Bohemianism - Temptation for a Vagabond

Bohemianism -  Temptation for a Vagabond

Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people with few permanent ties involving musical, artistic, or literary pursuits. A Bohemian is a person as an artist or writer, who lives and acts free of regard for conventional rules and practices or the one who lives a vagabond or wandering life as a Gypsy. Montmartre in Paris used to be the Mecca for Bohemians and was also the most popular meeting place for Bohemians in the world.

 

Is the vagabond a Wanderer… a Gypsy …or a modern Hippie..?

Hippie

 

      Steve Jobs as Hippie

 

 

Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak both were Hippies for some time in their lives. Hippies existed in America and the Western world in the 1960s and 1970s. Hippies rejected conventional values and were found to be typical with long hair, jeans, and beads and often associated with hallucinogenic drugs. The Hippies smoked Marijuana a drug that they enjoyed in pots. Hippies created their own communities, listened to psychedelic music, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs such as Cannabis, LSD, Peyote, and psilocybin mushrooms to explore the altered state of consciousness.

      

According to the hippies, LSD was the glue that held the Haight together. It was the Hippies sacrament, a mind detergent capable of washing away years of social programming, a re-imprinting device, a consciousness-expander, a tool that would push us up the evolutionary ladder.

 

 

 

The Hippies camped in Goa’s Vagator and Anjuna Beaches and attracted many foreign and Indian tourists at that time. The Goa tourism picked up in leaps and bounds after the arrival of Hippies in Goa. The Hippies used to wander in the length and breadth of the world deserting their families and leaving behind their material wealth. They used to inject drugs to get into a hallucinatory world.

 

Personality traits and values that hippies tend to be associated with are “altruism” and “mysticism”, honesty, joy, and non-violence. Hippies embraced the old slogan of free love of the radical social reformers of the other eras.

Flowerchild

“Happiness held is the seed;
Happiness shared is the flower.”  -   John Harrigan.

  

Flower child originated as a synonym for Hippie. Flower child is a young person, especially a hippie, rejecting conventional society and advocating love, peace, and simple romantic values. The Flower child is someone “born happy-go-lucky” pretty, a hippie, an environmentalist, a person who loves peace and happiness. A Flower child is a custom carrying or wearing flowers to symbolize peace and love. The flower child is especially among the idealistic those who gathered in San Francisco and its environs during the Summer of Love in 1967.

 

 

 

A famous quote about flower –

“A Flower cannot blossom without sunshine,

And man cannot live without love.”
                            -            Max Mueller

The world of hallucinations.

 

Hallucinogen is an electronic musician, specializing in psychedelic trance music. His studio album, “Twisted”, released in 1995, is considered one of the most influential albums in this genre. 

 

Trance is a kind of electronic dance music that developed in 1990 in Germany. Deep trance refers to hypnotic mid and down-tempo with a steady beat. It is essentially trance slowed down to anywhere from 90-120 bpm with much variation beyond that.

 

 

                                   

I would like to share an excerpt from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous poem here –

“A damsel with a dulcimer,
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight ‘twould win me,
That such music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! Those caves of Ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread
For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of paradise.”

 

ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) was founded by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1966 in New York. Many Americans joined Hare Krishna, the new foundation, and visited ISKCON headquarters in Juhu, Mumbai, India.


When you discuss about psychedelic trance music it appears in your mind the dance and title song from the Hindi film “Hare Rama Hare Krishna” starring famous Bollywood actors Dev Anand, and Zeenat Aman as Hippie. The film directed by Dev Anand released in India on 9th December 1971. The song from this film ”Dum Maro Dum” was a mega-hit. In the film Dev Anand persuaded the drug addict hippie Zeenat Aman to return to normal life and succeeded in the end.

 

         

      

I remember the days when Indian youth imitated Bollywood hippies by wearing bell-bottom pants and sporting long hair.

Raas Leela – Mystical dance of the soul

The dance of Lord Krishna in the river banks of Yamuna in Vrindavan with Gopikas in the mythological eras personifies the whole of life is a meeting of contradictory forces, and all its happiness comes from the union of opposites. The mystery and ecstasy of life are hidden in this unio mystica. What is happening around us in this vast universe? Is it anything other than a dance, a celebration, an abounding carnival of joy? It is all celebration, whether it is clouds gliding in the heavens, rivers rushing to the seas or seeds on their way to becoming flowers and fruit, bees humming or birds on the wing, or love affairs between men and women. It is all a panorama of play dance and celebration.

 

The trance is a half-conscious state characterized by an absence of response to external stimuli, typically as induced by hypnosis or entered by a medium.

 

 

OSHO - BHAGWAN RAJNEESH

        

                 

Similarly, In Pune, Maharashtra, India’s OSHO Ashram, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh used to drive his disciples to dizzying heights through his hermitage in-house programs. Bhagwan Rajneesh was an Indian mystic guru and spiritual leader. Rajneesh Ashram is located in Koregaon Park, Pune and now known as OSHO International Meditation Resort. Through meditation and sexually liberated views, he attracted millions of devotees to his OSHO Rajneesh Ashram in Pune.                         

 

Over 650 books are credited to OSHO. His books are available in 55 languages. Rajneesh Ashram had hosted two lakhs visitors per year from around the world. Bollywood star Vinod Khanna was a Rajneesh Sanyasi or disciple and he accepted the name of “Vinod Bharti” during his Rajneesh days. He worked as a gardener in Rajneeshpuram, OSHO’s hermitage. Vinod Khanna was nicknamed Sexy Sannyasi in those days. Vinod Khanna returned to Bollywood later on and continued to reign supreme as a superhero.

Bhagwan Rajneesh advocated a more open attitude towards sexuality, a stance which earned him a sobriquet as “Sex Guru” in the Indian and International press. Bhagwan Rajneesh had a base in Antelope, Central Oregon, in the United States.

 

His syncretic teachings emphasize the importance of meditation, awareness, love, celebration, courage, creativity, and humor, the qualities that he viewed as suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition, and socialization.  Rajneesh’s teachings had a notable influence on Western spirituality and New Age thought.   Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh said that Religion is an art that shows how to enjoy life.  Bhagwan means in English “Blessed One”. Indian cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh created the Spiritual practice of dynamic meditation. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh also known as Aacharya Rajneesh and later on as OSHO. His unusual form of Indian spirituality, especially known for its encouragement of free sexual activity attracted many followers as well as considerable controversy.

OSHO died in 1990 aged 58 years at his Pune Ashram. His epitaph or tomb inscription reads “OSHO Never Born, Never Died. Only visited this Planet Earth between Dec 11, 1931 - January 19, 1990.”

 

 Rave Party

     










 

 

 

The modern highly educated and successful youth indulging in Rave parties in the forest under moonlight attracted newspaper headlines in the recent past. The youth, men, and women, enjoyed such parties with music, booze, dance, drugs and freely mixing with each other. The secret messages used to circulate privately about the Rave parties and youngsters used to head to such destinations to participate in them. This was both adventurous and seeking forbidden fruits.

 

The world always witnessed such escapist adventure tendencies as periodical or temporary trance and emerged out of such hallucinations as stronger individuals. The youth-driven by escapist entertainment finally realized the influence of the real world or the materialistic world which craves for success and progress in life leaving behind the trance or hallucinations. Ultimately a win is all that matters and scaling greater heights in life gives immense satisfaction and joy to mankind. For example, Steve Jobs discarded Hippie ideologies and returned to become the modern era’s most successful Apple campaigner. His contribution to making Apple products sleek in design and supreme in technology and innovation is everyone’s knowledge and envy.

In pursuit of Happiness

When we discussed the hallucinatory trance, it provoked me to throw some light into man’s quest for happiness. Happiness is the ultimate mantra for humans. The tendency to seek happiness above all man can be noticed from the pre-historic era. Though sometimes temporary trance due to vices affects human life is a known factor, many shed such habits and become successful personalities in life. The moral is not to submit and surrender to Vagabond tendencies and become a responsible citizen in society. A good citizen is the asset of any stronger nation. There are always vices that make you become a slave to them. However, shedding such habits and overcoming self-destructive traps are man’s major strengths. The strong bond of a conservative upbringing and strong family values always keep you alienated from falling into trance and hallucinations.

All these dogmas remained at its peak only for a temporary trance and gradually lost its steam. The hypnotic tranquilizers had their fan followings for an encapsulated existence and did not last.

 

 

The surrealism of irrational juxtaposition of images tickling the ribs and memory chords gradually died.