COMICS on our rich spiritual lineage!

The term spirituality is so multi-faceted, that everyone has their own perception about it. While some confuse it with religion, orthodox practices, others especially youngsters mistake it for something very dated and suitable for old people! Once when I was conversing with some teenagers and a group of young professionals, someone even remarked ‘what is the need for spirituality now? We are young. It is time for us to enjoy life. When we grow up, have children and grandchildren, and have nothing more left in life to do, then we will learn about ‘these’ things’. This struck me.

Our elders often complain that the young generation has gone haywire and is scattered in their approach towards life. But there is another side of the story. Maybe our adults, parents, teachers, and elders do not know how to convey the story of our rich lineage, heritage, and our mythological and spiritual superheroes to the youngsters, in their language! Seems weird? Well, we have all grown up listening to the fables and stories narrated by our grandparents and parents. But, the time has changed. With the advancement of internet and technology, today’s children have more access to a variety of games and gadgets. Moreover, with the increased digitization, e-books and magazines are rapidly replacing books. Not only children, but even youngsters and adults are opting for digital material, as it is easier to access and faster to read. Also, the text is leading way for more visually rich media whether it is books, magazines, or any other content. With so much information overload, it makes sense to come out with innovative ways to impart wisdom to our children.

 

Meanwhile, during a spiritual workshop in Kenya, a mother shared with the young and dynamic spiritual master, Acharya Ishan Shivanand, that she feels helpless about her young son’s growing influence with the Hulk and other western superheroes. “Whenever I try to narrate a story from one of our holy scriptures, to make him aware of our rich spiritual lineage, he retorts with some comparison with the West. At one point, he asked me how was Hanuman so powerful? Hulk is the most powerful in the world”. The poor mother had no answer to this. The young master gently encouraged her by saying that he will find a way out to help her and many parents like her. When he discussed this with his father and Guru, the revered saint Avdhoota Baba Shivanand Ji, the all-knowing Siddha smiled and replied in one simple line – “when you all do not know how to tell the stories of your Indian heroes, how can you blame the innocent children of being swayed by the West”.

This struck a chord with the young and philanthropic sage and he began to think about how to bring out a solution for millions of parents worldwide, who want to pass on the rich heritage of our country to their kids but are unable to, due to the generation gap and the changes in mentality, sentimentality and communication channels acceptable and understood by today’s youngsters.

This gave birth to the wonderful and novel idea of making comics on ancient scriptures, for the benefit of the masses. When this was announced, few critics could not comprehend how this would benefit people and denounced the idea saying that it is not fair to ‘make fun of’ our sages and scriptures. In reality, they were not aware of the fact that a comic is not about sarcasm, humor, or poking fun at others. It is a different way of storytelling, with pictures, images, and other visual information.

Finally, when the 2 comics, based on our ancient scripture on the eternal Goddess, ‘Shree Durga Saptashati’ and the ultimate sage and living Siddha ‘Shivanand’ were released, they put all apprehensions and doubts to rest. Acharya Ishan Shivanand has surpassed his own standards of excellence by these wonderful works of art with uninhibited tales of our mythology, infused with superb creativity, innovation, visual arts, graphics, and modern, cool language, spoken and understood by today’s youngsters. Never before have our Indian superheroes looked so cool and happening that children, young people, and adults would all want to know and read about them, for their own, different reasons.

The Shree Durga Saptashati (DSS) comic details the heroics of Mother Goddess Durga in all her glory. The real catch is that the ‘seeds of meditation’ of this ancient, powerful scripture were closely guarded by our saints and their knowledge was confined to only a few. When the world was crippled with diseases, poverty, fear of natural calamities, and threats of total destruction, the ever merciful saint, Avdhoota Baba Shivanand Ji took it upon himself to reveal our traditional secrets and impart wisdom to the masses, for the collective benefit of all. Regular chanting of this very divine and sacred scripture brings in peace, abundance, love, bliss, happiness, and balance in life, relationships and surroundings.

The second comic, Shivanand very sensitively and realistically, tells the story of the greatest saints of all time and his journey from being a common man to a living legend, who has dedicated his life for the welfare of the masses. We call him Avdhoota Baba Shivanand Ji, now also a Doctor, to say the least, the Father of Indian Healing and what not. At a time when humans were hell-bent on ransacking the Earth with their ignorance, prejudices, and vices, God sent one of his favorite children to save the world. He performed his worldly duties, meditated, and also imparted wisdom to lots of people, whose lives have been completely reformed by the Reformer and Master’s teachings.

So, step up, grab a copy to read to your children, friends, and family or gift it to them as well as libraries of schools, colleges, and other institutions. Let not our rich culture and the mystical stories of our revered saints fade out and their teachings buried. Let us all dive into this deep ocean of knowledge of our ancestors and gift it to our future generations, to be loved, cherished, relished, and nourished.