If one goes through ancient Vedic text or our stories of Krishna , Rama and even the Mahabharata we  hear this word constantly MAYA . In Mahabharata we have Krishna the ultimate Mayavi a man who brings mystic and mesmerises people with his bag of tricks . He beheads Shishupal with one stroke of his Sudarshan chakra and becomes taller then the castle dome when Duryodhana ask he be arrested and made captive .He flies  in the air and throws Draupadi an unlimited peace of cloth  that she wraps around her as she is being disrobed by Dusshasana  . In old Vedic scriptures this world is also called Maya or an illusion . The yogi’s say the world is not what you see through the five senses , that is an illusion , their is an unhidden world of nothingness that is the ultimate reality .Here we see the world becoming an illusion , this has been stated by Krishna in the Geeta as well , that we are here for a limited time and most die not even being able to connect with the ultimate reality and the final truth .

Maya is the great illusion a magic trick of sorts a wool that is used to cover our eyes , as we walk though life oblivious to the real reality .In the Ramayana we also see Maya , people say that the oldest text of the Ramayana state that Seeta lived with ram at the forest in the form of a Chaya . Here again illusion and Maya is at play . Mahrich turns into a golden deer to draw Ram into the forest . Ravana and his army have many general’s with occult powers and use of Maya was prevalent amongst the Rakhshasa in that time .To break the Maya you have to be like a seer who sees things as it is or as they are .

A much used name amongst the women it smells of mystic , hidden charm with all the illusion of an alternate reality .Maya is also another name for Goddess Parvati .Here she is the consort of Shankara the Adi yogi the man who has perceived the ultimate reality , a meditator who has seen the world as an illusion and escaped it’s Maya to sit at mount Kalash so that he can meditate till eternity . She is his wife in the Purna stories MAYA with the ultimate knower , the man who has pierced the illusion.

That is why most Indian’s get impress with fake saints and sadhu’s show their magic tricks to them , people seek these Godmen because the believe they have some greater powers . The Sad Baba was famous for his Vibhuti act , ash would come out of thin air and drop from his hands onto the devotees forehead . That people though was MAYA , and he is hailed as a great mystic by many followers .A deep yet esoteric word steeped into our ancient texts and mythical tales Maya is the great illusion , it will be spoken of for ever and enjoy a scared place in our hearts.

Maya is also the name of the indigenous people of Mexico and south America . They are the natives of this region and were a very advanced civilisation for their time . They had mad some incredible art , temples , buildings and also developed their own script . But today even that is an illusion as you can visit Mexico to see the remains and ashes of this great culture that once thrived .

East has always been the land of seekers , if you closely look at the main eastern religions Hinduism , Buddhism , Jainism , Bon , you will find that they all talk and support an after life . These religions propagate that man does not have one birth and death cycles , he goes through infinite cycles of birth and death . As it says in the Geeta , the body made of the five elements is just like a piece of clothing . As in life man wears and then discards his robes and clothes , the body will also be discarded one day and all that will remain is the soul , the eternal the light or the atman as they call it in Hindu Vedic philosophy . This cycle can only be broken through self realisation and through spiritual practices called the sadhana . So is the same in Buddhism they call this cycle of life and death Samsara and the moksha who go into spiritual search are looking for Moksha when their soul merges with the superconscious and becomes all and divine . Buddhism also has the birth and death theme , so does Jainism for that matter propagated by Mahavira . The body is a piece of cloth and what happens to you in the current life is cause of Karma that you have collected over many past lives . The events that unfold in this life maybe to balance out the Karma done in past lives .That is why many a times we are stuck to ponder why such things good or bad , negative or positive are happening in our lives . We try to re collect what are the reasons for this , but are left wondering . The answer is simple , you carry your deeds , actions and karma’s as the soul moves from one body to anther or for that matter one life to another . The vents that unfold , happen due to also karma’s of past lives .

That is why the east is always seeking liberation , they are seeking enlightenment . Now that they have many lives to live and many more karma’s will unfold , the current life is just a dream till another one unfolds . These religions thus talk of detachment , to be in the world but not of it . Their is no need to fetter or worry , this life is no more a face from start to finish , as it itself is eternal and is never ending the cycle has no beginning and no end . This life is. to all , it is a collected karma of past life .This detaches you from things and events as you just witness them unfold , you know and are reassured this will happen again and again in a cyclic form .

The western religious philosophies Christianity , Judaism , Islam have the concept of heaven and hell and things like the judgement day or the day of the Qayamat . They see this life as one life birth to death and then you will be judged for your actions by a benevolent god . According to your actions you will be given heaven or be doomed to the hell fire .They have a fear component in them . Follow the laws of the Bible or the Quran strictly or else prepare for hell.This life is all topi have to do good and get a ticket to paradise as it were .The West is looking outward where as the east has always searched inwards , that is the way of the Yogi or the Guru .

In Judaism you have the law of the Tora their holy books along with Genesis. It states that Judaism pre dates even Christianity and that Christianity is an of shoot of Judaism . The religion began more then 3800 years ago with a conversation between GOD and Abraham . The father as it where of the jews . They were then given the Tora a book of commandments and laws that would govern the religious community .Here again is the concept of Garden of eden as heaven and Ghinnom is the hell where the soul is damed to great fires .Make sure you do enough good not to burn for ever .

What people like OSHO were doing was the combine the two Western and Easter halves into one wholistic philosophy meant for the entire human race .A new man was what he was creating the Zorba the Buddha . A man steeped in both spiritual and materialistic philosophies . That was the new way or the new path .

change.org is anther great petal that I explored today , it’s a portal dedicated to tasing social awareness through change . You can pick and choose any cause , education for the poor , garbage free cities , stop plastic pollution or just want to keep the Juhu beach clean . Environmental issue , gay rights , rape , crime in neighborhoods anything that will change the society or your neighborhood for good , you can make your own petition and get pole to sign it . The petition is open to all the millions of users and followers of change.org . The more signatures you have for your cause the more power for the petition . These petitions have to be clearly worded , what is the issue and why will it benefit society or bring greater good for mankind . Make sure you think your petition though and frame not correctly and concisely . It makes sneak to attach and bright picture on your written words , use images that coney you petition and the vision behind your cause .Once that is done you will be asked to share it on Facebook through twitter and other social media handle , you can also post it on your blog and add it to your back page of your e books .

Then you have a huge database of politician’s , social workers , business barons , celebrities who the petition will be handed to .These are the people whop will make changes to the. Laws or local rules and ask government agencies to act and abide by the cause of your petition . As I said more signatures you have the quicker change will happen at the ground level . Through change.org every citizen has the power to create change at least in his/her local environment . It is a great tool and is being used extensively by government agencies , NGO and local bodies to create awareness of issues that need to be addressed by our society at lease . The website runs on donations and advertisements .

A great tool can be used by individual’s and business to bring about social change .

Now that I am in the fourth year of my blogging journey, I have realised how important it is for one to be still, totally relaxed, just watching your thoughts doing absolutely nothing, free from pain or misery just within oneself gay and happy. The more you rate time the better your doodling. So what is Doodling you ask, it is doing something not for the sake of achieving something, it has no objective, but has a vision and a form. You can write blogs thats the best way of doodling, one can draw cartoon’s, some enjoy making sketches, some write poetry, others like to play with paint, and some just want to make rangoli in the back yard. Doodling is the most meditative state you can reach during  the day, when you are just yourself, no goal no purpose just ideal time staring at you from afar. I try and even in this stage most of the time in the day especially in the night of mid afternoons, thats when your creativity is at its best and ides drop into your head like email’s in your mail box.

Just doing things for the fun and joy of it no pressure to achieve. no goal to attain, the very attainment becomes the goal. The doodles express your inner world and joy or even fears but they come from a very deep core, their interpretations also vary, but their substance and juice remains esoteric yet meaningful. Doodling is expressive and is a definite art form, it’s just happy idling of time, a state of non doing and non achievement.

Most masters, thinkers and visionaries will tell you about this paradigm which is totally about non doing and one can sink in this zone for days on end. I have been their many times so I should kn ow, it can be madness but with a fragrance and bloom. Weather you are drawing Donald Duck, Fuzzy the bear or just plain Spiderman, you need to be most relaxed and at ease to get some really breakthrough idea’s this is what doodling facilitates it opens up certain un tapped pores in the mind and the motor nerves you begin to have your own unique take on every thing.

Using of the body and the sensation of touch makes it an even greater experience. Imagine just playing with clay on a potters well, trying to make a pot. Or sitting half naked on a floor covered with white canvas, throwing  streaks of colour on the canvas and trying to make a pattern or an abstract image. Jumping up and down in a bucket full of grapes, may be just simply baking. A bread or a pie. Doodling is food for the soul and the more you do it more joyful you will be, I can do it for hours on end and it has only benefited my well being. So as far as I see it wasting and ideating time is the in think. Go out their guys and just doodle the day through let your inner creativity come through.

One of the biggest expense for a web–series is food  , you need ton’s and ton’s of it and all of it during the actual shoot . If you can get a food sponsor who fits the bill for the food lunch and dinner during the shoot , you really reduce your expense . I expect a shoot of 15 days and the food sponsor needs to feed 30 people everyday that includes film crew and actors . That roughly an expense of 2.25 lakhs in all .

In exchange you can offer free publicity to the food joint as in product branding in the web–series script , logs on all videos and publicity material . As a bonus you execute an event “ Evening with the Stars .” at the outlet where known faces and actors of the web–series will interact with the customers of the eatery .

Some one from the unit can volunteer with the pick up and delivery of the food packages . If one can execute a barter for food a lot of the cost of the web–series can be trimmed .

The thing that has been most debated since mankind evolved is Dharma . Weather it be the Vedic scriptures the upanishads to the great religious texts both in the east and the west , dharma has been widely debated . What is my Dharma or the right thing to do when you meet situations , tricky challenges in life , how do you decide what is right for you , because what is right for you to do may hurt some on else or may be wrong for others . We live in an interconnected world and society were actions of one effects others , though a ripple effect . As society we are interdependent on each other as a ecosystem , so my right can be your wrong . No were do we see this conundrum more at play , then in our mythological and religious theories . From Mahabharata and Ramayana all stories we see each character debating dharma . Weather be it Arjun in the Geeta or Bhishma before the war , in Ramayana you had the great samvad between Ravana and Kumbhakarna . Dharma has been widely debated what road does one take and what could be the consequences of each road taken , this invariably results in a persons Karma . Dharma automatically translates into Karma .What you sow is what you will reap , most of us live at very low level of consciousness and are mechanical wit our decision making we are thus not aware of our actions let alone the consequences of them.

When you decide and act at a deeper level of understanding you will get your answer to what is right for you your charm as it were . Remember it has to come from a deep insight and intellect after evaluation . When you cat on your dharma be ready to understand the consequences of the acting and the resultant karma you create . As it were the consequences are for you to bear and they may not be pleasant but you must be ready to take the hit .Except the result of your action fully then their is no need to worry . Remember in the world their are no friends and no enemies , everyone is associated with each other through. Bond of interdependence you are your own friend and your own enemy .So as long as you can decide on your Dharma form a deeper level you will k now it is the right thing for you to do . The consequences both ways are for you to suffer pleasant or unpleasant you cannot put the blame on others and the world due to the resultant actions of your dharma , it is only for your to understand and bear . In the Mahabharata all characters were attached to Their Dharama and that resulted in them being on either side of the war , some with the Kauravas the others with the Pandavas they had decided their road and the karma was for them to bear.

Both Karma and Dharma are eastern philosophical principles and it was we who taught them to the west these are purely Easter philosophical principles that the west absorbed . Karma says as you so you will reap if not in this life in the next life . The principle has a sense of justice attached to it , if you feel some one has worked you and done bad to you , karma reassures you that that person will suffer one day for their actions .Karma is thus like divine justice , as theological theory that States that their is a natural way of justice that the universe meets out to all of us and the universe is always eves dropping on us like a ever present policemen nothing escapes it’s eyes .

In Christianity we have the confession box were one can confess their sins infant of God and Jesus and be relived of their sins . We as Hindu’s do the same by cleansing our sins in the Ganges , the karma’s of the past are waged away so new karma can be generated and the cycle goes on endlessly .

Now that I am exploring ways of making a web-series I thought it only prudent to check out ways that one can make money from uploading videos to platforms that pay you for the number of views , hours watched , videos rented or bought . So I decided to explore the options and find out more .The top eight sites that support video monetisation are as follows .

Daily Motion : It has a 70% profit sharing program and one can upload good quality edited video’s . It streams ads on the videos and also allows people to rent the video through video on demand . It has a monetisation plan just like the youtube partner program and your money is wired through PayPal .

Vimeo On Demand : This os 90% profit-sharing model , you need to own full copyright of your video and you can sell your video or people can buy and rent it . Eligibility criteria is that you need to have a demo pro account that cost $ 17 a month . You will have full control on the pricing of your video and will get analytics to track who is buying and who is viewing your video .

Amazon Direct Video : This is a profit sharing program where you create a separate channel through your amazon account , you can check into any of their royalty programs . You get moneyfor hours view , video’s rented and bought through there site . Amazon will promote your video to many countries especially the large US market . Payment is made into your bank account through EFT or Wire Transfer . Their is a list of countries where it supports payment currently India is not on their list but if you have friends in US or UK you can give their bank details and they can wire the money to your Indian account . Make sure you read the list of countries where amazon supports payment . Also read the content policy and technicals about the quality of audio and visuals , amazon direct does not support. 4K UHD currently and only supports till 1080p HD .

Envul : This site lets you earn for every 30 sec of your video watched , but it focuses on gaming video and you should have all the copy rights . The payment is made through PayPal .Though it’s monetisation program members can earn $ 3 for every 1000 views . But it scents only gaming based videos .

Youtube : The most popular of all you can be part of their Youtube creator program and also link your Adsense to it to monetise for ads .But you will not be part of the youtube monetisation program until you hit 1000 subscribers.

You also have twitter and facebook ads through which you can monetise your videos but the monetisation services are only available for US citizens and Indian citizen cannot benefit form it .

Make sure you read the details of the content guide line policy , technical specifications , royalty programs and eligibility criteria of all these video platforms before you create your channel and start video uploads .

Now if you go and sell your new e book with amazon.com you will be selling them through Kindle which is known amazon.com company . You can also exclusively sell your book though the Kindle Select Program .Here you get to be part of Kindle free promotions and your book will begin away free or as a discount whenever kindle runs a promotional program , plus you will be eligible for 70% royalty instead of the 35% you would get selling non exclusively through kindle. As part of the exclusive KDP select program you will be part of the vast Kindle library and will get payed even for the number of pages that are read of your book through KULL program. All this is fine but you will have to compromise your exclusivity , it means you accent distribute or sell your book through any other online channel. Also your price is restricted between $2.99 and $9.99 you cannot sell your book at a higher price , even if the content is knowledgeable and very helpful for your reader ,Their is a price restriction which you may not want to go through . One has to consider these facts before going exclusively with KDP select.

KDP select and amazon.com is very strict about this and if your book is being sold online at any other platform they will remove it from the KDP elect list after giving you an ultimatum as they did with my Travel Bawarchi book. For me I prefer to go non exclusive as it gives me with in distribution and I also have full pricing control.
So next time keep all these factors in mind when you think about going exclusive and non exclusive in your publishing deals .

How To Make money Selling E Books Online.

Making money on eBooks is a simple volumes game , the more you write , the more topics and genre you write about the more ebooks you launch the more prospect’s you have to make money and the greater your revenue stream , its that simple . Write more earn more thats the basic mantra and their is no other. Catch to it . Sure you have to supplement your writings with a good cover page , more descriptive outlays and better quality photographs . Yes your editing and copy has to be good and of a high standard . Yes you need a great back cover that clearly describes what your book is all about . Yes you need ISBN numbers to protect your books content and copyrights  .Yes. you need great videos to promote your new e book and spell pout what it’s about and how can it help it’s readers  .Yes you need good reviews and great applause form book lovers and critics  to sell more books s.Yes you need the right key words to tag your ebook . Yes you need your e book to be available at broader platforms KDP , google play , iTunes , pay hip , Ingramspark , Create-space , Lulu etc .

The Key is Volume writing

All this is fine but the basic the most fundamental core to making money on self published online ebooks  is writing , yes writing more words , more pages makes for more e books makes for tiger revenues it’s that simple write more earn more , write less earn less .More volume of your writing the more you earn . Remember philosophers like OSHO wrote over 650 books over a life time .Thats more then thirty books a year .Each book with a differ style and topic with about 150 to 200 pages each . Now thats volume and he wrote on every topic under the sun . Those are the volumes I am talking about that is the quality and quantity of writing one has to do to succeed in the self-publishing space . More you write the more you earn , just forget everything else , cut all the crap out . Just write and make hot. Fast , the faster you write the more you pages you can write more words per page more pages per hour , thats the name of the game at the very core fo ti all , its that simple .

Professional E Book Writer

2000 words a day every day thats the mantra and goal for beginners to have , you need to write everyday non stop period that should be your discipline , do it consistently , every post neatly crafted and researched with heading , subheadings , pointers and pictures . Do it for a year religiously . Considering average length of an e book is 20,000 words  That translates to 36 e books a year . Now thats the. Pace of your writing you need to have . To write. 2000 words a day you will need to spend 4 hours just writing , 2 hours on research and 2 hours on thinking having cups of tea and coffee . That’s a 8. Hour work day , you need to do this every day on an on and on non stop . That along with time for Photography and videography also to promote your e books .That is a top class professional e book writer and thats the speed and volume of writing he should aspire for at the end of the day and year . Once you get that pace and speed you will achieve success and start making decent. Money through amazon , google and Ingramspark . If. You are not playing the volumes game you will be left out . Remember their is one e book new title upload every 5 min on amazon KDP .  95%. Of  self published e book authors do not make money selling e books .If you do not get your writing speed to this level and volume , you are just praying to succeed praying that one or two books will hit the jackpot and pull the sales of your others books .So volumes above all is the name of the game if you. Want to make money. On e books .

Cost of checking and Uploading your e book

You need a backend team support who maintain your blog/website , they should have a system in place like an assembly line system . One man designs the front and back e book covers , the  other collates the pages of the ebook and inserts the pictures appropriately . Then you need a guy to check the content for zero errors . Lastly you need some one to upload it on the platforms , in e pub or other formats , and also convert out into paper back form . This is a cost and the lower the cost the higher the profits it’s that simple .The team should be able top upload more then 36 e books a minimum . My current team says they can do 4 e books a month thats a good pace to have when you launch your e books .

Bulk Review

Keep this to no less then Rs 500 per review , buy reviews in bulk from book bloggers and pay them on a volume basis .The more bought reviews at cheaper cost the better .Buy bulk reviews and spread them around on Goodreads etc .

Buy ISBN’s in Bulk

You should buy ISBN’s in bulk may be in pack of 10’s that will keep the cost down to Rs 700 or so per ISBN . Again bulk gives you cheaper rates .

The key to success is write write write the more you write the more you make the more you profit its that easy to crack the e book game .

As the task of building a screenplay for your web-series begins , one needs to start thinking about casting . When the first screenplay is locked you will get to know the number of characters that you need to cast for . I have chosen to have three sets of Characters .

Main Leads : The Hero , Heroine and the third love interest as it were . These guys define the backbone of the story .

Primary Characters : A few more important characters , like the villain or the. best friends or the comedian . They will get the major share of the attention and these characters will get the plot moving its the tension and interplay of these characters that will keep the story moving and situations building.

Secondary Characters : These will not be as important but will come in and out of the story . They will build the entire scene but the plot will not revolve around these guys . So thus they will not be the backbone of the story .

Crowd : These are guys with almost no dialogues but do play an important part in building the acetic and backdrop of the story .

One should try and cast a mix of real people , good theatre actors and a few known faces with either Television or film experience .This is the strategy I am using . Casting directors can do the casting for you but you must be careful because these guys push only their favourite actors because they make a cut on the commission from the actor as well as from you . To avoid the extra cost you can ask people on your own or just venture into NSD or other theatre groups and cast people .

Auditions : After seeing the photographs one can send the screenplay and dialogues to the actor and get an audition through the mobile phone . That is the easiest and quickest way to get auditions and see the performance of the actor as to how he will be able to perform and do the scene . Final selection will depend on how the actor looks in terms of physical structure , how photogenic he or she is and how they are able to perform the scene auditioned for . Keep it as natural as one can .You can cut cost by taking mobile auditions , no need for studio camera set up etc . The prospects can do their auditions themselves .