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Recently, I came across an old recording I made in India a year or so after Osho left-the-body. At the time, I remember feeling the song was perhaps too intimate to be shared publicly; or its context too obscure to be “felt” by anyone other than the craziest of hearts. Maybe this is still the case, I don’t know. What I do know is that when a friend sent the song last week and asked if I remembered doing it, I was touched and moved to hear it again — even after twenty-five years! There is something about the song’s innocence, its child-like quality, and the purity of Disha and Sudhananda’s voices that just resonates and makes my heart smile.

Osho leaving-the-body was a strong experience for me. Although I had heard him say many times things such as — “My chair is empty, it has always been. I am not the body sitting here, just a silent presence” — I found it difficult to grasp. He was such an amazing being in-the-body it was hard to imagine a time would ever come I would have to say goodbye to his physical form. But it happened. On January 19, 1990 Osho did indeed leave his body, and me behind to make some sense of the mystery and absorb its teaching. A year or so later while playing for the Evening Meeting in Buddha Hall, I found myself looking out across a sea of meditators with Osho’s white chair in the distance, luminous and empty, on the podium, and it dawned in me, what he had always shared about his presence being timeless and eternally here/now. I understood and a song was born from that insight:

Out across the ocean of you and me
There is an empty chair or so it seems
What was there is now and here forever more
Osho, you are in my song
Osho, you are in my heart
Osho, you are in my dance

So this day is special to me, the day Osho left-his-body, not in a traditional holiday sense, but simply as a powerful reminder that the body is in essence a temple in which the Divine, ineffable as it is, dwells and calls a temporary home. This tribute is to that mysterious quality, that silent eternal presence, that resides in each of us. Words fall short at its feet, but perhaps a song comes closest to saying it. Anyway, some things are just better sung than said, right?

“Empty Chair” was recorded sometime in 1991 in India. It was one of the last recordings I made in our little Francis House studio in the ashram. It was made using a Fostex 16-track tape recorder. I memorized the mix and mastered it real-time, hands-on, using our trusty, old Soundcraft board, the one Sanjiva used to record all the live discourse music when Osho was in-the-body. The musicians are Disha, Sudhananda, and myself on vocals. Sudhananda and I are playing the acoustic guitars. I am playing the electric guitar solos. Teerth is playing drums and Satgyan, bass. And I believe, if my memory serves me well, Bharti is playing keyboards. We had some beautiful gongs, cymbals, and percussion instruments from Thailand that I dusted off for this project, ones that Nivedano had gifted to Osho, some of which were used in photo sessions with Osho and for the Buddha Hall music.

It has been a pleasant surprise to re-visit the song after so many years and “water down The Ganges” as the saying goes. Thanks to Gopal for stirring the lees of my memory by sending along the file. In sharing, I would like to dedicate the song first and foremost to Osho, the source of its inspiration, and to the Commune for supporting me in ways that allowed me to be close to the master, meditate, and discover myself. Also to Disha, who left her body in an untimely fashion but whose whose pure voice and child-like quality shines through in this recording and lives on still touching hearts. I also want to thank the many talented musicians I have had the honor to work with over the years, from whom I have learned much, and whose dedicated efforts in those early Pune ll days created a foundation for all that followed. Finally, to all the hearts, far and wide, whom Osho has inspired and continues to inspire. While it is true his chair maybe empty, whatever(or whoever) used to sit there is still a light, a finger pointing to the moon, a beacon of love, creativity, beauty, transformation, and goodness. I remain forever grateful.

Breathing in, breathing out.
Your long life ebbed and flowed on this tide.
Tonight, full moon drips silver wax on the silent woods outside,
While a candle burns bright inside.
Blown out by the softest breeze,
Darkness yields to the new day’s light.

One last brush stroke on the canvas of 2016 before disappearing and stepping into a New Year. I’d like to start a fresh canvas with a new song. Please enjoy this sketch, straight from my heart to yours.  The words are from Rumi; the mantra (Satha Nama) from Sanskrit.  “Sat” means Truth. And “Nama” means “name”. Truth may be one, but its names are as numerous as ripples on the ocean. May we realize our deepest longings in the year ahead. Gratitude to Osho for lighting my path. And thank you ALL for being a part of my journey.
Namaste.

I would like to credit my band One Sky; and also Osho, Svarup, and Snatam Kaur for the inspiration.

Disappearing In The Song of Love
Open The Windows of The Heart
Where All Is Music
And Let The Silence Sing

Satha Nama, Satha Nama

In your light I learn how to love
In your beauty how to make poems
You dance inside my chest where no one sees you
But sometimes I do
And that sight becomes this art
Gamble everything for love if you are a true human being
Half-heartedness does not reach to majesty

Catch a ride on a passing cloud
Disappear in an endless sky
Follow the wind wherever blows
Fall like a feather light I go

Live each moment like its my last
No tomorrow and I won’t look back
Earth and Sky
Lovers’ Delight
Here and Now
Paradise

Celebrate This Wild Romance
A Great Affair That Makes The Heart To Dance
Celebrate This Wild Romance
Love Show Me The Way

Love is a fragrance, a subtle breeze
A golden thread between you and me
No two moments ever the same
Blossoms dance in the falling rain

Live each moment like its my last
No tomorrow and I won’t look back
Earth and Sky
Lovers’ Delight
Here and Now
Paradise

Celebrate This Wild Romance
A Great Affair That Makes The Heart To Dance
Celebrate This Wild Romance
Love Show Me The Way

When the searching stops and words slip away
And there’s no more fear, nothing left to do or say
In a pilgrim’s heart is a longing to be free

Follow the wind wherever blows
Rise like a feather light I go
Earth and Sky
Lovers’ Delight
Here and Now
Paradise

Celebrate This Wild Romance
A Great Affair That Makes The Heart To Dance
Celebrate This Wild Romance
Love Show Me The Way

Visit this link to enjoy: https://youtu.be/E_hnG_yoJsc

Geetee from The Humaniversity sent me this clip. It is part of a compilation of mixes used in their annual WOW! group, this one from 2016. There are no liner notes, so I am not sure who the other musicians are. I vaguely remember sitting in the studio on one of my band visits tinkering with the chord progression. Could it be Swagato on flute improvising along with me? I didn’t recognize my playing at first. That was a fun surprise. It sure brought a smile to my face, and a warm feeling inside, knowing they had found a way to use my modest contribution. I have a lot of respect for them and am always happy to support in whatever way I can. The cd has eighteen tracks that flow into each other like a DJ would mix them. Mine opens the album and sets a tone with Veereshs’ heartful sharing. From there, it is like taking a journey into and through the WOW! process as one super dance remix follows the next. The compilation finishes with a wonderful track called “Treasure”. I particularly like the words:

Cedars of Lebanon

I started out looking for myself
Down many roads 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

I would like to dedicate this clip to my father, who introduced me to the joys of Nature when I was a child, and to my dear mother who will reach her 90 year milestone in Januray — both without whose love I would not be in this world as I am today.

I always feel lucky after the tours to find myself in Virginia this time of year. The Fall colors in Shenandoah National Park never disappoint. And along the White Oak Canyon-Cedar Run trail they are especially magical. Another great place for an autumn walk is the state arboretum at Blandy Farm where one can stroll down “Cedar of Lebanon Alley”.

I wrote “Cedars of Lebanon” in India, 1999. It can be found on the album “Invisible Worlds”available at www.oneskymusic.com/celebration. Recorded and mixed at Feedback Studios in Aarhus, Denmark, the band is Rishi on drums and percussion; Satgyan, bass; Manish, keyboards; Joshua, flute and saxophones; Devaprem, vocals; Satyam, vocals; Pratibha, vocals; and myself on vocals and guitars. 

The photos were taken last month, October 2016, by Bodhi Svaaha and me on an iPhone 5 and 6. Gotta love the technology.

Enjoy! https://youtu.be/R76dimuuBnE

What a wonderful series of events, from the OshoFest in San Diego through Upstate New York, Wisconsin, and Dallas! I kept a good tour diary on Facebook where many of these following photos can be seen. But included here are some of my personal favorites plus a few new ones. The driving part of the tour was almost six thousand miles. But with a fun band, and a good DJ and person on snacks, they go quickly — all part of the amazing journey every tour is. Miracle! Also, that these events are among the most consistent Osho activities in North America since more than twenty years. Double miracle! The joy remains in everyone coming together, the music the magnet and the mysterious thing that brings us all to the point of silence – and the peaks of ecstasy – time and timeless time again. Kudos to this year’s band: Chandira, Rishi, and Tarisha. My gratitude also goes out to all our various organizers and their tireless, loving teams. I have arranged the photos more or less chronologically, but also felt to leave them a little more random than usual. I always remember Osho liking the books in His library arranged on their shelves like this: randomly, with more flow and less order. And it’s true: when I just flip through the photos without them being arranged too much the joyous chaos of the events shines through like so many galaxies exploding. So has been the feeling at every event this year. To view more tour diaries, visit www.facebook.com/oneskymusic. Enjoy!

The wonderful Osho Leela Festival in Dorset, England was a  joy from start to finish: from the many creative workshops throughout the days and evenings, to the inspired live-music events which included Trance Dance with Rishi and the band; Heart Dance with Yatro and Nishok; Morning Satsang; Osho Evening Meeting; the Celebration Concert with Milarepa and the band; and the heartful soaring Sannyas Celebration. Many thanks to musicians Tarisha (keyboards, vocals), Suvarna (violin and vocals), Sudhi (violin), Prabodh (bass), Shanti Dharma (congas), Rishi (drums). Special thanks to Shaun for mixing. And to the whole Osho Leela Team, my deepest gratitude.

This is the first time I can remember that I’ve been in the States and not Europe in summer. It has been a welcome break from touring and all the traveling this involves. More importantly, it has given space for new adventures and possibilities.

“It is only in adventure continuous adventure, that life grows to higher and higher plenitudes, that it reaches to the Himalayan peaks.” Osho

I was in India the first three months of New Year. I had two events with the band: one in the state of Gujarat, the other in Himachal Pradesh close to The Himalayas. I also participated in a 21-day silent retreat in February that was a nourishing process for my heart and soul. And, there were many adventures in between — everything reminding me that India is a place I remain deeply connected with. I kept a good diary on Facebook with many photos and text. So rather than repeat it all here, I would like to reference this link: www.facebook.com/oneskymusic.