Shakti Goes West
Gotham Chopra - July 09, 2005
I'm jealous. My dad has got over 20 comments to his latest post....from La Guardia airport! Does everything this man write become a bestseller?!! Kidding....
After a few days of harsh news, here's a lighter story of a different tone. Enjoy:
Not long ago, before I got married, I attended the most western of traditions: a bachelor party (not my own.) It was filled with all of the requisite charms: steak and alcohol, gambling and cigars, and of course, strippers.
By the end of the night, our group found ourselves at an establishment by the name of Bare Elegance.
As things tend to go, one by one, members of our party were led to back rooms where *more intimate* sessions take place with girls who go by names like Chastity, Aura, Starr Ryder, Blaze, etc. For a variety of reasons, I refrained from the backroom activities, only to find myself alone with a dancer and ironically in the exact scenario I hoped to avoid.
She pulled me toward a pillowed chair, a small intimate setting where hundreds, perhaps thousands, before me had once ventured.
I sat down, got comfortable, lay my head back, and prepared myself. And then she started.
*Oh my God!* She started. *I am so excited!*
*Me too!* I grinned.
*Your friend just told me who your father is! Wow!* She smiled. *I am, like, his biggest fan! I’ve read all his books and I meditate and am becoming a yoga instructor. I’m also studying in Ayurveda.*
I stared at her helplessly. *Great,* I croaked.
*My stage name is Shakti and everything!* She was not going to be stopped. *This is, like, such synchrodestiny! What a meaningful coincidence! It’s amazing we would meet like this! Total Dharma!*
*Amazing,* I nodded sorrowfully.
*I am looking for a new Guru. I kind of like Sri Sri. He’s so the new Dalai Lama,* she nodded.
*And oh, when my father was diagnosed last year with cancer, Quantum Healing became my Bible. Do you practice Ayurveda?*
No time for answers. And yes, strippers have fathers. Nasty, needless reminder.
*Actually maybe you could advise me on this strange cold I’ve had for, like two months. Weird!*
I backed away a little.
She was so wound up she just kept going. *And now I am reading some Rajneesh. Wow, like genius. Oh but really Ayurveda...it’s my calling. I am Vata...really vata. Can you tell? Sometimes with a pitta imbalance. What’s you dosha?*
Being the son of Deepak ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
*Tell me something,* she said all wide-eyed and jazzed, *do you think breast implants are, like, you know, bad karma?*
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Posted by Gotham Chopra at July 9, 2005 05:17 AM
Comments
Gotham, you don't have to compete with your father, you know? Be your own beautiful, gorgeous yourself!! I love your book "Child of the Dawn" - it always comforts me and gives me a kind of knowing whenever I feel sad and things are not going my way. I also like your book "Familiar Strangers". You have a way of writing that is touching...Well done! And don't try so hard to make your father angry - he is also doing a good job! :)
This was hilarious! Great post.
First it made me giggle - then it made me feel not so insecure for the "goals" I wish to achieve or rather experience -- greatness can be in just the predicaments of life!
Impatience!!! Your father' "airport" entry is at--with 36 hits after 26 hours--has more time!
So....yours is at 5-6 within 12 hours flat! Give yourself time to compete--or rather--the New Age techinque of competing--which is to "co-operate." The 'shift' is happening--in spite of our FEAR's (false-evidence-appearing-real???).
"Of Faith, Hope, and Love: Of these three--Love is the only indispenseable." Think and feel the bittersweet beautfy of the movie, "Pay It Forward."
truth it you made me laugh ...
could literally see myself being both roles ... as if on a stage of my own ...
recognizing how a part of me never stops strivig for more and more and more ...
at times.. going into oblivion of a different kind...
forgetting that there is much more ...
in the spaces ...
I so seldom allow in ...
oh teh laughter ...
reminding me of what is like when I forget ...
the power of just be ...
ultimately that was the loss ...
to really have an AHAH!!! experience ...
which reminds me of my dream last night ...
oh but that is another story ...
so very syncro ...
hummm
as if preparing me for ...
well ...
there it is ...
guidiance at its core ...
so thank you !!!
as I will be on the lookout !!!
Gotham
love your honesty and earthy sense of humour, I feel we can get stuck in the esoteric somtimes which distances us from the moment, laughter is the best antidote to sadness and pain i know
all feelings are useful - so keep that essential you
K
If I am you and you are me,
what is the difference?
Stop nagging (comparing), be your own beautiful self. Nice that it’s light and joyful well… reaching JOY what more do you want.
This was very funny! I guess being the son of a well known person can have its ups and downs. But this this environment, you have "stepped out" into your own, at least for people like me. I had no idea who you were when this blog started! I guess there is no where to escape LOL not even with a stripper. Joanie
Hi Gotham,
Just wanted to introduce myself to you.
This is a one liner but it would increase your list of comments and would make you happy that you have got far more response than your Dad..)
I was kidding ! You have a greater responsibility than your Dad and i am sure you are aware of that fact.
I am working with John Harricharan whom your Dad knows pretty well. He is the bestselling author of "When You Can Walk on Water Take the Boat" I have left my software career in US and have plunged deep into book writing. Finished my first titled " The Seven Powerful Secrets of Emotional Sex" a week back.www.7emotionalsecrets.com
Nice meeting you online.
Stay tuned you will catch up with your DAd
Good Day
Vishwanath
www.7emotionalsecrets.com
If it is any consolation, I happened to read your post FIRST (I'll read Deepak's next!)
Of course I got a chuckle out of this. I think it reminds us that no matter what vision we would like to hold of another's circumstances, we are nevertheless all human, with perhaps more in common that we like to believe.
Thanks Gotham
The last 2 days have been serious news for us Londoners.It was so nice to read something different with a lighter note and a chuckle.
Your dad may be God but You are an Angel.
Gotham,
Your Dad gave you your roots, but you have grown into your own strong tree now. Strong, sturdy and quite a sense a humor.
Gotham,
Comparisons are blockages we establish then trip over ourselves. Remove this blockage from your vision so you may see all beauty more clearly. Be not afraid to be yourself. You do not need to be your Dad to teach me a powerful lesson. Teach me your own lesson and remember... I am watching.
Namaste'
Oh, man, Gotham, you're really funny!!! I'm laughing like crazy...
Hi Gotham,
You're really cool! To be quite honest, I have an easier time relating to you and your sister than your father (not to compare/devalue-just different) as you both are closer to my age than your dad. Looking forward to reading more!!
That was so funny! Who know strippers could be so enlightened!
Dear Guatama,
First of all, yes you are a crack up. Secondly, where can I meet "Blaze" or "Ryder" ?? That was a funny story; talk about a buzz kill.
My father died in 1981. I wish I could write "is everything he writes a best seller" about my father. Even better, I'd just like to tell him I love himm. I know that you know that we are all blessed by Grand Master Chopra and by you as well.
Thanks for telling me about this!
Buddha Bless,
cu
Sounds to me like you're the right guy to go to a bachelor party with :)
Spiritually speaking of course!
Love the Blog
Rick
That story was awesome! What was the Universe trying to tell you at that moment? Could be many things!
Peace.
Oh Gotham you are so funny.....Hahahaha!!
That's what you get for being "The Son of Deepak".
Sitting here infront of my computer and can't stop laughing.....Hahaha.
Love, Laura.(Senior citizen from Sedona,AZ)
P.S. I am very good at visualization. (grin)
Gotham, how exciting and challenging for your own integrity to make the moves that provided you with real love, to hang in there in the adversity of the moments grand experience feeling of your self and another [a derrivative of Shakti ratchet things up a bit], that was the beauty the part that makes life reel on it's wheel of dharma. You have a sense of what love, true love, not a simple lust, calls for in your own being. i honor that no matter how your night may have ended. But then again i am not to judge a mere distant speculating Fool. Be well
Gotham that was a very funny story and am still laughing. You should know you are just as cool as your dad!
very funny stuff. Enjoyed a good chuckle.
thanks
michael
Gotham: As I tap back into this post of yours--and you comment on being jealous your father got 20 responses to his--I notice this one of yours in now at 24!
So...TIME did it's thing.
That's right - now I have 26 (including this one!) How do you like me now?!
Hi
Does it really matter how many hits u get, anyways u got 1 more,
But...
I missed this. How hysterical.
Great post. I also recently went to a bachelor party (I was the best man for the wedding, actually) and as I am currently researching a little into Buddhism, I was constantly struck by how quintessential a example of dukkha and tanha a strip club actually presents. Can there be any more stark place to witness the utter inability for our desires to be met and finally satisfied? I sat there, tried to take myself out of the moment and realize that the complete falsity of the experience, the disgust of the workers for the patrons (and we do disgust them, make no mistake), the work required for the patrons to suspend their disbelief ("Dude, I really think she likes me. No! I mean it!") -- all these things just underscored the dissatisfaction that existence and desire creates, and our inability of trying to satisfy those desires in any permanent manner. If I had to send someone somewhere to witness the problem of existence and the attachment of ourselves to our desires, I'd send them to a strip club.
ever thought of changing your name?
interconnects!attachments guidance.unemployed:Silverman....
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Recent Comments
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commented on Shakti Goes West
interconnects!attachments guidance.unemployed:
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sdfg commented on Shakti Goes West
ever thought of changing your name? -
Trey commented on Shakti Goes West
Great post. I also recently went to a bachelor
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pam commented on Shakti Goes West
I missed this. How hysterical.
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HIMANHSU commented on Shakti Goes West
Hi
Does it really matter how many hits
Gotham--It seems that it occurred to me this afternoon--after I 'addictively" had to see what's been writtten here since yesterday, and I 'felt' for you--having to even consider 'following in' such footsteps. There is a saying: Learn from the best, or not at all!"
In your case--consider reading a book called "The Nine Faces of Christ." It was first published in India--in 1972, and written by a man named Eugene Whitworth. What ever you may believe about Yoga--consider the lessons given to 20-year-old Initiate--instructed and taught all 33 forms of Yoga--by a Hindi Master/Mystic named Bamachari Ramanchana.
"Thank you" for sharing the weight of that "destiny/Karma/Dharma" of being who you are in a very real physical, and personality-self-like 'burden. ('word'also means "message"). Like you--'mine' are the footsteps of a grandfather, not a father. You are making me think of an interesting "orignal" piece he published in the "fifties"--yes, of the last century!
The interesting thing it that was a "faction-based" piece: based on a true (-er, than not) factual accounting--but like John Grisham does--changes teh names to protect the "innocent from the guilty."
Obviously--I can't be "the judge" of you, anyone, (also even especially myself--thank 'whoever's' God is actually the True and Real One that made it so! P.S--the name of the piece was "If Peace Breaks Out, Can We Afford It?"