nine bows to the musicians who
continue to give so much!
Gurucharan........................tabla
Kevin Germain....................yayli tanbur
Mike Jarjoura......................sitar
Dona O'Dou........................tamboura
Divya Shinn........................vocals/cymbals
Rick Roberts......................harmonium
Lawrence Preston...............sound engineer
did you know...
We're still looking for two cymbal players to join us. Please step forward if you have interest.
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Inspirational Corner from Roberto Calasso's "Ka"
Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
...Another day Krishna had climbed on a stool and plunged his hands into a terra-cotta jar full of butter. Motionless in the shadows, two gopis watched that black creature whose glossy skin overlay the gloom of the dark. Did they glimpse two small, flailing arms? Or were there four? As they watched Krishna in the deep silence of the kitchen, they felt liquid and warm, and each in her mind spoke the same words: "Oh, come and steal from me, come and steal me."
And there was another time when the gopis got together to watch Krishna. Exasperated by the complaints of all those Krishna had stolen from, Yashoda had bound him to the mortar, exposing him to the public gaze. This time the gopis came openly, and in numbers. The show of morality gave the scene its erotic spicing. Could anyone imagine anything more exciting? To be asked to watch a punishment that offered the witnesses material for pure pleasure: to gaze on the body of a helpless Krishna? The gopis tried to look as stern as they could. Their eyes were greedier than ever: for the first time they saw a Krishna who was forced to stay still, not that flashing, darting creature they were used to. Then Krishna cried, tied up as he was, and the teardrops that fell on his chest sparkled together with his earrings like golden crocodiles. Yashoda played prison guard. The gopis' eyes were directed at Krishna, but it was Yashoda they pierced. Never had they felt so jealous of her, handling Krishna and bossing him around as if he were a little animal.
The gopis, about sixteen thousand of them, suffered jealousy for Krishna, a jealousy galvanized by three rivals: Yashoda, the mother; Radha, the favorite lover; Murali, the flute. |
Kirtan
Greetings!
...is a time
for people to come together, open their hearts and sing. For years
chanting has helped people to effortlessly reach a state of quiet and
stillness that easliy leads to meditation. While it's true that we can
chant in our car or in the solitude of our home, there's nothing like
chanting with others and with live musicians. Every kirtan is different
depending on the energy of the group, but as the evening progresses one
becomes saturated with the Name, the mind becomes one-pointed and
dropping into a deep state of meditation becomes effortless.