Kapalbhairawi

तान्त्रिक शशिमोहन बहलको तान्त्रिक उपन्यास “कपालभैरवी” पढें । यसमा भारतीय तान्त्रिक पण्डित कुशोक र उनकी तिब्बती भैरवी मिन्हीका अनेकौं तन्त्रक्रियाको वर्णन गरिएको छ । तन्त्रमार्गमा वामाचार सम्प्रदायका अनेकौं दुष्ट तान्त्रिकको बोलबाला रहेकोमा कुशोक र मिन्ही परलोकहिताय काम गर्ने साधक हुन्छन् । दुष्ट तान्त्रिक अरु मान्छेलाई भूतप्रेतको चक्करमा पार्ने, दुःख दिने, मानवबलि दिने, केटीहरूलाई बलात्कार गर्ने क

ृत्यमा सामेल हुन्छन् भने कुशोक र मिन्ही भूतप्रेत बाधा भएका दुःखी प्राणीको हितमा तल्लीन रहन्छन् । तिब्बत, नेपाल र भारतका उत्तरी क्षेत्र, समग्रमा भन्दा हिमालय क्षेत्र, मा अनेकौं तन्त्रसाधक तथा अघोरी रहेकामा कुशोक र मिन्ही उच्चकोटिका साधक हुन् । (नेपाल त तन्त्रसाधनाको पवित्र भूमि हो । पशपतिनाथको मन्दिरमा विशाल तान्त्रिक उर्जा छ ।) हिन्दू र बौद्ध तन्त्र परम्परामा आधारित शव साधना, श्मसान साधना, पञ्चमकार साधनाका कैयौं क्रियाकलापको यहाँ वर्णन गरिएको छ । तन्त्र जादूटोना मात्र होइन, यो त आत्मज्ञान प्राप्त गर्ने छिटो र प्रभावकारी उपाय पनि हो । तन्त्रको सबभन्दा राम्रो पक्ष भनेको यो सर्वस्वीकारवादी शास्त्र हो । प्रत्येक कुरा आत्मज्ञानको साधन हो भनी तन्त्रले सिकाउँछ । त्यसैले यौन, मदिरा, मसानघाटमा नृत्य, शवसाधना जस्ता वस्तुसमेतको प्रयोग हुन्छ तन्त्रमा । सबै धर्ममा तन्त्र हुन्छ तर यसका साधक गोपनीय रहन चाहन्छन् । तन्त्रशास्त्रका प्रणेता श्री महादेवले पनि यो गोप्य शास्त्र जोकोहीलाई उजागर नगर्नका लागि चेतावनी दिनुभएको छ । यो उपन्यासमा रतिक्रीडा, मानवबलि, श्मसानका भयानक साधना आदिका वीभत्स वर्णन गरिएको छ । तर सम्पादनको कमीका कारण कुरा दोहोरिरहन्छन् र घटनावलीको तारतम्य पनि मिलेको छैन । अनि कतैकतै अत्यन्त फिल्मी तवरले घटनाको वर्णन गरिएको छ र भाषिक मर्यादा समेत कायम गरिएको छैन । मलाई रहस्यविद्यामा रुचि हुनले यो उपन्यास पढें । यसमा तन्त्रका तत्ववर्णन थोरै मात्रामा गरिएको छ । तर समग्रतामा यसले मलाई खासै सन्तुष्ट पारेन । चर्चित तान्त्रिक नारायणदत्त श्रीमालीको उपन्यास उहिले पढेको थिएँ, त्यो चाहिँ असाध्यै मन परेको थियो ।

On "The Alchemist" by Coelho

Finished rereading Paulo Coelho's hugely successful novel "The Alchemist." I had forgotten the details of the novel so when I got a chance to read it for the second time, I grasped at the opportunity. First and foremost, this novel possesses no literary qualities. It is a self-help book garbed with fictional details; Coelho is Shiva Khera of fiction. Now, this does not mean I didn't like the novel

. It has got many beautiful insights. It tells the story of a sheepherder Santiago in Spain who dreams of a treasure buried in the sands of Egypt and embarks on a spiritual quest to obtain it. His journey is a not a linear one; it's circular (I don't want to give away the plot, so please find yourself what I mean by circular). He meets many good and bad people during the journey who teach him a lesson or two in life. Chasing your dream, toiling hard to achieve something substantial in life, never giving up, loving someone without conditions, keeping track of one's soul, listening to the heart – these are wonderful teachings that Santiago gets. The small details of sheepherding, crystal glass cleaning, desert traversing all contain philosophical undertones. You know what, every character in this novel is a philosopher – uttering lofty ideals in every of their dialogues. Coelho writes this novel in a heavy-handed manner. But there is nice warmth in the book that encourages the reader to embrace it fondly. Simple, easy and limpid prose helps the cause as well. However dare I say, Coelho is a master plagiarist. He liberally lifts from the Arabian Nights, Plato, Oscar Wilde, and the Bible without attributing the original sources. He has continued to take others' ideas and present them as his own with impunity. But since no one cares, I too give a damn. I generally like Coelho's novels and I have read few others by him. They contain some beautiful insights here and there but as complete novels they don't hold much interest for me.

Entering the "Hell House"

Finished reading Richard Matheson's horror novel "Hell House". It is highly rated by many people including the famous writer Stephen King. It is scary to some extent but I wasn't much impressed with it. This may be because I'm somehow immune from horror by watching too many scary movies. Horror movies still jolt my senses but reading scary books fail to do the same. Anyway, I'm interested in horror because they tell a thing or two about human psychology. In fact, in the novel one Deutsche pays four people to spend a week in a haunted house to prove whether there is post-death life or not. A parapsychologist, his normal wife, and two mediums enter the infamous Belasco house in Maine where the eerie happenings prove fatal for some of them. All the latent fears and desires of these four people are brought to the fore by the powerful ghost, Emeric Belasco. This reminds one of Freud's famous essays, "The Uncanny" where he links the uncanny with the repressed desire or "id" which when imposed on an uncanny object like ghost becomes a threatening force to the individual. I have noticed even while watching scary movies that the ghosts fiddle with people's unconscious so badly that the latter commit acts that hurt them ultimately. This book deals with likewise issues but I reiterate that it didn't scare me that much. May be the movie based on it will do that.