|
Time: Performing
each of these stories will take 15 to 25 minutes
For young
children Rudi will sing songs and play his guitar as part
of the perfomance, and will invite the children to partake
as actors playing the story.
An old weaver
obtains a Gini (a spirit like the one emerging from Aladin's
lamp) and puts it to work. When he can't keep the Gini busy,
the latter becomes destructive. But the weaver, just in time,
finds the way to stop the Gini. By ordering him to climb up
and down a long pole until he is needed for some job, the
Gini's destructive tendencies are curbed.
The essence
of this story explaines how mala-japa,
which is the practice of repeating a mantra while using a
Hindu rosary,
helps to subdue the destructive tendencies of Ego and Mind,
while harnessing the creative powers they represent.
The
Gini and the Pole - by Harish Johari - long version
On a moonlit
night Shankar, the royal gardener, sees a white elephant in
the garden, and recognizing it as the vehicle of Indra,
the Lord of Heaven, grabs it's tail as it flies back to heaven.
Before returning he pics a heavenly flower for his wife, to
bring proof that he had been there. And in spite of her solemn
promise not to reveal her huband's secret, half the village
crowded the garden on the next full moon, demanding to join
the journey. Unable to refuse their request Shankar held on
to the tail, while his wife clasped his leggs and her cousin
grabbed her leggs. This went on and as Indra's elephant flew
up, he carried along a long strand of villagers through the
skies.
Because of the
curiosity and impatience of one of the villagers, and the
irritation and anger of Shankar, the whole cue fell back to
earth and such a beautiful white elephant was never seen again
in this world.
Sent on an errand by his mother,
a boy walked along the road to the village with his donkey
behind him. As he cheerfully sang while holding the rope that
was tied around the donkey's neck, he was spotted by two scoundrels
hiding in the bush. They silently sneeked up behind the boy
and while one untied the donkey and fixed the rope around
his own neck, the other led the donkey away. Once his friend
and the donkey were out of sight, the scoundrel suddenly stopped
and told the starteled boy that the curse which had changed
him into a donkey must have been lifted by his mothers remorse.
He had beaten his mother after drinking alcohol, but was determined
to never let it happen again.
The boy accepting the scoundrels
story, went home and told his old mother, who silently shook
her head. The next day she gave the boy her last money to
go and buy a new donkey to work the fields. As he entered
the donkey market, he recognised his donkey standing there
for sale. He walked up to the donkey and whispered in his
large ear: "You have been drinking again and beating
up your mother?!......I will never buy you again".
Rudi's Hindu repertoir contains
many of the stories told by Harish Johari, some of which are
printed in his books "The
Monkeys and the Mango Tree" and "The
Birth of The Ganga".
|
