ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Harish Johari-A Man of Many Talents

Updated on September 19, 2012

Leela-The Game of Cosmic Consciousness

I first heard the word Leela through one of my spiritual teachers, Gangaji, whose teachings I was introduced to while working in Fairbanks, Alaska. She is an American born woman who found her master teacher, H.L. Poonja, who was a devotee of Ramana Maharshi, an Indian sage in the early twentieth century.

During the three years that I followed Gangaji I would travel to California for retreat and satsang. Gangaji offers ‘satsang’ , (Sanskrit for ‘association with truth’), in various places throughout the United States and the world. The talks would recount the ‘Leela’, or Divine play, that people would fixate on-that we all get caught up in, while never realizing that this is the play of life. So, whenever I would catch myself getting hung up about a problem that I created in my illusionary world, the awareness would make me pause and appreciate the ‘Leela’ in my own life.

The word Leela is Hindu meaning ‘play’ or ‘Cosmic play of life’, and it references how we engage in our everyday life. God loves to create. God’s creations are manifestations that will reflect the divine that is in all places, in all things. Our egos sidetrack us into believing that we have created what we have in the world and forgetting that these forms of energy are from a source that works through our own minds and hands.

It is the Leela that reminds us of our fallibility and brings us down a peg or two. If we are able to recognize this gentle slap and laugh at the humor of it, we are in the place of learning to wake up to our connection to our Divine self. If we do not ‘get it’ we continue to stay ‘asleep’ to what is the truth of our being.


One of the many beautiful sculptures Johari created.
One of the many beautiful sculptures Johari created. | Source

Author and More...

Harish Johari is the author of the book: Leela-the game of Cosmic Consciousness. I was led to this book, as I have been led to many during my lifetime, out of curiosity and purpose. I was curious about the Leela board game and found more than I bargained for during my exploration of the book and game. There is purpose to all things regardless of whether we personally understand what it is at the moment-or ever. The lessons of the book are the lessons of life: Leela, or ‘the Divine play’; Karma, or the ‘law of cause and effect’; and Maya, the ‘illusion’ that we come to believe in our unrealized state are all part of the game, Leela, just as it is part of our own lives.

Johari, born May 12, 1934 died on August 20, 1999. During his lifetime he wrote many books, earned two degrees, ran a family business, became a painter and sculptor, created a guide to the game of Snakes and Arrows-the Leela Game; and was a family man with children. He taught, travelled and lectured.



Harish Johari

Harish Johari
Harish Johari | Source

The Sanatan Society

His students and teachers have reveled in his multiple talents and artistic abilities. They honor him with two websites: www.sanatansociety.org, which is an international networking center for anyone interested in the teachings of Harish Johari. This site will take you to explanations of Hindu philosophy, Ayurvedic home remedies, vegetarian recipes, paintings, mantras, and other very useful and free information. The second website is www.sanatansociety.com, which offer and promote products that can be purchased to help support the teachers who continue to do Johari’s work.

The entire Sanatan Society has been created to continue the teachings without glorifying the man. According to the website information, the word, “Sanatan means original, universal, eternal and is mostly used as, “Sanatan Dharm”, the ancient word for “Hinduism” as the original, universal, eternal truth, values, laws, religion”. There is such a wealth of information available to the reader on the two websites that it is easy to see why they would want to honor the man: Harish Johari.



Johari's art work

One of the beautiful paintings Johari made.
One of the beautiful paintings Johari made. | Source

Johari's Committment to His Students

Besides Leela-the game of Cosmic Consciousness , Johari was an avid teacher of the chakras in relationship to their tone, color, and vibration. These are explained through his book, Chakras: energy centers of transformation and the companion CD: Sounds of the Chakras. I have both the book and CD and they are written in an easy to follow manner with plenty of diagrams.

Harish Johari was a natural teacher and these ‘lessons’ of life are evident even through his children’s stories. One of the children’s stories he wrote is called, The Monkeys and the Mangos. He has also written a children’s version of the story of Krishna.

If you have visited the hub: Before chutes and ladders there was leela-the game of self-knowledge you will already be familiar with the name of Harish Johari. I was prompted to invite the reader to learning a little bit about the man who authored the guide to the game. Although a version of Leela has been around for 2,000 years, I am hoping that this short bio about Johari will spark an interest that will lead the reader to investigate more about both him and his wonderful contributions to our planet.



working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)