MEDITATION creates miracles

ISHWAR RAUNIYAR “Jiwan bhar Ma runda, Sansar hasnu beskari, Hasdai bida hunche Dakini, Jin timi kripa garnu ti mathi” (Even as I cry, The world continues its laughter, While dakinis laugh and bid farewell, Buddha, now it's up to you to take care of this world) She says she dœsn’t really know where the words come from, but they usually appear in her head when she meditates. When she sings out the words, she holds the audience in rapture. Anupama Dahal’s life changed when she began to meditate; besides bringing her peace, meditation allowed her to become a singer, and today the spontaneous singer is healing many with her songs. Dahal learned meditation when she was 14 from Guru Shreedhar Rana Rimpochhey. She recalls the day, “I was very young and not serious about meditation. But when I sat in a position similar to Lord Shiva’s posture in films and TV serials, I was mentally at peace,” she says. Dahal originally wanted to become a Bharat Natyam dancer, and has even completed a Bachelors’ degree in the ancient art form. However, a love for song writing since her school days never left her even during her training in the classical dance form. The meditation practices that she began, streamlined her thoughts and she slowly began writing her songs down, and composing the music for them. According to her, a meditative practice called “Samatha” taught her to build the mind’s concentration levels. She experienced something surreal two years after she began practising it. She said, “I could see air pockets in the sky and atoms in the dust with my bare eyes.” It was like transcending reality and connecting with the very root of nature. For her, the unusual talent of spontaneous song writing comes from this very step. She has written over three hundred songs—especially religious Buddhist songs. She elaborates, “My songs cover the entire human life, and being closer to Buddhism, I write songs about people’s problems as well as their happiness.” She feels it depends on how one perceives things. She says, “I see the Buddha in every person I see around me.” It’s usually around a full moon or the 10th day of every month when her song writing talent reaches its crest. She is inspired by daily events and political or social problems do not escape her reality when she is writing a new song. A few of Dahal’s songs are written in different languages, such as in Urdu, Punjabi, Doteli, Hindi and Sanskrit. The interesting part is, she dœsn’t know the languages properly. She says, “I don’t know how those words come to my mind when I start writing. There are certain terms I don’t understand, but it suits the rhythm and the meaning of the song.” Dahal asks her teacher to find out the language after she finishes her writing. However, she dœsn’t credit any supernatural powers to this. She thinks it is due to meditation and the inspiration given by her guru, whom she regards as the Buddha himself. She says, “I feel proud that I have made my guru happy with this talent.” Arun Gurung of ‘Kutumba’ calls her talent a miracle. He says, “It’s a inborn quality, and it is an extraordinary talent to create and compose songs with different lyrics.” Dahal will perform at the Nepal Academy Hall along with Kutumba and Shiva Mukhiya this Saturday.

Teachers call off strike Will re-agitate if demands not met

ISHWAR RAUNIYAR KATHMANDU, JULY 30 After the government committed to address their demands, Nepal Education Republic Forum (NERF) on Thursday agreed to call off their strike. Following the NERF decision, schools will temporarily reopen from Friday. NERF, the umbrella organisation of 10 different agitating organisations had called a three-day strike from Wednesday. “The government has promised to address our demands, therefore we have called off the strike for now,” said Hom Bahadur Thapa, Vice-Chairman of NERF. “We will hold discussions with the government from tomorrow regarding our demands.” According to Thapa, the Forum will re-launch the agitation if the government fails to meet their demands. The Ministry of Education (MoE), had dealt with the teachers’ bodies earlier and on March 29, 2007, had inked a 14-point agreement with NERF. Similarly, on April 2, 2007 and again on June 15 the same year, the ministry had signed an 8-point agreement with Nepal Institutional School Teachers’ Union (NISTU). However, under secretary at the ministry Lekhnath Poudel said only a huge investment in the education sector followed by political consensus would pave the way for long-term solutions. According to Poudel, demands like making temporary teachers permanent and providing salary to the teachers of private schools equal to those of public schools could not be implemented immediately. Poudel said the agitating teachers should be more flexible regarding their demands. “According to government estimates, it will cost the ministry about Rs. 6 billion, which is far beyond what the ministry can afford.” He added, “Policy should be brought forth to provide salary to private school teachers equal to that of teachers at public schools.” What the government can do is fix a minimum salary for teachers, Paudel said. Lab Prasad Tripathi, former MoE spokesman said, “Political instability has caused this problem. Frequent change of government has become a major problem. New governments don’t want to implement the agreements reached with previous governments, and, this results in such turbulent situations in the education sector. “Political leaders must sit together to find a long-term solution to this problem.” Tripathi was also of the opinion that the government should immediately implement past agreements and rule out other illogical demands that could not met. The government has formed a three-member talks committee comprising Education Minister Ram Chandra Kushwaha, Peace and Reconstruction Minister Rakam Chemjong and Minister for Federal Affairs Minendra Rijal. NERF has since long been demanding permanent status for temporary teachers in public schools, appointment letters for all the staff working in schools from peons to watchmen, salaries for private school teachers equal to that of public school teachers, reinstatement of sacked teachers and formation of management committees in schools.