Graphical Ramayan

This week we will try to combine the principles of Made to Stick and Resonate in creating a sticky talks that resonates with our sabha audience. It maybe beneficial to re-read the follow posts here an here to review the main points from those two books. The topic from the syllabus is the Ramayan, and we will look at one option. See if it works for you, or better yet, take these ideas (and the ideas in the blog) to make something even better - and share that with us.

Everyday Ecstasy

Simple

Everyone has sorrow in life, even Ram Bhagwan. However, he was always happy. Those who focused on him, had sorrow in their lives, but they too were always happy. We have the same relationship with Bapa.

Unexpected

The supplemental material has some very good unexpected graphs which we reproduce here. The ideas is that in every story, every hero has what is called the "Hero's Journey." S/he has obstacles that they have to overcome. We attach emotion to their journey, and then we relate to that journey. It may look like this graph.

Let's look at an example that everyone knows (bonus for those that watched yesterday post video - notice how this mirrors the structure of a great talk).

Now to Ram Bhagwan, what did the first part of his life (at least the part in this presentation) look like. If the audience could benefit, make this an activity: map Ram Bhagwan's life from misery to ecstasy up until he reaches the jungle. It may look something like this.

This is the first part of our introduction, where we paint a picture of what is. What is life like right now for all of us? It is this up and down of happiness and sorrow. Even Ram Bhagwan was not immune to this. In fact, his happiness was greater than ours (first prince, destined for the throne, marries Sita), but his sadness is even worse than ours (leaves home and parents at a young age, attacked by monsters that want to kill him, exiled to the forest).

Now, we introduce our idea of what could be and introduce the gap between the status quo and the simple idea of our talk - Ram Bhagwan was always happy, so really, the map of his life should look like this graph.

Concrete, Credible Story Examples

With our simple idea introduced take the prasangs from Ram Bhagwan's life and show how even though he experience a great deal of joy and a great deal of sorrow - it did not disturb him because he was one with Bhagwan. For our local sabha, the kishores would benefit by giving the concrete example of Swamishri. He has had health problems - heart attack, cataracts, etc. - yet he is not affected by this. He has also had a great deal of success - Delhi Akshardham - yet he he is not affected by this either. Why? He is always in a state of bliss, he is always focused on Maharaj.

How would this look on Duarte's graph of a great talk as described in Resonate? Here is our attempt.

Emotion and Details

Each of the prasangs from the presentation are perfect for storytelling. We had a great guest post that really identified how to make our prasangs resonate - it maybe worth reviewing. The key idea with emotion is that it does not have to pull on our heartstrings, it does not have to make us sad or hopeful. Any emotion will do - disgust, anger, laughter. When Ram Bhagwan is exiled, if we dig, we can find details (that may not be in the syllabus) that clearly show how outrageous this was - it should make us angry that this happened - it was not fair. Once we have everyone riled up, we can deftly point out that Ram Bhagwan did not get angry. Why? He was always in a state of bliss - our simple message.

Call for Action

Duarte mentions that we need to end with a call to action - to point out what the world would be like if everyone was happy. We can paint that world, there would be no war, no disagreements. We get a glimpse of that world when we are near Bapa, when Bapa visits our center, when we go to a National Convention where Bapa is present - everyone is excited, energized.

Literally, Oneness is Sweet!

Here's a find submitted to us by a fellow reader whose katha-listening habits helped her dig this one example out.

The topic of Akshar is referred to in different ways, but the adjectives used to describe Akshar are very similar to those used to describe Purushottam. How do we intellectually differentiate between the two?

P. Brahmavihari Swami sheds light on this during his Kath Upanishad parayan. He asks the question of what different mithai taste like ("how do penda taste? sweet. How does gulab jambu taste? sweet. How does jalebi taste? Sweet.). Although the adjectives used to describe these items is the same (i.e. sweet), by tasting them, we each have personal favorites (I'll take my sister's cheesecake over jalebi anyday). We can tell the difference due to our personal experience.

[Similarly], his point is that... only through personal experience can one articulate the difference between Akshar and Purushottam. Maharaj did so for us in the Vachanamrit and other scriptures; Gunatitanand Swami articulated these characteristics in his Vatu and Swamishri lives these characteristics today. By studying these characteristics and imbibing them, or even meditating upon these characteristics, we can achieve the state of becoming 'brahmarup'. His example was super sticky and I'll never forget it. Pass it on :)

It's hard to forget an example so mouth-watering as this one making it an unexpected asset in our presentation toolbox.

Again, we laud our readers for keeping up with our posts and sharing their feedback, and we encourage it. It's like dessert - who can pass it up?

Oneness is...?

We've been ruminating over this next presentation's theme and were wondering...

What is the Gujarati word for oneness?

Please help us out by commenting - thanks!

Current Example of Oneness

It seems as we think about oneness, Swamibapa decided to show us an example of oneness.

The following link is a picture story that clearly shows that the quality that Shastriji Maharaj had for Maharaj and his guru, Swamishri has for Shastriji Maharaj.

Pac Man On the Wall

Pac Man is iconic. You may have never played the game but you know about it. Every time you see three quarters of a circle that is yellow you cannot help but think Pac Man. For anyone growing up in the 80s, Pac Man was the big thing. So it comes as no surprise that the kids from the 80s have grown up and bought a house and painted Pac Man scenes in their basement. But how did they get one image in the whole room? It really looks like they did something with photoshop or final cut pro. Click on the video and be amazed by the power of anamorphic projections - really clever ways of painting on different walls to make it seem like one picture.



So this is really interesting, now what can we do we do with it. A central concept within satsang is to become one with the Satpurush, or the fact that our guru parampara had oneness with Maharaj. This idea of oneness is sometimes glossed over in an introduction and then we say a few prasangs and hope everyone connects the dots. This weeks kishore/kishori sabha talks about the oneness of Maharaj and Shatriji Maharaj. Try starting with something unexpected and show this clip. From here there are many ways you can go. Here is one. When seen from just the right angle we see the Pac Man image, all other angles we just see random blue lines. When we explore oneness we see that if we keep our focus (or from last week vrutti) firmly in a single direction we attain oneness with Maharaj. Which direction? The direction of Satpurush, the reason for his agna and niyams.

The simple message is all about the idea of oneness, akhand vrutti on Maharaj and Swami. The concrete examples can be taken from the prasangs. The video is something unexpected. You are on your way to a sticky sabha.