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June 24, 2009
Why am I not on television as yet?!
It is pure mathematics. Of course I am not talking about astrology. I am talking about the economics involved in being on the Television as an astrologer. There are two ways any astrologer can get on to the television – one by blabbering daily predictions during the morning hours when most of the people are either brushing their teeth or shitting in the bathroom. Or launch your own Astro program on Television for a fee at a mutually agreed time slot. (Remember prime slot is always booked for thundering thighs).
Ninety per cent of the people of any society are idiots, and rest of the 10 per cent rule upon them – either in the name of politics, either in the name of bureaucracy, either through judiciary system, either through the media or either through religious belief system. I think Television wasn’t called an Idiot Box – it might have been called Idiot’s Box!
Now these 90 per cent of the people tend to believe whatever they read in newspapers or whatever they watch on Television. They think media is the next savior for them after Jesus Christ. No wonder the women who are ‘whores’ in real life are considered to be role models after their ‘holier than thou’ characterization in mega serials. I don’t want to name them individually – because my blog won’t have that much server space.
All TV channels are supposed to fill boring morning slots either with astrology or programs connected to religion and spirituality. And before someone gets up, these programs are already over.
The producers catch hold of average looking astrologers with minimal oratory skills and make them sit the whole day in front of those hot lightings and shoot the programme for the whole week in a single day. Most of the times the astrologer is NOT paid a single penny, and the maximum amount that is paid if the astrologer insists is Rs 1000. The astrologer is happy with or without getting money – because he thinks he gets a good mileage being on the TV!
Now if you go for your own Astro program, the minimum expense will be Rs 50,000 for single episode, which includes the slot fee, and also the production cost. No astrologer is interested in donating money to the TV channel or to make people aware of this wonderful science/art by burning his own pocket. He surely expects returns.
If the astrologer has some minimum business sense, he will aspire to make at least double the money of what he has invested in making the program. So his target will be 1 lakh in a week. In that case he has to do consultation for 100 people who are ready to pay him Rs 1000, in 7 days, or some 200 people who are ready to pay him Rs 500, in 7 days. If he spends at least 30 mns with one client, he has to spend 7 hours talking in day. If he does that he will die of throat cancer in 6 months time.
So the best bet for any astrologers who come on television is to market something that needs less effort and that which will fetch more money. Hence most astrologers who come on television are either Numerologists or Gemmologists or someone who gives a lot of hope in the name of remedial measures. They never get into predictions, because they are aware that predictions won’t get them much money in return.
And why am I not on the television? Because I don’t give false hopes of changing destinies, I don’t suggest name change or lucky gem that might bring huge luck and make you the next Dhirubhai Ambai, I don’t want to promote astrology and create awareness among people – that is not my job, and lastly – I am not a businessman.
Posted by Kenni at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2009
Few days of seclusion…part 2!
I am neither a fan of Ramana Maharishi nor his disciple. He was destined to get enlightened and he did. And his way of negation doesn’t and will not suit everyone on the path of spirituality. “you are not your senses, you are not your body, you are not your thoughts, then who are you?” The statements sound exciting and easy but do not help you much in the longer run. You will keep asking “Who am I?” And the answer will remain the same, ‘You’ are ‘You’!
There is a beautiful Shiva Linga inside the Ramana ashram, where pujas are performed through out the day. Mantras are chanted, Vedic shlokas are read, and divine songs are sung. The energy and vibration indeed make you feel elated, but then I didn’t understand one thing. If Ramana believed in the philosophy of Advaita – meaning ‘seek God inside you’ – why is this Shiva Linga – an external factor - worshipped here with so much of religiousness?
Thankfully there ain’t any meditation classes or group therapies. You are just provided the place to live and are provided food on time. You are just left alone to do whatever you want to. You can meditate, you can read, you can move around, or just exist for the sake of it. The place is full of silence, and environment is serene.
There are two beautiful caves on the mountain just behind the ashram – named Skandasramam cave and Virupaksha cave, where Ramana Maharishi happened to spend many years in tranquility. I have had fantasized about meditating in a cave through out my life, and this was the first time I had an opportunity to really meditate sitting inside a cave. The experience was awesome – and God spoke to me! (Will blog about that some other day).
There is always a fear of getting attached in the process of detachment. The first day, you feel all are strangers hence feel better to be alone, the second day you keep bumping into the same people again and again and start exchanging smiles, and the third day you start to communicate with them. You are at square one again. New relationships and new friendships start developing – and you start to miss your ‘aloneness’ again. I need not reiterate the story of the saint who left everything to become a real ascetic, and had to start with having a pet cat to take care of the rats, which ate his loincloth.
I guess I stayed for the right period of time and three days were apt. I left before aloneness starts turning into boredom. And I left before I became ‘myself’ again in the new environment.
Posted by Kenni at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2009
Few days of seclusion…part 1!
I am back, and I should admit that I had an awesome time in seclusion. I think there is nothing like being ‘alone’ once in a while or when you really want to. And I am glad that I did this, when I was happy about how life is treating me. I read somewhere – only a happy mind can meditate, and I cannot disagree to that statement.
I would have never come to know about a place called ‘Thiruvannamalai’, if I had not married to my wife. Well she was born in this beautiful, serene and divine place. Thiruvannamalai is one of the Pancha Bootha Sthalangal representing the fire element along with Chidambaram, Sri Kalahasti, Thiruvanaikoil and Kanchipuram representing sky, air, water and earth respectively. They are all Lord Shiva’s temples. Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruvannamalai
On top of that Sri Ramana Maharishi had spent most of his life in this graceful place. Sri Ramana Maharishi, had formed an ashram at the foothills of Annamalai hills, and there is where I spent three of my life’s most beautiful days.
The accommodation is free, the food is free, and if you want you can donate something to the ashram. Donation is not compulsory though. Here is the URL http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/ that will guide you through the place and also the process involved if you want to spend some days there – alone.
Posted by Kenni at 04:55 AM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2009
Far from the maddening crowd…
This is the first time I am doing this alone. I am cutting myself off from all communication and communication devices for 3 days and I am going far away from the maddening crowd. I will be roaming around as ‘nobody’ in an unknown place. I am already excited about the value time I will be spending with myself and of course God! Inshallah – I would love to spend these 3 days in complete silence. Will blog about the experience when I am back!
Posted by Kenni at 04:11 PM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2009
My spiritual journey so far – part 9!
This particular blog is the last in this series as 9 happens to be my lucky number!
Thrilled with the divine skill of seeing things and the psychic ability to crack human life patterns, I very ‘badly’ wanted to help people in a major way. Thankfully I didn’t run nude like Archimedes did after the revelation. But I at least ran till Mayajaal – a multi-plex on ECR - where they were conducting special programmes for Pongal. The deal wasn’t good, but then money wasn’t that I was looking for. All I wanted to do was to help some sincere seekers.
The crowd was good and my stall was named – ‘Tarot Reading by G Kennedi.’ Most of the people were completely clueless about what Tarot reading actually meant. Few came and asked where is the parrot? I said there is no parrot – I am the one who will be picking up the cards. Few were excited about the colourful Rider Waite Tarot cards, and debated – why don’t you allow us to pick the cards. And I had to tell them – we aren’t playing strip poker here!
The response was good and I did reading for close to 150 people in 2 days. Except for a couple of readings where I got screwed rest were excellent. And I loved the way people looked at me with awe, when I could tell them their past just by looking at them. I could say their educational qualification, the colour of the car, the area where they live, and the countries they have already traveled. It was major fun – at least for me.
I was naive and could not handle the new toy. Just like kids, who exhaust themselves with a new toy, I exhausted myself too. I never knew the repercussion of psychic reading. After those 2 days I fell ill for 15 days. Had I talked to my teacher before I accepted the deal, I am sure he would have helped me - for he knew and also had good experience in psychic reading.
These 15 days of illness were days of contemplation. The first question I asked myself was – was it worth it? And I got an answer. It wasn’t. The people who consulted me basically thought that I was a magician. And I am sure the reading and the predictions weren’t taken seriously. They probably were thinking hard about how I did it than what I told them.
There were many who just came, sat, and threw their attitudes. If it had been my house, I would have asked them to get out, or rather looking at their attitudes I would never let them inside. But I was bound to do the reading. An incident that made me decide that – I will never travel to the client’s place for a reading. If the client wants – he should visit me. That holds true to the PM too ;).
Few were testing my skills and few were testing my patience. The worst thing I could remember is that a rich drunk bastard sat near me and asked me to do a reading. It was reason enough for me to say fuck it. I reduced the days to 2 from 4, and regretted my decision of accepting the deal.
Morals of the story 1) help only selected people. 2) If you keep your ass open, none would mind fucking it.
After dealing with 150 people, I understood one truth that even if Lord Narayana comes in flesh and blood, there still will be people who will be ready to debate about whether he is the real Lord Narayana or the fake one.
I stopped using my psychic energy, and started concentrating just on horoscopes. It is simpler any day. These days I try seeing things only for those special people I like. And my liking towards them completely depends upon their behaviour and respect towards astrology and astrologers.
On my spiritual journey – through long hours of meditation, and after reading 7000 and odd horoscopes – I have realized only one truth. And the truth is ‘God Exists.’ There wasn’t any flowering of 1000 lotus petals in my bloody head and I never went to a no-mind stage people cheat about and aspire for.
I still am possessive about few people, I still feel jealous about few things, I haven’t forgotten my past, I have not dropped my ego and identity, I haven’t changed my name to fool myself, I still have desires, I don’t carry a fake smile as if I have unearthed the tool for permanent happiness, and I still get a hard on looking at a woman wearing a bikini or G-string. But still the truth remains – ‘I have realized the presence of God!’
And the saddest part of life is - once you realize the presence of God you are back to square one – as in life goes as per destiny!
Posted by Kenni at 09:49 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2009
I have many dreams…part 2
There are only two concepts in astrology – good time and bad time. Good time is when things go the way you want, and also when external events are in synch with the inner list of dreams and perception you carry. Bad time is when things go the way God wants it, and when the external events are in complete mismatch with your inner list of things. You neither can avoid good things happening in your life nor can escape bad things. Life becomes an interesting journey when you start seeing your own life from a third man’s perspective, which eventually helps you to accept that both good and bad are two sides of the same coin. Both good and bad are all part of the divine plan.
So if you apply that rule to human life, every human – at one time or other – will get fucked by God royally and will be blessed by the same God divinely. People are mostly non-believers when they run their good times, and when bad time hits they spend lakhs in remedial measures. I sometime do free readings for people who are running a bad time and who really are in trouble, and they say I am a divine soul. I just smile – saying just because I haven’t charged you doesn’t mean I am a divine soul. Divinity has nothing to do with charging money or providing the service for free. I just wonder if these people ever contributed anything to astrology or temples or God, when they really did well financially.
Dream 4 – A non-religious commune
It will be a gated community with all the modern amenities. And it will have nothing to do with religion, caste, race, creed, nationality or belief systems. It will have rooms – single, double, triple – where in people can come alone or with family and stay free of cost. But how is it viable economically? It depends on membership.
You can become a member of this commune by contributing a prescribed amount every month, as you do for insurance policies – this can happen when you are running a good time. You need to contribute this prescribed money all through – till you want to continue as a member. And when you lose jobs, or in a transition of changing jobs or when you made a huge loss on business front and don’t know where to go – you can come and stay – without worry. Food and accommodation will be free for you as long as you stay. And once you get a new job and when your finances get improved you can move back to your own set up. And continue contributing till you think you want to be a member.
For people who want to take a break from jobs and start life afresh or would want concentrate on a new career – this place can help them lessen their burden about basic necessities. And men and women who are clueless about where to go after fighting with their spouse – they can come and stay – no questions will be asked.
Dream 5 - Free food camps for children
I have a dream that not a single ‘Indian’ child should go to sleep on empty stomach. I am not bothered about the adults or the handicapped or the people who are above the age of 14.
They still have an option to earn their daily breads. Also I am not bothered about providing free education for the poor. The prayers never said ‘give me my daily piece of knowledge’. It said, ‘give me my daily bread.’
This food camps will be exclusively for children below the age of 14. I don’t know how it will start and when it will start, but when it gets started it will grow as a chain in every state of India. And children can just walk in and have a good healthy meal – free of cost.
Posted by Kenni at 04:47 AM | Comments (0)