Sadhguru inaugurates Mystic Kalinga, a festival of poetry performances

Bhubaneswar: Mystic Kalinga, a two-day international festival of poetry and performances was inaugurated in Bhubaneswar on Friday with the presence of several noted poets from around the world.

Renowned Indian English poet Keki N Daruwala and famous Hindi poet as well as cultural critic Ashok Vajpayee graced the inaugural session and discussed various aspects of Indian culture from a critical point of view. Both the poets said that there must be a clear distinction between myth and reality.

In a specially dedicated session moderated by poet Arundhati Subramaniam, Sadhguru Jaggi  Vasudev discussed Indian mysticism and decoded hidden Indian philosophical messages of Life through short tales and stories in the context of his recently launched book Adiyogi: The Source of Yoga.

Explaining the rationale behind Indian cultural practices of rituals amid quest of seekers to find out the real meaning of Life, Sadhguru said, “If you realize you do not know something, then you will try to find out. But if you want to know something but do not have the time or inclination, then you will believe.”

During the discussion, Sadhguru answered different questions from the audience about meditation and yoga being alternate to curing mental illness, saying it has the potential to heal mental illness of certain degrees with constant practice.

Describing key aspects of Indian philosophy, he said, instead of being entangled with etymological meaning of conceptual words mentioned in ancient scriptures, seeing the world as it is and self-realisation is the key to happy and peaceful living.

The first day of the 2nd edition of Mystic Kalinga showcased various genres of Indian poetry as three poetry recital sessions-multilingual, Odia and Bhakti poetry-were held after the inaugural session. Noted poets such as Navneeta DevSen, Sitakanta Mohapatra, Arundhati Subramanian, Saroj Bal read their poems in front of an amused audience.

Three poets and author –Arundhathi Subramaniam, Nabneeta DevSen, Soubhagya Kumar Mishra were conferred Mystic Kalinga Literary Awards 2017 by Sadhguru on this occasion.

In the end, an Urdu Mushaira session was held where maestros such as Tarannum Riyaz and Shakeel Azmi participated.