The other day I viewed Kate and Leopold. This movie is one where the characters transcend time.
The film is a date flick. Leopold (Hugh Jackman) accidentally leaps in time from 1876 to the 21st Century here he meets Kate ably played by Meg Ryan. Due to the time incident they meet in the present days and they fall in love. But he must go back and he does. Will Kate follow him ???
Like all love stories the predictable happens and love transcends time and triumphs in the end. A feel good film.
In the movie, Leopold makes a comment that you just have to find a portal to go to another time.
In India we have heard of yogi’s transcending space . Yogi’s are known to have been at two places at the same time. When a ‘genuine’ master looks at you , your entire life past and present not just of this lifetime but several lifetimes is revealed to him like a film reel. We have a karmic theory where what you give back to the universe will be paid back to you in kind. Hence to even be in the presence of a master has to be a ‘good’ karma.
In the movie, Kate says, “I don’t have time for pious speeches from two hundred year old men who have not worked a day in their life”. The line seems fiction. But this is what the Indian yogis are known for. Our own guru Ram Baba was 156 years old when the family met him. Mahavatar Baba is known to be several 100 years old. I met a guru who was in his 90′s and could give a 30 year old a complex. He spoke of ‘Kalp Kaya’ where he would go into his cave after he turned 100 and do a certain strict discipline in Yoga and he would be a young man again and have cells in his body that would easily lead him another 100 years. This practice he explained is done by the Sages in the Himalayas.
Another incident in the movie, Stuart, who is Kate’s ex boyfriend and who is responsible for Leopold to be here in the present escapes from the mental hospital, and while Kate is accepting her promotion at a company banquet, he and Charlie (Kate’s brother) are racing to meet her. Moments before she goes on stage, they arrive and produce pictures from Stuart’s camera that show her in 1876. Stuart says that he had thought he disrupted the spacetime continuum, but actually “the whole thing is a beautiful 4-D pretzel of kismetic inevitability”.
What is 4-D pretzel of kismetic inevitability ?
Kismet is Destiny, a predetermined course of events. This the Hindu’s believe is as per your past karma’s or actions.
4-D is an additional dimension. We are only used to a familiar 3-dimensional space that we live in, there are three pairs of cardinal directions: up/down (altitude), north/south (latitude), and east/west (longitude).
The idea of time being the fourth dimension of spacetime was the basis for Einstein’s theories of Special and General Relativity. This association of the fourth dimension with time rather than space has become the popular understanding of the term, even though it is applicable only to Einstein’s theories of relativity. Nevertheless, mathematicians today continue to study the rich geometry of four-dimensional space regarding the fourth dimension as a spatial, and not temporal, dimension. This dimension is spoken of at length in our scriptures. Our Yogis have followed it and stories of this are common in our country.
Movies like Mission Impossible 4 and Matrix have delved into the base of the Hindu philosophy and given it a scientific approach. Yogi’s in India since time immemorial have been the most scientific bent of mind possible.
My family had interacted with a Yogi who was the disciple of Sai Baba of Shirdi. He knew of every ailment and every conceivable medicine related to it. If he saw you he could diagnose what was the problem and would eventually prove doctors wrong in their analysis of treating a patient.
Alternate therapy is popular in India simply because of faith. I may not subscribe to a lot of these therapies but I cannot say much when it works for some people and the doctors themselves tell patients to continue what they are doing as their symptoms in Xray’s and Sonography’s have shown improved results.
When I see movies like Kate and Leopold it does not seem a fantasy subject to me as I have heard of them since I was little. One of the most celebrated books in this field is ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’. A must read book and filmmakers will get innumerable fantasy subjects from that one book to make fascinating movies on. After reading this book some have come to India to find a Master. One thing has to be remembered, ‘You cannot find a Master, the Master will find you.’ Only if you are worthy will they reveal themselves and take you under their fold. This does not have to be at an ashram level but in terms of you being a householder and they imparting knowledge. My family’s guru was their neighbor for a brief period and that is how they found him or rather he found them.
