this life our celebration
priya	saturday night celebration
enjoying the jokes	chintan and kai grooving

Nothing is said, nothing is heard . . . What to say about the incredible New York event? When things become so miraculous, so amazing, the energy so sublime and beautiful - words just don't work very well anymore. For six years running, this event has been consistently great, one of the outstanding highlights of my international touring year. It moves in the vertical dimension Osho speaks of: timeless, from peak to peak. Every year, I think how in the world can this be surpassed. And then it happens - again and again - always fresh, and in new and surprising ways.

"The process of time is horizontal: a procession of moments, a queue of moments. Ordinarily, we are standing on the bank of time and the river goes on moving - from one moment, to another moment, and another. This is how we ordinarily live; this is how we live in time.
"Eternity is vertical. You go deep into the moment, not moving in a line, but into depth. You jump into the river, drowning in the moment, in the here-now. Suddenly time stops, and you are moving in an altogether different dimension: the vertical dimension, the dimension of eternity." Osho

When I used to coordinate the music department in the Pune Commune, music had the purpose of supporting a mysterious, energetic phenomenon called the buddhafield. I viewed my department as one would a kitchen. In the Commune's kitchen, one hardly saw the cooks. They were just there in the background, giving their 100% energy, putting all their awareness into the work, not seeking ego-strokes for the endless stream of delightful food they served up - day in, day out. No one was asking for the master's attention, nor recognition, as if to say: "Hey! See what a great cook I am?" No one was bothering about whether their recipies were copyrighted, published, or not. These invisible souls simply nourished the Commune with their loving efforts: Bodies were fed and made strong; stomachs satisfied, we all got about the business - the business of waking up.

Music is like cooking in this sense, the only difference being it nourishes a different dimension in us: the dimension of Spirit. So when you hit it right, like the band did last weekend at The Abode in upstate New York, many things are set in motion - things we might not even be aware of; things we might be longing for; things deep within us still unexpressed, un-manifest. Mix this with a group of committed, energetic participants - and the magic really happens. And happen it did! So much so that by Sunday afternoon, words and minds had been left far behind. Something of the Beyond transpired over these few days. We all knew it. All that remained after the last hugs and goodbyes, were tears of love and gratitude.

Priya, you again managed the miracle. And to all her helpers; the participants; the wonderful musicians - Rishi, Jim, Kai, Swagato, Chintan; the staff at The Abode who always make us feel so welcomed - I say, thank you!

A week has passed . . . writing these words from my house in the woods in Virginia. I'm still riding the wave from the event, still dancing in that vertical dimension: eternal, timeless, just like the sound of running water outside my window now. A mountain stream sings its secrets of the universe.