To Change The World, Change Your Clothes, Words & Accent.
We’ve known Ashwin for 10 years or more. And we tend to think of him as a solid guy, a deep thinker, a wonderful spiritualist. And forget that he is indeed a cool dude.
The other day he walked in, wearing dark glasses. Wow. Here was someone else. And actually when he wore his specs and took it off there was a marked difference to his aura, to himself. His solar plexus chakra glowed.
There is an old saying Clothes Maketh a Man. Of course countered by the other aphorism, ‘Don’t Judge a Sausage By Its Skin’.
Clothes Maketh The Brand.
We were advertising a young vibrant corporate clothing brand. How could we rapidly enhance sales and market share? Obviously great ads, the line The League of Global Indians, by Kapil & I {Tarun} would make a difference. But the breakthrough came from Ramesh our partner. How do you interact with your retailers? he asked. I take a room and show the products the client said. Instead Ramesh suggested we take a big hall, do it with props like a cool car {We wanted a small copter but couldn’t organise it in time}, surfboards, oak barrels, kayaks, to highlight the aspects of the Global Indian lifestyle. The hall caused a 60% increase in sales. For once the retailers were convinced they pushed the product in a way no salesman could.
One of the most brilliant cases in advertising history is that of Shreddies, a square breakfast ceral product that was doing well. But how could it regain market leadership? Consumer research revealed that Consumers liked the product, and one consumer exclaimed, but hey it is not a square it is a diamond. A wise ad man iused this and positioned the product as Diamond Shreddies and it shone again. The product was a good product but was it a square or a diamond? When it is perceived as a diamond its goodness shone out, it became a hit.
Clothes Change The Taste!
Now in the first 2 examples something good grows followers because of better clothing. But once the clothing is taken off it is the same thing right?
For example in advertising dealing with brands like Tata Coffee and Cafe Coffee Day we realised research showed that if you package coffee in blue packaging it tastes milder. If you pack it in gold it tastes richer. The clothes change the very taste of coffee.
Clothes Maketh The Man.
Let's take a man, he stands at a crossroads. He can be a salesman, or an artist. Ok, he does different things but he is the same man right? No.
Research has shown that a person's profession changes very basic habits, including the way someome makes love!
Clothes Maketh The Conqueror.
When The British were in India, they seemed invincible. Though in numbers, they were hugely outnumbered, they were not easily overwhelmed. At the height of The British presence in India there were just 20,000 officers and soldiers in a nation of 300 million people. So how did they rule the world? How did they often defeat armies 10 times their size? Discipline. And Assurance of their superiority. This in great part, the power must go to their clothing. They dressed as British, wearing often impractical crazy corsets, hot coats, setting out correct dinner settings. They reinforced their identity with clothes, uniform, accent. Which reinforced core attitudes, like ‘One Englishman is worth a hundred natives’. And the assurance of their role in the colonised world with ‘the white man’s burden’ aphorism!
Clothes Maketh The Nation Builder.
Compare Gandhiji in Suits with Gandhiji in a Dhoti. The first has a strong 3rd eye, weak throat, indifferent heart, strong solar plexus, slightly twisted root. The second has a halo, a glowing heart, shrunken slave navel, a glowing root. Now obviously we are comparing two different human beings. But that separation, that commitment to a life was greatly enhanced by the clothes. The danda while a prop, also gave him the inner confidence to hold firm to his conviction.
Ask a Judge how different it is with or without his attire. Think of a Doctor without a white coat, would you trust him as strongly? Look at a message. One comes from The Vedas, another from your paanwallah, would you weigh them equally?
At a very deep level, we ask God, his answer will blow you away. "I was formless... Then I became aware of myself. That awareness, is like a cloak of brilliance. It pushes me to strive to find ever more transcendent aspects. The other side, that which awareness cannot grasp has another effect. You can see it as clothed or unclothed. when I formed worlds, and populated it with my aspects, my thoughts, I was surprised by how different I could be, because you see me in a way. Your wondering makes me relook at my totality. Your stupidity could be likened to a mole on my skin. I peer at it trying to set it right. You, in one sense, are threads of my clothes. Yes I will discard you {Or reabsorb you}. But who i am because you have your transitory existence enriches me."
Pointers to Deep Change through External Change...
>>The first step in using the outer for inner transformation is asking how great a change do you want? Minor or Major?
Some ask for change but are overwhelmed by the metamorphosis that follows.
The second step in using the outer for inner transformation is sensing if you are close to a point of change.
Is there a strong desire for change? Are you carrying great virtues or hounded by deep demons. Are you carrying great rage, hate or pain?
>>The second step in using the outer for inner transformation is finding something that represents the shift...
Name Change. Clothes Change of Monks and Spiritual Seekers. The Spiritual Process is one that climbs steeply, and so one can slip back. By doing a critical step at a point of transformation can coalesce all the force into a new way of existing. Which is why most monks and nuns change appearance and name.
Which is why at so many festivals buying new clothes are suggested.
Habit Change. Another critical step one can take is adopt a new practise. For example running. Learning music...
Career Change. Now it is not as if being a healer is more useful to the divine than a musician's talent, but sometimes making a shift in line can crystallise the inner shift.
Now this can be extreme for example in some sects to join one has to give up all one's wealth... There is no looking back...
Family Change. Another critical step one can make is to shift one's community... a new friend circle for example...
Country Change. Many migrate to other countries to allow themselves a new self to emerge... For example, a seeker in India was labelled a dopey, moving to another country she becomes an explorer, her drugs also become more in control...
>>The Third step is to make a statement with the change.
Use a ritual, an event, to make the external change into a big thing. Why are we doing so? Externally to ensure the world repeats what we wish inward. And second, because a decisive enough action creates a Causal change...
Alright, so whose called up their hairdresser?
Deep Spiritual Questions...
Reread God's answer. And in it he speaks of how his clothes are vital in expanding him. Enriching him. And you will see the implications are staggering.
For example, if you approach God from Lingam or womb motif, will the God encountered be the same? The first may encounter God as explosive the second as deep. Is it the same God? the same ultimate approached through different paths give you different totalities.
So there are a million Gods? There are a million Gods and one breathless freedom...
"I am an explosion a shout of Joy..." Says The Creator "... that Joy crystallised is a primal God. So even I cannot contain I... ."
Love & God Tarun & Celia
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