Category Archives: Music

Spring Comes and the Grass Grows By Itself

I usually visit Japan once a year for the tours, sometimes twice, and in either Spring or Fall. Because of work, I rarely have an opportunity to just relax, be with friends, and explore. I came earlier than usual this year, mid-February and in time to celebrate my 57th birthday. I made two series of events during this time — one in mid-March on the main island of Honshu; and one in mid-April on the south island, Kyushu . The rest of the time, I practiced my Japanese and dissolved myself into daily-life: nowhere to go, no one to be.

One cannot mention Japan without speaking of flowers. The Japanese love their flowers. And there are many and an endless variety in Japan . The cherry blossoms are especially famous and when in their full glory, one understands why. They are a wonder to behold and leave no doubt Spring has arrived.

One cannot mention Japan without speaking of food. The Japanese cuisine, washoku, has to be in my opinion one of the tastiest and most-refined in the world. On this particular visit, it has contributed to a well-rounded “buddha-belly” for me to meditate upon.

One cannot mention Japan without speaking of good friends. And I am lucky to have so many that love and care for me. Perhaps this is why Japan is one of those places in the world I am most “at home”. I feel I have lived here for lifetimes. And who knows? Perhaps I have.

One cannot speak about Japan without mentioning onsen which means “hotspring” in Japanese. One of life’s ultimate luxuries, there can be nothing more relaxing in the world than to soak oneself in these volcanic-heated, mineral-laden waters. It is a national past-time in Japan — and a healthy one, too!

One cannot speak about Japan with mentioning love. Although no word exists in Japanese language which can translate exactly to the English equivalent, perhaps ai comes closest. Ai has many meanings, shades, and nuances. Love in Japan is not spoken directly, a quality I have come to appreciate and understand. Pehaps it is like the Truth according to Lao Tzu: The closer one comes to it the less language is able to exactly express it.

One cannot mention Japan without speaking about spirituality. Here, human consciousness reached one of its highest peaks when Buddhism rebelled against tradition and gave birth to Zen. Osho spoke a lot about Zen. All these things together make Japan one of my favorite places in the world to meditate and work.

My fascination with Japan began as a child on family holidays at the beach. Each year, I would insist on visiting a small souvenir shop. It was run by an elegant Japanese woman who always wore a neatly-pressed kimono and greeted me with a bow. Her shop was full of wonder for a young boy: so many small, interesting things that spoke of far-off lands and stirred something deep in me — like a dream I could not quite catch or remember.

Later in life, I met many Japanese when I lived in India and worked in the Osho Commune. But I can say my connection with Japan crystallized when Osho began the Zen discourse series in 1989. From that time on, it has been a love-affair, an endless discovery and learning, that continues to this day and brings me here so often.

There is a famous Zen poem by the Basho that goes: Sitting silently, Doing nothing, Spring comes and the grass grows by itself. Well, Spring finally has come, and the grass has started growing, and I can say without a doubt this visit has been one of the highlights of my life. Arigato (thank you) Japan. Otsukaresamadeshita (job well done). And mata, neh ? (see you again).

Setting A Course

I made a conscious decision last year to spend winter in a warm climate. However, as my recent I travels were soon to reveal, existence had other ideas about this. Another decision, to start the New Year with meditation, turned out to be a good (and nourishing!) one. I have to say I have never enjoyed a winter season like this one.

And so my winter’s tale unfolds. The Russian events fulfilled a long-long dream to experience Moscow in the Christmas season. What a magical city it is in the snow: fairy lights around every corner, giant Christmas trees in every square, not to mention the wonderful architecture. But the real beauty in a country is its people and in this sense, the Russians are warm-hearted, sincere, and enthusiastic — all of which made the events and my time there a pleasure.

From Moscow, my travels took me to Turkey for two weeks. The new workshop center of my organizer Kareemi, Aletya, was a joy to work in. I had some extra days between events, so I used the opportunity to learn about the long and amazing history of Istanbul. Turkey is a part of the world I am still very unfamiliar with. Interestingly, it is one of the few countries to have given birth to an enlightened being (Rumi). Although Sufism was heavily repressed when Turkey modernized at the beginning of the last century, I experience the vibrations of meditation and spiritual ecstasy still tangible and accessible. This was my third visit to Istanbul. I always leave the city with a feeling to come back and explore it more thoroughly. One normally thinks of Turkey as a warm place but alas, winter seemed to be following me as it snowed heavily during my last days. At this time, it began to dawn on me I was fulfilling a destiny of which I had no choice but to accept and go deeper into — not meditation, but snow!

Athens, my next stop, had no snow (at least in the city) but was cold. If one has any knowledge of the Greeks, one knows they are are also warm and welcoming people, so my days there were nice. I made some new friends and also enjoyed meeting some old ones: such as Ranjana and Sundaram, two wonderful musicians, and the staff at Essence Human-Space where the events happened. In my spare time, I played in Sundaram’s home studio exploring creative ideas with him. Also, the idea was crystalized for a summer festival at Afroz Center on the Island of Lesvos. It will be five days of music, creativity, meditation, dance, good food, beach, and more. So if you have any ideas for a summer vacation later this year (mid-august), keep it in mind. Lesvos is a special place and Afroz a special atmosphere. Did I mention the gorgeous beaches? View the tour schedule page for more details.

The recent January 2010 events are especially significant because they indicate the tone for things to come — new directions, new horizons. I know such things as time distinctions are imaginary lines in the sand  — where the old ends and the new begins, what difference does in make in the bigger picture of things?  — yet I do feel the New Year marked a fresh beginning for me personally with the potential to expand in love and meditation.

Athens was my last event in a tour cycle that began last March 2009. I transited Hamburg, Germany on my return to Denmark where at the Osho RISK Center a five-day Vipassana group was in progress, creating a lovely “going in” atmosphere. This — combined with my walks through the frozen Danish landscape, some fun kitchen work, live-music for the evening meditation, stoking the wood stove in the office and hanging out with the cat –- all contributed to a long-overdue unwinding from eleven continuous months on the road, a let-go that continues even at this writing.

My dance with winter was not over, however. My flight from Copenhagen was re-routed to New York instead of Washington, D.C. because of another giant, impending snowstorm. I reached America only to be stranded as all the airports began closing down. Winter whispered in my ear this lesson: Every season has its own beauty, every cloud a silver lining. Sometimes one needs to pull back the lens on one’s life and re-focus to see the apparent blessings. Looked at from one direction, my being stranded could be taken as a major disaster — certainly, if one were to watch the TV news where even the weather is a talked about as a terrorist plot, it was. Looked at from another perspective, it is can be a gift. Which it actually was as it provided me the unexpected opportunity to visit my brother, Isa, who lives in Brooklyn. So for a few stranded days, we played as brothers will, in the snow, oblivious to the TV commentary and so-called white disaster falling all around us.

I caught a re-scheduled flight out to Washington after a few days and my onward journey took me ever-deeper into winter. I arrived to Virginia where the population was digging out of the second biggest snowfall of a century. At this part of my journey, I smiled, realizing actually all my life I have loved the snow, in all its beautiful, white, and divine majesty. Not for the disater it brings, but for the magic it brings.

I’ve arranged the photos chronologically so they tell a winter story, tracing my footsteps since the last update. They also document the unfolding weather pattern I began experiencing just before Christmas in Virginia before my flight to Europe. There’s a famous Zen saying: Spring comes and the grass grows by itself. After these last few month’s experience, I would like to change it a little with all due respect to Basho. You guessed it! Winter comes and the snow falls by itself. And so far, it hasn’t stopped.

Preparing for Europe

oh my god!

Christmas – Osho RISK Center, Denmark

outside — my god, no escape!

cozy time with friends

New Year Celebration – Moscow, Russia

 New Year Meditation Festival – Moscow, Russia

 

Meditation Facilitator’s Training – Istanbul, Turkey

Essence Human Space Center – Athens, Greece

Osho RISK Center – Denmark

Brooklyn, New York City

Now is the “winter of my heart’s content” — Virginia

 

Riding the Big Wave

The recent Way of the Heart tour of Taiwan and Japan was an energy phenomenon that became so obvious that when Okinawa’s event finished everyone was talking about The Big Wave. Several things were responsible for this. The meditation training in I-Lan, northeast Taiwan, where the combination of tranquil venue and sincere group of participants sparked an inner momentum from which the tsunami began to grow. Secondly, a particular Osho’s discourse, The Invitation #23, which was shown at many of the events. Question number three from this discourse has to be the clearest, most comprehensive explanation of the spiritual search I have ever heard. Osho’s answer to a seeker’s question: “Please say something about the disciple’s courage and aloneness” is a pearl among pearls. I was fortunate to have had the text translated into Japanese courtesy of Atmarama, proof-read by Anupa of Osho Japan, and helped along technically by Pragyana and Deepyaman. As the wave grew stronger with each passing event, the poet Walt Whitman’s famous phrase “I celebrate myself” became a collective reality touching every heart in its path.

Taiwan

                                Meditation Training — I-Lan, Taiwan

Japan

Matsumoto

	my soba noodle master – the best!

Okayama

Kobe

Hiroshima

Kyushu

 Okinawa

“Champloose” performing …	… at Chakra Live House, Naha City

Osaka

December 11 Celebrations

Osaka

Nagoya

Tokyo

Maebashi City-  a visit with Vimal, Mukti, and Aineh-chan

           **  Happy New Year 2010  **

Down Every Road

As I work on this update, something I heard Osho say recently comes to mind — about how man is like a river, the great current of life always flowing within him. Only he forgets. Osho goes on to say we just need a little digging sometimes to find that source again, to access it and be nourished by those crystal-clear waters of who we are.

In these last few weeks, it has been like this for me: Lots of digging in the sense of driving, traveling, and a host of practical things to organize for the tours, but it’s been worth all of it. Because just one taste of those inner waters of who I am, and I’m home again. Not in a physical sense, just home again: Home to myself. What’s that Zen phrase, “Ah this!”? Exactly. Even better: “Ahhhhhh … This!”

And so it has been: That long and winding road that led me recently to Chicago, New York, all the way to Costa Rica and back (a magical mystery tour of the heart and soul) delivers me home again — only this time to Virginia! The present moment finds me typing away on this bright Fall morning, having my delicious Costa Rican coffee, watching the colors change outside the cabin window. The shadows are a little longer with each passing day and the cool snap of autumn is in the air.

Autumn to me is a special season, an existential lesson in let-go and trust. It reminds one of the ever-changing nature of things, and that sometimes it is good, even necessary, to pull back the lens on one’s life and take a little time to go inside, dig a little deeper, and rediscover that great river within, the one that is always there flowing, on and on — timeless, tireless, eternal.

Chicago Event – Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

New York Event – Abode of the Message, New Lebanon

The Goddess Garden Resort, Cahuita, Costa Rica

Giving and Receiving

My insight this summer: Nourishment happens when there is balance between giving and receiving. Giving can be a power trip, a way to avoid, a strategy of the ego, a subtle way to feel superior to others. Giving is beautiful, sharing is beautiful. But I’ve discovered it is important I also be open and receptive at the same time. Because what happens when we share, give, but then are not there to receive when it comes back to us? And it certainly does as I’ve also discovered: a thousand-fold. I understand that when I am not watchful of this dynamic, I have a tendency to miss the many blessings on the rebound. As any basketball player knows, rebounds are important. They are game-changers, and in my experience just as relevlant when it comes to the great game of Love.

I wavered this summer between being really into taking pictures and archiving them, to not being interested at all. Many times I was simply enjoying the events so much and just couldn’t bring myself to pull out the camera and play paparazzi. e cosi. it is like this. So in a sense, this tour collage is more a series of impressions than a thorough documentation. Bottom line anyway, it is always difficult to capture the moment, the real magic, with the snap of a shutter. Sometimes one gets lucky, but for the most part, photos are at the most an echo of the reality. Yet, having said this, photos are fun and give a taste, an impression that can be savored and enjoyed.

The tour comprised a series of solo events I facilitated alone (sometimes joined by friends along the way) and the band events which totaled four weeks altogether. Every event was a delight without exception. I guess if I had to describe the summer in one word it would be: FUN. And nourishing. Immensely nourishing.

When I posted the last update in May, not all the USA photos had come in yet. So I want to start by sharing a taste of the Upstate New York event at Shaker Mill Inn which happened beginning of May, then proceeding to Europe at the end of May for the first band event: the Rainbow Spirit Festival in Baden Baden, Germany. From there, the photos will do the rest of the talking. Enjoy!

Shaker Mill Inn, New York – Meditation and Creativity Workshop

Rainbow Spirit Festival – Baden Baden, Germany

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Essence-Human Space – Athens, Greece

Osho RISK Center, Denmark – midsummer

Lisbon, Portugal – Osho Darshan Zen Center

Osho RISK Summer Festival, Denmark

One Sky Band – Swagato, Pratibha, Palash, Salima, Milarepa, Isa, Chandira, Bindu

WOW! – The Humaniversity, The Netherlands

Osho Tao Center – Munich, Germany

Prem Isa – tablas; Rishi – frame drum; Luna – silver flute

Milano & Varazze – Italy

Summer Festival – Zurich, Switzerland

Sugama Summer Festival – Czech Republic

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Love, Devotion, Surrender with Svarup and Premartha – Lesvos, Greece

Soleluna Festival – Umbria, Italy

 

More Than Words Can Say

It has been quite a month traveling across America with the events. Not all the photos are in as of this writing, but enough to give an impression of the joy, the magic, and the celebration it has been: New York, Boulder, Chicago, San Rafael, Atlanta, and Dallas. What can I say except — Bravo America!

The Europe summer events come into focus. Also, if you peruse the schedule page, you’ll see a new event will be happening the week immediately after the USA tour – Costa Rica! It is is surely to be special.

 

Transitions

I transitioned the end of February like the changing seasons, moving from a period of rest and into the tours which started earlier this year than usual. I made a conscious decision rather than wait around for spring to come (because who knows?), it was far better to manifest it myself.

Like every tour, this one was an adventure, taking me to new places such as Romania. And Turkey, where I enjoyed Istanbul which I had not visited since returning overland from India in 1976. The workshops in Stockholm and Moscow proved two points: One, that I am able to survive winters in even the most-northern latitudes. And two, that when the heart opens and a healthy dose of meditation and celebration is applied, who really cares where one is. Is it not like this?

I passed by Osho RISK in Denmark several times along the way. During my first visit, Rishi and Palash happened to be there and we assembled the band for some high-energy grooving in the therapist training group. The second time through, spring had started to appear and I enjoyed some nice singing with Pratibha for the evening meditation meetings.

On Easter Sunday, just before my return flight to the States, I learned Neera left-her-body. I spoke with Dinraj, her longtime partner, the previous day. Something he said touched me very much: That she requested her friends not mourn her passing, nor dwell on being sad, but rather rejoice and celebrate her life and death. And I felt yes! This is the right way. Of course I will miss her by my side where she stood for so many years in the celebrations. And yes, certainly there is sadness … and tears … but the love and space I know with her – the music, the laughter, her divine voice … so many things … will live on in my heart. This is how it is. I have searched my archive for a few favorite photos of her to share at the end of this update, just a little tribute and way of saying, in all gratitude: Neera, I love you!

The long shadows of winter become shorter in these late-April days as existence reminds with its new flowers and fresh leaves: spring is definitely here! A new season, a precious time of transitions, reflecting inside and out.

Starting in a few weeks on May 1, I will make a one-month tour across America. The schedule of events, plus the summer tour schedule, are posted. Please have a look. Everyone is welcome to join the caravanserai whenever and wherever possible.

USA – February

Virginia

Europe – March and April

Flowering Center   –   Stockholm

Romania

Moscow, Russia

Istanbul, Turkey

Denmark

Neera, Beloved of the Heart

Sailing Home

Once again, the line marking the year that was and the the year that is, blurs. I worked right up through December 27 and spent New Year’s Eve on a transatlantic flight from Tokyo to Washington, D.C. I will remember 2008 as a year of travel. Also one of completion, as many projects came to their fruition, most-notably the Stepping Stones Meditation Series. I had an opportunity visit the Far East twice in one year and during my favorite seasons to be there: Spring and Fall. The following pictures are from the latter of these visits.

I started the autumn tour landing in cold and windy Osaka City, then traveled over-night by ferry to Kyushu. Japan has four main islands and thousands of lesser ones. Kyushu is the southern-most of the main four. Shikoku, where I traveled next, is the eastern-most and has a beautiful coastline facing the Pacific Ocean. Honshu to the west is often considered the main island of Japan and includes all the major cities: Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kyoto to name a few. The fourth is Hokkaido to the north, which I have visited several times, but not on this trip.

Every event in Japan and Taiwan was a delight. I met many old friends and enjoyed making new ones. All along the way, musician friends joined bringing light and joy to the celebrations. Many events this time were evening and one-day gatherings, but in Taiwan I had the opportunity to facilitate a three-day workshop. The extra days gave people time to relax, open up, and dive deeper into the meditations. I allowed myself the rare luxury of being a participant, so the group was like a retreat for me – very nice after such a busy year.

My visits to the Far East are infinitely inspiring, not to mention intriguing. I always try to capture something of its essence with my camera lens, but I find its qualities fleeting and ephemeral at best. I wrote some small poems this time, so perhaps together with the photos I will come a little closer to sharing its essence.

I write these words from the aloneness of my rural retreat in USA, where the tide of year 2008 has washed me up on the shores of 2009. Slipping into the New Year, like one would into the warm waters of a Japanese hotspring, nice and easy, I’ve made my resolution to invite more laughter, love, and light into my life. Browsing back through the previous year’s photos and the ones for this update, I am reminded how every moment captured by my camera represents an experience lived and all these moments taken together has brought me to the place I am today. With this understanding and all gratitude for the wonderful year that was, I embrace the moment and turn my gaze to the horizon, stepping forward into an unknown year waiting to unfold and be discovered. I wish everyone enjoying this page a happy and creative New Year. May your visions unfold and your deepest longings be realized.

Japan

Down the back streets of an unfamiliar town
One step at a time
Home wherever I am

Kyushu

Shikoku

Katsuo is a specialty of Shikoku. Fresh slabs of tuna are rubbed with salt, then seared over a hot fire made from straw.
It is usually eaten with fresh ginger and garlic. Delicious!

Honshu