Category Archives: Music

Europe Summer Tour

We drove 12,015 kilometers this summer. After such a long road trip, I’m finding it difficult to put our many adventures into words. Luckily though, we took many pictures along the way. Though there’s a saying “one picture is worth a thousand words”, I’m thinking: why be miserly? On this note in keeping with the theme of this year’s tour title “Easy Is Right!” I’m going to let the pictures do the walking. All the talking for that matter!

Part l

Part ll

Taiwan – The Garden Isle

Nothing is said
Nothing is heard
And the heart starts dancing with the Master

Pune, India 2005

Milarepa — the much-loved singer, musician, songwriter, poet, meditation leader — was in town for a few days after a gap of some years. People were very happy to see him play again for Sannyas Celebration in the Osho Meditation Resort 1st of January 2005. Many people were deeply touched by the energy that day and it was good to see the place full and happening over their “One World Celebration” festival. Milarepa said he very much enjoyed playing and it was a strong experience for him, too. He loves the new look of the Resort and the architecture, and feels the changes are wonderful. He has spent the last fourteen years touring the world for 10 to 11 months of the year with his music and meditation tours, which take him to Japan, Taiwan, Australia, America, Brazil and Europe. He finds Japan very Zen-like. And America, he says, is a hard place to meditate and has no soul. He feels India and the people are very conducive to meditation, despite all its other difficulties. He says, “There are so many beautiful things happening in the World of Osho. The pod has burst. Osho is everywhere through his people.”

Later this year, after his tour in Brazil, he will be working on his new album of songs of which one of his favourite tracks is Wake Up. Besides music albums, he has also produced three meditation CD’s, one of which is Chakra Healing, based on shamanic healing techniques. He is grateful to have music as his expression and is inspired by meditation, love, and being in love. He also loves to dance and enjoys all kinds of music – especially if it brings you into meditation. He is very happy to be back in India and can see that it has changed a lot. He first came here 29 years ago and met Osho. He calls it a ‘divine accident’. He says, “Everything made sense after that.”

Adventures In Brasil

My visit to Brasil included playing in a cultural festival in the northern city of Fortaleza; a meditation weekend and concert in San Paolo; and a visit to Nivedano who lives on a nature property nearby the town of Alto Paraiso. It is the highest point of Brasil and the source of all its major rivers. It is rare to walk on the Earth where things have not been disturbed by Man: it is basically the same as it has always been since thousands of years. This gives it a special quality which is then amplified by the vast amount of crystal in the soil.

Beloved Nivedano

I left Brasil with a full heart, nourished by my experiences with its rich culture, people, and of course my friends.

Welcome In The New

The line between the year that was and the year that is blurs as my touring schedule continues with the Brasil events just on the horizon.

January 1st found me in a hotel room in India just behind the Pune train station. The first thing I did when I woke up was to order chai and toast-butter from room service. Savoring such simple joys of life, I eased my way effortlessly into the first morning of the New Year. Later that day, I played and sang for sannyas celebration at the Osho Resort in the new pyramid auditorium.

Last year, I traveled the world at least a few times over. I had to laugh when on my most-recent flight they showed the movie “Around The World in Eighty Days”. I must have seen this film at least a dozen times by now. I know all Jackie Chan’s lines and moves by heart. One thing that continues to impress me in my travels is how far and wide Osho has reached: as if a seed pod has burst, scattering his vision to all nooks and corners of this vast beautiful planet, to longing hearts and thirsty souls everywhere.

We live in interesting times where the polarization between East and West – the inner and the outer – has perhaps never been more extreme. But alongside this polarization comes clarity. In this sense, I think the things Osho speaks of regarding politics and religion have never been more easy to see and understand.

As spirits soared during the Sannyas Celebration at the Resort, thousands of ecstatic people raised their voices skyward and I felt grateful to be a fish in that ocean of celebration. What better way to start the New Year than with meditation, music, song, dance, laughter, and love? Yes, waves are indeed coming in … coming in.

Events playing out on the world stage at this moment in history can be a great service in keeping one’s meditation focused. I only read one book last year, a beautiful story by Ernest Hemingway called “The Old Man and The Sea”. Just like Hemingway’s salty, old character I know it’s important to keep my sails to the wind and a steady hand on the tiller, knowing well that the wind and rolling waves that rock a boat can be experienced in two ways: either as a nuisance and excuse to roll over and go back to sleep, or a challenge to wake-up. For me, the choice is not just clear. It’s obvious.

Far East and Beyond

In November, my schedule took me first to Japan. It was a quick stop that included two beautiful celebrations in Nagoya (This Is It!) and Tokyo (Osho Japan). I proceeded on to Taiwan, where I spent three wonder-filled weeks. I knew I was in for something special when I arrived at the airport. There were orchids everywhere! After all, it is sometimes still referred to by its old name, Formosa: the Garden Isle.

Taiwan sits on an active faultline, so there are often earth tremors. The larger ones can be quite devastating. Full-on earthquakes. One night I was awakened in bed by a pretty sizeable one, 6.1 on the Richter scale: large enough to make the buildings sway in Taipei. My sannyasin friends laugh it off: “It is just the earth dancing, being happy you are here” they’d say. The next morning, an aftershock came during the ‘Hoo’ stage of Dynamic. Everyone re-doubled their efforts and jumped like crazy – including me!

I wish I had some photos to share with you from the Taiwan trip, but I have simply been too busy to gather them from my organizers. Perhaps at some point I’ll have a few to post on these pages, because it was definitely a memorable and beautiful visit. I am sure I will return someday.

After Taiwan, I passed back through the USA briefly and enjoyed Thanksgiving holidays with my family. On December 3, I flew to India. It was my first visit in four years and what a joy it was to be back. My god, that first chai tasted so good. There is something about India that is just indescribable. After all the organization and togetherness of the West, I found the chaos – even the pollution – refreshing. Something deeply relaxes in me when I am there. India is a kind of nourishment for the soul, and mine was thirsty.

The first two weeks were spent at Oshodham: a beautiful meditation facility southwest of New Delhi where a five-day meditation camp with live-music had been organized. It culminated in a celebration of Osho’s Birthday on December 11. The following day, December 12, the band(Palash and Vatayan) and I played for a gala wedding event – a big shift in gears, but a smooth one nevertheless. And what a party it was. Kya bhat hai!

The following week, I traveled to Dehradoon with Vatayan and Palash and enjoyed more adventures. For example, I hadn’t been on an Indian bus in a long time – almost thirty years! Nowadays, you can ride in air-conditioned comfort and sing-a-long to soundtracks from the Hindi movies that run continuously. My memories from earlier times are of sitting next to turbanned farmers and their animals for hours on end, and eating tons of dust as the bus bumped along, somehow managing to hit every pothole in front of it. Our overnight stay in Mussourie, a picturesque hill station high-above Dehradoon, was a highlight. Sitting on the balcony of our hotel room, sipping chai and munching pakoras, I watched the sun set over the main range of The Himalyayas. The next morning, the haze had totally cleared and the view of the mountains was uninterrupted in all directions. Unforgettable.

Next, I traveled south. I hadn’t been to Goa in twenty-six years. Although the quiet coconut grove that is now Candolim has been developed, it is still possible to savor the relaxed and easy atmosphere unique to this part of India. I had Christmas dinner at Demelo’s, a popular sannyasin gathering point where I dined on the beach under the stars, a world away from the powerful waves that were devastating the eastern coast of India and Sri Lanka. Walking along the beach that evening, a strange surge from the sea brought the water up around my ankles twice. I stood and waited, alert. I guess that is how it happens: from out of nowhere the waves come, so suddenly and without warning. The next day, I heard news about the devastation and called home to let my family and friends know I was OK.

After enjoying a few more happy days with friends in south Goa, we took the Goa Express to Pune, arriving just in time for the New Year’s Eve celebration at The Resort. It was so wonderful to see many familiar faces again as I danced out of the old and welcomed in the new. The next day, I played for sannyas celebration in the new pyramid Auditorium: a perfect way to start the New Year. I found the improvements within The Resort to be first-class. And the masala dosas are still good at The Madhuban!

A few days ago, passing through Stockholm on my way to the States, I met a friend for coffee, and we marveled at how strange time and space are: One minute you can be talking with each other on a busy street corner in Koregaon Park; then suddenly you are gossiping together in a cozy coffeeshop in Sweden. The world has become a small village in many ways. And we are most certainly its global citizens.

I had just finished giving a concert in a small Japanese city called Shizuoka. Some friends invited me to stay in their house for the night. They lived outside the city in a large, traditional-style Japanese farmhouse made of wood with paper walls. In one part of the house, their grandmother had been living with them. She had died one day before. The musicians I was traveling with were each given a choice which part of the house they would like to stay. Our host turned and offered me Oba-chan’s room (oba-chan is the Japanese word for grandmother) saying she said she thought I would have more space to rest there as long as I felt comfortable with the situation. So I graciously accepted her offer. Stepping through the door to Oba-chan’s room, I couldn’t help noticing the official certificate of death tacked over its entrance, having been placed there by the local Shinto priest. I assured my hosts I would be fine and we all said goodnight.

Alone in the room, I could sense the presence of death still hanging in the air. It was tangible, like a vibrating stillness I felt I was on sacred ground and bowed to the shrine in the corner. Lighting some incense sticks, I placed them carefully next to the buddha statue in the shrine. A small mirror had been placed at the shrine’s center.It is one of the Zen influences of Shintoism has absorbed, the significance being: whoever seeks God by looking in the shrine will see their own face in the mirror.

I lay awake a long time that night before finally drifting off into a deep, dreamless sleep. The next morning, I awoke feeling refreshed, and grateful to Oba-chan for the opportunity to have participated in the mystic experience of her death. Taking up a pen and paper, I wrote down the following poem in her honor and to say thank you.

In the corner of my small house
An altar with a mirror shines
Empty and clear
Reflecting ripples on the lake

My shoes wait now
Patiently by the door of
This house where I lived a life
Where only moments before
I laughed in the sun alive in this
Mischief

Kind people come today
They sing and play their instruments
As is their joy
Their laughter carried by the morning breeze
Echoes through my empty rooms

Someone lights to burn
Fragrant sticks in the room
Where only yesterday I laid
Sick and dying.
Nothing much has changed, only
This is not my house
Anymore

The incense burns slowly
And with each passing day
Soon the memory of me will fade away
Until the mirror at the altar shines
Empty and clear again
Reflecting ripples on the lake

    Prada, Yoko, Milarepa and Neera at natural hot springs

Colors of Celebration

After the Europe tour finished, I rested for a few weeks in the countryside northeast of Stockholm, just a fifteen minute drive to the archepelago. Autumn was already appearing in the form of cool days and nights, while the forests were full of wild mushrooms and blueberries. One highlight of these few weeks between events was my first drive on a Harley-Davidson!

The Varazzee Festival in nearby Genoa, Italy, was again wildly successful thanks to the love and care of its organizers: Nirodh and Ushma. Bellisimo!

Three events made for a short USA tour this year – New York, Cleveland, and Sedona – but the energy in each place was more beautiful than ever. Directly afterwards, I flew to The Bahamas, where I  joined friends at Wildquest for a week swimming with the dolphins.

Now another shift in gears and climates. I’m writing this update in Virginia where autumn has definitely arrived. The air is crisp and cool, and the Fall colors spectacular. In just a few more days, I will be on a plane to Japan and Taiwan, where more adventures await – and the next phase of the touring!

There are many pictures to share this time: some from earlier in the summer on the Europe tour, but also some recent ones from the Wildquest trip.

So enjoy – and perhaps meet you along the way!

Osho RISK Summer Festival, Denmark

Soleluna Festival & Amarti Celebration, Italy

USA Tour – New York, Cleveland, and Sedona

Summer Celebrations in Europe

Since returning from Japan in late May, it has been a busy summer here in Europe. Two wonderful events happened in the far north in June – one in Helsinki, Finland; the other at Angsbakka in Sweden. Then followed the annual Europe tour, which started far to the south in Italy and continued throughout the rest of Europe into mid-August.

Although summer never quite appeared north of the Alps, the music, meditations and celebration kept us warm and sunny on the inside. There are lots of pictures from this year – over two thousand! It is an understatement to say it is the best documented tour ever thanks to Rishi, our very own paparazzi. It will take me some time to sort through all the photos, and as many of them look good at first glance, I will look for an efficient way to post them as future updates for all to enjoy.

Meanwhile, I am relaxing in Sweden between events – picking wild blueberries in the forest and enjoying the first tinge of autumn in the air. The Varazzee Festival and USA events are on the horizon, so stay tuned and perhaps meet you somewhere on way.

enjoying Helsinki with Pravasi, Sidhamo and Iris

Finland first came under my radar twelve years ago when friend and fellow musician, Sidhamo, moved to the small city of Kokkola with his Finnish girlfriend. They have since married and have a lovely daughter, Iris. At that time to my American ears Kokkola sounded very much like Coca Cola. Perhaps it was my way of coming to terms with a new part of the world I was only just beginning to understand.

A few years later, I saw a photo of Sidhamo on one of his cd: him standing on a frozen lake surrounded by an endless landscape of ice. It reminded me of a remark another friend once made concerning Sidhamo’s fate: “Now he’s really

fin(n)ished!” Honestly, I wondered if I would ever see him again much less visit there. But alas, existence has its mysterious ways.

I met Pravasi, my girlfriend, two years ago. When I learned she was from Finland, the first thing I did was go out and get a map. Now two of my most-loved friends were connected to a part of the world I had almost no knowledge of. I had to do something!

As life would have it, on June 4 of this year Pravasi and I boarded the luxury liner, Silja Symphony, in Stockholm bound for Finland. The weather was splendid, clear and sunny in the late afternoon, as our ship slowly wove its way out among the thousands of islands comprising the Swedish archipelago.

The cruise was stunningly beautiful. Arriving the following morning to Helsinki, we made our way to the Unio Mystica Bookstore and met its owner, Manik. He also helps coordinate the nearby Tao-Tupa, also known as the Osho Leela Meditation Center: an informal space where people meet for meditation and special events such as mine later that evening.

Manik and I were chatting away when suddenly I heard Pravasi’s infectious laugh coming from outside. And there he was, Sidhamo, my long-lost friend, smiling through the window with little Iris in hand. It was a poignant moment, another of life’s many circles coming round, intersecting, manifesting like a Zen brushstroke. I smiled. I had made it to Finland at last.

We decided to go for cappuccino and along the way laughed as only close friends can — talking about life, love, and nothing much at all. When it was time for Pravasi and me to leave for the event, we all made plans to meet again the next day before our boat departed.

Later that afternoon at Tao-Tupa, my event began with Osho Kundalini followed by Heart Dance and a break for tea. Afterwards, I sang some celebration songs and we all enjoyed to our hearts’ content. I don’t remember the sun ever really setting that night. At least it never got fully dark. Such is the special ambience this time of year in these far-northern latitudes.

My travels are a great teacher and this trip was no exception. My visit confirmed what I have experienced time and again on the tours: The world is a vast and infinitely fascinating place, full of amazing people in all its nooks and corners. Making new friends along the way, such as the lovely Pura and Idar, who cared for our accommodation in Helsinki, or meeting old ones again like Sidhamo — it is one of the things that makes my work so rewarding, nourishing, and keeps it fresh. For example, eeting Manik and hearing his stories — how he started-up Unio Mystica twenty years ago at first selling only Osho’s books and to this day continues to publish Osho’s titles — provided me unique insight into Finland’s connection with Osho.

The next morning, Pravasi and I shopped for a few Finnish food delights at a local supermarket. Then we met Sidhamo and Iris one last time before boarding our boat back to Sweden. As we waved good-bye and sailed off, the fullness in my heart reminded me of a song from the previous night:

Perhaps the sun never sets anywhere in the world for lovers and meditators. At least not in Finland!