Kirtan History: Krishna Das @ the 2013 Grammy's

The global kirtan community is all a buzz with the breakthrough that Krishna Das has had first, being nominated for a Grammy, and second, playing live at the glamorous music awards show that draws the top musical artists in the industry, and millions of viewers around the world.

Kirtan First: Krishna Das Invokes Narayana and Yardbirds at 55th Grammy Awards

by Brenda Patoine on February 11, 2013.

Mark this day in kirtan history:  Krishna Das played at the Grammys, invoking Narayana (that’s God) and the Yardbirds, the English invasion band of the 1960′s.  What could be more perfect for the Rock Star of Yoga?

Krishna Das was introduced as a “world-wide icon and the best-selling chant artist of all time” by David Alan Grier, the host of the Grammys pre-telecast.  He even called it “kirtan” in the introduction — not “yoga music” or “mantra music” or “sacred music” or any other euphemism being applied now to the ancient form of Sanskrit-language call-and-response chanting.  And not, thank Narayana, “new age music.”  

Okay, so Grier couldn’t pronounce the word (he said KURR-tahn), but at least it was there.  (If you missed it, don’t despair:  the webcast version of the Grammys’ “non-mainstream” awards is available for 30 days at www.grammy.com

And, okay, there was that snarky remark by Grier after KD’s performance (“I’m so blissed out”).  But still….kirtan was at the Grammys.

See more:

Kirtan in a New Age: What’s in a Grammy Category Name?

Krishna Das’ Live Ananda Earns Grammy Nomination; Kirtan Grammy Would Be a First

Watch KD’s performance at www.grammy.com (available for 30 days from the Feb. 10 webcast)

www.krishnadas.com

Catch some of the exciting moments here:

Grammy Nomination for Krishna Das' album Live Ananda

KRISHNA DAS (making Kirtan History) at the 2013 Grammy Awards 

Year of the Snake: Big Change & Volatility

                          

                                       Photograph by: Lai Seng Sin , AP

I've been reading a few sources that are saying this Year of the Snake is going to be a volatile one. It makes sense if we look at events of previous years.  In 1941 the Pearl Harbour attack happened. In 1989, another Snake year, Tiananmen Square occurred in Beijing, with Chinese authorities crushing pro-democracy protests.
And 2001, the last Snake year brought 9/11. Lets send out prayers that 2013 is a gentler year for all of us and Gaia.

You can find my art and design work for my Year of the Snake and Love collections here. 

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‘Turbulence’ likely in Year of Snake

By Annie Huang, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS February 8, 2013.

When the Chinese-speaking world ushers in its new year Sunday, its 12-year zodiac will turn from the dragon to one of the world’s most despised animals.

“In Chinese mythology, snakes were often associated with monsters, or with incarnations of monsters, so some political turbulence can be expected,” said Taiwanese astrologer Tsai Shang-chi.

Chinese New Year remains the most important festival in the region, a week-long round of family reunions, temple visits and gastronomic excess.

It is Mardi Gras, Christmas and the Fourth of July rolled into one, marked by the clacking of mahjong tiles and explosions of firecrackers.

“This year, business is a lot worse, because only those born in the year of the snake love the animal. The snake sign is a symbol of fear. People get scared when they see or hear the snake.”

2013 SNAKE ‘HUMBLE’

But if many fear the snake, some astrologers and masters of feng shui, the Chinese art of arranging objects and choosing dates to improve luck, also see good signs for 2013.
Hong Kong feng shui master Raymond Lo is trying to put a positive spin on the year. He points out that according to astrological tables, this year’s variety is the relatively mild “morning dew” type of common water snake, less venomous than recent predecessors.

“It’s more moderate, humble and patient,” Lo said of the 2013 snake, adding that he is bullish on the year’s prospects for the world as a whole and sees good opportunities for economic growth.

Still, Lo said, people should probably take precautions against the snake’s traditionally destructive power, perhaps by wearing monkey pendants around their necks.

“The monkey is the only animal that really knows how to handle the snake,” Lo said.

Tsai is also largely upbeat on the new Chinese year. He believes much-needed liquidity will be injected into struggling world economies, and that babies born over the next 12 months will be both self-motivated and agile.

On the down side, he warned, there could also be massive flooding and tsunamis.

At the Temple of White Snakes in suburban Taoyuan county, director Lo Chin-shih presided over a glass-encased display of dozens of slithering snakes, replete with flashing pink tongues and slowly molting skin, a symbol of change, renewal and hope for a better future.

Lo said this snake year will be a time of steady progress, in contrast to the more turbulent nature of the outgoing dragon year.

“Unlike dragons that make abrupt, attention-getting moves, snakes take slow and steady steps,” he said, making it clear he considers the hiss of the Year of the Snake worse than its bite.

© Copyright (c) The Province

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Asian astrologers warn of stormy Year of Snake

France 24, February 2013.

Those who make predictions according to the study of feng shui -- or literally "wind-water" -- are influential in many parts of Asia, where people adjust their lives or renovate houses and offices based on the advice.

As they bid farewell to the Year of the Dragon, the fortune tellers warn that the "black water snake" that emerges to replace it on February 10 -- the first day of the Lunar New Year -- could be a venomous one that brings disaster.

Hong Kong's celebrity feng shui master Mak Ling-ling predicts the stock markets will enjoy a smooth first-half before becoming turbulent in the second half of the year, which she links to the characteristics of the reptile.

"It's just like the movement of snakes -- fast, aggressive and sharp, but cunning and tricky at the same time," she tells AFP.

Mak warned that despite early market optimism there would be no full recovery in the crisis-hit eurozone, while the economy of the United States would not gather a strong pace until 2014.

Astrologers say this year's snake is identified with the element of water -- symbolising fear -- that sits on top of the fire element, representing joy and optimism. They say conflict between the two will bring turbulence in May.

"This is a disaster year... a lot of things will not go smoothly," said Singapore's "Grand Master" Tan Khoon Yong of geomancy consultancy Way OnNet Group.

"The European Union may split, the euro may be in trouble," the 59-year-old said, adding that the bloc would be threatened by division in May.

Hong Kong astrologer Chow Hon-ming said a disharmonious May would see an ongoing dispute between Japan and China possibly escalate into a "brief" war, as two "snakes" are going to clash according to his reading of the Chinese almanac.

"May is known as the 'snake month' and it's the Year of the Snake so between May 5 and June 6, these two snakes will meet.

Chinese fortune telling is based on ancient philosophy and belief dating back thousands of years that events are dictated by the different balances in the five elements that make up the universe: metal, wood, water, fire and earth.

A person's fortune can be calculated by using the exact time and date of his birth, with the relationship of each of the elements.

The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and associates each of the 12 years forming a rotating cycle with an animal -- with the snake assuming the sixth position out of the 12 animal signs.

"As befits "skin-shedders", Snake years are marked by major transformation and change -- and sometimes great upheaval," CLSA said.

Mantra: Politics of the Inner Space

What Is A Mantra?

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Osho Times 

Remember that a mantra is a secret technique to achieve more power. A mantra is not spiritual, it is political, but the politics are of the inner space, not of the outer. The mind can become powerful if you narrow it down; narrowing is the method. The more narrow the mind, the more powerful it becomes. It is just like the sun’s rays falling to the ground. If you focus those waves, those rays, through a lens, fire can be created. Those rays were falling all spread out but now they have been narrowed down through the lens. They have become one-pointed, concentrated; now fire is possible.

The mind is energy, in fact, the same energy that comes through the sun, the same subtle rays. Ask the physicists. They say the mind has a voltage of electricity, that it is electrical. If you can focus the mind through a lens, the mantra is a lens, and you go on repeating Ram, Ram, Ram, or Om, Om, Om, or anything, just one word — if you go repeating and repeating and repeating it, and the mind’s whole energy is centered in that one word — it becomes a lens. Now all the rays are passing through that lens. Narrowed to one point it becomes powerful, you can do miracles. Just by thinking you can do miracles.

But remember, those miracles are not spiritual. Power is never spiritual. Powerlessness, helplessness, to be nothing, is spiritual. Power is never spiritual. This is the difference between magic and religion; magic is after power, religion is after nothingness.

A mantra is a part of magic not of religion at all, but everything is a big mess, mixed up. People who are doing miracles are magicians, not spiritual in any way. They are even anti-spiritual because they are spreading magic in the name of religion, which is very dangerous.

Through a mantra the mind is narrowed; it is more narrowed, more powerful, and then anything can be done. There is only one thing you will miss — you will miss yourself. All miracles will be possible, the ultimate miracle you will miss. You will miss yourself because through narrowing down you can achieve an object. The more the mind is narrowed, the more it becomes fixed to an object; it becomes objective. You are hidden behind and the object is outside.

So if you are a man of mantras you can say to this tree, “Die,” and the tree will die; you can say to a man, “Be healthy,” and the disease will disappear, or, “Be unhealthy,” and the disease will enter — many things you can do. You can become somebody, and people will recognize you as a man of power but never a man of God.

A man of God is born when the mind is not narrowed at all, when the mind is not flowing in one direction but is overflowing in all directions. There is no lens, no mantra, just the energy flowing in all dimensions everywhere. That flowing energy, that energy overflowing everywhere, will make you alert about yourself because then there is no object. Only you, only subjectivity exists, and through you, you will become aware of God, not through any power.

You will find many more answers to questions like this in the library
 

Compassion as healing: Service & seva

Compassion that heals

By John Park, Times Colonist, January 24, 2013.

Compassion is an aspect of all major faiths. It proceeds from the so-called Golden Rule that is central to these faiths, that of “doing unto others as we would have others do unto us.” Recently, an important book by Karen Armstrong, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, has helped to energize a worldwide movement, culminating in the “Charter for Compassion.”

Compassion as variously defined is an active desire to alleviate the sufferings of others; but unlike empathy, it often takes form in action. I think the most effective form of compassion recognizes where an individual is at in life, and lifts him or her up to something higher.

A good example is found in the parable of the Good Samaritan in the Bible. As Jesus explains in this story, a travelling man is waylaid by robbers, and left half dead. Two individuals, one a priest and one a Levite, come across this man. One passes by on the other side, and one comes and looks at him and then goes on his way. However, a Samaritan – despite the hostility between Jews and Samaritans at that time – goes over to where he is, and takes care of him, providing for all his needs. Jesus brings up this parable in response to the question by a lawyer, “Who is my neighbor?”

What is neat about this parable is that the Samaritan is not shown to have any preconceptions about the victim. As well, he didn’t consider the cost of his help, as brought out later in the story. He simply knew where the person was at and what was required of himself, and he rose to the occasion.

Jesus presented a standard for interaction among humans. But considering the works he accomplished in healing the sick and saving those who had strayed morally, there must have been something more in his brand of compassion than simply meeting human needs, as presented in the Good Samaritan.

Prior to the parable, Jesus approved an answer by the lawyer as to how to attain eternal life – it was essentially to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. I think this holds the key to a higher sense of compassion that not merely satisfies human needs but also physically and spiritually heals an individual and his or her situation. I think he had a profound sense of love that literally saw through the human conditions and embraced the individual where they truly were as loved children of God, who from a Christian’s point of view is Love itself. In other words, he saw individuals as God saw them as His precious expression. And it was this view that corrected, without judgment or criticism, the human view of the situation and effected the healing.

I think that compassion is natural and shared by all living things in one degree or another. It hints at a unity of all life that we should share that fellow feeling in caring for our neighbor – even our enemy – and caring for nature in its varied forms.

John Park was a Geophysicist with the federal government in the Earth Physics Branch and the Geological Survey for 30 years. A life-long Christian Scientist, he is now a Christian Science practitioner of spiritual healing.  He is also a chaplain at the University of Victoria.

” Nurturing Healthy Communities: Compassion and Action ” is a conference that is being held at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, starting this evening with a dinner and Guest Speaker Rev. Alisdair Smith. You can find more information on this conference HERE

You can read more posts from Spiritually Speaking HERE

SRI Kirtan- Live Your Love

Jai Te Gang Mantra to Clear Negative Energy

Mantra for Removing Negativity: Jai Te Gang

By Ramdesh Kaur on August 17, 2010

Let's say you're having a bad day.  You yelled at your spouse before work because they didn't pick up your dry cleaning (they never support you!) and because you were late, you didn't kiss your kid goodbye.  It's not an unforgivable offense, but you feel like a jerk.

Going to work, there's tons of traffic and you honk repeatedly at the "idiot" in front of you who doesn't know how to drive.  Maybe, just maybe, you flipped them off.  You got to work late and your boss gave you a nasty look.  You sat down at your desk and there are hundreds of emails to deal with, phone messages that must be returned, and frankly you don't like what you do anyway.

The office coffee is cold, you woke up with a stiff neck, and your spouse is texting your cell upset because you yelled at them.  And that's the good part of your day. By the time you settle down to sleep that night, after a day of snapping at everyone in your path, your whole body hurts under the weight of your negativity.  You wonder why you can't get a break, why the world has to be so hard, and why you'll never be able to afford to retire.

You fall asleep grumbling to yourself, wishing you felt better about your life.  Sound like you or someone you know?

Even for the most spiritually aware among us, there are times when bad thoughts creep into our minds.  Many sages and great masters have taught us that the goal of our personal development isn't to remove the bad thoughts and isn't to never have the moments when we think everything is stupid or that we just aren't good at anything and never will be.  In fact, the masters say, what we must strive to do is not to remove the thought, but to remove the negative reaction to the thought.

It can be difficult to control the mind once it gets on a downward spiral.  One negative thought, like a virus, spreads and creates hundreds more in its wake.  Affirmations are useful to try to throw in a positive thought and trip up the mechanism of thinking, but for the big jobs, for the times when your negativity is spinning out of control and the weight of your own karma fells like rocks tied to your ankles, you pull out the big guns.  Or the big sword, rather.

The mantra "Jai Te Gang", written by the Sikh Warrior Saint Guru Gobind Singh, is an incredibly powerful tool to cut through the darkness around you, whether created by your own mind or created by the minds of those around you.  It channels the power of the cosmic sword, like the Sword of Archangel Michael in Judeo-Christian belief, the energy of which slices through negativity and darkness, leaving only light in its path.  The mantra speaks of a great sword which will remove all demons from our mind and body.

Yogi Bhajan said that this mantra was to be experienced.  He recommended a person chant it while lying down, chant it while sitting, and then chant it while standing, to experience the power of this mantra in different ways. 

Once this mantra becomes a part of you, Yogi Bhajan also said it would echo in your ears when negativity crept into your life, making a sort of failsafe against the darkness within.  If you feel your home has a negative energy within it, play this mantra to stop it in its tracks and bring in the light of the Divine.

Mantra for Removing Negativity: Jai Te Gang

Khag khand bihandan khal dal khandan at ran mandan bar bandan
Bhuj dandh akhandan tej parchandan jot amandan bhaan prabhan
Sukh santaa karnang durman darning kilbikh harnang as sarnang
Jai jai jag kaaran srist ubaaran mam pratipaaran jai tegang

(Editor's Note:  There are two incredible versions of Jai Te Gang, both with very different energies, but extremely powerful.  I recommend having them both and keeping them playing in your home when you are out to remove negativity and clear the way for your own strength and prosperity to flower.)

An Evening of Healing & Sound – January 30th

                                                               

 

                   Sound Healing with Matthew Kocel

January 30th, 7:30pm-9:30pm
St. James Community Square @ 3214 W 10th Avenue

Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door

Dr. Shannon Patterson, Vancouver chiropractor, is thrilled to host visionary musician, throat singer, and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Kocel. Matthew is known for his soul-stirring approach to sound healing and meditation music.

Weaving the other worldly harmonic overtones of his voice with a variety of instruments, Matthew’s captivating music speaks the language of the Universe… opening hearts, expanding perception and evoking a deep spiritual presence beyond words.

Between performing for audiences in a variety of venues and spiritual events across North America, he gives workshops and private healing sessions.  Based in Vancouver, BC, Matthew is driven by his vision to assist the global awakening of humanity.

To best enjoy and experience this music you will be lying on your back on the floor (similar to sivasana in yoga class.) To be most comfortable in this position please bring a yoga mat or small blanket (yoga bolster or pillows welcome as well!)

Purchase tickets in advance with Dr. Shannon Patterson at 604-732-5222
or with Matthew Kocel through www.omshaman.com

Here are some videos that feature Matthew Kocel:

Throat Singing Sound Healer Matthew Kocel chants mantra Kargyraa style

Throat Singing - ONE VOICE HARMONIC CHOIR - Tibetan /Vedic Chant