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After a year like 2020, with all its ups and downs and all arounds, I am sure all of us can use “a right gude-willie waught” about now. In fact, I can’t imagine a better song to sing at this moment, to celebrate this arbitrary milestone in time while saying goodbye to “auld lang syne”. This tune has its roots in Scotland, where I also have, so I don’t think my ancestors will mind the few liberties I took with the lyrics. The poem is generally attributed to the Scottish poet, Robert Burns and popularized here in North America by the famous Canadian big band leader, Guy Lombardo, who played it every year for twenty years at the end of his New Year’s special. But enough music history. The clock is ticking! Before stepping over the threshold, I want to briefly look back and acknowledge the many of you who supported the satsangs this year. It was a great project in so many ways, one that kept me connected with myself and others in meditation — and kept me in halfway, decent musical shape! Now, without further adieu, I wish all of you a very Happy New Year 2021!

Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns (with a few tweaks by me)

Should old acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot
And old lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my friends
For auld lang syne
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne

O’re meadows green, we’ve walked these hills
And picked the daisies fine
We’ve wandered many wondrous miles
In days of auld lang syne

We’ve paddled, you and I, this stream
From morning sun till dine
The seas between us broad have roared
Since days of auld lang syne

Here take this hand, my loving friends,
And give me your hands, too
Let’s tak’ a right gude-willie waught
For auld lang syne

Let’s lift a glass to life and love
And laughter n’re forget
And toast the moment, here and now
And the days of Auld Lang Syne

There is not a day I don’t feel lucky to have Osho’s archive available. I am grateful to all those who worked on the project and had the means to manifest it. It is a blessing without compare to receive Osho directly from the source. These words of Osho have been resonating with me recently. They are a good reminder. 

“… my preference is for direct grace. Don’t bother about a medium. If at some time it is necessary in the course of one’s life, a glimpse can come through a medium also. But the seeker should not worry or be anxious about this. Don’t go begging. Because as I said, then the giver is bound to turn up. Then the more dense the medium, the more adulterated will be the effect. The giver should be such that he is not conscious of giving. Then shaktipat can be pure. Even then it is not grace. You will still need to receive grace directly without a medium. There should be no one between you and the whole. There should be no one between existence and you. And this should always be in your mind. This should be your longing. And this should be your search. Many happenings will take place on the way, but you are not to stop anywhere. That is all that is required of you. And you will feel the difference.”

Cedars of Lebanon 
by Milarepa

I started out looking for myself
Down many paths my travels have led
Somewhere along the way I became
The very thing I was searching for

High are the mountains in the morning sun
I move to the rhythm of a different drum
Around every corner the new moment brings
A light to my journey within

Stand tall like the Cedars of Lebanon
See how they reach for the stars
Stand tall like the Cedars of Lebanon
May your aim be straight and true

The recent Satsang version of this song can be streamed here: https://youtu.be/S3pCsm1cXOA. It features Chandira (vocals), Nandin (flutes), Sudhananda (guitar, vocals), and Milarepa (guitar, vocals). Video editing by Sudhananda. It was originally recorded for the album, “Invisible Worlds” available at http://www.oneskymusic.com/celebration/.

To support One Sky Music, contribute using this convenient link: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/oneskymusic. Your support is sincerely appreciated and received with gratitude.

For information about Chandira, visit www.chandiramusic.com.

For information about Sudhananda, visit https://sudhananda.com.

For information about Milarepa & One Sky Music, visit www.oneskymusic.com

“Nature does not allow two persons to be the same. Nature is not an assembly line where cars are produced, so you can see hundreds and thousands of Fords coming off the assembly line; the same, exactly the same. Nature is very creative, very innovative. It always creates a new man. It has created millions and millions of people, but never two people the same. You cannot even find two leaves on a tree exactly the same, or two pebbles on the seashore exactly the same. Each has his own individuality.

“I don’t have a teaching. But whatever I have experienced is a living phenomenon I share with you – not words, not theories, not hypotheses. I can give you as much closeness as you need. Just as when you bring an unlit candle close to a candle which is burning there is a point where suddenly the fire jumps from the lit candle to the unlit candle. The lit candle loses nothing, and there has not been a transfer of any teaching, but a transfer of fire.

“I would like to say that I don’t have any teaching, but I have great fire in my heart, and whoever comes close to me becomes aflame. These people here are not my followers. They are just friends who are sharing in an experience which can burn all that is false in them, and can purify that which is their essential individuality, their authentic potential. This is an alchemical school, a school of mystery. I am not a teacher, I don’t have any ideas, concepts. But I have a life to share, I have a love to share, and to those who are ready, I am ready to give all that I have. And in no way will they be enslaved. The closer they come to me, the more they understand me, the more they will be themselves. That is the miracle.” Osho