September 11th.....again and again

Twelve years ago I was living in Brooklyn, with my former husband Ed. I'll never forget that moment when the NPR news radio station we were listening to went dead. We knew then that the towers had fallen. My husband--a newsman himself--immediately left in order to get into NYC (even though all entry points were blocked) and to his office. He spent the rest of the week filming carnage and interviewing survivors while I stayed at home alone and wept for my city and all her people.

A few months after the towers fell, I left NYC and my marriage and my job and even my dog and moved to a Buddhist retreat center. I knew things had to change, and that the change had to start with myself. But that's another story....

I'll never forget how silent the city was after September 11th, and how connected everyone felt, even though our connection was based on horror and sorrow. Cab drivers stopped honking their horns; everyone made eye contact. There was so much oneness and so much love. I don't think that feeling of oneness has necessarily gone away. I do think the world has changed--dare I say for the better?

Think of how many people have embraced spiritual teachings these days. And how much kirtan there is. There are yoga studios on every block and in every town. People are truly remembering that All Are One.

It's tragic that so many lives were lost on that day, and that the motivations for those attacks were ignorance and hatred. My heart still bleeds for those who lost loved ones and suffered trauma. I hope everyone continues to heal and grow. We are all with you.

The Dalai Lama's Message Regarding September 11th

I encourage everyone to read this beautiful speech by the Dalai Lama, delivered directly after the 9/11/01 attacks.

"The events of this day cause every thinking person to stop their daily lives, whatever is going on in them, and to ponder deeply the larger questions of life. We search again for not only the meaning of life, but the purpose of our individual and collective experience as we have created it--and we look earnestly for ways in which we might recreate ourselves as a human species, so that we will never treat each other this way again.

The hour has come for us to demonstrate at the highest level our most extraordinary thought about Who We Really Are. There are two possible responses to what has occurred today. The first comes from love, the second from fear. If we come from fear we may panic and do things—as individuals and as nations—that could only cause further damage. If we come from love we will find refuge and strength, even as we provide it to others. This is the moment of your ministry. This is the time of teaching. What you teach at this time, through your every word and action right now, will remain as indelible lessons in the hearts and minds of those whose lives you touch, both now, and for years to come. We will set the course for tomorrow, today. At this hour. In this moment. Let us seek not to pinpoint blame, but to pinpoint cause. Unless we take this time to look at the cause of our experience, we will never remove ourselves from the experiences it creates. Instead, we will forever live in fear of retribution from those within the human family who feel aggrieved, and, likewise, seek retribution from them.

To us [Buddhist thinkers] the reasons are clear. We have not learned the most basic human lessons. We have not remembered the most basic human truths. We have not understood the most basic spiritual wisdom. In we have not been listening to God, and because we have not, we watch ourselves do ungodly things. The message we hear from all sources of truth is clear: We are all one. That is a message the human race has largely ignored. Forgetting this truth is the only cause of hatred and war, and the way to remember is simple: Love, [in] this and every moment. If we could love even those who have attacked us, and seek to understand why they have done so, what then would be our response? Yet if we meet negativity with negativity, rage with rage, attack with attack, what will be the outcome? These are the questions that are placed before the human race today. They are questions that we have failed to answer for thousands of years. Failure to answer them now could eliminate the need to answer them at all. If we want the beauty of the world that we have co-created to be experienced by our children and our children's children, we will have to become use that to happen. We must choose to be a cause in the matter.

So, talk with God today. Ask God for help, for counsel and advice, for insight and for strength and for inner peace and for deep wisdom. Ask God on this day to show us how to show up in the world in a way that will cause the world itself to change. And join all those people around the world who are praying right now, adding your Light to the Light that dispels all fear.

That is the challenge that is placed before every thinking person today. Today the human soul asks the question: What can I do to preserve the beauty and the wonder of our world and to eliminate the anger and hatred—and the disparity that inevitably causes it—in that part of the world which I touch? Please seek to answer that question today, with all the magnificence that is You. What can you do TODAY...[at] this very moment?

A central teaching in most spiritual traditions is: What you wish to experience, provide for another. Look to see, now, what it is you wish to experience--in your own life, and in the world. Then see if there is another for whom you may be the source of that. If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another. If you wish to know that you are safe, cause [others] to know that they are safe. If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, help another to better understand. If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another. Those others are waiting for you now. They are looking to you for guidance, for help, for courage, for strength, for understanding, and for assurance at this hour. Most of all, they are looking to you for love.

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

-Dalai Lama

Recap of the Omega Fall Ecstatic Chant weekend

Hello Beloveds:

The Omega Fall Ecstatic Chant 2013 Festival this past weekend was absolutely amazing!  Thanks to Stephan Rechtschaffen and Shyamdas for continuing to make this event a glorious expression of love and oneness.  As Gaura Vani said at the closing ceremony, the vibration just gets deeper and deeper every year.  We're on our way to becoming a Kirtan Nation!

I had the great privilege of singing onstage with the sublime Adam Bauer--a rising star in the kirtan world, whose first CD "Shyam Lila" will be released this fall. I was also blessed to sing at the finale with so many kirtan musicians I revere: Gaura Vani (my producer, no less), Jai Uttal, Ishwari and Sruti Ram of Sri Kirtan, Donna Delorey, Krishna Das, Steve Gorn, Vraj Devi, Ananta Cuffee, Visvambhar – Vish, Janaki Cuffee, John McDowell, CC White, Adam Bauer, Arundhati, Patrick McAndrew and Steve Postell. 

It was wonderful to see so many wonderful old friends at Omega and to make new friends as well. Among my new friends are the beautiful London-based wall Vrajdevi (a great friend of Shyamdas) and the dashing vocalist Patrick McAndrew, who sings with CC White.  I feel like I'm name-dropping, but it's just that I am so thrilled at how many beautiful and talented people there are in this world, and how many of them seemed to have congregated in Rhinebeck this weekend.

Shout-out also to the author Matthew Sharpe, a former Columbia University colleague with whom I lost touch with years ago but have found again. I'm so proud of all Matt's successes as an author and professor.
Jai ma!

I had the honor of singing some backup vocals on the fabulous Ilan Chester's new CD "Symphony of the Soul." This CD is a collection of beautiful, powerful mantras composed with symphonic music.  Ilan, who was born in Israel and raised in Venezuala, has the most transcendent, commanding voice.  Check out "our" song Gauranga.
Radhe!

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/symphony-of-the-soul/id687462665

Memories of My First Paid SInging Gig

Yesterday I had lunch with my father, who is celebrating his 87th birthday.   (He was old when he had me, so don't go trying to calculate my own age based on his.)

Anyway, at lunch,we reminisced about our family camping trips.  I was reminded that I actually had my first paid singing gig when I was about five or six years old, when our family was camping in New Hampshire.  Apparently a friend and I walked from site to site, singing "Joy to the World" to the happy campers. (That would be the "Three Dog Night" version of the song). One audience member paid us a quarter.  What a thrill!  I guess that was my first taste of being paid to sing...
 
But mostly, I am thrilled to realize that there was a point in my life when I wasn't shy about singing in front of others.  It's so nice to be back into that place of non-shyness again.  Joy to the world indeed!

Here's some terrific wisdom from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar about the benefits of Sanskrit mantra.

Here's some terrific wisdom from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar about the benefits of Sanskrit mantra.

"Different letters affect different parts of the body. Our body is like a garland of letters, it is called akshara maalika (garland of letters). You are a mala or rosary yourself; different letters affect different centers. Sanskrit, the oldest of languages, is organized in such a way that it fits Darwin’s theory of Evolution.

The first letter of Sanskrit language is A, which is what every child says. The last of the vowels is Aha. What is the sound that comes when you laugh? Aha ha ha! So, in laughter, the entire language is present, from A to Aha. In Sanskrit, Aha is used for wonder and for laughter. You cannot laugh without Aa and Ha in it, even if you try.

If you observe the Sanskrit vowels, which are A, Aa, E, Eee, Oo, Oou; observe how the sound is generated. The soundA comes at the root of the throat, Aa comes more outward. E comes from the palate, and Eee is more outward. Oo comes to the lips, and Ruu, the tongue rolls.

The rest of the letters are I, Ai, O, Au, An, Am, Aha. If you move to consonants, they start with Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha, Na and they start from the throat. Then Ca, Cha, Ja, Jha, Nna, the sound move towards the mouth. Then come Ta, Tha, Da, Dha, Na, these come with the help of the dental movement. The last few come from the lips Pa, Pha, Ba, Bha, Ma.

If you observe, all these sounds move from the base of the throat outwards. Even the animal kingdom is taken into consideration here. All birds emit the Ka and Ca sound. Only two birds, i.e., parrot and mynah can use the sound Ma also. All other birds only use Ka and Ca.

Amphibians like frogs, make sounds that sound like Ta, Tha or Tra. Mammals like cows, sheep, goats, horses, etc., use Pa, Pha, Ba, Bha, Ma, or the next set of consonants.

Lastly come all the other alphabets like Ya, Ra, La, Va, She, Sha. Therefore, the alphabets and sounds are arranged in the same order as the theory of evolution, i.e., birds, animals, mammals and humans. Isn’t that interesting? It is absolutely fascinating.

There was some research done in England; scientists found that Sanskrit language is very suitable for neurolinguistic functions. For about ten years, scientists were trying to understand why people with a base in Sanskrit are very sharp at mathematics and calculations. Do you know about 60% of the English language follows Sanskrit? If you see the roots of the English words, most of them are Sanskrit based. Svasa is sister, Brata is brother, Pitha is father and Mata is Mother. If you draw parallels like these, you will realize that the base of English is Sanskrit language."

|| Jai Guru Dev ||

How Cool Is It When an Old Friend releases a Hot New Movie?

Several years ago I hosted a dashing young filmmaker named James Ponsoldt, who stayed at my house in Woodstock during the "Woodstock Film Festival."  This is one of the many, many cool things about living in Woodstock, NY.  We treat everyone who visits like family--whether it's Gabriel Byrne, David Byrne, or just some visiting parks official from the DEP. I had the honor of spending a few days with director James Ponsolt and producer Scott Macauley while they stayed at my house in 2006.  Yes, I'm name dropping. But why not? I'm proud of them and am always happy to promote my fellow artists. It was clear to me and the festival judges that these two men were not only immensely talented, but also caring and kind.  My dog Chloe, by the way, adored them too.

Anyway, it's been thrilling to watch Jame's rapidly rising career in Hollywood. It was even more of a thrill to read the spectacular review in The New Yorker of his latest movie, "The Spectacular Now."  Critic David Denby loved the film and called James "someone to watch."

I'm so proud of you,  James! I encourage everyone to see this tender, beautiful movie!
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2013/08/05/130805crci_cinema_denby

NICOLAS RAPOLD of The New York Times also lauded the movie:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/movies/in-the-spectacular-now-growing-pains-precede-graduation.html?_r=0

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1714206/