, i thought ...you CAN sometimes judge a book by its cover :)

I enjoyed every page of it...and it made me realise that Gurus all over the world are just the same. They push their students beyond their limits...till it becomes unbearable for them but those students who are tough enough to endure and move on to continue learning from such gurus definitely become the best performers. Ive seen it happen at Sutra. I truly admire all my seniors there who have endured such discipline and have become tough by the years. And it shows in every production...the absolutely neat performance which comes not only from the endless practices but from the fear of a screaming guru. All senior students in Sutra knows how it feels when master praises them...something which happens SO rarely...you will stand there simply looking at him, too overwhelmed to even say thank you...almost like....ermm... say like how you might feel if you just witnessed the aurora happening right before your eyes! Believe me i am not exaggerating! 

I had the golden opportunity to be part of their major event only once....in 2008 when Sutra Dance Theatre hosted the international odissi festival and i danced at the opening of the event which was held in the Art Gallery of Petronas Twin Tower, KL. What an experience it was! Though the dancing part was joyous, it wasnt easy facing a Guru who roars right into your face! Scary! But then, after the rehearsals, he says to all the students "sometimes i need to push some of you whom i believe is capable of doing better" and i sit there shaken and in the verge of tears but feeling a tiny bit consoled about being screamed at in front of about 50 adults watching you during rehearsal. Yes it wasnt at all easy! And that was just ONCE! ONE beautiful, magical dance moment of my life...and below is a picture my hubby snapped...though not too clear its one of my fav :) And looking at it now..i remember what happened right after the performance. One of our friends who were there watching told me "Your master was standing and watching you as you entered and started dancing" and i froze! i asked her "really! he did that!!" ohh thank God i did not see him....if i had by any chance spotted him while i danced i would have panicked and been frozen just like in the pic below...hahaha. Truly it was by God's grace, i never realised he was watching! ..gosh...those unforgettable and (scary) precious moments :)

But just like how the students of this violin teacher in the book say...such difficult moments somehow eventually toughens you up. You become immune to it, you become stronger, more confident, not only when performing but also in life on the whole! 

Being human, we tend to take things for granted if we are not pushed with such fear. If teachers are too lenient, we decide not to practice and we become lazy. But having to face a tough guru leaves you no choice but to do your best. One day, all such students will thank these tough masters who have shaped their lives! For me, apart from Ramli Ibrahim himself...i have to thank a zillion to my class teacher Tan Mei Mei who assists him. It was because of her, i had the chance to be a part of this event. She really pushed us to finish up the piece which was suppose to be performed at the opening right in time for the audition. Never did i imagine i would have a chance to dance in an international dance festival! It was surely a dream come true!  

So if you want to know....how it is to be a student of a tough teacher....read this book :)

And ohh the other thing i love about the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is their plastic bags....i usually take my green bags when shopping but this time...i just had to have one of these plastic bags :)