devamitenblog

bimini

sept.9.
hurricane ike howls, whines and moans around the house here.
even though the centre of the storm is some 200 miles away, we can feel it here on this tiny strip of land called bimini.
bimini is 2 miles long and 200 meters wide...it has one road, 3 cars ... and offshore is where the dolphins like to hang out.

yesterday we boarded a small two propeller plane for the flight from fort lauderdale, florida to bimini.

luckily it’s only a 15 minute flight – already the wind was getting strong..

we arrived safely – here’s us waiting for the water taxi to take us to the wildquest house – deva standing guard over my girlfriend...

..ah..the sun...the ocean...it was great to be back!

..beautiful bimini...

..but as ike came closer mother nature really began to stir...
right now ike is ripping through cuba to the south of here – all we can do is sing for those poor people, and celebrate our good fortune.
it’s too rough to go out on the ocean, but at least we’re here together, and as ike passes, our chances of being with the dolphins increase daily.

more later (hopefully)! - 40 mph winds today!

new york/cleveland

after the omega ecstatic chant weekend we stayed for a few days with shyamdas at his house in woodstock.

for those of you who haven’t heard of shyamdas, he is the pioneer of chant in the west.
a scholar and pundit who spent most of the past 20 years living in india, he has inspired everyone from krishna das to jai uttal, and deva and I are honoured to count him as a friend.
here he is teaching deva a new krishna bhajan

she never looks at me like that!!

we arrived in cleveland ohio for an nbc tv breakfast show (mantras on a breakfast show?.. it’s true!).
we were so happy to hear that mahatma gandhi’s grandson was also on the show!
here he is talking about the book he has just written on his experiences with his grandpa

we played the shortest version of the gayatri mantra ever – three minutes.
but anyway, it felt auspicious to introduce cleveland to the gayatri – at 10 am in the morning – with gandhi’s grandson on the programme.
bizarre!

you can find a clip of the programme here or here

thanks to our concert promoter clyde chafer and all of you who came out to our concert at the ‘journey expo’ in cleveland.
we had a beautiful evening.
..no pix yet (coming soon).
only this!
manose and deva in the dressing room – there was a play going on in the theatre...manose of course, couldn’t resist trying on some of the props...i think it suits him

omega 2008 part three

inside, the grown ups were having some serious fun....

we were re-united with old friends, and had the chance to play with some during our time there.
krishna das joined us for a repeat of the rainbow spirit festival in baden baden, germany, where he and deva sang the beautiful and touching mere gurudev mantra (photo anyone?).

there’s something so deep in that mantra – and when deva and kd sing it together it just gives everyone the goose-bumps.

our dear friend shyam das also joined us for ‘in my eyes’ which he taught deva when we were with him in vrindavan, india – his home – last year.
here’s a pic of that moment

flowers from our friend anthony were waiting for us on our arrival...
these small gestures mean so much...

here’s saida who came all the way from germany, remembering why she came...

tabla maestro danial paul happily surrounded by gopi’s...

..making manose happy...

omega 2008 part two

yes, hula was happening all over the campus...

along with a little salsa on the lawn..

..some picnics...

and some serious conversation

omega 2008 part one

hi everyone – love from america.
we’re in cleveland right now, just about to leave for miami, where we’ll meet up with our dolphin wildquest group and head out to bimini.
..hurricane ike permitting.
right now it’s uncertain if we can get out to the bahamas with such a big storm hovering so close.
well, as ever, we’re in the hands of god...right now it’s a warm and sunny day, so who knows...

the omega ecstatic chant weekend was the usual...

great music

great company...