Friday, December 2, 2011

Forgotten Dreams

Sometime around 32,000 years ago some shamans and possibly the earliest artists of humankind rendered what are now the oldest pictorial creations existing on earth that we know of. Filmmaker Werner Herzog was allowed, with a group of archeologists and paleontologists, to enter the Chauvet Cave in Southern France and carefully capture on film scenes painted on the walls of the labyrinthine tunnels deep inside a mountain, probably only lighted with torches, whose entrance was subsequently covered by a landslide for 10s of thousands of years. The film, which has now been released on video, is titled CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS. It is not 'cinemascope' or 'Imax', but is one of the most moving film experiences of our time. The only real drawback I found is some of the narration which shows the unfortunate neglect on the part of Herzog to read Graham Hancock's book SUPERNATURAL before releasing and editing this movie. One would do well to read the book, as it will greatly add to the viewing experience. That said, seeing the images slowly pan across the screen was a deeply emotional and spiritual experience for us, almost impossible to put into words. Herzog also readily admits to being profoundly affected by the invisible presence of the creators of the early mammal scenes. How beautiful it is that our ancestors left for us this astonishing gift, and to be discovered at this moment in time. Personally, it was interesting that, coincidentally, I am at this time reading the very dense scientific volume by David Rains Wallace titled "BEASTS OF EDEN, Walking Whales, Dawn Horses, and Other Enigmas of Mammal Evolution". Please view this film and see how you're affected by it.

On the other end of the spectrum, I just watched THE LAST MOUNTAIN. Very disturbing, but at the same time, one of the most important documentaries made. It brings up all the charges and emotional and spiritual responses to the enveloping presence of Wetiko psychopaths enacting the Metaphysical War on Gaia, and throws in our faces the true nature of the legions of humanoid tools lost in material self-interest, and their hopelessly suicidal ignorance. It's about mountaintop coal mining in Appalachia, and the infamous Massey Energy company.
While some families are dying of brain tumors, having autistic children, nature is totally raped, and the Wetiko CEO made $200 million in one of the most impoverished areas of the country, other miners are waving flags, cursing at Robert Kennedy Jr., blasting treesitters with sonic weapons,  and calling themselves 'environmentalists'. I have to express my deep respect for the young people who are able to practice nonviolence both in this situation and in all the Occupy Movement situations around the country. I would not be able to do it. I've never taken the training, but I really don't think I could pass the exam. I just don't consider Wetikos as beings worth giving any quarter. They, and their ponerized minions and thugs are definitely not worth trying to engage with in normal civilized terms. Reason, logic, facts, human spiritual qualities have zero effect on them, by definition, and by abundant examples throughout history and in our era. Some of us, by nature, are better suited to creative monkeywrenching and such. I have intervened in animal cruelty and would be hard pressed to stand by while a Native Elder (and veteran) gets pepper-sprayed and suffers a stroke by the Phoenix pig-shits.

Sorry, but I really don't have anything particularly pleasant to say or share. Kind of in the "drag of doom" modality a lot lately. But I guess I'm not the only one.
A fair amount of buzz here in NM about a certain lizard - the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard - vs. Big Oil. Lizards vs. jobs, right? And it brings out the wetiko politicians, "people" like Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM), a despicably vile hater of all things wild, natural, who encourages bulldozing of creeks, unregulated logging, threats of gun-violence against Forest Service agents, anything that'll get the job done to waste as much natural world as possible. Always a lot of flags and guns involved with these Repugs and their moronic minions. I just don't know how this level of numbers of armed-to-the-teeth cult-followers of psychopaths can be dealt with. "Total destruction, the only solution"? So be it.

Ok, fuck it, I'm just going to post this: Horse Meat Inspection Ban Lifted in U.S. -

"TULSA, Okla. -- Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for human consumption after Congress quietly lifted a 5-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections, and activists say slaughterhouses could be up and running in as little as a month. Slaughter opponents pushed a measure cutting off funding for horse meat inspections through Congress in 2006 after other efforts to pass outright bans on horse slaughter failed in previous years. Congress lifted the ban in a spending bill President Barack Obama signed into law Nov. 18 [ed- promised he wouldnt].

Dave Duquette, president of the nonprofit, pro-slaughter group United Horsemen, said no state or site has been picked yet but he's lined up plenty of investors who have expressed interest in financing a processing plant. While the last three slaughterhouses in the U.S. were owned by foreign companies, he said a new plant would be American-owned.
"I have personally probably five to 10 investors that I could call right now if I had a plant ready to go," said Duquette, who lives in Hermiston, Ore. He added, "If one plant came open in two weeks, I'd have enough money to fund it. I've got people who will put up $100,000."
Sue Wallis, a Wyoming state lawmaker who's the group's vice president, said ranchers used to be able to sell horses that were too old or unfit for work to slaughterhouses but now they have to ship them to butchers in Canada and Mexico, where they fetch less than half the price. The federal ban devastated "an entire sector of animal agriculture for purely sentimental and romantic notions", she said. END CLIP
I had a brief email exchange with this Dave Duquette character. I asked this asshole if he was born without a soul or if he just shit it out in his outhouse one day. He made crystal clear that he is a perfectly prime example of the kind of vile wetiko piece of shit that needs to be placed on a planet far far away. Ditto for this Sue Wallis demoness, who has written and promotes a "horse-meat cookbook". These pseudo-humanoid scum horse-and-Life-haters believe it's ok to have an animal serve and love and put up with a lifetime of disregard by humans in the most humble and innocent way, and then be put through the most horrific and indescribably cruel process of the 21st century mechanized slaughter thing in their last moments. I have no words to describe my disgust and HATE for these entities. You can easily find copious filth about these morons on the web (including their contacts), as well as view video of horse slaughterhouses, if you think there's anything 'humane' going on.
On another blog there was a mention of Temple Grandin, coincidentally just as I was reading up on her in relation to this horse issue. Yeah, I saw the movie, and strongly felt there was/is something deeply disturbing and twisted about this so-called autistic 'genius', who seems to have an arrested development of the empathic function, and furthermore is incapable of grasping a larger picture than her scientific PhD brain can conceive. I found this article on a Horse Advocate blog, and it voices exactly my own impression: What's Wrong With Temple Grandin? Her "humane" bullshit is only used about 20% of the time anyway. She jumped into the fray, and is being used by the horse-meat enthusiasts. As a commenter noted, "the Chinese eat dogs and cats, so why shouldn't we export their meat too"....hey, job creation, I guess. (Actually, the Chinese are Duquette & friends' target market.)
My only mitigating thoughts on this is that, as surely as the Sun rises, the ALF will burn any such endeavors to the ground before one horse is touched. You can take that to the bank.
I'm going off to play for Kali if I can get out before the big blizzard hits.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Traveling Light, With Gurus All Around

Arthurian Tarot
While the powers-being-flushed-down-the-toilet and their spokes-morons fuss and bloviate about how those parasitic Occupy whiners are obstructing the manifest destiny of doom, they imagine it also only has something to do with "the financial system".  I try to imagine what it must be like to be stuck in one's mind back in the 60s, where the intellectual and spiritual faculties contracted chronic arrested development, where one is enveloped in a cloud of fear of everything, and can only repeat phrases like "get a job" and "take a bath". Amazing to behold, and an unparalleled achievement.
Actually, millions of us know what Occupy is really about, which is much more than financial concerns. Arthur Silber recently wrote the following: "the extent of your awareness of the world around you, and the extent of your sensitivity to and concern for the sanctity of human life [all Life - ed.], will be the extent to which you are punished". Witness the reactivity toward Occupiers and see the truth of this. The spiritually terrified can't help terrorizing the continuously growing voices and stands taken for the sanctity of Life by those of the aware Love Tribes around the world.
Another phrase caught my attention recently for it's succinctness: what is and has been going on is a "metaphysical war on Gaia". It's an old war. Early on, the Devic realm had to be driven into retreat and hiding. And the non-human creatures decimated from the largest down to the minutest species, all the while subjecting also the nature-separated humans to traumatic mass killing on a regular basis. The trauma brings it all full circle as humanity participates in its own destruction as well as the elements and the Earth Herself. Whether it was the Nine Waves or something else, much of humanity sees the situation crystal clear now, and is holding the focus as never before. (Not in any way ignoring the fact that indigenous folks have been hip to the situation for millenia, and holding the focus.) That's about all I can say, just watching it unfold like you all are, and keeping on keeping on.

Here's an example of a kind of DEEP INTELLECT not many are familiar with, but should be - Inside the Mind of the Octopus - from the latest issue of Orion Magazine. While you're at it, you may as well have your mind completely blown by this VIDEO.

On one of Les' Origami blogposts the subject of "Guru" came up (as well as "Service"), and there were some interesting commentaries and revelations, both of wisdom and ignorance ("I don't need no stinkin' guru", etc.). Since that is the subject I am intending to continue writing about,  it was very in the forefront of my thoughts and what I contributed to the discussion over there was the following:

"It's so fucking curious, hilarious actually, that people (westerners mostly) go completely nutso when you mention the word "guru" - the only associations are "charlatan" and "predator" and the like, only having to do with Rolls Royces and chasing ass. The stupid (false) religious and media programming has been spectacularly successful.
There are billions of types of gurus, and all are uniquely different. A guru is a most honorable and sacred personage and a being in form, either human or non-human, to interact with in the mode of Initiation - into another level of consciousness or experience of being in the world. The almost complete extinction of initiatory processes from "civilization" has brought humanity to its present state of gross ignorance.
There are many many true gurus existing now as in all other times, as it always has been, as well as devic allies, as Les describes, and the only 'difficulty' is that they don't have the "appearances" that are consistent with one's expectations.
Copping out, with religious, scriptural, intellectual, egotistical, and all the newage mythological excuses, is simply laziness - how everybody in the modern civilized world rolls.
No one has to submit themselves to lying, hypocritical, charlatan predators - that's just another excuse to not allow a true teacher who may appear to one in an instant to nudge one into a deeper inquiry into your Self and the nature of your existence.
[Regarding 'service':] On the "pathless path", one sees what needs to be done and how and who to serve in every moment, and acts accordingly. It's not rocket surgery, but takes discipline and endurance, and perseverance, as pointed out previously many times. And obviously this can't be accomplished with mental biases and clinging to dogmas and "precious experiences" of the past. Creation, preservation, and destruction of the universe is going on a billion times a second. The only limitations are self-limitations."

Here's a little video, done by my friend, Ashish, about the guru-shishya thing, which speaks to the essence of the matter a million times better than I could hope to in words here.  The elderly guru (Muslim, formally initiating his Hindu disciple) is the great singer, and master of Nada Yoga, Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar, with whom I was privileged to accompany both in India and U.S. several times, as well as being taught by him in the mid-70s. Can you feel the Love?


So that's a little introduction to the "lineage-guru" mode. There are other kinds, obviously. I should say, first off, that for some reason I never had any inclination to chase after or search out a 'spiritual' guru. In India, while studying the music, I acquired a distaste for the hoards of spiritual seekers - 'meditation' and 'yoga' fanatics - with their condescending words and attitudes about we 'inferior' musicians. I guess it's our refusal to abandon "passion", basically, heh. What I'm going to describe now is kind of difficult to express in so many words, so it's going to probably just cover some basics of the events. I need to also mention that, although it was a major turning point of a lifetime, it is not about a particular moment in time in which I find myself stuck in, nor which I ever had any interest in making a career out of exploiting, as many have done in creating a "brand" out of their "Baba-experiences" and further blinding themselves to seeing any more possibilities of initiation and transcendence of experiences that have passed into the land of "cancelled checks", as one Mataji put it.

A friend, an American sadhu, told me one day that I should go "that way" down the path on the outskirts of Kathmandu and go up to a particular house and check out what was going on there. He had given me much important advice and information previously in Benares where he was basically my first compatriot friend upon arriving in India, so I figured I should heed his words.
A small Indian baba sat on the floor with perhaps a dozen hippies. The energy was electric, to say the least. He spoke in English, but also in the slang of the times. Some of the listeners were rapt in attention; others were seemingly agitated. The words came out in a stream of a combination of all the emotions known to man, expressing in phrases that triggered a torrent of the most profound questions ever pondered in one's lifetime, the sounds vibrating from the most exquisite tenderness to the most terrifying righteous rage and again returning in an instant to sweetness. My thought-stream was instantaneously obliterated as the oration overtook the speed of arising thought and answered every potential detail of lifetimes of unanswered, unresolved, unfulfilled karmic and cosmic questions. I could only bow my head to the floor. There was also delirious laughter, and paralyzing terror, and hair-raising electrical discharges in the room, and tears of recognition of the Perfect Father we had never known.

In this instance, I am going to refrain from identifying this guru with a name. There is no reason to, and it doesn't matter in the larger scheme of things. He was essentially an incarnation of both Shiva and Hanuman, who are in essence One anyway. I was 22 years old, and everything about 'who' I was up till that point in time in this life was instantly destroyed, erased. I became absolutely aware of what time it was in the great cycles of yugas, of what the 'revolutionary' time was actually about - a profound remembrance - and fully understood what had taken place in the devolution of human consciousness and the embrace of the false scientific paradigm of 'dead matter'. He demonstrated both his facility in producing 'miracles' and his complete disinterest in that mode of operation. He transmitted the incontrovertible truth of universal sentience, and roared with laughter at the idea of human supremacy. I don't know how long that first meeting lasted, nor how I got home in my personality-destroyed state.

For possibly two weeks I sat with sometimes 40 people, sometimes 5, with the Baba and in a state of psychic and mental overload, gradually becoming aware of something beckoning in the future having to do with 'becoming who I am', or maybe 'growing into mySelf'. I seemed to be receiving the transmission of the key to all knowledge and its access (or maybe it was just scientific knowledge up through early 20th century). Sometimes we walked in the streets, bought ice cream and pie, and visited the burning ghats, or accompanied him to nearby villages to see friends and devotees. I know some things about his past and his process of self-realization, but these too are not important to describe. Every master is totally unique, as is everyone's path, so there's nothing to emulate or attempt to duplicate. I was walking with 'God', as far as I could tell, and it was humbling and incomprehensible, certainly indescribable. I was not feeling completely confident in my ability to hold this space without exploding or melting down, or in my ability to 'catch up' to the present, considering my former state of utter ignorance. The phrase I remember most being spoken and which touched everyone so deeply was "I AM YOUR SLAVE". Right there is the essence of the guru's attitude toward the student, and the essence of what anyone should embody toward all beings in the web of Life. We are here to serve.

One evening I was in an upstairs room of a 'hotel' near the royal palace in the old part of Kathmandu with about 6-8 people and the Baba. He talked a bit, probably did a chillum (I wasn't smoking anything that year), and said he was going to read a chapter from the Bhagavad Gita. I found out many years later that of all the people who spent time with him, none ever heard him read this particular chapter, only the 1st through the 10th. This one and only time he would read the 11the chapter, the Revelation Chapter, where Krishna reveals his true Universal Form to Arjuna on the battlefield. In Sanskrit. You see, there is a siddhi of speech, which he possessed, both in English and Sanskrit, which is the ability to transmit a far deeper level of meaning than the mere words spoken, but perhaps depending on the receptivity of the listener. By about the 2nd line, I found myself following the verse as though it were something I had memorized before. This quickly morphed into a full comprehension of the Sanskrit as it was being read. It felt hard to breathe. Next thing that happened was time slowing to a stop, and experiencing exiting from my body. I ascended through the roof, into the sky above the city, above the planet, and sped into the darkness of deep space. I came to in a room with a bunch of ancient heavy-weight masters, and what I remembered afterward was me having an argument about my 'sentence' back down there on Earth. "I ain't goin' back there no how no way; I'm staying here" (wherever 'here' was)! Then I guess I was shown some kind of a 'contract', or reminded of some agreement I had made, and there was no more discussing the issue, though there was sympathy and encouragement expressed, as well as my own copious tears. Then I'm flying in over Kathmandu again, over the 'hotel', through the damn roof, and into the room and right back into my sitting body, where everything is frozen in motionlessness and silence. Then a ceiling fan begins to move, slowly, a candle flickers, and I hear sounds. They are the final words of the chapter of the Gita...Om Tat Sat.

A few days later I was told by the Nepalese police that my time was up....time to catch that bus back down to the plains and the border. I went away with the thought-meme of end-of-the-world on a certain date that fall. I went away with strange siddhis which I tried to keep to myself. I returned to Benares to my music guru and continued on till I was flat broke and kicked out of India. The siddhis persisted for another 6 months, but they were scaring people back in Canada where I landed (and Manson was in the headlines). The end-of-the-world date came and went, but it was infinitely beneficial to prepare oneself for the end, as the knowledge gained would prove to my advantage in circumstances later to come. The events that transpired that summer in Kathmandu would fade in memory except for a seed-knowing that carried me through the next 30 years. It took that amount of time to cook and simmer, and then, in the late 90s, the memories returned, slowly at first, then in a torrent. In the last dozen years it has become integrated into my everyday reality, combined with certain other similar and related events that took place in the intervening years. 
So, there's an example of another type of 'guru' phenomenon. It is not that unusual for a young seeker to fall into that kind of Grace, dumb luck or karma determining.
Just discovered Jaguar in Arizona

I pulled some cards yesterday as I began writing this, from the Grail-oriented Arthurian Tarot. The Fool came right up.
"All quests begin with a question: 'why are things like this?' The Hallow seeker is impelled by a deep urgency to know and experience: to find the world's healing and to seek for a personal direction. This path is both journey and goal.
"The seeker's steps upon the quest are directed by his communion with the Otherworldly messengers whose song sounds in his ears. ...And yet to gain the Otherworldly Hallows, the Seeker must travel the physical world for it is only thus that the Hallows will empower and balance the land. It is so that the Seeker travels light, humbly and in a guise which will attract least attention to his quest. It is better to travel without the weight of fixed ideas; only so can the free flow of our destiny be unwound....
"This is the rainbow path, the way of experience upon which the Seeker learns how to heal what is broken, balance what is imbalanced, align what is out of alignment. "

I guess that's as good a description as any, of the path of my youth. I don't know if any of it has any meaning or relevance to today's youth. It did lead from 'Seeker' to 'Finder', even if there are no words for what is 'Found'.

Coming soon: Could Mother Earth Be Your Guru?

Saturday, November 5, 2011

IROM SHARMILA'S ELEVEN-YEAR FAST

Artwork by Musrat Reazi
Life at the end of the Ninth Wave/beginning of Tenth Wave (?) has been hectic. Several weeks of getting the vahini (vehicle) back up to reliability, plus work on upcoming classical music concert promotion, has consumed all of the 'spare' time around these parts. It's also snowing quite heavily today, and most of that prep has been completed. I've wanted to continue with the honoring of and descriptions of the guru-shishya parampara process as personally experienced in this life, and that will definitely happen, however I was made aware of the story described below and feel it is extremely relevant to so many of the other events taking place globally and locally, and effecting most of our lives on multiple levels, especially those of the awakened and extraordinarily articulate griot-and-prophet clans of the Love Tribe found on these blog cyber-shamballa pages.

The people of the tribal North-Eastern states of India have some very unique cultures, and those cultures were blessed with a fair amount of isolation for thousands of years. Now that isolation is severely compounding the oppression they have been experiencing, most egregiously since India's independence, at the hand of the thoroughly corrupt and despicable Indian government. The divide-and-conquer policies of the British, both the East India Company and the christian missionaries, played a big part in setting the stage for the ongoing genocides of the last 60 years. The ugly vile christianization has increased exponentially since the 1960s against the indigenous animist Tribals. Many of the tribes only converted to "Hindusim" in the 19th Century, like in the State of Manipur. I have equal revulsion toward fundamentalists of christian, hindu, buddhist, jewish, islamic and all other 'religions', so just sayin', I'm an equal-opportunity religion-basher here.

from IROM SHARMILA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN GROWING IN INDIA
"The iron lady of Manipur, Ms Irom Sharmila Chanu of Manipur is one of the civil rights activists in India better known for her relentless campaign for the the repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
Irom Sharmila has been on hunger strike since November 2, 2000 demanding that the Indian government repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 (AFSPA). She has refused food and water for more than 500 weeks, making her the longest hunger striker in the world....
Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) continues to be the most potent repressive tool of the Indian state that empowers even a non commissioned officer of the armed forces to kill on mere suspicion and provide legal immunity from prosecution, thereby causing untold misery and agony among the peoples of the affected regions....
The imposition of AFSPA is synonymous to heavy militarization in the states where it is promulgated leading to gross civil and political rights violations including enforced disappearances, extra-judicial execution, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence against women, arbitrary arrest and detention....
The Ordinance after a brief discussion in the Parliament was endorsed and got the status of Act on August 18, 1958, despite stiff resistance from various quarters who challenged it as a martial and draconian law....
Since then it has been in force in one part or the other of the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir (since 1991)."

Irom Sharmila has refused food and water for a full 11 YEARS, being force-fed in a hospital-jail situation by the Indian government, and brought to court every two weeks to relent, which she refuses. She is given practically NO VISITORS, and NO OUTSIDE TIME - for 11 years, worse treatment than the most violent criminals get. You see, it is ILLEGAL IN INDIA TO COMMIT SUICIDE, even though hundreds of thousands of farmer have suicided due to satanic MONSANTO. Makes sense, right? 

Since we're already in upside-down-world, I wish the poles would just go ahead and shift....
I bring this to your attention for the many interesting moral and spiritual dimensions, not least of which is the perseverance and commitment exhibited here. Humanity all over the world have opted out of their own spiritual responsibilities and left it up to individuals like this lady (and many others) to be their 'reality-show' heroes who are living fully to serve Life and Mother Earth, while the rest keep workin' for/supporting the shitstem, for their material 'rewards', and sign petitions, donate to charities, and occasionally chant slogans on a free weekend.
More coverage from the Indian newspaper The Hindu: IROM SHARMILA'S FAST ENTERS 12TH YEAR. Actually, Indian press has hardly ever covered her story, but had to because of the 11-year milestone this week. She has been fasting all this time with miniscule support, and about zero international (or national) exposure of her situation or the plight of the Peoples of Northeast India. The UK Independent doesn't even have the decency to get the fact of 11 years correctly - they repeatedly say she has completed "10 YEARS"/"A DECADE". You can't make this shit up. The longest fast in the world.....in India.....land of Gandhi......can't...get...mind...around...it.

Poem by Irom Sharmila - 


 Other words - 

"Living together with the beauty of united seven different colors of rainbow, living with open and transparent hearts and minds and sharing pain and pleasure is the mantra of the universe and it will enable our mother nourish us properly."

"Acting against the nature and its laws and forgetting love and sympathy adopting selfishness and jealousy, we are only committing suicidal attitude and action."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
As we proceed to Occupy the various places of importance to our transition to our anticipated natural world order and our birthright, while we identify the 1%-ers and their crimes, we would do well to celebrate and honor those whose great sacrifices sometimes fail to yield 'results' but occasionally tip the scales and become the proverbial straw that sets into motion the spontaneous awakenings. Their stories need to be passed to the youth and posterity, and we need to stop "stand aside and look"......
 
So, anyway, here are some pics of the cultural aspects of Manipur - The classical and folk Manipuri Dances and the traditional Pung Cholom drumming-dance
 





Sunday, October 9, 2011

Retelling Revolution Stories

Ganesh Yantra
Post today features some photos of recent colored-rice yantras done by our yantra-posse for the occasion of Navaratri/DurgaPuja - nine nights of the Goddess festival, from last new moon. These are made for fire-offerings in the dhuni (fire-pit) - a different aspect each day.
 
Tripura Bhairavi
Bhuvaneswari

There was this other lifetime, in another revolutionary time, when the planets Pluto and Uranus conjuncted, and were opposed by the asteroid Chiron. Now we stand in the moment of the critical hard-angle progression of that momentous conjunction that swept over the world from '66-'68. My generation 'came of age' in that other lifetime, stepped into so-called 'adulthood', with the smell of revolution in the air everywhere. We all know it wasn't meant to produce 'answers' or the new paradigm, rather to force a questioning of everything, on the personal and collective levels including all of human history, who and what we are as sentient beings, and what the hell are we really supposed to be doing - as opposed to what we had been told in that regard.
I don't have any idea of numbers, but some of us definitely knew what we were in for since early childhood. We all had our personal brands of traumatization in the '50s and tried to mentally survive as we could, trying to not be noticed too much while exploring the landscape and possibilities of creativity and spontaneity. By around '64 we started getting the whiff of high strangeness approaching. Well, we all know how it went down, the thrilling delirium, the horror, the internal and external journeys, the heavy tolls of the quests, battles and retreats. And now we stand in a place where we still "don't know", but feel the resonance from that other time and have no uncertainty about the immanent consequences of how we lived our lifetimes arriving here and now. So, I'm taking a final look back at how my own personal path unfolded, even without any idea of the meaningfulness of the exercise, only, I guess, to honor some of the many beings who graced my existence on this Earth this time around.


In '66 the first classical Indian music records became available in the States, and I heard and got my hands on a few of them. Of major interest to me were the recordings of Dhrupad artists, lineage masters of the oldest living musical art-form surviving in India, the singers, veena players, and drummers. Actually, I listened to ragas on my first acid trip, which was fortunate. But the dhrupad stuff was what triggered off the deepest memories, what urged my consciousness to expand a thousand-fold. I would later come to understand that this was a kind of powerful medicine designed for this purpose, based on the most precise exposition of natural tones and scales and rhythm knowledge derived from the ancient Nada-yogi sages' deep spiritual exploration of the nature of our world and its vibratory matrix.

Then there was the first Be-in/Gathering of the Tribes in L.A. (April, '67), a massive acid test. Music and drumming from all over the world acoustically filled the air, and we wandered from culture to culture in astonishment from sunrise to sunset. What happened to me was that I was unable to get the drum languages to stop playing in my head for about a week. It was half ecstatic and half crazy-making because I didn't have the keys to understand....but I knew it was there somewhere, and it was somehow important.

A short time later the biggest 'star' Indian musician in the western world walked into my place of work (the 'underground' Free Press) wanting to advertise the opening of the first school of Indian music in america. I signed up for drum classes the next day. I obtained a set of tabla from the master, late Ustad Allah Rakha Khansahib, and began to cluelessly muddle through several months. One day there was a demonstration of dhrupad singing by the masters and the mridang/pakhawaj was brought out and played. That was the end, the turning point for me. Afterward I went up and begged the masters to direct me to a teacher in India, telling them I needed to go soon since I had a choice facing me: Vietnam or jail. The next week I was handed a name and address of a person in Varanasi.

Chinnamasta

That person was the mridang-master as well as the head priest of the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, most famous Hanuman place, founded by the author of the Ramcharitmanas (Hindi Ramayana), Goswami Tulsi Das (and containing the original manuscript) - my first guru, Pandit Amarnath Mishra ("Mahantji"). It took me over a year to get to Varanasi, via Canada - hitchhiking the entire Trans-Canada Hwy to Newfoundland, flying to Scotland, then hitchhiking to Mashad, Iran and taking busses and trains the remaining distance. I arrived at the Afghan border on New Years Eve '68-'69. Before this, the only 'foreign' travel I'd done was a few miles south of Tijuana, Mexico. An absolute time-travel experience, gradually leaving the West and entering the increasing strangeness of the East. Again, the perfect way to travel - staying on the earth (mostly). I should mention that my sincere belief at the time was that the planet-raping masters of death were very soon going to destroy the Earth and all life, and that I desperately wanted to see if there existed anything real left anywhere before we all experienced atomization at their hands.
We 'hippies' were, almost without exception, greeted with open arms and exquisite hospitality everywhere along the eastern journey BTW, in contrast to dodging stones and beer cans and curses in the West.
 

I arrived at my destination and immediately recognized a few things: that I somehow felt very comfortable and familiar with Varanasi along the Ganges River, and also that Mahantji was a giant of a true human being on all levels. Of the highest level Brahmin caste, he was also a profound bhakta musician, the supreme traditional wrestling guru of the province, a master of both inner and outer spiritual practices, including ritual puja, and one of the most revered persons in Varanasi. He was also the simplest, most humble, fun-loving, disciplined teachers one could ever wish for. I treasured every minute in his presence, and even his yelling out instructions to me from his balcony two floors up. He, and his Brahmin posse would question me for hours about why we were there, why we left our famously materialistic homelands, what we see and think, what was going on in the West, and many more subjects. I had very few answers, but tried my best to just be openly honest, begin to learn Hindi language slowly, and do the practice of beginning to get the precisely correct sounds demanded. At that time I only saw and met 5 or 6 foreigners who were either studying music or Tibetan language. We were a small clan at that point. Mahantji was retiring from his 20 years of priestly duties and getting back into the music he loved. At first there was only one other student, my guru-bhai Srikant, a young Brahmin boy, and we gradually became friends. There were two takes on us by the Indians: we were either Brahmins or Harijans (untouchables), but no one was quite sure which.
Matangi

It was both idyllic and horrific in those days, doing my drum practice on the balcony of the master's music room over the Ganga while dolphins breached and played below me, even rubbing against us as we took our daily river bath; and in our innocence seeing the awful poverty, disease, inhumane treatment of animals (except for cows), and the terribly misplaced envy of the Indians toward what they imagined we were possessed of. Since all the milk-sweet alchemists, the 'dudh-wallahs'/cow-stewards, were wrestlers, students of my guru, I was deemed one of their guru-bhais (brother), generously gifted and protected by these gentlemen and their families. We were daily fed by the famous "Chai Baba" of Assi Ghat, Kanailal, whose tiny shop under monkey-filled trees became the gathering place for all the studying and traveling foreigners for years following. We all had horrible harassment from the psychopathically corrupt immigration authorities throughout our time there too, and it was a major topic of conversation, as well as the major mind-disturbance of our studies. But, overall, and though at the time I didn't know the extent of it, I was living under extraordinary divine grace, most especially for the dear friends and connections made then that would last my whole life. And our guruji, Mahantji, was the perfect master, though there was much of his saintly qualities that I would only later learn, and much that I would never know. His influence on me was great, and showed me an entirely new standard of human being, a monster musician who took me in off the street and taught me like a son.

Shri Yantra

By late May Varanasi was stiflingly hot, and we had to go somewhere to the mountains for a couple months. I was advised by a very wise american sadhu to go to Kathmandu. It was auspicious advice of the highest order. In Kathmandu I would have the 'dumb luck' of having the 'teacher' appear who would crack the world and thoroughly destroy that person I had been up till that time and begin a 30-year trial and tribulation to integrate the meaning of what was going to take place in his presence.

This is not the end of the story with Mahantji, merely how it all began with the serious music engagement at age 22 for me. This will be continued with Kathmandu leelas and the return to Varanasi.....

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Respecting Venomous Creatures and Bloody Goddesses

Ardhanarishwara (exoticindia.com)
There are two subjects which I keep hoping to get to in this space, but I seem to always be short on time these days, and other things of importance keep showing up. Since I started this mainly as a place to record my thoughts, feelings, and inspirations for perhaps someday being of interest to my few descendants, or to future prospective sangeet students (also, as well as just laying it all down for the record, sharing information on the progress of the accelerating implosion of 'civilization'), I intend to make a adequate record of my own personal process of the musical and spiritual journey that got me here. This 'journal' of remembrances will necessarily focus on my experiences with some, or all, of nine to twelve gurus - musical and spiritual (not necessarily separate), and also look at the nature of what is known as guru-shishya-parampara, or at least my experience of it as an aspiring traditional percussionist-in-training/sacred music practitioner. 
I am working up to begin posting this (in 5 or 6 parts) in the very near future (what there may be of it). Another reason for doing this is the major confusion and misunderstanding of the 'guru' concept in the West, something upon which I would hope to perhaps shed a bit of light, based purely on personal experience of self-submission in a dozen instances over my adult lifetime. 
There is another subject too, which I hope to get to, and that is a personal record of intimate relationships with companion and wild animals who have served also as teachers in this life, so far. We'll see how it works out. I'm not the writer that Derrick Jensen is, but there are some stories there...
While I work on these central subjects and issues of my life experience, today I'll have to just post some odd bits of pictorial and verbal images that came up in various meaningful and archetypal ways, mostly in the areas of our animal-nations friends. 

Three photos of this week's rattlesnake rescue and relocation in the high desert area here:

Got a call from a resident saying a rattler had been caught up entangled in "bird netting" - which should never be placed on the ground, helllooo! He/she was kind of distressed, having been immobilized for 24 hours when I reached there.
This is the "product":
 

 
The netting was wrapped 30-40 times around the snake's mid-section, which required holding down and carefully snipping away each thread against the scales...took about 1/2 hour.
Most likely a prairie rattler, the little one only rattled a few times at first, and when freed slowly crept off into the sage and scrub juniper.

Here's hoping s/he'll find the way home, and remember a moment of human kindness should we ever meet again on the trail. All beings deserve to live free and be spared a torturous, unnecessary fate.











Sadly, our neighbor lost one of the 4 beloved donkeys on Thursday. Crystal, RIP. Her donkey friends, as well as the 4 llamas, and 4 alpacas have all been sleeping on, and during the days, keeping vigil at her grave, even bringing their toys to place on the site. Quite stunning to see.

Navaratri/Durga-Puja, the Nine Nights of the Goddess, are beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 27, so it's that time of year again to throw down nine rice yantras, one each night, in the dhuni fire-pit, hold the space for the sisters to make puja with the hand-made murtis of the Devis, and speak the mantras and sing the hymns of all Her names.



The primary Shakti Devi being Bhoomi, our Mother Earth, all these names and manifestations are Her aspects and attributes (including Kali, Saraswati, Durga, and all the rest), present in and inclusive of all beings who walk, stand, crawl, swim, and fly within Her Matrix of Her Mani Dvipa - Island of Jewels, our Planet Earth. Mani Dvipa is the mystic vision granted Her devotees upon that total surrender of all that mind and self-importance crap that appears so hard to give up or remove oneself from. Turning it all over to Her, the natural mystic knows its all under control, and this world is not the source of error, an accursed place, nor a hell-realm needing a savior. It is Her body, the Beautiful Red Triple-dimension Creation, Shri Lalita Mahatripura Sundari, spontaneously arising from Her primal vibration AUM, visually represented by the Shri Yantra diagram seen at right.

I want to urge all who are able to view the film A Fall From Freedom, linked in the right margin, to do so. It is not terribly disturbing visually, but lays down the absurdity of sentient-being imprisonment-for-entertainment in no uncertain terms, exposing in the light of truth the money (natch) and the people running, and attempting to justify, this terrible business - intimately connected to all the destruction that's going on in our oceans.
What freedom looks like (screen capture from film)
On the gross side, here are some things you don't want to give to your kids:


Friday, September 16, 2011

STILL RESISTING THE 'EXTERMINATION OF EMPATHY'

Goddess Saraswati exoticindia.com
A radio talk-show host was interviewing Alan Grayson, former Fla. congressman. His assessment of our situation was of witnessing the "extermination of empathy". I would have to agree that that's the plan. With the all-pervasiveness of Wetiko-disease, psychopathy, malignant narcissism, Archontic plague (however you want to call it) in the (especially 'Western') world's disgustingly blasphemous (Nature-hating) political (and personal) public and media conversational exchanges, it seems everything is moving along according to plan. We try to go on with our lives, relishing each moment of sanity, beauty, creativity we can possibly experience while we also wait for some seemingly imminent resolution or end to the insanity and attempting to do whatever we can to mitigate the most dire consequences of various wetiko-tribal aggressions against Life, and also spread what we know to be the truth of the situation, usually not by logical explanation however (because that no longer works with most humanoids), but by various means of spontaneous anarchic creativity. [Anarchy: against Archons]
I should mention that the above named politician followed his comment about 'empathy' with the statement that "that's what separates us from animals", blah blah. So, that's the best there is out of the mouths of 'leaders' as well as a clear reminder about self-reliance and not looking for help from self-styled 'important' spokespersons from any of the domains of 'civilized contemporary culture'. Any twit with a search engine can find copious evidence to the contrary to that speciesist statement. But, yeah, what-ever. 

There's just no getting away from "the topic of topics" - ever. But we can move to the periphery of the whirlpool by engaging in our chosen forms of serious art-making, alone or in company of others, if we're lucky. I guess that's what we were doing last weekend with our 24 hours of continuous kirtan-chanting and drumming dedicated to Sri Hanumanji. I hadn't participated in that particular festival for last 10 years, because of personal abhorrence to the 'institution' and it's psychopathic hypocrisy and elitism toward the greater community. But that is the nature of 'religious' institutions in the Kaliyug in general. This time I felt 'called' however, and it was worth the setting aside of my distaste for a moment to hopefully energize the process for the good of the community of suffering, long-under-seige devotees. Besides, there was a good solid unified posse to hold down the excellent quality of musical medicinal vibration. That's about the best one can hope for in these degenerate times. [Besides, at 65 I can play harder and have more endurance than a lot of the younger drummers for these types of marathons (grin).]

My musical life, on one level - of being in the 'West' - has been a long pain in the ass: submitting myself at the feet of the master musicians of the Indian subcontinent for decades - to learn all the forms and styles - only to return to my 'homeland' for rejection and marginalization because I couldn't shut up about the co-option, commercialization, fake-posing, glamorization, vanity, star-worship, etc. Yer not supposed to do that. Plus, I am most definitely not glamorous, shmoozy, and full of all the qualities required by the New Age scene for 'professional' and material success. Can't keep my mouth shut about my extreme distaste for cultural cannibalism/colonialism. I have my own 'litmus tests', you see. On the other hand, curiously, it has ultimately saved me a lot of grief and disillusionment. If you're not familiar with the 'Eastern music' scene, it's about the many vain egoists who buy an exotic instrument (harmonium, for example), take a few lessons (or none at all) and "create" their own brand of "fusion" (horrible misnomer), or 'westernized'/'accessible' sounds to scam the insanely ignorant masses of culturally starved denizens of the Empire into thinking they are participating in something sacred and holy. It's simply 'how we roll' here in the end times. None of this is meant to imply any particular importance to my musical endeavors. I was involved many lifetimes ago, but just returned to it in this incarnation. I still require many more lifetimes to get 'up to speed', but I manage as best as I can. Ok, that's my personal rant for the week, sorry.

It seems to be getting pretty uninhibited in general in the public sphere as far as wetiko/psychopathy is concerned, does it not? Is anyone else experiencing this? I had a couple of wacked encounters in the past week in places of business in town. Individuals obviously enjoying, laughing, taunting others being subjected to their obstructions, cheating, self-imagined superiority and harm-causing. When others questioned or called them on their shit, they launched into extraordinary expressions of their lack of empathy or concern for anyone else, laughing and gesturing wildly, with no holding back or self-censorship. I found it interesting and asked them straight out if they were big-shot mafia dons or planning on departing soon to their own planet being prepared for them by their Lord. They were stunned and got quiet. Then they stormed off giving me the one-finger salute.

Back to the 'topic' again. What the hell to do in this interim time? Encourage space-ship migration to Mars? Sometimes these interactions/encounters can't be avoided. Human abuse and animal abuse and Earth abuse is everywhere. Most of the time, in the temporal dimension, I like to focus on the work being done by the many many true human beings involved in either directly or indirectly alleviating the suffering, because it simply counteracts my tendency toward despair at our species. This is how what I'm talking about looks like:
CNN.com

Here is a short clip of yours truly supporting some authentic Rajasthani gypsy dance and music last spring - dancer Annya-Ishtara and sitarist Amie Maciszewski -

Annya at Metta 1 from Richard on Vimeo.
cool empathy on a hot day in India

Thursday, August 11, 2011

SMALL VICTORIES - RESCUES IN THE 3D WAR

GODDESS DURGA exoticindia.com
UPDATE: Just published today August 11 - by Capt. Paul Watson, as eloquent as it gets - An Open Letter to the People of the Faeroe Islands. Must read!

I never intended to focus here on external events, but sometimes it sounds like I'm doing that when re-reading a post. We can posit a duality here between that and what's referred to as the 'internal transformation', our inner real work and processes. On the other hand, it all may depend on how we view external events, and at what level we internalize them or interpret the images. What we are all witnessing in the outer world, the accelerating degeneracy, the unveilings, disclosures, exposures, and smack-downs from grace; the unrestrained violence and hatred toward all Life and the Mother Planet; the lame-ass utterances, actions, and appearances of the narcissistic Archon Wetiko Tribe's specimens, minions, and mouthpieces demonstrating their obeisance to the fakest of self-styled bullshit 'gods' - frauds whom were never intended to participate, from the inception of the One Goddess' divine dream, in this holy experiment in consciousness, now at the critical phase of "manifesting the will of Her luminous Being" - is truly, as the Dog Poet says, simply 'for demonstration purposes'. 

Of course the demonstrations are Seen and reflected on very differently by various groups/tribes (don't know what to call them). But, more important are the demonstrations by Bhumi Devi/Gaia/Sophia/Shri of both astonishing beauty and mind-numbing terror overlaying all of the Matrix-level machinations and death-throes that more-or-less enter our consciousness through experience or osmosis/resonance from the collectivity of All Beings surrounding us (as holographic fragments of Her true-being matrix). For some, the blessed few, it is even 'exactly and approximately'[grin] Sat-Chit-Ananda (truth-consciousness-bliss) - what eventually became my sole, final request and entreaty to the Mother some years ago. There really wasn't anything else worth desiring, and even the asking felt embarassingly moronic. But, like, what do you do when She presents Herself and you're young and in inner turmoil? Now, the boon of Her presence in a kind mood is quite enough, 1008 pranams.


Our humble spiral garden is exploding with veggies and blooms, in thanks partly to the frequent application of "Effective Microorganisms" (EM)TM, the billions-of-years-old critters that live in volcanic magma, of many uses, and available through EMERALD EARTH. We've also had a perfect monsoon season so far, sometimes even limited just to our mountain-surrounded village. Flowers, bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds all in abundance, looking stunning. There are 4 or 5 delightfully excellent and prosperous farmers markets on various days within 1/2 hour drive, all organic and one specifically 'native pueblo grown'.
We deal with the various animal and bird tribes, both here in the village and down the road at the wildlife rehab center. Their impeccable continuity of natural ways in the face of sometimes small, sometimes massive, changes is our major source of strength. They are continuously pouring out Her Shakti upon us as we try to serve Her - through them - and are giving us the 'demonstration' of Her power, limitless in quantity, unceasing, accessible to all who choose to follow the local galactic and planetary Laws. There is no real separation between the realities of the lives of our non-human personal 'friends' and the lives of their relatives across the planet. The state of their being and welfare is always in our conscious awareness, and it's just another opportunity to share and refresh the deeper levels of communication with those we have contact with - to acknowledge in the presence of the animals our clear, visceral feeling and awareness of  their own instinctual knowing. The clearer we can get in our own minds about what it is exactly that we want to communicate, and even why we're karmically here getting in their faces, the clearer they'll comprehend the essence no matter what 'words' we use. (Or more exactly, whatever expression is used - music, dance, art, poetry, gesture - all the things that make up true human culture, what we are meant to be offering always to Life, what our ancestors remembered via their Original Instructions.) They'll take it in, and continue on with their own creature-business. It's all about the focus. It takes some people years to learn to focus. I guess that's why we were born a long time ago (heh).

The Goddess is also known as Mahatripurasundari, Beautiful One of the Three Worlds (gross, subtle, cosmic?) [represented by the Shri Yantra*], and we are well aware of the three wars going on, or rather the one war going on in the three realms. Many of us see the 'subtle' and 'cosmic' levels playing out in our personal lives. Losses, victories, and transformations within our own Beingness and around us. I savor the victories, small as they may be, because I know about the level of courage required in these times to even pull off a small monkey-wrenching operation against the predator matrix. I savor them for the significance of the 'demonstration purposes' that can be shared with our local tribe of all our relations. A demonstration of beauty, cooperation, and stewardship - what the committed troops are engaging in the 'theatre of conflict' for. [*My bro and I are currently engaged in constructing large Shri Yantras on anyone's land who requests the installation of such earth-medicine, as it seems to result in demonstrably positive effects from our initial experiments.]

There's at least 12 bears, mostly cubs, in the rehab. Their stories are not so pleasant, but for some there is a future of freedom, others not, but at least they are being lovingly stewarded. I met the new 'education bird' yesterday: a one-eyed bald eagle rescued in Indian Country. Coyote pups there too. It's actually been drought weather for most of the area, except our little valley, so bears and others are all lookin' real skinny and weak, I'm told. 


It's been reported that ALFers in China last week (my birthday 7/24) rescued 600 [SIX HUNDRED] cats headed to a major city and its RESTAURANTS! Thanks and praises!

And last week a 1-year-old mountain gorilla was rescued from poachers in Rwanda. The Chinese AR activists blocked a truck, notified authorities, un-crated the cats, hurriedly constructed a huge shelter building, brought in food and supplies, and photos of the whole thing are up on Chinese websites. Anyway, the point is that there's a lot of true human beings who've made a lot of spiritual progress over the years, and sometimes quickly, to give them the complex skill sets to warrior on this way. I honor them all. 
WorldWildlifeFund


Why are these types of people on the top of the 'Merkin terrist list? Oh, right....same reason why we build walls to keep out 'Messikins (which actually destroy the habitats and life-cycles of wildlife) while the country next door has somebody smart enough to design and fund wildlife overpasses on the Trans-Canada Hwy.
amerikan border wall




wildlife overpass


We reached the point some time ago where all politicians, administrators, authorities, experts, commons-'protectors', and such are nothing but useless eaters. Humanity didn't grasp the 'charm' of psychopathy soon enough, and all sanity, social-contract, and Earth-environment-stewardship is non-existent except for the marginalized warrior/anarchists who stem the tide of the death-cult in small, unrecognized acts of 'sabotage' to the Matrix control. And they don't even do what they do to appear 'heroic', rather they just see a situation that calls for action, and act, do what's called for. That's the way it is from here on out: cooperation with Mother Gaia, all day long - our assignment.
This is a perfect example: (spectacular demonstration/show of love in the last 2 min.!)




Being that I put in 3 years as kennel manager in the local shelter, this piece found recently resonated deeply and is worthy of sharing:

I RESCUED A HUMAN TODAY by Janine Allen

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her.
I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn’t be afraid. As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I didn’t want her to know that I hadn’t been walked today. Sometimes the overworked shelter keepers get too busy and I didn’t want her to think poorly of them.
As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn’t feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone’s life.
She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship. A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well.
Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms.
I would promise to keep her safe.
I would promise to always be by her side.
I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes.
I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven’t walked the corridors. So many more to be saved. At least I could save one.
I rescued a human today.
 

http://rescuemedog.org/dog-blog/i-rescued-a-human-today-by-janine-allen/
Written by Janine Allen CPDT, Rescue Me Dog's professional dog trainer.  Copyright 2011 Rescue Me Dog; www.rescuemedog.org