Music for Reading the Mahabharat

Shantanu woos Satyavati: Image Source

I've really been enjoying rereading the stories of the Mahabharat lately.

I used to call the Mahabharat "the original soap opera", but a more relatable example these days is the original "Game of Thrones". (Looks like I'm not the only one to see the parallels! Mahabharata meets Game of Thrones)

It is full of fascinating and dynamic characters, beautiful landscapes, suspense, intrigue, love, lust, riddles, revenge, virtue, vice, curses, and boons.  In other words, everything you could possibly want in a story!

It is the longest poem in the world, originally attributed to the sage Vyasa, son of Satyavati (pictured left) and has been retold countless times since it was composed thousands of years ago.

But every reading needs a soundtrack, right?  So here are a few Krishna songs that feel like they fit the bill.  Jai!!!

Panduranga Yere, by Theo Bharathwaj

He Natha Narayana by Karnamrita Dasi

Theme from Mahabharat TV Serial

Ratha Yatra 2015!

Image Source: ISKON Edmonton Facebook Page

My Sweet Lord, Krishna's Birthday

My Sweet Lord, with lyrics on YouTube

Its that time again!  Join the festivities for Janmashtami, Lord Krishna's Birthday on August 16/17, 2014 at the Bhartiya Cultural Society and the Radha Govinda/ISKCON Temple.

Love in the Bhagavad Gita



The Bhagavad Gita in the style of Charles Shultz, Peanuts, by Rick Sikoryak

2013 Chariot Festival, Saturday July 27th

Raja Yoga Summer Camp 2013 Begins!

The sun is shining, flowers are blooming and we are going out on the town!

Watch for upcoming outings, fieldtrips and gatherings that bring the philosophy of yoga to life!

Wednesdays from 7pm- 8:30/9pm plus special evening and weekend events.

Various locations in Edmonton and Area.  Cost/Donation varies according to the event.

Do you want to receive Evite invitations to Raja Yoga Summer Camp, 2013 events?  Do you know someone who does? 

Let me know!  Email: tarawoltjen@yahoo.ca

First event:
House Concert! Satsang and Kirtan with Sparrow, 7-9pm, Wednesday May 22, 2013.

Prayers for Shyamdas

Oh, it is with many tears that I offer prayers for release from samsara for one of my most beloved Kirtan Wallahs EVER.  Shyamdas left his body in India a couple of days ago.  World-wide his students and fans are saddened, but I doubt he's feeling the same way. 

Since I saw him in the Fall of 2009 at the Omega Ecstatic Chant Retreat in New York, I've been affectionately referring to him as the "Drunken Uncle" of the Kirtan scene. 

I arrived that weekend utterly broken hearted and desperately in need of a big bhakti bandaid and some serious pressure washing for my nadis. 

All of the artists were amazing:  Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Snatam Kaur, Deva Premal and Miten, David Newman (Durga Das) and Vishal Vaid... but I was so shattered that I just couldn't relate to either the ecstatic dancing or the sweet meditative vibes. 

I simply wasn't "in the mood".

At four in the morning, onto the stage came Shyamdas.  He had the voice and air of the last drunk Uncle standing at the end of a night of wedding celebrations.  His Bhava, and the perfection of his imperfection cracked me wide open. 

You can get a glimpse of what I mean in this Shyamdas Tribute on YouTube from Substratum Films.  The clips were pulled from interviews for the upcoming documentary One Track Heart, which I shared with you just a few days ago in this post.

Shyamdas-ji, from the bottom of my busted and bursting heart, thank you!  May you be forever melting in Blissful Union with the Divine!  Jai Sri Rahde!  Jai Sri Krishna!

Janamashtami 2012

Thursday, August 9, 2012 you can celebrate the birth of Baby Krishna at events around Edmonton.


Bhartiya Cultural Society of Alberta


Hindu Society of Alberta


ISKCON Center Edmonton


There will be music, stories, prasad and more!

Jai Sri Krishna!

Edmonton Chariot Festival 2012

Sattvic Movie Saturday: Little Krishna

Saturday morning calls for cartoons, so here's a computer animated treat for you! 

Grab your bowl of cereal and a comfy blanket - enjoy!

Little Krishna, Darling of Vrindavan, Click here to watch full screen on YouTube.

Sattvic Movie Saturday: The Story of India, Part 1

"In this landmark six-part series for PBS and the BBC, Michael Wood embarked on a dazzling and exciting journey through today’s India, seeking in the present for clues to her past, and in the past for clues to her future.

The world’s largest democracy and a rising economic giant, India is now as well known across the globe for its mastery of computer technology as it is for its many-armed gods and its famous spiritual traditions. But India is also the world’s most ancient surviving civilization, with unbroken continuity back into prehistory.

Like other great civilizations – Greece or Egypt, for example – over the millennia it has enjoyed not just one but several brilliant golden ages in art and culture. Its great thinkers and religious leaders have permanently changed the face of the globe. But while the glories of Rome, Egypt, and Greece, have all been the subject of TV portraits, as yet there has been no television story of India on our screens.

This series sets out for the first time to do that: to show a world audience the wonders of India; the incredible richness and diversity of its peoples, cultures and landscapes; and the intense drama of its past, including some of the most momentous, exciting and moving events in world history."

- Source:  Top Documentary Films, The Story of India

The Story of India, Part One: 

Click here to watch Part One: Beginnings. "The first episode looks at identity and the roots of India’s famous “unity in diversity”. Using all the tools available to the historical detective – from DNA to climate science, oral survivals, ancient manuscripts, archaeology, and exploration of the living cultures of the subcontinent."

Light in the Lotus

Radha and Krishna Standing on a Lotus

The Sacred Lotus or Padma is one of the most prominent symbols in yoga, representing purity and enlightenment.

"One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by harmful action, as the lotus is untouched by water."

—Bhagavad Gita 5.10:

With its roots in the mud, and its fragrant, pure beauty rising up, the lotus is also a metaphor for our human experience. 

We have roots in the muck and mire, and yet we rise above the waters of life to fulfill our aspirations and blossom into the light.

Many spiritual teachers use the image of the lotus to encourage us in times of difficulty to show our highest Self to the world no matter how murky our circumstances.

In other words, they advise us to allow insult and injury to roll like "water off a lotus leaf", or as we say in the west, (like) water off a duck's back. 

It is also said that in the lotus of the heart, or the Anahata Chakra, there is a divine light.




Lakshmi (left) and Saraswati (right) seated on Lotus flowers
beside an altar at the Sivananda Ashram. 
Note the Lotus rising from Vishnu's navel. 
Seated in the Lotus, is Brahma, the God of Creation.

Chapter One, Verse 36 of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali says:  "Vishoka va jyotishmati"

Meaning roughly, "Concentration on the inner light brings stability and tranquility."

Take a look at the following commentary from Swamij.com:

Concentration on painless inner luminosity:

The easiest way to practice this is to place your attention in the space between the breasts, the heart center. Simply imagine that there is a glowing luminosity there, about the size of the palm of your hand.

Whether or not you literally see with your inner eye is not important; the practice works either way. Maintain an inner attitude that it does not matter what other thoughts, images, impressions or memories might arise in the mind field; you will hold that stance that these will not disturb or distract you. Stay only with that glowing inner luminosity in the heart.


And here is an excerpt from The Himalayan Academy, Merging with Siva, Chapter 9, The Lotus of the Heart:

"A beautiful practice is to try to sit quietly, visualizing within the lotus within the heart a light, a strong light emanating clearly, a light that is always there. This light is radiating at a higher vibration than any form with which you are familiar.

Let us say, if you were to have this light in your hand and were able to use it in the external world, each form you turned it upon would disappear under the vibration of the light itself. That is as powerful as the effulgent light emanating from the Self, the Sivaness, which you will see within the lotus of the heart."

Lotus Candle Holder Photo Courtesy of one love origami

If you would like to create an outer reminder of this inner light, I invite you to fold an Origami Lotus Candle Holder.

And if you would like some music to accompany your peace-crafting, click here to listen to a beautiful track from The Beatles, called The Inner Light.  It was recorded in India, inspired by a letter from Sanskrit scholar Juan Mascaro.