Danced Tonight . . .

Danced tonight . . . observing flow whilst dancing with apropos response and interjection to the scene I saw, accelerating a return to a better flow in fits and starts. People both in mind and manifest appear on cue, and real-er than just acting too, yet choreographed and yet here and now and self-empowered.

First band, first time on stage, something about root crops with righteous posteriors. Beetbox, rhutabega rockin', talented guitar and vocals, sweet keyboard and surprise drummers, and a nice last song i took to be about Bhoomi Devi--ya' know, Earth Mama stuff, yo!!

Second band, the getting-pretty-damn-tight reggae/generally together hippie flow of Upbeat Project. Slipped out for a toke with a friend from the first band, then returned to find a good portion of the rest of the crowd seemingly and some by self-report had followed suit, and the dance floor started to groove. Transformation via motion and music--not without a bit of natural plant and fermented catalyst and the band's second wind, and not necessarily in that order--got the last set rollin' like I like to see, sychronous groovin' bouncing 'round between musicians and crowd till a certain nata yoga is apparent to any with eyes to see...hee hee...in fact as many as three.

The unity of music and dance, musicians and dancers is some o' 'da best healing I know..therapy not based on questionable theory, but on beat, vibe, strings and skins taut with waves transmitted from human hand, keys and voices meeting a needing in the human body to expressing fluidly or otherwise the notes of Being in Unity. This is yoga!!!!

Human Rights, Bodies and Culture: Compare and Contrast

Woman jailed for having coffee with a man in Saudi Arabia:
http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/women-in-other-nations2/

Woman arrested for being pregnant and falling down stairs in America:
http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/in-37-states-its-illegal-for-a-pregnant-woman-to-fall-down-the-stairs/

Advertizing in America exploits women's bodies:
http://www.now.org/nnt/spring-2003/superbowl.html

http://www.quietmountainessays.org/Onyejekwe.html

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Burkha-clad wrapper from India:
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/art-culture/burkha-rapper

It's quite easy for an ill-informed American to criticize the mores in Islamic countries for their draconian restrictions on women. That said, let me now state with no lack of clarity: I do not support the oppression of women whatsoever. Let me also state, however, that there is much more to the story than a simple, "Us good, them bad, ugh!!"

Many Muslim women feel the "Western" attitude towards women's bodies is degrading and exploitative, and that wearing traditional Islamic garb prevents the objectification of women. There are Muslim women with PhDs who chose to wear traditional garb.

As a sadhu (if somewhat of a dilettante of one), I cannot walk around naked without fear of arrest, despite the fact that the religious tradition of the naga babas (naked sadhus) is the oldest continuous religious tradition in the world, and despite the fact that the more general religious traditions of India are whence Judaism, Christianity and Islam all find their truest source.

What I am proposing with this brief yet pointed post is not some loose relativity, but a conscientious understanding that there are nearly always valid counterpoints to any give pointed arguement. And in other words, insofar as one's exercise of freedom of choice is not directly and heinously infringing upon other's rights, there ought to be freedom to cover one's own body as one sees fit, to keep company with who one chooses with appropriate behavior, to express one's religious belief as chosen, and to not be either unjustly coerced nor to be degradingly exploited. Indeed there is a good long ways to go for both the draconianism in both restrictive Muslim countries and exploitative "Western" ones, insofar as mores and religious-based rules and the relations of men, women and whatever other genders, too. May we all learn and be transformed, without losing the beauty of difference, the vitality of variety, and the truth of unity.

Enough Bhajans and Kirtan to Play All Sivaratri Night Long (if you repeat once or twice)...

Maha Shivratri or Maha Sivaratri or Shivaratri or Sivaratri (Night of Shiva or "Great Night of Shiva") is a festival celebrated every year on the 13th night/14th day in the Krishna Paksha (waning moon) of the month of Maagha (as per Shalivahana or Gujarati Vikrama) or Phalguna (as per Vikrama) in the Hindu Calendar (that is, the night before and day of the new moon). (from Wikipedia article "Maha Shivaratri"). This year Mahasivaratri is celebrated on February 12 of the "Western" calendar...




This devotional to Parvati will melt the hardest of hearts, without a doubt!!!!
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Jaya jaya Parvati Devi, Greatest Mother, Greatest Goddess!!!!!


A bit more energetic...
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Happy and Partyin' Great God!!
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Krishna Das leading kirtan...
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If you're wonderin' about the Native American Indian theme to the video, see post titled "Maybe Columbus Was Right After All . . ." which clearly shows Sanskrit influences in several Native American Indian tongues and religions...

And a more traditional slideshow, yo!!!





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Happy Sivaratri Night and Namaste!!!!!!

More Sivaratri Bhajans and Kirtan . . . Ya' Know, Pretty Songs n Stuff

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Sivaratri Options(?)

As Shivaratri, the new moon eve in the month of Maaga (sometime in February or March), increasingly I see Devi Parvati, apparitions manifest in the field of samsara, maya—illusion—yet real, the Greater Love Story flowing through layers of opacity in the theater of life moving around my perceptual venue. Mahamaya granting glimpses of Her beauty and femininity (if not in the traditional “Western guise,” quite) in lila strewn throughout my reception of the many interpersonal plays, sketches and skits portraying those archetypal tales old as humanity, and older, which inevitably unfold before my eyes and ears and other sensory organs as I sit sipping coffee and/or smoking a cigarette with some weed or hash mixed in, or sidled up to the bar at the Buckhorn or Ranger Bar sucking suds and scanning the scene for signs of life. Glimpses of Her assure me I’m not wrong, yet leave me spinnin’ sometimes. Indeed, devotion to One such as Kali, Parvati, Shakti, Durga is no Sunday drive!!



Wonderin’ whether I oughta stay in this valley, a gap between two blades of a trishul made of three mountain ranges, with a staff that is Colorado’s Front Range—certainly an auspicious place to spend Sivaratri, especially if I spend the night in a cave in a great bana linga-yoni rock formation near here which I hope someday to acquire for a temple.



Wonderin’ whether to go to Taos, NM to the Hanuman Temple for the Sivaratri show, all night chanting and chai, middle of the night feast of Indian vegetarian delights, and bowls of Taos Big Buds and maybe even some more authentic sacrament for this night’s observances, some charas, more commonly known in the English language as hashish, smoked around the fire outside, burning by a bana linga stone half buried on the edge of the earthen firepit.

In Taos at the temple t’would be sitars and mrudungam and tablas and harmonium providing the tunes, kirtan (call and response chant) led by pujaris pouring yogurt and rice on phallic stones and through a vulval chalice, beautiful hippies and other varieties of peeps chanting along.

Other option: coyotes might sing and the wind might whisper with my solitary devotional mantras, and the willows and mountain hemlock might vibrate in the breeze like the strings of sitar, to hum along as I intone AUM and words like Shakti and Parvati, Kali and Durga, remembering Ganesha and others due acknowledgement and praise as the day gives way to night and ‘til dark night gives way again to day. Hooray, I might say, covered in ashes as the sun rises to the east and seeps into my cave, else I might cry out the Sanskrit root for said word, “hari!!”



Either way, I fully intend to spend said night in fervent devotion, wildly expressing my delight in the beauty and perfection of male-female union as divine, pure and potential (and eventually certain) destination and source. Jaya Siva-Shakti, Jaya Jaya Siv-Parvati!!! Please consider observing this night, if not in devotion, in conscientious contemplation of the wonder that is being human, male and female and genderations in-between.