That's So Cliché

Detach from the world. Eliminate worldly desires. No [insert niyams here]...

Week in and week out, we grow accustomed to hearing statements like these. It's not that their message is valid, it's just that they are heavy doses for our heroes. They don't invigorate the audience at-large and fall under the category of cliché, phrases that we think carry appeal but rather fall flat on their feet to carry change forward.

The folks over at Duarte.com show us just how blind-sided we can be passing them off as cool. Of course, it's difficult to know if we abuse this habit, so record yourself next time to find out. Even if you do, it's not the end of the world.

Animation Fun

We are not really sure how to categorize this, some ideas are here. It will put a smile on your face.

Lost in Translation

This weeks kishore/kishori sabha focuses on bhakti. The presentation suggest a great way to start and grab everyone's attention. We have said in the past starting with "Webster's define xxxx as yyyy" as in the definition of bhakti is devotion, usually is not a great way to go. It is not unexpected, it is not sticky. The presentation emphasizes that to translate bhakti as devotion does not really do it justice. So how can we expand this idea to do something unexpected. Here are a few ideas.

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign.
Show some funny or interesting signs that have had a translation problem. Move from there fairly quickly to the problem of translations in general and then specifically to bhakti.

Urban Translation

Translate a popular song into proper English. Does the song still convey the same message? Move fairly quickly to the idea of translating bhakti.

Technology
Even though it is difficult many people are trying to translate. TED Talks have a crowd sourced translation method. The iPhone even has an augmented reality app. Would this app get the translation of bhakti correct?
Unexpected gets people's attention. We need to follow with some credible and concrete examples in the form of story to keep that attention.

Monti Storytelling

You may have heard of The Moth which features story slams - stories told live with no notes. They have a great archive of podcasts. It is great to listen to these since it distills storytelling to it's core. Now north maybe a direction, but the South is a destination. And in the South, we have our own version of story slams called Monti. The following link has a few stories and a dissection of what makes them so captivating. It is well worth a listen - maybe during your next commute.

To summarize some of the points:

• Storytelling is not trivial, it is an art, but it can be learned.
• The first story is a great example of building up your characters before launching into the anecdote. P. Santo do this many times as well. They will talk about Muktanandan Swami's mahima before launching into a prasang about him. Similarly when we are a presentation full of prasangs, some background work describing (in an unexpected way) the main person in those prasangs will bring the audience in.
• Many people have a habit, sometimes a nervous habit, of asking simple questions during their talk, e.g. Who is the President? They may fall into the trap of asking this question and then seeing what people say - the question does not engage the audience, but you asked it - so now what do you do. The second story shows how to ask such questions and still make things sticky. [For those who are not going to listen to the link, the trick is to answer it yourself in a way that creates emotion.]
• The second talk is all about emotion.
• Humor is used liberally through out.
• What else did we miss?

Best of the Monti via WUNC

"Sound Guy Neck Crane"

This is funny - read it it will make you laugh. You can use it in many ways in many talks, presentations, or newsletters. Link it to a Swami ni Vaat or Vachnamrut, and you get a nice article. There are many times Bapa has made fun of the microphone, most recently in London Diwali the mic kept moving, he mentioned that even the mic was telling him to go.

Enjoy - and remember, we'd love to know how you managed to tuck this one into your presentation.

Sound Guy Neck Crane

Microphones are Nastiks (Atheists). I can’t prove this scientifically, but I’m pretty sure it’s true. I think it’s because Maharaj doesn’t need them. When He speaks in the Vachnamrut, His voice is loud and carries naturally, or He uses samadhi and mukto and miracles to amplify His message. So I imagine that microphones feel slighted and decided long ago to wage a very public anti campaign against Maharaj and Swami.

How else can you explain the shenanigans that occur on Sunday afternoon in almost every sabha with the sound system? From microphones that work perfectly during sound check and then refuse to work during sabha to that loud ear-bursting feedback that blossoms during the most inappropriate times, like right before a prarthna, sound systems are always punking the Mandir. And when they do, it’s so easy to pull out a “sound guy neck crane.”

The sound guy neck crane is the first thing we all do when the sound goes bananas in the middle of sabha. It’s a simple move, but I’ll walk you through the steps:

1. Sound messes up. 
2. You quickly try to remember where the sound guy is stationed in the sabha.
3. You crane your neck to his position and stare at him with eyes that say, “Do you not hear this? That microphone is on fire! Why do you want sabha to suck? Do you hate Maharaj and Swami? That’s it, isn’t it? You hate Maharaj. You sweaty Nastik.” 
4. Sound is restored. You turn back around and silently thank yourself for contributing to the rectification of the problem by pointing it out with your sound guy neck crane.

I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else. The only problem is that at my local Mandir about 5 different sevaks help run the sound on any given Sunday sabha and same sit in the audio room way up high and in the back but a few are on one side of the stage and yet some others are sitting in audience. So my head has to bounce around like I’m watching a tennis match (or desi volleyball) if I want to bust out a sound guy neck crane. “I see you in the audio room. You down at the side of the stage. You up on the corner of the stage, I’m seeing you too, and I’m not happy.” Bounce, bounce, bounce, crane, crane, crane.

That’s part of the reason I’m going to retire my sound guy neck crane. It’s just too much work at my Mandir. It’s also kind of a jerk thing to do. And by “kind of” I mean “really,” and by “jerk” I mean “words I can’t type without crazy *&# symbols.” From now on, when the sound messes up, I’m going to just do a sitting pag e laag the person next to me and whisper politely, “Microphones hate Maharaj.” It will be awkward the first 2, 3, or 400 times, but people usually like sitting paag e laags, and it will put the blame where it belongs: on Maharaj-hatin’ sound equipment.