Turn up the Volume of Love

Image Source:  NDTV

Its been 50 years since The Beatles made their world famous trip to an ashram in Rishikesh, India.

Here are two short-but-sweet videos from UPLIFT TV highlighting the power of Love and the influence The Beatles had on Yoga in the west.

All You Need is Love

The Beatles and Mantra with Miten

Across the Universe

Everybody needs a dose of the "Big Wow" once in a while.

I'd like to thank my brother and his two sons for introducing me to the videos of Col. Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian astronaut to walk in space and to command the ISS (International Space Station).

A few nights ago, we stood gazing at the stars in awe and witnessed not one, but five satellites moving across the tiny portion of the universe visible from our back yard.

The largest of them all, we mused, may have been the ISS from which Col. Hadfield broadcast a fantastic series of videos in 2013 including How to Make a Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwich in Space.

If you haven't watched them yet, please do, you won't be disappointed!

It turns out Col. Hadfield is also a talented musician!  These two videos brought me to tears...

Chris Hadfield performs David Bowie's "Space Oddity" from the ISS

Chris Hadfield performs the Beatles, "Across the Universe"

Jai Guru Deva!  Wahe Guru!

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.

Prayers for Ravi Shankar

I offer my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Sitar legend Ravi Shankar,who left his body yesterday at the age of 92.

Ravi Shankar has been a immeasurable influence on Indian music and is credited with bringing Indian music to the west.

Well known for teaching Beatle George Harrison to play Sitar, he is also the father of a new Sitar Virtuoso, Anoushka Shankar and Jazz Siren Norah Jones.

I have been loving and listening to his music for nearly twenty years and wish his family and fans fond memories and a continued relationship with him through his musical legacy.

Ravi, of Noble Birth, may you travel swiftly through the transitory states of existence to a harmonious rebirth or to the heavenly realms where the Gandharvas will surely welcome you with open arms and open hearts!

Click here to watch Ravi and Anoushka Shankar on YouTube.

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.