INSPIRATION | Swami Satchidananda speech at Woodstock

Sri Swami Satchidananda opened the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival  in Bethel, New York  on August 15, addressing a crowd of approximately 500,000.

My Beloved Brothers and Sisters:

I am overwhelmed with joy to see the entire youth of America gathered here in the name of the fine art of music. In fact, through the music, we can work wonders. Music is a celestial sound and it is the sound that controls the whole universe, not atomic vibrations. Sound energy, sound power, is much, much greater than any other power in this world. And, one thing I would very much wish you all to remember is that with sound, we can make—and at the same time, break. Even in the war-field, to make the tender heart an animal, sound is used. Without that war band, that terrific sound, man will not become animal to kill his own brethren. So, that proves that you can break with sound, and if we care, we can make also.

So I am very happy to see that we are all here gathered to create some sounds—to find that peace and joy through the celestial music. And I am really very much honored for having been given this opportunity of opening this great, great music Festival. I should have come a little earlier to do that job, but as you all know, thousands of brothers and sisters are on the way and it’s not that easy to reach here.

America leads the whole world in several ways. Very recently, when I was in the East, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi met me and asked me what’s happening in America. and I said, “America is becoming a whole. America is helping everybody in the material field, but the time has come for America to help the whole world with spirituality also.” And, that’s why from the length and breadth, we see people—thousands of people, yoga-minded, spiritual-minded. The whole of last month I was in Hawaii and I was on the West Coast and witnessed it again.

So, let all our actions, and all our arts, express Yoga. Through that sacred art of music, let us find peace that will pervade all over the globe. Often we hear groups of people shouting, “Fight for Peace.” I still don’t understand how they are going to fight and then find peace. Therefore, let us not fight for peace, but let us find peace within ourselves first.

And the future of the whole world is in your hands. You can make or break. But, you are really here to make the world and not to break it. I am seeing it. There is a dynamic manpower here. The hearts are meeting. Just yesterday I was in Princeton, at Stony Brook in a monastery, where about two hundred or three hundred Catholic monks and nuns met and they asked me to talk to them under the heading of “East and West—One Heart.” Here, I really wonder whether I am in the East or West. If these pictures or the films are going to be shown in India, they would certainly never believe that this is taken in America.  For here, the East has come into the West. And with all my heart, I wish a great, great success in this music Festival to pave the way for many more festivals in many other parts of this country.

But the entire success is in your hands, not in the hands of a few organizers. Naturally, they have come forward to do some job. I have met them. I admire them. But still, in your hands, the success lies. The entire world is going to watch this. The entire world is going to know that what the American youth can do to the humanity. So, every one of you should be responsible for the success of this Festival.

And,  before I conclude my talk, I would like you all to join me and our group here in repeating a very simple chant. As I was reminding you of the sound power, there are certain mystical sounds which the Sanskrit terminology says are the bijakshara, or the “seed words.” We are going to use three seed words, or the mystic words, to formulate the chants. And if you all join wholeheartedly, after the chant we are going to have at least one whole minute of absolute silence. Not even the cameras will click at that time. And in that silent period, that one minute of silence, you are going to feel the great, great power of that sound and the wonderful peace that it can bring in you and into the whole world. Let us have a sample of that now. The words will be: “Hari” is one word. “Om” is another word. The first chant will have these two words, “Hari Om Hari Om, Hari Hari Hari Om.” The second line will be “Hari Om, Hari Om, Hari Hari Om.”

There will be another chant afterwards:  just one word, “Ram.” We’ll be repeating: “Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Ram.” It’s a sample. It’s very easy to follow with everybody and we’ll have a gentle clapping also. So, now we’ll begin in a slow rhythm and gradually build it up. Now I will request all of my friends to join me.  We will repeat the line once, then allow you to follow. (The entire festival then chanted the “Hari Om” chant together.)

Thank you all very much. And  once again let me express my sincere wish and prayers for the success and peace of this celebration. Thank you.

PLAYLIST | Yo! Flow : 3/18

PLAYLIST | Yo! Flow 3/11

POETRY | Mary Oliver : When Death Comes

When Death Comes

-Mary Oliver

When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps his purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox;

when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering;
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth
tending as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.

When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

TED | Benjamin Zanders : The transformative power of classical music

MUSIC | The Knife : A Tooth For An Eye

PLAYLIST | YoYo 3/7

POETRY | Mary Oliver : The Summer Day

The Summer Day

Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

POETRY | Mark Nepo : A Poem by Mark Nepo

A poem by Mark Nepo

Having loved enough and lost enough,
I'm no longer searching
just opening,

no longer trying to make sense of pain
but trying to be a soft and sturdy home
in which real things can land.

These are the irritations
that rub into a pearl.

So we can talk for a while
but then we must listen,
the way rocks listen to the sea.

And we can churn at all that goes wrong
but then we must lay all distractions
down and water every living seed.

And yes, on nights like tonight
I too feel alone. But seldom do I
face it squarely enough
to see that it's a door
into the endless breath
that has no breather,
into the surf that human
shells call God.

PLAYLIST | Yo! Flow 3/4

MUSIC | Nahko Bear : Aloha Ke Akua

PLAYLIST | Yo! Flow : 2/25

ROGER WRITES | Emergence vs. Homeostasis

Let me preface this article by telling you that in four days I turn 40.  It's no big deal, except that it is.

A month ago I signed up for 8 weeks of life coaching with Tommy Faricy.  I finished my first month last Monday.  He challenges me to think new thoughts, helps me to see things from a different perspective, and encourages me to go to the places that scare me.  He reminds me of what Joseph Campbell said: "The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek."  I resist, of course.  It's my job to resist.  But his patience, diligence, and passion have made a huge impact on how I am moving forward with my life.

Two weeks agao he shared with me the concepts of emergence and homeostasis.  Emergence is the process of coming into being, and homeostasis is the process of keeping everything the same.  We focused primarily on emergence because, well, my life lately has been too much about homeostatis, which is why I started the life coaching sessions in the first place.

I've thought about these two concepts every day since then.  I've explored both sides, and I've realized the necessity of both of them.  We all want to emerge, to be our best, to be successful, alive, awake, and radiant.  However, too much of that can cause us to feel manic and oftentimes leads to a crash-and-burn experience, which is why we also need the otherside: the ground, the bones, the nuts and bolts.  It's also important and necessary to have elements in our lives that are constant and steady, but when we have too much groundedness we can easily fall into inertia and depression.

Recently, I've re-awakened my passion to move toward more complex asanas and movements.  I've been exploring and using these two dynamic forces in my practice.   I find that when I strive, push and reach out for these postures too much, I fall, I tumble, I loose my ground, and that's when I'm most at risk for injury.  When I recognize that is happening, I come back to my breath.  I come back to my bones.  I connect to my feet.  I let go of outcome and return to the practice.

Then there are those days when I get to my mat and my bones are heavier than my will; days when I think, "meh."  In those moments, I can decide to do something different.  I try a new pose.  I take some energizing breaths.  I pray for a miracle.  I let go of outcome and return to the practice.

On and off the mat it's important to strike a balance between the emergent energy required for transformation and the consistency needed for that transformation to last.

P.S.  Anyone have a Corvette for sale?

POETRY | Mark Nepo : Breaking Surface

Breaking Surface
-Mark Nepo

Let no one keep you from your journey,
no rabbi or priest, no mother
who wants you to dig for treasures
she misplaced, no father
who won't let one life be enough,
no lover who measures their worth
by what you might give up,
no voice that tells you in the night
it can't be done.

Let nothing dissuade you
from seeing what you see
or feeling the winds that make you
want to dance alone
or go where no one
has yet to go.

You are the only explorer.
Your heart, the unreadable compass.
Your soul, the shore of a promise
too great to be ignored.

MUSIC | Regina Spektor : Laughing With