a dandavat parikrama
Jatipura, India A mellow day here at the Hill. Another round of goodbyes as Shari, Alexandra, Sharon and Jules bid their farewells and continued down their respective roads. The moon is almost full today so the pilgrims were flooding the circumambulatory paths of the Govardhan parikrama. I missed it but the big news on that…
Bringing Devotion Home: Creating a Home Altar and Morning Practice
Spirituality has replaced religiosity for many people, with people taking charge of their beliefs and relationship to the sacred. In the same way, so has the home altar or sacred space evolved. For many years, the home altar was an abandoned concept: only orthodox or very devout homes kept the tradition. But now, rather than…
Masters and Simplicity: The Veena Makers
From Death to Life
How does one move on after the sudden and unexpected death of a beloved friend, collaborator and inspiration? I guess I’m finding out the hard way. I’ve been very blessed in my life, and one of the biggest blessings of the last decade has been an ongoing musical and devotional relationship with one of the…
India Travels – March 16, 2012
Jatipura Joined today by Ned and Lynn from NY. A chill siesta day until later afternoon. We had prasad together, then did a little kirtan/song swap (which I recorded) in the wake of Ned showing Niku a few basic things on harmonium fingering. Then we did the eve’s walkabout parikrama down to the Govind Kund…
Grinding On
New Delhi 11 a.m. Can’t say these have been the most inspiring of days. (Though there’s been a few moments.) I quasi-tweaked my back in Jaipur—just one of those funny movements where I felt a sheath of muscle in my mid/upper back suddenly tense and contract and serve notice that any more bad moves would likely…
Dhrupad Festival of Classical Indian Music
Jaipur Rajasthan Wednesday 2:05 p.m. At last night’s Dhrupad Festival of classical Indian music, I was blessed to hear some outstanding pakhawaj drumming by two excellent players: Mohan Sharma (the teacher of my friends Vasant and Tulsi), and Devaki Nandan, a man Shyamdas described as possibly the finest pakhawaj player in all of India (which is…
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