|
Life
today has become a fast-paced roller-coaster ride. And the ride
is even bumpier and rougher when you’re a movie star. The hours
are erratic, the
|
|
|
There
was a time when I was swayed by pomp and splendour but today
thanks to books like Many Lives, Many Masters I can see beauty
in little things.
Manisha Koirala
|
demands
unreasonable, the heartbreaks too many and the thirst for success
unquenchable. It’s not easy being in the glare of the spotlight
24 hours of the day. It takes its toll not just physically but psychologically
and emotionally too. To survive this kind of unending stress it’s
becoming not just necessary but imperative to discover your inner
self. And that perhaps explains the sudden interest in Meditation,
Reiki, Art of Living, Past Life Regression and Sukyo Mahikari. These
holistic healing therapies have become the “in” thing
with the box-office queens of Bollywood.
Manisha Koirala may not have taken any courses in self-discovery
but she has read several books on the regression therapy like Brian
Weiss’s Many Lives, Many Masters and Messages From The Masters.
She is keen on knowing more about healing through meditation because
she’s discovered that it can open up new avenues of learning
and living. “There was a time when I used to be swayed by pomp
and splendour but today thanks to my reading, my priorities have
changed and I can see beauty in little things. I have learnt to
value life, people and relationships. I have learnt to be content
with my life the way it is and have evolved as a person,” she
smiles with quiet satisfaction.
Fashion designer Anna Singh has been in the industry for years and
today has realised that films are nothing but fantasy created out
of fantasy. “But very few realise how unreal this world is
and meditate to maintain their mental equilibrium,” she rues,
insisting that mediation can work wonders in this world of make-believe.
|
|
|
Regression
therapy helped me understand why sometimes, I did the kind
of things I would not do under normal circumstances. It made
the trivial grudges you hold against family and friends unimportant.
Anna Singh
|
Anna’s interest in the healing therapies was sparked off by
the shock over the death of an extremely dear family member eight
years ago. Anna had always been guided by a voice from within and
after the sudden loss she took her first step into discovering the
“other” world prompted by an overwhelming need to know
more about life after death. “I read a number of books on death
and reincarnation. They became my survival kit and gave me a new
existence,” she confesses softly.
Soon after Anna enrolled for a Reiki workshop, then went into aroma,
colour and sound therapy and felt absolutely elevated. “Reiki
is a Japanese word meaning universal and iki means life force energy.
You become a channel for the energy present in the universe. Reiki
also deals with the seven chakras (crown chakra, third eye chakra,
throat chakra, heart, solar plexus, hara and root chakra) of the
body that have seven different colours. If someone’s chakra
is weak we elevate that colour light or light that colour candle
to heal
it,” she explains knowledgeably.
Anna Singh has also gone in for regression therapy and candidly
admits that initially she was apprehensive about probing too deeply
and discovering deep-rooted instinc that resulted in unexpected,
out-of-character behaviour at times. “Regression not only helped
me understand why my life was the way it was and why I sometimes
did the kind of things I never would under normal circumstances.
It also made the trivial gudges one normally held against family
and friends seem unimportant. They ceased to matter and this has
led to a deeper awakening,” she informs us.
Art director Sharmishta Roy is another film personality who swears
by Reiki. Sharmishta from a young age showed a keen interest in
art direction. And it wasn’t long before she began drafting
designs for the sets her father,art director Sudhendu Roy was making.
With the passing of years her mentor and guide began to lean more
and more on her own and soon, without realising it, Sharmishta began
to take charge. Then her father suddenly fell seriously ill. So
critical was his condition that the doctors didn’t think he
would survive even 24 hours. Sharmishta was distraught. And that’s
when she turned to Reiki that was highly recommended to her by her
friends.
She was on a high at the end of her very first workshop. “It
was as if I had the world at my feet because I finally discovered
the power to heal myself. I cried buckets and then just when I thought
I had unburdened myself, the second workshop made me realise that
there was so much more pent-up emotions that I still had to release,”
she recalls.
Her Reiki instructor, R Chandran and her co-students gave her the
strength to endure the ordeal. Her father lived for a year-and-a-half
and Sharmishta believes that she has Reiki to thank for that.”
I could literally feel my father drawing energy from us,” she
says, still awed by the experience.
Sharmishta continues with Reiki even today and insists that it’s
a great help for her at work because it makes her think positively.
“Life is easy to accept because you realise that for any given
situation you have so many options,” she marvels. “It’s
also made me think a lot before making any decision. I weigh all
the pros and cons and then fall back on my instincts to guide me
through. I don’t know if its intuition or suspicion but it
works because most of the time I’m right.”
Sharmistha agrees with Anna that everything about this profession
is superficial and artificial and that’s why there’s this
need to look deeper into your inner self and seek answers in spiritualism.
“Isn’t any kind of art whether it be acting, painting,
music or writing an extension of spirituality?” she asks. “So
I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t continue practising
what we have learnt.”
Sonali Bendre agrees with Sharmishta that these holistic healing
methods can change your life, considerably. The pretty actress has
had more than her share of ups and downs and enrolled for an Art
of Living workshop some time ago when she was really feeling low.
And came away a different person.
Sonali won’t talk about the experience because she considers
it too personal but Padmini Kolhapure-Sharma will.
Padmini’s interest in Sukyo Mahikari which means “true
light of the Almighty God”, began in a strange way five years
ago. She was at a friend, Nanda Talwalkar’s place, when she
was told about this course and asked if she would like to receive
the light of God. Intrigued, she accompanied her friend to the Sukyo
Mahikari Centre in Dadar (it is now located at Kandivali East, Mumbai)
and was amazed by the change that came over her. She visited the
shrine everyday for two weeks and later took up a three-day course.
“It was a wonderful experience. I became a channel for the
light of God and developed the ability to give light through my
palms. Purify myself and others physically, emotionally and spiritually,”
she marvels. “This process is termed as Mahikari Nowaza. While
healing a patient we chant Japanese prayers and radiate the light
of God to the heart for ten minutes. Friends I know from the time
since I was a toddler have also done this course. Even my son will
do it now.”
Shedding further light on Sukyo Mahikari Padmini informs us that
the founder of the course was Sukunushiana. The present spiritual
leader is Oshiashushisana. The main shrine is in Takayama, a small
town in Japan. Padmini has visited it thrice and plans to go back
again this year. The day before leaving for Japan to attend a ceremony
at the shrine, Padmini in her dream saw the founder, Oshiashushiana
wearing padukas. Now people abroad usually don’t know about
these wooden clogs, forget about wearing them. So Padmini dismissed
the dream till she read his autobiography and discovered that they
were her guru’s favourite footwear.
|
|
|
Sukyo
Mahikari was a wonderful experience. I became a channel for
the light of God and developed the ability to give light through
my palms. Purify myself and others physically, emotionally
and spiritually.
Padmini Kolhapure-Sharma
|
Padmini has still to qualify for the intermediate and advanced level
courses but her whole outlook to life has changed. “I’ve
begun to respect and acknowledge nature. Earlier I used to blame
God whenever things went wrong and thanked him only when things
went my way. But today I’m grateful to him for creating me
in the highest form of being. I’m a human being. What more
can one ask for?” she asks.
Shilpa Shetty is another actress who was prodded by friends and
her sister Shamita for years to join an Art of Living workshop.
Suddenly she found that she had five free days in her busy calender
and persuaded a friend to request Sangeeta Jain who had given up
conducting these worshops, to have a session for her so she could
share ideas, opinions and problems with others. The experience was
an eye-opener. “I learnt that problems are part of life but
you can’t twiddle your thumbs over them. You have to take charge
and the results can be positive or negative depending on how you
choose to deal with the situation,” she explains, sharing her
new-found wisdom.
The session taught Shilpa to think positively. “A girl in the
workshop had lost a close family member but instead of mourning
she thought only of the wonderful moments they shared. I was moved!
The three-day workshop made me feel absolutely at peace with myself.
Earlier I used to be irritable and snappy on the sets, but the Art
of Living technique has taught me that success and failure were
a part of life and I couldn’t allow the bad phases to make
me cynical. I used to worry about my future but today I live only
for the present,” she insists.
Tanuja’s also into Reiki and Past Life Regression and Madhuri
Dixit Nene is all for the regression therapy because she believes
that it’s one way of making people live a disciplined life
and brings them closer to God. Madhuri insists that our life is
governed by some kind of force, energy or destiny. “Call it
what you want but you can’t fight it however much you try,”
she asserts.
There’s no doubt that Madhuri’s heavily into spiritualism.
But she’s not into meditation and healing courses yet. “At
this point in my life I’m supremely content with myself. I
will probably take up these courses when I have a deeper awakening
of the self,” she avers.
Mahima has also not attended any of the courses yet but may well
do so in the future because she’s realised science and technology
may have helped man discover not only the world but also the universe.
But they have failed to invent a method whereby one could discover
one’s inner self. “That’s where these holistic methods
can be of help,” she points out.
Well, the day Mahima or Madhuri decide to turn to holistic healing
they can hunt up a copy of Rekha’s album Mind And Body Temple
that helps to take one through the paces of meditation. Or better
still seek out Rhea Dutt-Pillai who has been sharing her experiences
through workshops. For a nominal sum she helpsto make the layman
aware of not only healthy living but also spiritual consciousness.
Rhea’s husband Sanjay Dutt admits that though he’s too
restless a person to quietly meditate, being in the presence of
the tranquil Rhea has calmed him down considerably. Today he’s
at peace with himself.
Sanjay is not the only actor to have gained from the experience.
Way back in the late ’70s Vinod Khanna who was at the peak
of his career, went off to the US to tend the gardens in Rajneesh’s
ashram. He did return to the world he had impulsively renounced,
but it was a different Vinod who came back. A Vinod who no longer
lived life in the fast lanes.
Mithun Chakraborty is also heavily into spirualisim. In fact, his
sister is a sanyasi and at one time Mithun had also talked about
retiring to the Himalayas.
Akshay Kumar and Govinda are other actors very much into meditation.
Says the Hero No 1, “I have been into meditation since childhood.
Before going in to a hypnotic state, I bow my head to the rising
sun.” However, Chi-Chi refuses to reveal what he visualizes
when he goes into a trance.
It isn’t only Bollywood that’s finding solace in this
kind of therapy. Hollywood is also turning to India to discover
its inner being. When Beatles legend, singer Paul McCartney flew
into the capital he made sure his itenary included a stopover at
Allahabad during the Mahakumbh mela. McCartney wasn’t the only
“star” at the headline making fair. Pierce Brosnan, Sharon
Stone, Demi Moore, Richard Gere and Madonna were also there mingling
with saffron clad sadhus and devout Hindus, taking a dip in the
holy waters.
|
|
|
The
Art Of Living taught me that success and failures are a part
of life. I used to worry about the future but today, I live
only for the present.
Shilpa Shetty
|
Superstar Richard Gere in fact, one may recall, makes frequent trips
to Dharamsala to meet the Dalai Lama. He claims that an encounter
with the Tibetan religious leader manages to calm his restless spirit.
It was at the urging of the Dalai Lama that Gere has took up the
cause of tribal people around the world whose culture was on the
verge of disappearing. The mission has, he admitted in a recent
interview, “helped him feel the pain and turmoil of brothers
and sisters”.
Hindu philospophy with its theory of karma and reincarnation is
fascinating for Latino singer Ricky Martin and Titanic star Kate
Winslet. It has also brought about a deeper awakening in pop diva
Madonna whose album Ray Of Light had her turning up her mehendi-decorated
palm that showed the universal Hindu mantra of Om. The album was
created with the intention of influencing people “in a quieter
way”. It was the birth of her daughter, Lourdes, that triggered
off a spiritual discovery in the Material Girl. If reports are to
be believed, the singer- actress plans to soon visit Hardwar to
learn Sanskrit from a Brahmin master. But her visit to the country
will be kept under wraps.
This kind of global interest in spiritualism and holistic therapy
sparks off the million-dollar question: Have these courses become
a fad? Anna admits that a number of filmi folk don’t practise
what they preach and have no desire to grow as human beings. But
Sharmishtha has the last word on the subject. “People may practise
these therapies because they have become a fad but the fact remains
that they alter your life. Every individual wishes to be happy and
feel good about himself and this is what these workshops and the
courses have done for them.” Touche!
Parag >>
Top
|
Cover
Story
