Back at the B&B, but my head is still filled with music. Here’s who I saw today; Joey Lugassy, with a break-out set. Amritakripa, homies to Joshua Tree — again I was impressed with their very unusual sound. Sean Johnson & the Wild Lotus band, who always make me cry & dance my ass off, often at the same time. DASI Karnamrita, who has an incredibly sweet voice and stage manner & played traditional kirtan with an all star line-up. And of course, Dave Stringer, who is playing the Saturday night party-down session as I write this. From the picture, which was taken backstage, it looks as though he & C.C. White are going to be cooking up some seriously fun kirtan tonight! I’m sorry I couldn’t stay to see the whole set.
More people arrived today, but the gathering is still much smaller than last September. The feeling of community is so strong here. There’s a realization that bhakti is a world-wide movement, but on this glorious spring weekend it feels like it’s just us, the Bhakti Fest community gathered once again to sing, talk, laugh with each other and be filled up with Love. This energy will change the world.
Hari OM Kitzie ~ I hope you don’t mind my putting some more feelings here about the OMmersion. It was truly life changing!
Dave Stringer’s Saturday set was AMAZING! He didn’t end until almost 1:30 a.m. and you can bet I wasn’t going to bed until he did! It was my first time seeing Dave live and he was even better than I expected.
My Saturday started with Govindas’s workshop, where he shared his story of becoming a Neem Karoli Baba devotee. He and Radha did some lovely kirtan (as usual!) ~ Jaya Ram Sita Ram ~ and I learned a new chant in honor of the guru.
Guru Brahma
Guru Vishnu
Guru Devo
Mahahesvara
Guru Sakshat
Parambrahma
Tasmaye Sri Guruve Namaha
The chant honors the creator, sustainer, and destroyer, and that eternal circle.
Govindas shared many good quotes from various gurus ~ including my own guru, Swami Satchidananda. His workshop was really special. He and Radha are such beautiful souls. The way she lights up when she looks at her son…wow.
I caught most of Joey Lugassy’s set. I must say he blew me away! I wasn’t very familiar with him prior to Bhakti Fest but I am definitely a fan now!
Jai Uttal presented a fantastic workshop on bhakti at 1 p.m. We started with a Govinda Jaya Jaya chant and then he shared so many good concepts with us.
He talked about the depth of our kirtan and how it’s what we put into it that determines the depth of the practice. Jai gave the example of beggars on the streets of India who make music with what they have, “like this is the last breath they have on this earth.” Those words were so powerful to me.
Jai told us that we each create our own offering. All we ever really have to offer is the depth of our prayer. Prajna from Mukti added that she’s attended both deep and shallow kirtans. To her, the depth of the kirtan depends on who we are singing to. When we sing to our beloved, there is depth.
Jai was very inclusive in his talk, saying that everybody has something to offer everybody. He shared some funny stories about how he came to spirituality, so there was a great lighthearted feeling in the sanctuary, and he said something that really got me. “I recommend finding the weakest place that needs God *so* bad.” He had said previously that each person is responsible for bringing their own pain to God. Between that, and talking about how he often throws out his plans for a kirtan set at the last minute ~ “I feel literally in this moment that I have never done this before.” ~ the time we spent in the workshop was very rewarding.
From the sanctuary, it was time to check out Girish’s set. I was hoping he would do Diamonds in the Sun and Kali Durge off his latest album. Both were fabulous! I am not sure who he had singing with him, but she had an incredible voice. If she doesn’t already, she could easily have her own albums.
DASI Karnamrita took the stage late after some sound issues, but her voice was definitely angelic. I hadn’t been familiar with her for very long prior to Bhakti Fest. It didn’t matter. She has such a beautiful presence.
That put Dave Stringer’s set late, but as I said above, he was so amazing that I could have been there all night long. As it was, I only slept four hours, but hey, I didn’t trek from Alberta to Bhakti Fest to sleep! Joni Allen was magnificent and I was thrilled that my favorite female kirtan artist, Jaya Lakshmi, came out for Devakinandana Gopala. CC White didn’t end up coming onstage, though I saw her before the set started walking around in the crowd.
That’s one really wonderful thing about the OMmersion. This was my first Bhakti Fest, so I can’t compare to others, but I was really touched with the way the artists were so supportive of one another. Not only did we have some great collaborations, but there were several times I saw people in the audience supporting others. Kamaniya and Prajna were dancing right up front during one set, and Dasi Karnamrita was sitting behind me during Jaya Lakshmi’s set on Sunday morning. It’s that beautiful community you talked about. We were all brothers and sisters at Bhakti Fest. The sense of belonging and love was powerful.
It’s also amazing to sit in the sanctuary doing call and response with these artists I listen to every day. Sitting in a room with about 60 people with Govindas and Radha leading kirtan? About 120 with Jai Uttal? Who would have dreamed?
I need to head off to bed but I’ll comment on the Friday and Sunday posts tomorrow. Speaking of who would have dreamed ~ *I* accompanied Dave Stringer on cymbals and bells during Kirtan Flight School! Well, it wasn’t just me of course, you were there, but what an incredible high! More about that tomorrow though….sweet dreams to all of us who slept as minimally as necessary so we didn’t miss anything!
~ OM Shanti ~
Rasana, THANK YOU! You were able to see many things that I didn’t, and I love hearing about them. It was such a rich environment, so much to do, so many people to have conversations with, so much beautiful music. I agree that is was an amazing, life changing weekend and I feel I’m just starting to dig into the experience.
I’m listening to Prema Hara’s new CD “Tears Of Love” now, and it’s bringing it all back for me. Thank you for being there. You were a bright presence & meeting you was a blessing to me.
Lokah samasta sukino bhavantu.