Name: The Mind Has a Hundred Thousand Gates
Start: 2026-04-10T19:30:00-05:00
End: 2026-04-10T21:00:00-05:00
Location: The Southern Theater

Pangea World Theater is pleased to present The Mind Has a Hundred Thousand Gates: an exploration of Kabir, a 15th century poet from India for the stage through poetry, spoken word, music, and movement. This will be a concert performance with narrative and poetry intertwined to bring the powerful words of Kabir to life. With musicians and composers Pooja Goswami Pavan and A. Pavan, Pangea World Theater explores Kabir’s message of love and compassion and how his words resonate today. Created by Meena Natarajan. Directed by Dipankar Mukherjee.
Fiercely independent, Kabir has become an icon of speaking truth to power. He implored his listeners to shed their delusions, pretensions, and orthodoxies in favor of an intense, direct confrontation with the truth. He was an incisive satirist, exposing violence, hypocrisy, and greed. Belonging to a social group that was marginalized, he cut through the absurdities of caste ideology and declared the equality of all human beings. He was ahead of his time and as relevant today as he was centuries ago. Kabir has had a resurgence in India in the last 20-25 years and we hope to bring his words and music in multiple Indian languages here to the Twin Cities. Examining the nature of mind and body, Kabir urges us to wake up and cultivate consciousness. Pangea World Theater explores Kabir’s message of love and compassion and how his words resonate today.
Many have spent their lives reading books, but none became wise.
Only by learning the four letters in the word love can one become wise.
- Kabir
At the heart of The Mind lies new poetry by Meena Natarajan, written in response to the Occupation in Minnesota and the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Through these verses, Natarajan transforms tragedy into invocation: a call to listen, to feel, to remember that even as the string of a Tambura breaks, the music never truly ends.
The Mind Has a Hundred Thousand Gates ensemble includes performers Sandra Agustin, Sayli Khadilkar, and Sudarsna Mukund and live music from Pooja Goswami Pavan, A. Pavan, and Steven Hobert. The artistic team features direction by Dipankar Mukherjee, creation by Meena Natarajan, lighting design by Brackley Frayer, sound design by Diego Vasquez Rios, set design by Orin Herfindal, choreography from Sandra Agustin, and stage management by Cassi Henning and Noelle Awada.
Community Engagements (FREE) Saturdays, April 11, 18, & 25, 4:30-6 PM
Post-show discussion on Sundays, April 12 & 19
ASL Interpreted performance on Sunday, April 19