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Gaudiya Repercussions > Life Beyond ISKCON > Entertainment: Books, Music, Movies, TV, Games, Art
Tapati
Cartoonist Nina Paley is working on a project to present the story of the Ramayana from Sita's point of view. Some of this she is putting on the web although the final product will be for profit. She's spending a lot on the project so she wants to recoup her losses.

It would be great if she moved on to cover Draupadi's story--isn't she the archetype for the kick a** feminist heroine? I'm thinking of the attempted kidnapping where she knocked Jayadratha out of the chariot. I think that was his name. smile.gif

http://www.ninapaley.com/Sitayana/

And Sita literally sings the blues--the music consists of blues classics.
Tapati
And...while we're on the subject of fantasy retellings...

http://www.epicindia.com/ramayana_ukusa.html

This sounds fascinating and I wonder if anyone here has already read one of this series? I've got to read this!
Tapati
One man's response to "Sita Sings The Blues"

QUOTE
Nonetheless, Rajeev Prasad is critical of this film project. In order to be fair and balanced, I present his perspective on the matter.

nina,

i just read your attempt of earning bread and butter by saying any
bull*
about Ramayana especially Sita. more then that, you are trying to
compare
yourself with Sita. you know what i know it is typical of your race, -
anything for money. All great civilizations will put honor above
everything
else, while as yours will put money. coz if you have money you will
have the
chance to try to quench your thirst of all the materialistic things
around.

a great person (which you are not), when finds a great character/life,
try
to raise to that level.
whereas a low life/unworthy try to pull the great character to his/her
level
and attain his/her goals.

I am sure you are like any of your people, as any girl of your culture,
you
might have had physical relations with more then one man, before your
husband, and after him. and if you tell that was not love - you ONLY
loved
your ex-husband - let me give you a gem here - there is 2% sex in love
and
2%love in sex.

so going by your cultur's standard - you do not have great morals -
money
and comforts to body, are of supreme importance and you will do
anything for
that.

question: is your ex-husband jesus christ? like jesus-christ? that way
your
saying 'married to god' will be justified. so you are wife of jesus????
ex-wife.

first become equal to sooparnkha then talk about Sita.

- although cloths were invented millions of years ago - western
civilization
- especially females perhapes still do not know how to use them.....
smile.gif


Yep. We're still using fig leaves here.
Tapati
Then much excellent, thought provoking discussion ensued:

http://www.ninapaley.com/2005/08/aw-shucks.html
zanardi
Sita singing blues classics sounds interesting.
Chanahari
QUOTE (Tapati)
It would be great if she moved on to cover Draupadi's story--isn't she the archetype for the kick a** feminist heroine?


There exists such a book in Europe, with a title something like "I was born for sacrifice". If I remember right, it was even considered a "sankirtan book" here in Hungary some years ago (although not BBT), and was part of the curriculom of the ISKCON college (although not as "traditional" as the general standard). But only for the girls. Our GBC said: "If women read this, they will fall in love with Krishna; If men read this, they will fall in love with Draupadi". So we were reading Ramayana instead.
zanardi
I was born for sacrifice is a book name par excellence! Could be interesting to read it. Or scary? huh.gif
Gopi Dust
That Sita of her's looks like Betty Boop in a sari.
Where can I get a copy of that book? I need to fall in love with Krishna. wub.gif
I hate when they say "myths". Is her grandmother a myth? Her father? Her children?
I'd like to see her giving birth to her next child and tell her,"this child is a MYTH!" wink.gif
evakurvan
Gopi Dust I hate that word "myth" too, right on.
zanardi
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Nov 30 2005, 06:01 AM)
Gopi Dust I hate that word "myth" too, right on.
*


Myth does not necessarily imply that the story being told is just a fairytale. It is maybe just a spiced up version of what actually happened. Right?
evakurvan
I am not too much a fan of how in popular parlance myth suggests reducing the text to some kind of metaphorical meaning.
zanardi
Metaphors suck. :glare:
Dhyana
QUOTE (zanardi @ Nov 30 2005, 09:48 AM)
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Nov 30 2005, 06:01 AM)
Gopi Dust I hate that word "myth" too, right on.
*


Myth does not necessarily imply that the story being told is just a fairytale. It is maybe just a spiced up version of what actually happened. Right?
*

A definition of "myth" that strikes a chord for me: "what never was but always is."
zanardi
What an interesting thought! Words usually have many meanings and layers. In regards to myth, make your favourite pick of the day. whistling.gif
Homer
How to sift through the myths and decide which is “historical?” Unless one is eyewitness to a particular event then it is a matter of faith. Even when one is an eyewitness it can still be a matter of faith as there are many ways to interpret and perceive whatever passes before our eyes.

Or are we again facing the phantom that says it is the inherent truth within these stories that is the important factor and the validity of the stories are not based on the story involving an actual person, place or thing?

Reading the “pastimes” of the Indian gods I can hardly take 99.999% as anything other than ‘Paul Bunionism.” Stories that have taken on larger-than-life dimensions; anthropological adaptations and projections of folklore to explain natural and fanciful phenomena.

Do all you myth-haters believe that the Sun is being drawn through the sky on a chariot?

What I find troubling are the people who see themselves as a go-between that charge those who are not able to commune with God as they think they can or interpret scripture in ways that are only decipherable to themselves because of their self-perceived God given abilities.
evakurvan
QUOTE
Do all you myth-haters believe that the Sun is being drawn through the sky on a chariot?


Yes I do I guess that means I must be unlettered or something ha! Maybe I should watch more Discovery channel.
Homer
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 1 2005, 06:09 AM)
QUOTE
Do all you myth-haters believe that the Sun is being drawn through the sky on a chariot?


Yes I do I guess that means I must be unlettered or something ha! Maybe I should watch more Discovery channel.
*



Eva, you amaze me in that you can be so simple (in a good sense) and so complex all at once.

Sometimes I wish I could be satisfied with believing what I am told to believe. It is painful to question everything.
evakurvan
I am sorry but I can not place what you call the real world as more true than introversive subjectivities - that is just plain barbaric and backward!
Homer
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 1 2005, 06:24 AM)
I am sorry but I can not place what you call the real world as more true than inner subjectivities  - that is just plain barbaric and backward!
*

"Real world?" Did I say that?

Everything is subjective; it is just a matter of choosing one's own subjectivity or to take on another's.
evakurvan
I would assume you consider the earth going around the sun the real world and the sun drawn through the sky on a chariot - not.
Homer
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 1 2005, 06:36 AM)
I would assume you consider the earth going around the sun the real world and the sun drawn through the sky on a chariot - not.
*


The ability of astronomers to predict solar, lunar and planetary eclipses seems to indicate how the planets and the Sun are interacting.

How does the chariot (please excuse the M word) myth account for these eclipses? Rahu attacking the Moon?
evakurvan
When Edvard Munch draws the sky and roads like this I don't think lab technicians can validate his perception as accurate using their germy instruments either. That doesn't make them correct and Munch wrong.



Using my own instruments I'd say that picture is pretty valid!
Homer
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 1 2005, 07:49 AM)
When Edvard Munch draws the sky and roads like this I don't think lab technicians can validate his perception as accurate using their germy instruments either. That doesn't make them correct and Munch wrong.



Using my own instruments I'd say that picture is pretty valid!
*


I wonder who it was that stole the original? Someone with the same vision perhaps? Maybe Edvard was also able to see Rahu attacking the Moon?
evakurvan
What - you mean to tell me scientists say that the roads, mountains and skies don't really blend into amorphous arcs and whorls like that!?

Well, maybe they are wrong.

What makes you think laboratory instruments are the most accurate way to perceive reality?
Homer
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 1 2005, 07:56 AM)
What - you mean to tell me scientists say that the roads, mountains and skies don't really blend into amorphous arcs and whorls like that!?

Well, maybe they are wrong.

What makes you think laboratory technology is the most accurate way to perceive reality?
*


"Laboratory technology the most accurate?" Did I say that?

The only thing I have come to trust are my gut feelings. Head labyrinths are too convoluted.

Are we able to predict when Rahu will strike next?
evakurvan
QUOTE
"Laboratory technology the most accurate?" Did I say that?


No you did not say that but by suggesting that the chariot reality is wrong you are undermining its validity and presumably placing laboratory realities as more accurate.
Homer
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 1 2005, 08:13 AM)
QUOTE
"Laboratory technology the most accurate?" Did I say that?


No you did not say that but by suggesting that the chariot reality is wrong you are undermining its validity and presumbly placing laboratory realities as more accurate.
*



Did I suggest that the chariot reality is wrong?

I only suggest that I object when anyone imposes their version of 'reality' on another person.

Have a look at the Sun here and tell me if you notice any chariots:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040725.html
Homer
What struck me when I witnessed my daughter's ultrasound when she was in the womb, and when she was born, was the absence of all the worms that were supposed to be biting her as she developed. Maybe I don't have the proper attitude and the necessary humble vision?
evakurvan
You did ask: Do any of these people actually believe the sun is pulled by chariots?!

As though it is so ridiculous to say yes.

And then you usually get all of these TLC viewers who know better marvelling at how anyone can believe such hooha.

I bet you the sun that I am seeing on that url is not the same sun that you are seeing although we are looking at the same picture.
Homer
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 1 2005, 08:32 AM)
You did ask: Do any of these people actually believe the sun is pulled by chariots?!

As though it is so ridiculous to say yes.

And then you usually get all of these TLC viewers who know better marvelling at how anyone can believe such hooha.

I bet you the sun that I am seeing on that url is not the same sun that you are seeing although we are looking at the same picture.
*
I actually asked, "Do all you myth-haters believe that the Sun is being drawn through the sky on a chariot? "

I have been fond of that Sun photo for years - it looks like a being emerging with outstretched arms. Beautiful!

Facts are stranger than fiction.
evakurvan
At one point I lived really high up, practically in the sky on the 11th floor, at a perfect angle, and I swear I was seeing sights of the sun and clouds like that every day, it was pretty shocking - I would never have believed the sky can get that way.

Yes I know I was paraphrasing because I did not feel like going a page back for the exact quote!
Homer
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 1 2005, 08:56 AM)
At one point I lived really high up, practically in the sky on the 11th floor, at a perefect angle, and I swear I was seeing sights of the sun and clouds like that every day, it was pretty shocking - I would  never have believed the sky can get that way!
*
Whenever I am told I, “have my head in the clouds,” I am secretly very pleased; what is the alternative? In the mud?
Gopi Dust
Because I was told that Prabhupada said we can't understand the tenth canto but it is true then I accept everything it says there. Rahu, Mohini murti, Oceans of nectar, liquor, horses and elephants churned from the ocean of milk, the sun riding on his chariot whatever.
Why do the material scientists think they can understand anything at all? It is only so then they can say,"See, there is no God. We understand how everything works by our perfect intelligence. E=mc2. Yeah we are smart! You aren't smart enough to understand just how amazingly we understand everything. We thought we knew everything before, but we really do now. Or at least we will in twenty years.".
Tapati
To say scientists think they know everything is a strawman argument. I don't know of any scientist who says that, or even that they are close.

I think rather they realize that the more they find out, the more there is to learn.

Some scientists are, in fact, deeply spiritual.

If scientists didn't exist, we wouldn't be capable of even having this conversation. smile.gif
Dhyana
QUOTE
If scientists didn't exist, we wouldn't be capable of even having this conversation.

Hm, hmmm. True. But the same goes for devotees. tongue.gif If they didn't exist...
Gopi Dust
Prabhupada was on a japa walk through a park enjoying when he said the karmis are working to maintain the park but the devotees are enjoying it.
So the karmis are working hard to make computers and so on and the devotees just have to go to the library and get on line for free, at least here in America.

Without Krishna, noone would be having any conversations. Without jivas falling into maya, I would not be here. crying.gif
Gopi Dust
I tried responding to Homer's thoughts about Tom Cruise but am barred or banned there so ...
I am sick of Tom's face! He acts like he is so cool and thinks his religion is all that then he goes and has illicit sex with a girl half his age who he saw on Dawson's Creek and probably still sees as this young virgin girl, they haven't gotten married yet but she is pregnant and having his baby, and now she has to become a scientologist to please him.
Hopefully that vault will become covered with tons of radioactive dust and never dug up or else if the people in the future do see tom's books they won't be able to read them.
Or L Ron Hubbard's. And if they see a picture of his wife, Mrs. Cruise, they will vomit all over the sacred texts of the Ronster. ph34r.gif
evakurvan
QUOTE
Prabhupada was on a japa walk through a park enjoying when he said the karmis are working to maintain the park but the devotees are enjoying it.


Gopidust I actually pasted the video to this incident you are talking about on this very forum in that thread where people were discussing that comment by Prabhupada:
"Either believe in the Bhagavad Gita or die. Pow pow!" (paraphrase).
evakurvan
Here it is:

http://www.vedaveda.com/video/intelligence.rm
evakurvan
Here is a website about Tom Cruise:

http://www.tomcruiseisnuts.com/updates.php

From the site:

If Cruise and Katie Holmes wed, each of his wives will have been eleven years younger than the last. (Mimi Rogers, b. 1956; Nicole Kidman, b. 1967; Katie Holmes, b. 1978).
evakurvan
Tom Cruise talking about Katie Holmes:

"I will forever with this woman be jumping on couches, dancing on tables and hanging from chandeliers."
Homer
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 4 2005, 10:43 AM)
Here is a website about Tom Cruise:

http://www.tomcruiseisnuts.com/

From the site:

If Cruise and Katie Holmes wed, each of his wives will have been eleven years younger than the last. (Mimi Rogers, b. 1956; Nicole Kidman, b. 1967; Katie Holmes, b. 1978).
*

Wow! I wonder what that makes me? My first wife was five-years younger than myself and my second wife is twenty-years wiser (younger but smarter) than me... Should I be worried? huh.gif Would my 12th wife be 180 years younger than me?
Chanahari
QUOTE (Gopi Dust)
Hopefully that vault will become covered with tons of radioactive dust and never dug up or else if the people in the future do see tom's books they won't be able to read them.


Ash to ash, dust to dust. Wow! nuke.gif rain.gif
Gopi Dust
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 4 2005, 03:03 AM)
Tom Cruise talking about Katie Holmes:

"I will forever with this woman be jumping on couches, dancing on tables and hanging from chandeliers."
*


He sounds like a monkey jumping after sex. w00t.gif


That was ecstatic how you put that Prabhupada video here. thanks. I had heard the quote slightly wrong as usual.
Nadia
Didn't he miss "stacking up on estimulants"? Some will always come a bit too short.
Aran
QUOTE (evakurvan @ Dec 4 2005, 02:41 AM)


That clip reminds me of this quote:

"How fortunate for leaders that men do not think." - Adolf Hitler
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