Everyone knows the caricature Elvis, the overblown symbol of Vegas meaninglessness and kitsch, the Velvet Elvis Altar or Velvis.As the Czech writer Milan Kundera observed, kitsch functions as a kind of totalitarian worldview in which all difficulties are hidden and all answers are given in advance, to preclude all questions.
Elvis as a cultural bridge in Dwapara Yuga goes much deeper than his Gracelands image suggests.
As a young man, auditioning in Sun Studios in Memphis in the early 50s, he was on the point of being turned away for traditionally singing blues staples, when, while 'acting the fool', he dared to provide his own interpretation, finding his own voice. It was this moment of stepping away from the crowd that launched his career - the point that generations of young people shy away from as they step back into the comfort of the herd.
Elvis was a white man who dared to bring a range of feeling to music that had previously been limited to African Americans, bridging a cultural divide that later the Beatles, the Stones and Zeppelin would cross, from the comfortable integration of England, ultimately bringing the original African American musicians like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley to wider attention.
At the time, Elvis became a sensation and later 'the King of Rock and Roll'. In his private life, the hidden depth of his culture was manifested in his Kriya Yoga, following Paramhansa Yogananda's teachings and also in his Kempo Karate under Master Ed Parker (the man who discovered Bruce Lee), twin currents subtly intertwining the strengths of East and West that had also previously been kept well apart in the spirit of division and racism of Kali Yuga.
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