When the Ashvin Ji, owner of the famous bookstore in Chennai - Odyssey called up to inform that they are planning to launch my book, I was pleasantly surprised and happy. It felt like I am making some progress towards my goal of getting the word out that there is more to our ancient culture and heritage.
One of the main reasons of writing and publishing “The Monk Key” series is to reach out to the young generation who, in my opinion are alienated from the deep source of our culture, heritage and thoughts - our ancient scriptures. When asked, whether they have read our Vedas, Purana's and Upanishad's etc., the typical replies is "What is the point of reading them"? This is due to the certain biases ingrained through the modern education system, which reflect the western philosophy. The first book “Songs of the Mist” of ‘The Monk Key’ series is my attempt to share the knowledge and thoughts of Karma Yoga, based on Bhagwat Gita; in order to inspire them to connect proactively with our cultural heritage. Here I must thank my Publisher of my book's Hindi Translation - Story Mirror which will allow my book to reach wider audience.
Then, as the whole universe conspired to make my attempt a reality, famous Rap Singer / spiritualist Blaaze and Sh. Keshav Ji - Hindu Cartoonist and foremost Krishna Bhakt, agreed to discuss how positively the ancient Shloka’s and scriptures affect our selves, provide a great source of energy and peace as well as the way to live. Thank you Raghwesh, Paul and Ashwani Bhai connecting me with wonderful people, who graced the occasion.
The Chennai Bloggers Club rallied behind and started a contest on the topic ‘What Spirituality means to you’, in which numerous bloggers participated and wrote wonderful blog posts that in itself inspired many more. I must thank Mahesh, Bragadeesh and Sindhu - Admins of Chennai Bloggers Club for such wonderful support in making this event huge success.
It also inspired Blaaze in a way that he worked continuously for 18 hours to finish our collaboration 'Gita Dhyanam' rap, just two hours before the launch and played for the audience for the first time as they settled in.
But above all it was the wonderful discussion with such creative souls, which underlined my thrust for the younger generation to dive into the depth of knowledge that our ancient culture and heritage carries within. My book "Songs of the Mist" is in reality just a little such attempt to reach out to the young generation, through its underlying theme - Karma Yoga i.e. the essence of Bhagwat Gita for young generation.
"When you just listen to Shloka, the Sanskrit syllables are enough to get you positive energy, without knowing anything about it. It can only bring peace in a world like this". - Blaaze
BlaaZe, my friend, is an amazing guy who is not only a friend with whom I collaborating on the monk's 9 songs from "Songs of the Mist" but also is the inspiration who got me thinking about Shloka rap. From Baba Rap of Rajnikanth Sir's movie, to Slum Dog Millionaire, Delhi 6, Bunty or Bubli to Shyamala Dandakam, he is one amazing guy. Thank you for coming BlaaZe, I could not be more grateful. Om Namah Shivaya.
BlaaZe, my friend, is an amazing guy who is not only a friend with whom I collaborating on the monk's 9 songs from "Songs of the Mist" but also is the inspiration who got me thinking about Shloka rap. From Baba Rap of Rajnikanth Sir's movie, to Slum Dog Millionaire, Delhi 6, Bunty or Bubli to Shyamala Dandakam, he is one amazing guy. Thank you for coming BlaaZe, I could not be more grateful. Om Namah Shivaya.
“Our Purana’s and ancient Vedic Scriptures etc., give you how to deal with life, how to deal with situations and predicaments, as they have already analyzed and laid it out on platter so that you don’t have to think.” - Keshav ji
Keshav ji is the man behind my upcoming coffee table book "Essence of Bhagwat Gita" which is based upon the "Songs of the Mist". Here in this book, I am giving you all the glimpse of 9 songs of the mysterious Monk, who took Ashutosh under his wings and explained the way to live. Keshav ji, apart from being one of the most famous cartoonists of Hindu Group, he is also a great painter and above all a Krishna Bhakt.
Keshav ji is the man behind my upcoming coffee table book "Essence of Bhagwat Gita" which is based upon the "Songs of the Mist". Here in this book, I am giving you all the glimpse of 9 songs of the mysterious Monk, who took Ashutosh under his wings and explained the way to live. Keshav ji, apart from being one of the most famous cartoonists of Hindu Group, he is also a great painter and above all a Krishna Bhakt.
As Mahesh, the host took over the mike, the venue was overflowing with readers, few of my friends from book club and fellow authors like Arun, Riti Prasad from the Publisher Story Mirror. Later one of the book club members, T Suresh commented that it was an unique event in many ways, which started with invocation of Saraswati Vandana by Vidya Devanathan (Thanks to my friend Jothivel from CBC) and Shloka rap, Shyamala Dandakam and ended with Krishna songs, something he had never seen before.
On my part, I purposely avoided talking a lot about my book and focused primarily on the idea of getting the younger generation inspired enough by my talk and by my book ‘Songs of the Mist’ to start connecting with our heritage and culture. Start reading our ancient texts like Bhagwat Gita, Purana’s and Upanishads. Start listening to Sanskrit Shloka and saying it out loud as in the words of Blaaze “Sound of Shloka is enough to give you positivity, energy and peace”
Here is a videos where Blaaze is describing his journey from Baba Rap to Shloka Rap, Keshav Ji on his journey from Cartoons in Hindu to painting one picture of Krishna on Face Book everyday. Hope it inspires you to connect with our culture and heritage too.
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