Hoe een gevoelig jongetje straatvechter wordt en later tijdens zijn rechtenstudie succesvol meedoet aan amateur bokswedstrijden.
Hoe hij de filmwereld inrolde en op de Wallen in Amsterdam terechtkwam. Het was daar dat hij zijn eerste diepe spirituele ervaringen opdeed. Tien jaar later ontmoette hij in de Himalaya’s de heilige Herakhan Babaji.
In het boek dat Henk geschreven heeft kun je terug lezen welke rol spiritualiteit in Henks leven speelt. Het boek “Henk Poncin, filmmaker, bokser, mysticus, Beelden uit mijn levens” is te bestellen via het contactformulier.
Artikelen en interviews
Interview met Henk in Ad Rem 2015: Babaji – Waarheid, eenvoud en liefde, dat is waar het om gaat
Shri Herakhan Babaji
Dashara Giri Baba
Verklarende woordenlijst van de Indiase begrippen uit het boek
Aarti – lichtceremonie en het zingen van mantra’s en gebeden
Bhajan – gezongen gebed, lied ter ere van God
Bhakti – devotie en liefde voor God, de Allerhoogste
Chandan – pasta van sandalhout dat op het voorhoofd wordt aangebracht
Darshan – aanschouwen of ontmoeten van een heilige of Goddelijke vorm
Dhuni – plaats voor vuurceremonie
Haidakhan – plaats in de voetheuvels van de Himalaya, Uttarakand, India (uitspraak: Herakhan), Babaji’s hoofdashram
Havan – Vedische vuurceremonie
Havankund – offerplaats, container voor de vuurceremonie
Japa – herhalen van een mantra waarbij gebruik gemaakt kan worden van een gebedssnoer (mala), meestal in stilte
Karma yoga – werk toegewijd aan God, onbaatzuchtig handelen
Kirtan – zingen ter ere van God, dikwijls eenvoudige mantra’s in devotie gezongen, het helpt om hart en geest te helen
Maya – energie, illusie
Mahaprabuji – Grote Heer, een titel voor Haidakhan Baba
Mantra – naam van God, klank of vers dat de kracht heeft om te verbinden met verfijnde niveaus van het bestaan en harmonie en heling brengt
Mala – snoer voor Japa, meditatie/gebed met dikwijls 108 kralen
Murti – een ingewijd beeld, een beeld leven en bewustzijn gegeven via een Vedische ceremonie
Pranam – het tonen van respect door het maken van een buiging
Prasad – gezegend voedsel
Puja – ceremonie/gebed dat terug te voeren is op de oude Vedische tijden
Sanatan Dharma – eeuwige religie, eeuwige wet, kern van alle religies
Sadhana – spirituele discipline, iemands geestelijk pad
Other stories:
“Take a big stone”
In those days karma yoga was assigned to us either by Lok Nath or someone else. You were not asked whether you would like to do this or that, not at all. You were told to work and that was that – or else you could leave. Babaji often sent people away.
I was given a job working in the river, taking out stones to build bridges and walls.
It was a lot of work and for someone not used to walking barefoot it was hard on the stones. You also had to lift rocks out of the sand and roll them or carry them to the river where they were needed. Your hands would be in the water and after lifting so many stones with sandy hands, they would start hurting. I hated the work.
Each day I silently pleaded, please let me do something else, cleaning the toilets, anything but this. But everyday it was back to the river. Then, at some point I gave up hope of ever doing anything else and just accepted having to go to the river as usual. And that’s when Babaji said, “You go to the garden”.
What this story is really about is what happened one day when we were working in the river. We were moving rocks when we saw Babaji coming down the stairs. He was surrounded by many people and there was a lot of noise, people shouting jaikars and blowing horns and conch shells. We said to each other “Baba is coming” and although we realized that Babaji knew everything, we were still in the habit of giving it a little extra when He was there.
So here I was, standing in the river and Babaji came and sat down on a rock about five meters from where I was, overlooking the work.
I started looking for a stone. There were three different ones in front of me, a nice round one that I could easily handle, nothing wrong with it, my kind of rock. There was also a fair sized one, more fitting the occasion. Nearby I noticed a huge one, which I quickly dismissed because I could never have lifted it, even without my back problems. But just as I went for the middle one, I heard His voice, “Take a big stone”. I silently complained, “Baba, what are you doing? Am I going to break my back right here in front of you? I can never lift this one”.
Then I remembered “Om Namaha Shivaya” and I went for the big one. I almost had to get under the water to get my hands under it and I tried moving it, moaning and groaning as I strained to lift it. Then I gave it everything I had and suddenly I felt it coming up. It was such an amazing feeling that I could lift this rock, I stumbled a few meters with it and put it in its right place.
“Take a big stone!” These words have stuck with me ever since. Many times after that when I run into problems, I have remembered them.
While we were making the “Sanatan Dharma” video, we had some serious problems. Because Babaji had said that He had come to bring the message of Sanatan Dharma to the West, I knew that I had to include the Christmas celebrations in Haidakhan in the video, so the whole planning was focused on shooting in December.
A few months before we planned to leave, the Indian embassy had already assured us that the working and shooting permits were granted. But when I finally came to pick them up, nobody knew anything about it and even tourist visas were refused. The Indian government had just collapsed because of the Ayodhia riots and the whole thing was in a mess. Our tickets were already paid for and the equipment was on its way to Delhi. Everybody told me to forget about it, but remembering Babaji’s “Take a big stone”, I did not want to give up, went against their advice and kept on pushing.
Two days before the plane was going to leave, I received a telephone call from the embassy telling me the permit had arrived. I could come to pick it up together with the visas.
Henk Poncin 