Bohemianism - Temptation for a Vagabond
Bohemianism is the practice of an
unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of likeminded people with few permanent
ties involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits. A Bohemian is a person as an artist or writer,
who lives and acts free of regard for conventional rules and practices or the
one who lives a vagabond or wandering life as a Gypsy. Montmartre in Paris used to be the Mecca for Bohemians
and was also the popular meeting place
of Bohemians in the world.
Hippie
Apple founders Steve Jobs and
Steve Wozniak both were Hippies for some time in their lives. Hippies existed in America and western world in 1960s and1970s.
Hippies rejected conventional values and
found to be typically with long hair, jeans, Beads and often associated with
hallucinogenic drugs. The Hippies smoked
Marijuana a drug that they enjoyed in pots. Hippies created their own
communities, listened to psychedelic music, embraced the sexual revolution and
used drugs such as Cannabis, LSD, Peyote and psilocybin mushrooms to explore
altered state of consciousness.
According to the hippies LSD was the
glue that held the Haight together. It
was the Hippies sacrament, a mind detergent capable of washing away years of
social programming, a re-imprinting device, a consciousness-expander, a tool
that would push us up the evolutionary ladder.
The Hippies camped in Goa’s Vagator
and Anjuna Beaches and attracted many foreign and Indian tourists at that
time. The Goa tourism picked up in leaps
and bounds after the arrival of Hippies in Goa.
The Hippies used to wander in the length and breadth of the world
deserting their families and leaving behind their material wealth. They used to inject drugs to get into
hallucinatory world.
Personality traits and values that hippies
tend to be associated with are “altruism” and “mysticism”, honesty, joy and non-violence. Hippies embraced the old slogan of free love
of the radical social reformers of the other eras.
Flowerchild
Happiness shared is the flower.” - John Harrigan.
“A Flower cannot blossom
without sunshine,
And man cannot live without
love.”- Max Mueller
Trance is a kind of electronic
dance music that developed in 1990s in Germany.
Deep trance refers to hypnotic mid- and down-tempo with a steady beat. It is essentially trance slowed down to
anywhere from 90-120 bpm (with a great
deal of variation beyond that).
I would like to share an excerpt
from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous poem here –
In a
vision once I saw :
It
was an Abyssinian maid
And
on her dulcimer she played,
Singing
of Mount Abora.
Could
I revive within me
Her
symphony and song,
To
such a deep delight ‘twould win me,
That
such music loud and long,
I
would build that dome in air,
That
sunny dome! Those caves of Ice!
And
all who heard should see them there,
And
all should cry Beware! Beware!
His
flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave
a circle round him thrice,
And close
your eyes with holy dread
For
he on honey-dew hath fed,
And
drunk the milk of paradise.”
ISKCON (International Society
for Krishna Consciousness) was founded by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
in 1966 in New York. Many Americans
joined Hare Krishna, the new foundation and visited ISKCON headquarters in Juhu, Mumbai, India.
When you discuss about
psychedelic trance music it appears in your mind's screen the dance and title
song from Hindi film “Hare Rama Hare Krishna” starring famous Bollywood actors
Dev Anand, and Zeenat Aman as Hippie. The
film directed by Dev Anand released in India on 9th December, 1971. The
song from this film ”Dum Maro Dum” was a mega hit. In the film Dev Anand persuaded the drug
addict hippie Zeenat Aman to return to normal life and succeeded in the
end.
I remember the days when Indian youth imitated Bollywood hippies by wearing bell-bottom pants and sporting long hair.
Raas Leela – Mystical dance of the soul
The dance of Lord Krishna in the
river banks of Yamuna in Vrindavan with Gopikas in the mythlogical eras personifies the whole of life is a meeting of
contradictory forces, and all its happiness comes from the union of
opposites. The mystery and ecstasy of
life hidden in this unio mystica. What is happening around us in this vast universe.
Is it anything other than a dance, a celebration,
an abounding carnival of joy? It is all celebration, whether it is clouds
gliding in the heavens or rivers rushing to the seas or seeds on their way to becoming
flowers and fruit, or bees humming or birds on the wing or love affairs between
men and women. It is all a panorama of
play and dance and celebration.
Similarly, In Pune, Maharashtra,
India’s OSHO Ashram, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh used to drive his disciples into
dizzying heights through his hermitage in-house programs. Bhagwan Rajneesh was an Indian mystic guru,
and spiritual leader. Rajneesh Ashram
is located in Koregaon Park, Pune and now known as OSHO International
Meditation Resort. Through meditation and sexually liberated views he attracted
millions of devotees to his OSHO Rajneesh Ashram in Pune.
His syncretic teachings emphasize
the importance of meditation, awareness, love, celebration, courage, creativity
and humor, the qualities which he viewed as suppressed by adherence to static
belief systems, religious tradition and socialization. Rajneesh’s teachings had a notable influence
on Western spirituality and New Age thought.
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh said that Religion is an art that shows how to
enjoy life. Bhagwan means in English
“Blessed One”. Indian cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh created the Spiritual
practice of dynamic meditation. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh also known as Aacharya
Rajneesh and later on as OSHO. His
unusual form of Indian spirituality, especially known for its encouragement of
free sexual activity attracted many followers as well as considerable
controversy.
Over 650 books are credited to
OSHO. His books are available in 55
languages. Rajneesh Ashram had hosted two
lakhs visitors per year from around the world.
Bollywood star Vinod Khanna was a Rajneesh Sannyasin or disciple and he
accepted the name of “Vinod Bharti” during his Rajneesh days. He worked as a
gardener in Rajneeshpuram, OSHO’s hermitage. Vinod Khanna was nicknamed as Sexy
Sannyasin in those days. Vinod Khanna returned to Bollywood later on and
continued to reign supreme as a super hero.
OSHO died in 1990 aged 58 years
at his Pune Ashram. His epitaph or tomb inscription reads “OSHO Never Born,
Never Died. Only visited this Planet Earth between Dec 11, 1931 - January 19,
1990.”
The modern highly educated and successful youth indulging in Rave parties in forest under moonlight attracted newspaper headlines in the recent past. The youth, men and women, enjoyed in such parties with music, booze, dance, Drugs and freely mixing with each other. The secret messages used to circulate privately about the Rave parties and youngsters used to head for such destinations to participate in it. This was both adventurous and seeking forbidden fruits.
When we discussed the hallucinatory
trance, it provokes me to throw some light into man’s quest for happiness. The happiness is the ultimate mantra for
humans. The tendency to seek happiness
above all by man can be noticed from pre-historic era. Though some time temporary trance due to
vices affects human life is a known factor, many shed such habits and become
successful personalities in life. The
moral is not to submit and surrender to Vagabond tendencies and become a
responsible citizen in society. A good
citizen is the asset of any stronger nation. There are always vices makes you
to become a slave to them. However,
shedding such habits and overcome self-destructive traps are man’s major
strength. The stronger bond of
conservative upbringing and strong family values always keeps you alienated
from falling into trance and hallucinations.
All these dogmas remained at its
peak only for a temporary trance and gradually lost its steam. The hypnotic
tranquilizers had their fan followings for an encapsulated existence and did
not last.
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