The IMMORTALS of MELUHA

Currently reading through this - and almost a year and a half late to the game.
But North America seemed to have missed the hype of this book




But it finally surfed up enough
The main character is LORD SHIVA
But what appeals to me is how some of our traditions and cultures have been explained.
Some facts, some fiction, some theory, some imagination - all intertwined to make it a splendid read.

And I have part 2 of this Trilogy already.

Will get to it soon as I have part 1 done.

5Rhythms Dance / Meditation

The 5Rhythms are:

• FLOWING – the fluid, continuous, grounded glide of our own movements
• STACCATO – the percussive, pulsing beat that shapes us a thousand different ways
• CHAOS – the rhythm of letting go, releasing into the catalytic wildness of our dance that can never be planned or repeated
• LYRICAL – the rhythm of trance, where the weight of self-consciousness dissolves, where we lighten up and disappear into our own uniqueness
• STILLNESS – the quiet emptiness, where gentle movements rise and fall, start and end, in a field of silence

The dis-ease of our times is that we have stopped moving:

• Our bodies sit sedentary until they are stiff and rigid, and no longer a source of sensual pleasure;
• Our hearts tighten around old hurts, limiting the flow of love until we feel a chronic loneliness, no matter how many relationships we have;
• Our minds grow narrow and forget how to stretch, becoming attached to comfortable beliefs about right and wrong and the way things should be, until we are living life from the neck up.

Movement is the medicine for our malaise. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world practice the 5Rhythms each day in studios and gyms, retreat centers and living rooms, schools and meditation halls. Why?

Because the 5Rhythms directly touch the essential human need to move and be moved, to connect gracefully and intimately with other human beings, to be part of a community of diverse yet like-minded souls.

As we practice the 5Rhythm moving meditation over time, the effects spiral through our bodies, hearts and minds:

• We feel radiantly alive and calm at the same time
• We move from thinking about life to intimately feeling life with our bones, our feet, our muscles, our blood
• We enjoy the miraculous bodies we have, rather than lamenting their limitations
• The tight spots in our hearts soften – so we can cry when we’re sad, jump when we’re joyful, reach out when we’re touched, love and be loved without hesitation
• Our minds settle, and the jagged world of thinking, planning and strategizing fades into a sense of peaceful silence

"To sweat is to pray, to make an offering of your innermost self.

Sweat is holy water, prayer beads, pearls of liquid that release your past.

Sweat is an ancient and universal form of self-healing, whether done in

the gym, the sauna, or the sweat lodge. I do it on the dance floor.

The more you dance, the more you sweat.

The more you sweat, the more you pray.

The more you pray, the closer you come to ecstasy."

Gabrielle Roth


Keep moving. As we move, we stir things up. You may hit patches of fatigue, frustration or discomfort. Even if you can only wiggle a finger or nod your head to the beat, stay in motion that until something changes. Movement opens the door to the alchemy of this practice.

Pace yourself. No matter other people are doing, honor your own body and physical energy. If you rest in the beat when you get tired, you’ll be ready to ride the next wave of energy when it comes. Respect your body’s needs and limitations; there’s no need or reason to push.

Practice respect. Is your ‘partner’ sending signals that he/she wants to be left alone? Do people have to dance around you while you stop for a chat on the dance floor? Are you so lost in your own excitement, swinging yourself or a partner through the air, that people have to come out of their own meditation to avoid being whacked by one of your limbs? Mindfulness in relation to others is a basic tenet of meditation, especially here.

Practice silence. We spend many waking hours, too often our whole lives, listening to the endless thoughts in our head, socializing and talking as we skim the surface of ourselves. This meditation is an invitation to drop the words, speak with your body, turn your being into a moving work of art, let your very self become a dance. If you can’t resist talking, please go outside so others may enjoy the silence.

Stay present. As with any meditative practice, you will deal continuously with distractions. You may have the sudden urge to admire the décor, find a partner right away to entertain you, seduce someone, get lost in judgment about the temperature or the teacher or the music, compare yourself to that amazing dancer (coming out on top or in the cellar) – in other words, to get away from yourself. Just notice when you get distracted, and gently bring your attention back to your feet, the beat, the breath, the dance.

Release your expectations. You might be ready to play today, but what if no one else is in the mood? What happens when you have a hankering for a certain kind of music and the teacher has different plans? We might prefer dancing to our favorite song, in our favorite outfit, with our favorite partner, but clinging to ideas of “how it should be” cuts you off from what is actually happening.

It’s not just about the music. The teacher uses music to catalyze and support what’s happening on the dance floor. While a certain piece of music may evoke strong emotions for you, how you respond is up to you. The music is a platform for your practice. You don’t have to love it - just respond. Sometimes not liking something is a great way to access creative movements.

Stretch yourself. If you always dance alone, you might try including someone else in your dance. If you are constantly on the prowl for a partner, maybe it’s time to ‘go solo’. Slow down - or speed up - and see what happens. Experiment with different ways of moving. Of being still.

Solah Somvaar

Just finished my 16 Mondays for Lord Shiva.
Completely blissed out - that Lord Shiva accepted my bhakti and I got to complete it.
Did not fast - but just reveling in the bhakti

Kirtans - the new rage

Kirtans are being rejuvenated>

Have you seen Jai Uttal? Krishna Das?

What is contributing to Kirtans becoming the new rage??
Is ecstatic singing the way of achieving contact with transcendental conscience?

Kirtans East and West

Teed Rockwell • Published on November 14, 2011

In yoga centers all over America, people gather with a few instruments, usually harmonium, guitar, and/or tablas, and sing kirtan: Musical chanting of the Hindu names of God. Once these places taught only the physical postures of hatha yoga, now they are expanding to teach Americans the sacred chanting of bhakti yoga. These same people will also go to medium-sized concert halls by the hundreds (or even thousands) to hear (and sing with) the big names of kirtan—Jai Uttal, Deva Premal, Krishna Das, David Stringer, Suzanne Sterling. Jai Uttal has even made an introductory album for young people called Kirtan Kids, which features his six-year-old son Ezra and a chorus of children.

The annual Bhakti Fest in Joshua Tree, CA, in September, attracts ten of thousands for four continuous days of kirtan and hatha yoga. For the people who sing kirtan, it is often one of the most important events in their lives. What motivates these people to have so much commitment to travel for miles to sing simple tunes in a dead foreign language with friends and strangers? Why is this any more compelling to these people than Campfire songs, or the old “Sing Along with Mitch” television show.

I actually don’t have to ask “these people,” because I’m one of them. I find this rather surprising. When I was a bar musician, one of my first stirrings of artistic conscience was when I turned down a gig because the owner wanted me to lead sing-alongs. But there is something that happens when you chant these mantras that I, at least, can’t get anywhere else. When I saw the Robert Duvall movie The Apostle, or went to my brother’s church during his brief fling as a “Jesus Freak,” I couldn’t help wishing that there was some way I could experience this religious intensity without voting Republican and opposing gay marriage.

Kirtan is basically gospel music for Hindus, and enables those of us who have left the Abrahamic tradition to use ecstatic singing as a way of achieving contact with what I would call the transcendental essence. That doesn’t mean that my relationship with kirtan is completely paradox-free. Because my own kirtan band is starting to get gigs and record demos, I’m now having to deal with the ambiguous distinction between kirtan audience and kirtan performers.

As an audience member, I sing my heart out, and don’t worry about the fact that I’m not primarily a singer. But as a performer, I can’t stop worrying about technique, even though I know that technique is definitely not what this music is all about. Does that mean that I should stop worrying about tempo and tuning? Kirtankar Karnamrita Dasi tells this story: A great Indian singer told the doorman at a Krishna temple to stop singing kirtan, because he was wounding the raga and singing out of tune. The next day the eyes of the Krishna statue had turned red because he couldn’t sleep without hearing the doorman’s clumsy but heartfelt singing. Nevertheless, Dasi has a beautiful voice, and her kirtan albums are skillfully produced.

Kirtan Nation, the Sounds True compilation CD, reveals that the best kirtan musicians are both accomplished and creative. Musicians naturally want their music to sound good, and to take their music in new directions. But how far can you travel in new directions before you’ve lost your way? When is kirtan no longer “kirtan?”

Deva Premal is perhaps the most popular kirtan artist, but she often sounds to me like smooth jazz with Sanskrit lyrics. Kirtan usually makes some sort of musical nod to its Indian roots. Harmonium and/or tabla is used in almost all live concerts, and guest solos by Nepalese bansuri player Manose are very popular on recordings. But is this enough to make sure that kirtan remains a manifestation of bhakti yoga, and not just a recent trend in Lite Rock music?

Kirtan takes many forms in India. The Sikhs have their own unique form of kirtan based on verses from their sacred text, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Each verse is associated with a specific Hindustani raga, and Sikh services traditionally include chanting those texts in those ragas accompanied by tablas and harmonium. This tradition has emerged in American popular kirtan through the mother and daughter duo of Snatam and Prabhu Nam Kaur.
The primary source for Hindu kirtan, however, is Vrindaban, which tradition names as the place where Vishnu took his earthly form of Krishna. “Vrindaban is a regular kirtan factory” says tabla player Gangadhar Gerhard, who traveled to India with Jai Uttal in pursuit of bhakti yoga. “Walking through the streets in the evening, the sound of kirtan spilled out from homes on every block. I was struck how this was not about music. There was always some out-of-tune old man croaking at the top of his lungs. It was all about devotion, expressing what’s in your heart, not about making beautiful sounds. It opened my ears and my heart in a way Western music had never done.” Many other Americans came to Vrindaban to study Bhakti Yoga with Neeb Karori Baba, including Richard Alpert (AKA Ram Dass), Jai Uttal, Krishna Das, and Bhagavan Das. It was also where A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada studied and wrote before founding the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as “the Hare Krishnas.”

For many Americans, the Hare Krishnas are an annoyance or a joke. Hearing kirtan while trying to recover lost luggage at an airport is not likely to be a profound experience. This shows the wisdom behind the Transcendental Meditation strategy of keeping each personal mantra secret, and chanting it only during meditation. Nevertheless, ISKCON has produced a community of devotees with a flourishing second generation. Karnamrita Dasi was the second child born into the American ISCKON community, and today she not only sings kirtan beautifully, but also eloquently explains the principles of bhakti yoga to her audiences. The Mayapuris are a group of charming young people who grew up singing kirtan together in an ISKCON community in Florida, and today perform and teach all over the world. Unlike most contemporary kirtan groups, they rely primarily on traditional instruments, including the barrel-shaped mridangam that most Westerners associate with “the Hare Krishnas.” The Mayapuris told me, however, that they only play in airports if their flight to a workshop or concert has been delayed. I have no doubt that their youthful enthusiasm actually manages to convey the spirit of kirtan even under those conditions.
The Americans who studied in Vrindaban with Neeb Karori Baba are among the most prominent western teachers of bhakti yoga and performers of kirtan. The one who still remains in Vrindaban today is Shyam Das. “Shyam Das chants and studies for hours in a hut with cow dung walls on a mountain” says Karnamrita Dasi “Every evening at sunset, he walks around this mountain in the sandy soil with no shoes, through peacocks, monkeys, and sadhus who live permanently outside. Everybody walks by and says only “Radhe Radhe.” No other conversation occurs, because everyone knows that this walk is a spiritual pilgrimage.” When Shyam Das performs, he makes no concessions to Western audiences. Most Western kirtan performers sing each melodic phrase twice, and have back up singers to accompany the audience, so that everyone has a chance to learn the Sanskrit. Like most Indian kirtankars, Shyam Das simply sings the melody while accompanying himself on harmonium, and lets the audience join in whenever they can. He has written numerous books on the history and philosophy of bhakti yoga, which he sees as a unique spiritual path. “Unlike Buddhism, bhakti yoga does not combat detachment, but rather cultivates a lover-like attachment to a personal god. And unlike Christian prayer, bhakti yoga does not involve making requests from God. Bhakti yogis simply praise God and ask nothing in return but the right to love him.” Does his scholarship and love of tradition make Shyam Das critical of the new developments in American kirtan? Quite the contrary. Shyam Das is revered as a teacher by Western kirtan artists, and performs with them in his traditional style on the same stage at the annual Bhakti Fest.

“Kirtan is always changing. It changed when it traveled from Uttar Pradesh to Bengal, and now New York kirtan is different from Los Angeles kirtan. Deva Premal is a close friend and frequently studies with me in Vrindavan. I tell her and all my western students that changes in style don’t jeopardize kirtan, only changes of heart. The only thing that’s wrong is when someone sings without an understanding of what kirtan is supposed to do for you. Kirtan cultivates a longing for the Supreme, and if the singer sings while feeling that longing, it is authentic kirtan. Once at the Bhakti Fest, I even sang the old MoTown song ‘I’m working my way back to you’ because that expresses perfectly the essential message of bhakti yoga: the longing to return to the essential essence from which we came.”

Teed Rockwell has studied Indian classical music with Ali Akbar Khan and other great Indian musicians. He is the first person to play Hindustani music on the Touchstyle Fretboard.