I’m totally into learning about gurus these days. I created a Squidoo page called Gurus Online and added gurus and a big photo of Paramahansa Yogananda to my MySpace page. I even wrote a bit about Paramahansa Yogananda on my blog, Geniyyah Healing. So when I came across YouTube videos of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, also known as Amma, the hugging saint, I was intrigued and wanted to see her full-length movie, Darshan: The Embrace.

Oh my goodness. This movie is so artfully done, it is a feast for the eyes and hearts of those who yearn for a glimpse into the interior workings of a spiritual ashram, and who desire a taste of what it means to be in India. Besides the views of Amma with her big happy smiles, and her devotees circling around her, the scenery of India was the best part of this movie. The cinematographer did an outstanding job.

Everything about Darshan: The Embrace is pure art. There’s no other way to describe it. This is not a run of the mill movie. It is for people who love viewing the inner heart of an ancient country and culture. It is sure to appeal even to people who aren’t into gurus the way I am.

Amma gets a tremendous amount of devotion from her devotees. It looks like she’s the humble recipient of a constant stream of good chi. She’s also willing to literally dish it out by serving food to whoever needs it. She arranged to have a dinner once weekly, and also a darshan session once weekly. Her darshan is remarkable because she lovingly takes her devotees into her arms and hugs and kisses them. This is beautiful to watch, but the awe-inspiring thing is in knowing that she can sit for many hours, all day long and then some, hugging whoever comes by in her darshan line. Her popularity has grown so much that her darshans require a huge effort. No wonder she cut down from twice weekly to once weekly! She really is a remarkable woman with a huge heart full of love to share.

Darshan: The Embrace is highly recommended for cinematography, or spirituality, or both.

Here’s a CNN report about Amma:

A few books by or about Amma:

Back in the day, George Harrison was my favorite Beatle.

I was eleven years old on February 9, 1964, the day the Beatles appeared on American TV for the first time, on the Ed Sullivan Show. I reluctantly joined the rest of my family in front of the television set, not understanding what was about to take place.

I was the only member of my family who got hung up about it. I was stricken with Beatlemania for years to come. So why did it take me so long to watch the Concert For George?

The concert took place on November 29, 2002, exactly a year after George left his cancer-stricken body behind.

However until I met the Mystic (my significant other) in 2005, I wasn’t much of a movie watcher. Because he likes to watch movies, we joined Netflix. I eventually found music videos there.

The first disk with Anoushka Shankar (Ravi Shankar’s daughter) and her amazing Indian music was riveting. Arpan, words and music written by Ravi Shankar for his friend, George, lingered with me for days… I couldn’t forget the melody. Even now I want to buy this DVD or the soundtrack just to be able to listen to that repeatedly. That is the only track you can’t buy as an individual MP3… they want us to purchase the entire album to hear it again. It is 23 minutes long.

I could have done without the Monty Python skits but they were included because George liked them. Enough said, I think.

On disk two, George’s famous rock musician friends did well in their performances of his songs. I found no fault in them. They included Ringo and Paul from the Beatles, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jeff Lynne, Gary Brooker, Joe Brown, Billy Preston, and others. Still it is the Indian music by Ravi Shankar and his daughter that stays with me, as well as the heartwarming sight of George’s son Dhani, playing guitar, and George’s wife, Olivia, who sat nearby watching, but not participating. Having them take part in this celebration of George’s life and music makes the concert DVD very, very special.

After seeing this I was curious about George’s family which led me to read about them on Wikipedia, watch YouTube, and look at personal websites. Here are a few links worth looking at:

George Harrison - Official Website
All Things Must Pass
The Guardian Interview of Dhani Harrison

A partial exerpt from Arpan by Ravi Shankar:

I drive a junker, and it is all I can afford at this time in my life. I would love to have a better vehicle. So when I watched this movie about beautiful, attractive electric cars being demolished by an automobile manufacturer, I was bug-eyed to be sure. There were hundreds of cars that looked about a thousand times better than what I’m driving, being crushed and demolished. This is heart shattering stuff.

The devotion of the prior owners of these vehicles touched my soul. They were mostly Southern Californians who tried to do their part to improve the environment by driving electric cars instead of gas guzzlers. One of the former employees of the Saturn EV1 leasing program, Chelsea Sexton, was featured throughout the video. She lost her job when the car manufacturer shut the program down and now is a spokesperson for electric cars. She’s gone from car promotion to politics, and is meeting brick walls everywhere. Car manufacturers and (who else?) gasoline producers are apparently conspiring to keep Americans from being able to drive electric cars.

Too bad, because gas isn’t great for air quality, and electric cars are much cheaper to drive. All those cute little electric cars went to their graves in an untimely, cruel way. This video starts with a funeral for electric cars. How appropriate!

This movie is available through Netflix.

The Descent answers the question: How tough can a woman be? Director Neil Marshall chose to make this movie with an all-female cast. The women depicted are brave to the point of being foolhardy nutcases, but that’s only my opinion.

The movie starts with three friends having fun while whitewater rafting in Scotland. Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) is host and her husband and daughter are along on the trip. On the way home in the car, her husband seems distracted while driving, and suddenly there’s a horrifying accident that kills the husband and daughter. Sarah wakes up in the hospital, traumatized for life. Still, after some recovery time, she decides to visit America where her friend Juno (Natalie Mendoza) has an all-woman adventure planned in the Appalachian Mountains.

What do Sarah, Juno, Beth, Rebecca, Sam and Holly all have in common? They are all athletic, adventurous women ready to have an exciting cave exploration weekend. Juno leads, and the five others are misled into believing they’re exploring a well-known cave system in the National Park. Juno decided, alone and on her own, to take them instead to an unexplored cave so they can have the honor of naming it.

They rappel into a huge open pit chamber, then make their way deep inside the earth. While crawling through a narrow passageway, Sarah gets stuck but Juno talks her out of her terror and rescues her just as there’s a cave-in. By this time the movie viewer is on edge. I was literally ready to pack up and run because horror movies that put me on edge are far from my favorites. My significant other, “The Mystic”, talked me out of it.

I’m glad I stuck around to see the beautiful cave painting that was in the next room they passed through. I’m one who appreciates great artwork, including movie-art, by the way. But when Sarah saw a strange white creature lurking in the distance I felt sure their troubles would multiply.

The main thing I got out of the film was the impression that some women are tougher than others. They have mental prowess, irrepressible bravery, quick instincts, and the guts to do the necessary things to survive. Others melt in the heat of battle, in varying degrees. The women who survived longer did so because they had those special qualities that belong to the toughest, bravest, most-courageous of all.

The Mystic was favorably impressed with this film - especially the acting talents of the women involved. They looked  sincerely traumatized, claustrophobic, and frightened. The directing was flawless and I’ll admit the women were very talented.

If you like sitting on the edge of your chair, frightened half out of your skull, this is an excellent film. If however you are like me and prefer sweet love stories, this is not going to be your cup of tea.

The cast included Shauna Macdonald (Sarah); Natalie Mendoza (Juno); Alex Reid (Beth); Saskia Mulder (Rebecca); MyAnna Buring (Sam); Nora-Jane Noone (Holly); Oliver Milburn (Paul); Molly Kayll (Jessica) and Craig Conway (the underground creature).