Namaskar Oct 2015

Orange bands are for epics and mythology,
beige for Sanskrit classics, green for fables
and humour, red for bravehearts, yellow for
contemporary classics and blue for
visionaries. Fables from the Hitopadesha,
Panchatantra and the Jatakas and the
exploits of Birbal and Raman of Tenali are
forever delightful.
There are about 450 tales translated into
over 20 languages. However, there are over a
thousand titles of Amar Chitra Katha comics
as there are also collections of comics (e.g.,
3-in-1 and 5-in-1 combos, mega theme-based
collections) and longer special issues like the
ones on Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ,
Dasavatar, Valmiki Ramayana, Ram Charit
Manas by Tulsidas, the colossal Mahabharat
in three volumes and the Bhagawat Purana.
In an age where the internet, television and
fancy phones with fancier and fancier
applications and games vie for a child’s
attention, Amar Chitra Katha comics are a
wonderful way of inculcating the reading
habit in children and presenting to them in an
engaging manner, the lives of great men and
women through the ages.
The comic books on visionaries, extolling the
lives of prophets and saints, nation builders
and social reformers, poets and scientists,
inspire and offer examples to emulate. The
story of Angulimala, a brilliant and erudite
lad who, when hated, gave way to hating and
his transformation from sinner to saint due
to the affection shown to him by the Buddha,
is depicted thoughtfully and with great
sensitivity, as are the lives of Ramana
Maharshi, Ramakrishna Paramahansa,
Mirabai, Kabir, Mother Teresa, Babasaheb
Ambedkar, JRD Tata, Rabindranath Tagore,
Einstein, Marie and Pierre Curie, Jim
Corbett and Salim Ali to name a few.
Amar Chitra Katha comics are hard to put
down. Amar Chitra Katha comics are
addictive. Amar Chitra Katha comics live up
to their name. They are immortal. Amar
Chitra Katha comics can be relished over and
over again, over the years by children and by
those who have never grown up or refuse to!
RETREAT REVIEW
VILLA FLOW,
BALI
Yoga brings us into the
Present
BY IRENE THONG
Have you ever considered yourself living in
the moment? We are always thinking,
dreaming, talking, judging, identifying and
analysing everything what we say or do each
moment of the day. Every single word people
say may influence our unconscious mind to
create judgements, images of words, labels
(mad, angry, happy, sad, resentment, etc).
Before I left for my retreat to Bali, my mind
was preoccupied with my new job and news
from friends far away. Going to Bali was the
best solution for some peace and calmness.
Villa Flow is the town of Seraya Barat in
Eastern Bali. Located up on a hill with
amazing views over the sea with additional
private beachfront land where one can really
lounge and relax. It’s a place of tranquillity
and eco-awareness, as they use organic
home-grown food from the surrounding
community.
When I was there, my mind was so
preoccupied I did not even really see how
beautiful the place was and how friendly the
people were.
My Balinese yoga teacher, Kawi, a very
humble and soft-spoken guy who taught us
his kind of yoga (Balinese way) told us he
learnt yoga from his dad when he was very
young. And in those days he said, “Yoga, is
just called yoga. But now yoga has expanded
to many different types, styles and names for
every postures”, we have the Vinyasa,
Ashtanga, Bikram, Iyengar and so on.
He said, “when we do yoga, our minds must
be connected to our hearts. It is not a flow of
movements where we just move or follow,
without sensing.” And by sensing, he
managed to incorporate every movement
with our daily life and the environment
around us, where we always see but ignore
back into our daily life.
How often do we go into our yoga classes and
really empty our minds to observe and sense
our surrounding, our breathing, our
movement? How often do we stop for the
moment from interpreting those movements
with our own meaning and sense our inner
self or the quietness around you?
At that time, I was reading a book given to me
by a very dear friend in US, called “The
Power of Now”. It’s true that in life, we are
always think too much. We always keep
thinking (consciously or unconsciously) of
our pasts, as we do not want to repeat what
we did in the past. And we hope for the better
future because the future is better and
brighter from what we hope and dream to be.
We always strive to have a better future. And
yet we know it is from our past that forms
our future. But the future has not arrived.
Thus, the more we think of our past and our
future, we forget the present. Ever really
stop for the moment from all your thoughts
to appreciate now? Because now is here and
we are living it as we speak.
My retreat at Villa Flow inspired me to use
my senses fully, to be more aware of where I
am (not day dreaming of work or some other
places or someone when I am already here),
look around me (the breathtaking view from
Villa Flow, the friendliness of the Balinese
people), the delicious organic meals they
serve three times a day from the organic
farm, the lessons my Balinese yoga teacher
taught me, the silence of the night. Without
trying to interpret everything I see, touch,
smell and observe, I finally put a smile onto
my face. Like what we always are asked to do
in yoga, “Observe the rhythm of your
breathing, feel the air flowing in and out, feel
the life energy inside your body and allow
everything to be, within and without”. Allow
yourself to be in the moment, to move
yourself back into now.
Finally I share with two favourite quotes
from my retreat: “Happiness is when what
you think, what you say, and what you do are
in harmony” by Mahatma Ghandi and “A
journey if a thousand miles begins with a
single step” by Lao-Tsu.
Happiness is when
what you think,
what you say, and
what you do
are in harmony
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