MY Journey to Virginia

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Let me be honest and candid to begin with: I never thought, my first journey for the exploration of universe would be a short and easy one. I never dreamed, I will gain such a tremendous knowledge in my journey and the quest for understanding consciousness. And, I was very much skeptic due to my longstanding scientific frame of mind. But, surprisingly, in a short time, the world became sharper and clearer to me. In this process, I have learnt many crucial lessons which I never realized or understood before using my scientific mind and brain cultivated and developed in a more rigid academic structure. It was such a humbling, mind-blowing but ecstatic experience for me. Of course, I still have a long way to go in order for deeper understanding.

Beginning prologue: Before I start my narrative, let us understand and concentrate on our own Mind and Body. They are interconnected along with Heart in between. Truth is something that cannot be created. It is already here in the universe. Either we don’t see it or we do not wish to see it. All the great Monks, Hermits and Yogis have told us all the time, again and again, and described the vastness of the universe that all the stars and planets are just tiny drops in this whole universe. In fact, God cannot be fathomed, according to all the Great Immortal Saints, Great saint-like scientists.

My understanding about Science has completely changed since my visit to Virginia and is absolute mind blowing. Science is something, although progressing rapidly, reflects just a tiny drop in the whole universe. Scientists are earning Nobel prizes for discovering and unlocking fascinating facts. The most interesting fact, just for an example, is that today’s prominent scientists demonstrated vanishing particles. Particles smaller than atoms at the size of 1025 which can appear and disappear and hence demonstrating the whole Earth and the subsequent universe has actually no mass, everything is just simple and pure ENERGY. What we see the apparent matter is just a result of association of all the smaller particles, atom by atom. This fact was already known in the ancient times and is well documented. Now I understood clearly, how some yogis could not be photographed. In fact, I firmly believe, one day, with the help of technology, one day, we will be able to transport ourselves at the speed of light anywhere in seconds.

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So we all living creature are just greater than our own physical body and matter. Incidentally and coincidentally, it is well documented in Vedas and Upanishads and is taught 5000 years ago at Nalanda and Taxxilla, where all the Vedic Monks and Hermits embedded and transcribed to all the disciples gathered from all over the world through meditation and thought vibes above and beyond. And in this modern world, we are totally ignorant and pursuing knowledge in more rigid mind frame. Now, I have understood, in the modern twentieth century, our learning habits completely changed we became more dependent on our apparent five senses forgetting our sixth sense and ignoring the abundant power and potential of our brain.

In Vedas, all the principles are well written in symbols and scriptures. One example is DNA double helix. It is well reported in Dhanur Veda with simple but striking accuracy. And now, in the last 30-50 years scientists are piling up thousands of articles which are unlocking secrets of life which was already mentioned thousand of years ago.

In ancient days, great monks and hermits were radio station themselves transmitting all the philosophies and principles via radio waves emitting from brain through mind to other disciples. There were no syllabi, tests and time frame. Once guru is satisfied, disciples are allowed to leave the Gurukul and go back to their respective homeland and propagate the sacred Vedas in more written forms. One example is quite a few Greek philosophers have conveyed the Eastern learning from the Hindu and Buddhist monks.

Interestingly, these radio waves were scientifically intercepted and discovered by Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, but, he chose not to patent and commercially exploit this most important and fascinating discovery. Instead, much later, Marconi claimed this discovery and went on to earn Nobel prize. Undeterred, AJC Bose went on founding Bose Institute for the sole purpose of helping mankind and had no interest in patent or trademark. I perceive him as a true hermit scientist.

I have trotted the globe several times and touched all the continents. I have some religious belief but never took cosmic understanding seriously with full belief. I always put science in our modern scientific frame of mind well above everything and have worked diligently to earn double major and an eventual doctorate degree. After chasing the dream of happiness for years, after going through miserable time and failures, I have suddenly decided to explore other things such as consciousness in order to understand who I am and in the process, try learning as well as earning some blissful peace and tranquility.

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Hence the final prologue: Mind and Brain with Heart in between. I must look and explore what is and not for what I think should be. I used to brainstorm with my son Suvam, and used to dream that we can fly together in the rocket to distant stars and communicate through mind. We also dreamt of inventing “thought reading machine” which can read our mind and use it learn everything fast and transmit the same to others. The bigger picture, do we have the power to control other people’s thought process? I do not mean to trespass other people’s mind in the form of hypnotism, but, possibly, at the least to prevent the bad, evil thought to enter or conquer other person’s mind.

Throughout my life, I learnt everything by doing, practicing, and observing. Hence, I am a kinetic learner. I always read a lot and analyze with scientific evidences to validate the true facts. I never used my soul and spirit to access my own brain and navigate through the universe. In the process, I was fooled multiple times in my personal and professional life. I was fooled trying to believe what isn’t true and then I was fooled again by refusing to believe what is true. Even though, I was fooled so many times and met with so many tragedies, I am still alive in one piece and having two meals every day which, by itself, is a true miracle! Finally, I, have realized, there must be a force, which is well protecting me from all the colossal failures, humiliation and ultimate tragedy. Hence, I have decided to pursue a spiritual life and explore self awareness. I had a little enigmatic dilemma how I could accomplish this seemingly impossible task without being a hermit. After all, I am the true seeker of truth and so I am expressing my concern, doubt and abilities to see how and whether I can have out-of-body experience and levitate my body through “Samadhi” meditation and “Kundalini” Yoga. In essence, I was just pondering whether I have to live like a hermit or yogi to understand the spirituality. And the final dilemma: Whether I have to give up what I am in order to become what I would be and then who I would be.

 

Suddenly and miraculously, I came across Monroe Institute offering people to explore consciousness. I liked this Institute simply because they are not affiliated with any religion and, most importantly, there is no need to follow a hermit lifestyle. Mr. Robert Monroe has developed a powerful system tweaking the brain to enhance deep conscious exploration based on an audio technology, known as “Hemi-Sync”. Based on a system called binaural beats, “Hemi-Sync” sound drops brain wave frequencies below normal waking beta state to alpha (relaxed state), delta (deep sleep), and theta (deep meditation, inner travel) frequencies. “Hemi-Sync” is a binaural beats based audio sound that will synchronize our mind, body and soul. The binaural beats are low frequency sound and will align & optimize alpha, beta, gamma, delta waves in the brain and will induce optimal resistant free meditation. Basically, this “Hemi_Sync” is designed to bring focus, increase consciousness faster and easier.

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This is perfect for a person like me who is just a beginner and cannot embrace hemit lifestyle. After all, it is like, I have the desire to learn how to play cricket, but I do not need to play like Sachin Tendulkar. And, I felt like quantum leap jump instantly when I started the using “Hemi-Sync” sound.

This October 2014, I finally took the plunge and went on to attend “Gateway Voyage” program at The Monroe Institute in Virginia, founded by Robert Monroe in 1974, located in the foothills of Blue Ridge Mountains. This institute is dedicated to expanding human awareness as more than our physical bodies.

In my group, there were about 20 of us joined from all over the world and two facilitators Mr. Lee Stone and Penny Holmes guided us with powerful meditations that took us to higher states of expanded consciousness, and were there to teach and protect us from all negative influences.

We were introduced to several Focus points, with different numbers assigned that, I feel, have no significant quantitative meaning. Focus 10 is a state of deep relaxation, with your mind awake and body asleep. Focus 12 is the state of expanded awareness, where you can sense and feel that you are more than your physical body. Focus 15 is the state of no time and space, and here we learned to time travel. Focus 21 is the bridge to other realms of existence, and there are other focus levels from 15-21 experienced as color and related to different levels of consciousness.

I can relate these different focus points to attaining different “Chakra” level. The different levels of chakra can also be accomplished through “Kriya” or “Kundalini” Yoga or Meditation as demonstrated and well documented. Only difference, in my opinion, Focus points is relatively easy with the help of “Hemi-Sync”.

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We, participants have learnt to use tools in our daily meditations. An interesting tool is Energy Conversion Box, where we can place all our physical matter worries and concerns, essentially a place to dump our fears and convert them into power. All of the focus level tools relate to manifesting our own reality. I felt empowered and enlightened to own my creativity. Suddenly, Vedic symbols and scriptures became more clear and bold to me.

I did not experience out-of-body through my meditation, but some people did report. I was actually half-asleep and sometimes full sleep in the dream states. Nevertheless, I had other benefits and pretty sure that I went somewhere. Focus 21 is a bridge to anywhere, past, present or future. All of the meditations were remarkably easy and became fun to me. I also had the support for the emotional experiences that resulted in deep healing through inner travel.

I must mention a few unusual experiences that happened to me while I was in Virginia. Both my parents passed away some time ago and I requested them to appear and talk to me during my meditation. After requesting several times, I had almost given up. Suddenly, a message appeared somewhere in my brain that my mother sent: “We are with you all the time”. I tried to ask: “Am I doing anything wrong?” The answer was “NO” and I was emotionally relieved as I was having some emotional guilt before, for not spending much time with them. The second experience, during my meditation, I suddenly visualized a young girl who had the mischievous smile and asked me for chocolates. There was no sound but she embedded the “chocolate” word in my mind. It took me some time for to recollect, but I knew that she was my childhood friend’s daughter. I was quite attached to her. She used to mock my style with me and my way of talk and was quite lively and fearless. She passed away abruptly with two days of fever, when she was only ten years old. Strangely, I happened to call my friend around the same time when I learnt of her passing within a few minutes. Obviously, my friend was not in a position to pick up the phone and talk to me but did it anyway. I felt a high voltage grief and shock and kept the pain within myself since then. I never mentioned it to my friend as I never wanted increase their grief. They have gone through enough depression and pain and still going through. After I saw her, I even tried to ask her to show me her home but she told me “Not Now” (not in sound, but more in expression) and asked me to go back. Since then, I am feeling much better. A deep pain is healed. After all, we all have a certain “Expiry Date”, being just a physical body and matter. It is just a question of “When” and “How” and what we leave behind.

A few words about the facility: Our bed is also our meditation chamber (CHEC unit), equipped with light, headphones, and black drape for darkness. Food and drinks are plenty and good, but, absolutely no alcohol. A yoga instructor comes every morning for stretching. By the way, our Yoga instructor was IAS Iyengar’s graduate and we exchanged “Namaste” and chanted “OM”. The rural land is extraordinarily scenic, and every afternoon we had some free time for wandering around. I spent quite some time with the giant gigantic quartz crystal. This amazing gem can absorb any negative energy from your body in a few seconds. I have learned that some people refer to these crystals as Earth Keeper Quartz or Himalayan Salt Crystal, with legendary power.

virginia6Before I used to believe nothing is miracle. Now, I tend to live and think as if everything is miracle. Before, I was skeptical whether I could have out-of-body (OBE) and levitation experience. Truthfully, I did not have OBE experience, but I am not fully sure. I may have gone somewhere unknowingly. But, I have gained quite a few things: I could better connect with my environment and the people around me. While doing meditation using “Hemi-Sync”, my mind is staying awake while my body is relaxed. Somehow, I have developed better laser-like focus and infused gratitude, wisdom and tranquility into my meditation.

Now, it is quite possible, with the help of technology and science such as using Hemi-Sync audio technology, we can at least get some level of perpetual bliss through meditation. I never thought of meditation this easy.
There were times, I felt like quitting. There were times, I did not follow the guideline, there were times, I went into sleep completely. I had to battle several things, such as, my personal battle against cynicism, such as OBE and remote viewing. Finally, I did develop somewhat an oceanic mind, where a whale cannot disturb. Before, my mind was like a small pond where a few frogs did disturb me.

Overall, it is definite powerful, mind-blowing and positive experience for me. I did achieve relaxation, self- awareness and unusual vibration. Now is the time for myself to correlate and synchronize the mind and body with the heart and set further expansion to explore deeper level. Whatever, it is, at the least, I know that we all are more than our own physical bodies and the physical matter.

Remember, listen to your heart, and then chant “OM”. The sound of Om is sacred and powerful. Your body will be tuned and will heal your mind. We must make it a habit to chant every day. Remember, this directive came from our Vedic Masters.

Here’s my email: chakraborty.subir@gmail.com, if you wish to email me to communicate further.

Om again.

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Visiting New Orleans

I had the invitation to attend one of my professional conference in New Orleans early this month (February 2015) and my sole objective was not only to escape bitter-cold weather in New Jersey, but, also, I use any opportunity to visit New Orleans to recalibrate and rejuvenate my mental compass, being a food connoisseur and jazz lover. Admittedly, myself being a bad tourist, I have visited numerous cities and countries all over the world for business purpose, but, I don’t explore in deep most of the places. New Orleans is one of the very few places that I could not escape the strange beauty in French Quarter listening to Jazz music, watching Mardi Gras and eating Cajun Craw fish. Eclectic characters and authentic local experience of New Orleans always amaze me and truly touch my soul. Being a world traveler, New Orleans is definitely placed first in my mind and heart. Paris comes next, and of course, Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) is my beautiful, beloved homeland. There are a few things in my personality and life that I love very much: Music, Culture, Art & Painting, Food & Wine, Classic architecture and Authentic People to chat. New Orleans has all of that. New Orleans people are not just simply authentic and easy-going; they are the most friendly people I have seen unlike other parts of the world. Mark Twain rightly commented that “An American has not seen the United States of America until he has seen Mardi-Gras in New Orleans”. Here’s my fervent attempt to scribble down some impression and expression about my experience in New Orleans.

 

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FrenchQuarter (VieuxCarré):
The most important part of New Orleans is the French Quarter (known as Vieux Carré in French language) located in the mouth of Mississippi River in New Orleans. This is the most fascinating and famous cultural melting pot in the whole city where even residents welcome visitors on the streets. Intensely intimate and uniquely intoxicated, New Orleans’ oldest neighborhood has exerted a spell over writers and artists starting with Mark Twain. Hollywood celebrities and business tycoons have joined the residential mix, but, it is the year-round local residents who keep the neighborhood vibrantly unique. French Quarter is the largest and best-preserved district. It is an unique treasure that millions of people all over the world flock to see, while they experience the city’s musical excitement and its world-class cuisine. I always wander roughly about 100 blocks from Canal Street to Bourbon Street back and forth to see some beautiful architectures, art galleries, museums, restaurants, and bars, and still, yet, so much to be seen. It is always a true, unique and exciting experience around every corner for me. So much culture, history and of course remarkable vivid entertainment built-in within 100 blocks parameter of French quarter of New Orleans.

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French Quarter architecture is a mix of Spanish, French and American styles. Cast iron balconies were added to many masonry buildings for people to watch people on the sidewalks of the Quarter. I did visit Gallier House depicting 19th century architecture. This Gallier House is designed and built by James Gallier-one of the most famous architects in New Orleans History, is one of the best examples of the fusion between culture and architecture in the city.

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Bourbon Street:
This historic French Quarter street has a lively reputation due to the jazz clubs and bars and all-night partying ever extending on the street and the presence of different types of intoxicatingly dressed girls. Also known as “Rue Bourbon,” this historic street sits at the heart of the French Quarter extending about 15 blocks from Canal St. to Esplanade Avenue. Bourbon Street never sleeps.

This time, I went to the Old Absinthe House, a historic bar originally built in 1800. Famous Absinthe House Frappe has been created by French mixologist. Now, Absinthe became illegal, but I did experience an alternative drink Herbsaint. The decorative marble fountains that were used to create original Absinthe are still present in this historic bar.

I had lunch in oldest and popular Galatoire’s Restaurant, founded by Jean Galatoire in 1900; Galatoire’s continues to run by his descendants. Specializing in French Creole cuisine, I had Gumbo soup (milder version of liquid Bicci Bele Bhat or Khicchdi) and Jumbalaya (similar to Pulao in India).

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Interestingly, I feel like I am inside the grid whenever I am in Bourbon Street. It’s a labyrinth full of surprises in the most artistic form, I can best describe. Beautiful, unique, mind-blowing fascinating experience. Even the girls standing with the face masked and willing to give you companionship appear to be gorgeous looking, as if; God has just sculpted all their parts beautifully. A fine line immediately appears in apparition between the body and art. Treme, darkness of mood and light resonates in my mind in the same breadth. You must visit Bourbon Street to experience history and colorful ancient lifestyle.
Mardi Gras:
Mardi Gras’ roots originated from France. The celebration of Mardi Gras came to North America from Paris, where it had been celebrated since the Middle Ages. French people migrated to America explored the Mississippi River near New Orleans. They celebrated it here as a major holiday, they christened the site “Point du Mardi Gras”. Many see a relationship to the ancient tribal rituals of fertility that welcomed the arrival of spring. A possible ancestor of the celebration was the Lupercalia, a circus-like orgy held in mid-February in Rome.

 

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In the early 19th Century, the public celebration of Mardi Gras consisted mainly of maskers on foot, in carriages and on horseback and was somewhat crude orgy type. Then later in 1950, a few men beautified the celebration and proved that it could be enjoyed in a safe and festive manner. Street masking was legalized and several Mardi Gras traditions were established by forming a secret Carnival society, choosing a mythological namesake, presenting a themed parade with floats and costumed maskers, and staging a tableau ball.

Perhaps the greatest change in Mardi Gras was in the 1980s, when It really took the city of New Orleans to transform the centuries-old celebration of Mardi Gras into America’s Greatest Party. Global media attention was focused on Mardi Gras in the late 1980s followed by the tremendous increase in tourism during the Carnival season and thus resulted in robust economic impact while providing us exciting and unique entertainment.
Voodoo:
I can’t help must mention voodoo, as, I feel, voodoo, ghost-hunting, vampire places are significant and integral part of New Orleans culture since 1700s. I went to see New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum to explore the mysteries, legends, traditions of voodoo, and the influence voodoo has throughout the city’s history. It is located in the heart of the French Quarter near Bourbon Street, I was invited further to explore and participate in haunted cemetery walking and ghost hunting and I did listen to Miriam’s voice. This is something that you need to put lots of time to explore further. Perhaps, at a future date, I may try to know it better.
Music:
Nola is the pet name for New Orleans. Listening to music in New Orleans to me is like dreaming in NOLA. Whenever, I listen to pure jazz, or violin, or trombone, my mind flies deep in the universe, my body becomes stuck like a deer in the headlamp. Dreaming in Nola is the best experience for me. It is like Mecca pilgrimage to me. So ecstatic, so eclectically addictive.

The trumpet, the trombone, brass instruments are the basic instruments in New Orleans. These instruments are the essential and integral part of marching band. They permeate and resonate throughout the whole city. I can see it and I can feel it even from my hotel room. When I saw the marching bands at Mardi Gras first, it reminded me of a fashion show in New York. Except, the fashion show in New York seemed boring and silly and then suddenly, it became an art, what I see at Mardi Gras. The runway in Mardi Gras blended with the deep music goes on for miles and miles and there is a real cultural resonance and blissful joy. I silently dreamed in to the past while seeing the future. It’s an unbelievable experience I will never forget. I must mention, New Orleans perfected the music instrument tuba in the marching band. Traditional New Orleans jazz is one of my favorite music. I can spend hours and still I want to hear more.
Food:
Most New Orleans restaurants feature an eclectic, globalized chef menu in unique Cajun flavor: fresh tortilla chips and guacamole, Thai shrimp, lobster and pizza from a cedar wood-burning oven, deviled eggs and of course, New Orleans specialties like craw fish, gumbo soup and jambalaya. They even proudly offer crocodile meat which I did not taste, as, I did not have the guts to cross my own mental barometer. They have invented exotically hot and fierce sauce and christened them in a funny way, such as, “Butt Burner”, “Fire in the Hole”. Each restaurant has its own signature pride and displaying a fierce perfection in cuisine. A crawfish is a strange-looking creature. The easiest way to describe it might be to say it’s a tiny lobster, and learning how to eat one, it turns out, is one of the subtle markers to acquired taste, while on the path to understand and enjoy food in New Orleans. How lovely, these exotic foods are in New orleans. It is like I can, at ease, equate on the same breath with smoked Hilsa and tandoor boti kabob in Kolkata or tiger prawn in Goa or stuffed Bombay duck in Mumbai. I had the opportunity to check out dozens of popular reastaurants including “Nola’s” and “K’Paul’s kitchen”. Some of them require advanced booking, sometime weeks in advance.

Even the ordinary looking small café looks innocuous enough, cluttered with artifacts and photographs, paintings on the walls. Inside, you will invariably find a piano or saxophone around some corner and an unknown musician will always play or sing anything but modern, even opera, or, some other song that you might not recognize. I can’t claim these Café has the best music and signature cuisine. The cuisine is rudimentarily simple breakfast and lunch, a good omelets, decent gumbo or plain jambalaya. But it has a certain something, a sense of improvised grace and antique touch which will make you feel like you are back in the past. It’s a great spot to recover from a hangover, even if you don’t have one. Or, a great spot, if you need to calibrate or recalibrate your mental compass for music and culture.

I am sounding and writing like a travel writer, but my intellect level is putting New Orleans as an integral part of my life. I feel like home here and who knows whether I was born here in my past life. Every time I visit this city reminds me of my homeland Kolkata, reminiscent of city of joy in spite of several tragedies and trauma. How faithful it is to the reality of New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina hurricane and then after the gulf oil spill. The anger, despair, sadness, and yet, the accompanying use of music as salvation, pretending genuine smiles, showing a great level of tenacity and hospitality, the wild bursts of joy. How unreal it all feels at times, and yet, how real it is that they recover and bounce back to greet visitors.

One local resident told “New Orleans politicians treat New Orleans like it’s an average American city”. “We’ve had average politicians running an extraordinary place they don’t understand.” This is clearly understandable to me as the politicians do not have the intellect level to appreciate art, music and beauty. This is absolutely true in Kolkata as well. I have seen graffiti on the wall in Kolkata “Oh Bengalis, please wake up” and then in small font “Please do not disturb our deep sleep”. Sounds familiar!! I see a good similarity and comparison. The only exception, I feel, in Bengal, we do not have any big brother coming forward for futuristic philanthropy.

“Boom” and “Topkill” are common but new antonym words and are morbidly comic in New Orleans. It’s a sort of pattern in New Orleans. Just before 9/11 things were going great, but then, tourism slowed down. It took New Orleans few years to build back up. They were going great again, but, then Katrina came over them. And they again came back clawing and scratching. And then, again, boom, Gulf oil disaster. “It’s a pattern dude”, one local resident summed it up in three words.

I think, there’s a fine line between stability and stagnation, New Orleans had already crossed it. I have been most impressed over my lifetime with the resistance of New Orleans to change. It has a remarkable ability to stay what it is in spite of overwhelming incentives not to. Sounds familiar? Kolkata is another example. New Orleans have definitely illustrated that their oysters have pearls.

New Orleans art is booming and attracting international recognition. I have noticed more and more art galleries. More and more artists, writers are flocking to New Orleans instead of Paris. Beauty, inspiration is abundant and automatic throughout the year and living cost is pretty reasonable in New Orleans. New Orleans is definitely unique and affordable. I see Café and Bacchanal Wine are booming and proliferating with writers and artists aspiring for fame. Seeing the ever increasing prosperity, I felt so good and happy to mingle with them. This is where Norah Jones rose to stardom. And then the word spread out in lightning speed that she is the daughter of Ravishankar. I had the rare opportunity to meet Ravishankar along with Norah Jones and Anushka a few years back in Kolkata.

New Orleans keeps surprising me, every time I visit, with never-ending exquisite detail, in the form of saxophone note, and with overwhelming beauty continuously uncorking for blocks and blocks. The architectural flow itself expresses its own kind of music, in an ensemble piece. The handsome landscape sublimed me in to a long confusion of strange optical illusion: imperfect but gorgeous, really, an exquisite dilapidation. “New Orleans does not evolve, it accretes,” one writer had told “Just Layers and layers of patina.” Here you get Paris, Venice and Savannah all combined. Incidentally, the same writer visited these three cities to write books about architectural treasure under water. This reminds me how German Nobel laureate, Gunter Grass created his writing on Tin Drum staying in Kolkata which eventually won him the Nobel prize. This clearly demonstrate whether you create literature or art, language prowess or artistic skill are not enough, you must feel it and must do it with your heart and mind, where the aura of your passion will blossom in your creation.

One night, I was walking on the Bourbon street and went inside one of my favorite jazz bar to hear piano duet imploded with tubas, trumpets, trombones in the dim light. Suddenly they have asked me to see whether I have any request to play any song. I got nervous and they told me to write the lyrics. I did it on the spot. It was an astonishing sight like a dream, unreal, felt a mysterious impediment. People cheered and applauded and I came out on the street thinking that I am still dreaming. They repeated again the same song and as I was walking past the bar, Mardi Gras parade was marching past me. I was stunned at the sight of a few girls dancing on the street topless masking their faces to stay anonymous. At that moment, I realized, I did not dream, everything was real.

Ideally, I feel like a free man with endless euphoria, being happily lost in the overwhelming New Orleans crowd. I wandered like a sparrow in the rain, but merrily. I felt like a deer stuck in the headlamp, but gleefully. I really felt spiritually connected here. I got immense inspiration and creative energy that made me feel like a budding writer to create some lyrics. I met one local American who was originally from North but lived in New Orleans for a few years before moving to London and Paris. Now he moved back to New Orleans, just because, he felt spiritually connected too, even though Katrina, Gulf oil disaster hit New Orleans. This is the real beauty of New Orleans where future is lurking but the past is nearby.

I can be contacted at chakraborty.subir@gmail.com

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Good Morning Motivation Quotes!

“Whether one is twenty, forty, sixty, or eighty; whether one has succeeded, failed or just muddled along – life begins each morning! The greatest fact in life is that it is never too late to start again. Biography simply overflows with inspiring examples of this truth. However discouraging your days may have been, keep this thought burning brightly in your mind: life begins each morning!” -L.M. Hughes

“Every morning is a fresh beginning. Every day is the world made new. Today is a new day. Today is my world made new. I have lived all my life up to this moment, to come to this day. This moment – this day – is as good as any moment in all eternity. I shall make of this day – each moment of this day – a heaven on earth. This is my day of opportunity.” –Dan Custer

“When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.” -Aristole

“Don’t underestimate the power of thoughts and words. What you tell yourself every morning will set your mind and life on that path. Talk success, victory, happiness and blessings over your destiny.” – Nina Bolivares

“Do not say, ‘It is morning,’ and dismiss it with a name of yesterday. See it for the first time as a newborn child that has no name.” –Rabindranath Tagore

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2 Systems For Achieving Your Goals, Law of Attraction vs Mental Grit

2 Systems For Achieving Your Goals, Law of Attraction vs Mental Grit

When thinking about achieving your goals, which one of these systems speaks to you most? Which one do you think will actually work the best? Are you currently using any of these systems or steps?

There are a couple of schools of thought on the issue of goal setting and attainment. At the core, one school of thought would say that we are the most happy and excited about life when we are actively pursuing what makes us feel alive. While on the other hand, many believe that true happiness is when we are pursuing nothing, and at peace with what we have.

What do you think?

Similarly, one school of thought says that in order to achieve anything, you must go with the flow of life and keep your eyes on the prize. While another school of thought says you create the flow of your life, and your flow is determined by your focus, enthusiasm and commitment.
What do you see?

While creating a meaningful and exciting life for ourselves, our family and for others; do we go with the flow of life? Or do we take a more active measure in creating it? Or, do we find a way to do both?

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