Tag: Ramesha

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About my Lightbearer robe

Early in July, Ramesha got to try on, then take home, his finished Lightbearer robe.

Today was finally my turn (getting robes custom-made is not a quick and easy kind of project!).

What I find interesting is that I feel somewhat distanced and a little detached from the whole idea right now — probably because the start-to-finish process of getting my robe took almost eight months (much of it spent just locating a good local seamstress!).

Of course, I have a hunch I’ll be experiencing a completely different range of feelings come Sunday morning when I get “robed up” for the first time to give service at Ananda Los Angeles. 🙏

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Back to date night

Attending last weekend’s reunion was a lot of fun, but this Friday I’m very grateful to end the week with a nice quiet date night.

Pizza and a movie with Ramesha — oh yeah!

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Grateful for 20 years of marriage

Today Ramesha and I celebrated twenty years of marriage by going out for dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant in Grass Valley.

In looking through wedding photos, this one really jumped out at me. I mean really! Doesn’t Ramesha’s smile just say it all?!?

What a fortunate woman I am, indeed!

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Exciting new developments

While we were in Lugano a couple of months ago, I felt a certain amount of inward restlessness. It was hard to pin down and define. The best I could come up with was that I felt some sort of shift was trying to happen.

In fact, for some time I had been becoming aware of a subtle but gradually increasing sense that we needed to be doing something more to accomplish our mission in serving the music of Ananda.

Well, not too long after we got back from Europe, Ramesha made the decision to reduce his teaching schedule in order to serve the music ministry full time. This is a huge shift — for him and for me — which is rippling out and inspiring the exciting new developments which we’re sharing about in the letter that follows.

Dear friend,

We’d like to share some exciting new developments about our work in service to Ananda Music.

Starting in the next few months, Bhagavati and I will be focusing a lot more on traveling to Ananda centers and meditation groups to provide support with learning, singing, and more deeply understanding our music.

We’ve experienced again and again the transforming power of Ananda Music; we want to make it possible for more people to benefit from it.

Our goal is to support everyone who wants to learn and sing our wonderful music!

🎈 If this project inspires you and you feel to support our efforts and help with travel expenses, we invite you to join our Bhagavati & Ramesha Patreon.

As a thank you for your generous help you will receive an exclusive video from us every month. 🙏💫

Yay! The energy is definitely moving and we’re thrilled with the prospect of potentially visiting five different Ananda communities between now and the end of the year!

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Today’s thrilling moment

This is the song we performed before this morning’s (very inspiring) Spiritual Renewal Class. It’s one of my (many) favorite songs by Swamiji!

(Of course, our ensemble arrangement is a lot simpler than this version from Ramesha’s album — The Inner Temple!)

Today’s thrilling moment came when we invited the audience to join us on the final chorus.

What an amazing experience it is to be one of 300 or so people singing the words, “Dear God, my God, I am Thine for eternity! Dear God, my God, I am Thine eternally!”

And meaning every word.

Here are the complete lyrics:

I WILL ALWAYS THINK OF THEE

Every morning when I greet the sun,
When I move forth through crowded ways,
In my heart, Lord, ever so silently,
I will always think of Thee!

When I laugh, O, and when I cry with pain,
When my best friends misunderstand.
In my heart, Lord, ever so silently,
I will always think of Thee!

    Chorus:
    Dear God, my God, I am Thine for eternity!
    Dear God, my God, I am Thine eternally!

    Though my path lead me over desert sands
    Though it take me through bitter storms,
    In my heart, Lord, ever so silently,
    I will always think of Thee!

    When I’m working and when in earned repose,
    Let come vict’ry or low defeat,
    In my heart, Lord, ever so silently,
    I will always think of Thee!

      Chorus:
      Dear God, my God, I am Thine for eternity!
      Dear God, my God, I am Thine eternally!

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      One of Ramesha’s best

      Ramesha recently shared this video from a few years ago. It’s so beautifully moving that I want to share it here as well.

      This is what he writes about it in the video description:

      This is a rather particular chant titled “They Have Heard Thy Name.” It was written by Yogananda. It’s a heartfelt prayer asking God to give comfort to those who are suffering.

      LYRICS:
      They have heard Thy name, the blind halt and lame. (2)
      They have come to Thy door, Lord, they have come to Thy door;
      Give them an audience, Lord.

      They have heard Thy name, the blind halt and lame. (2)
      Those who are in despair, wipe Thou their tears! (2)
      They have come to Thy door, Lord, they have come to Thy door;
      Give them an audience, Lord.

      They have heard Thy name, the blind halt and lame. (2)
      Those who are drowned in sin, to whom will they go? (2)
      They have no one, Lord, they have no one;
      Do not turn them away.

      🙏

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      A walk down memory lane

      We’re working with Crystal Clarity Publishers on an upcoming project and needed some detailed information about the “Joy Is God” recording that we did in Ananda Assisi back in 2005.

      Our memories were fuzzy so I had to search and search until I found a copy of the CD with the original liner notes (it’s changed several times since it first came out). And what a find!

      We were ensconced for two days in Swami Kriyananda’s home near the Assisi retreat center (he was in India). Our recording engineer drove down from Lugano in a van containing his mobile recording studio, which he parked outside Swamiji’s house.

      The musicians were from Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and America — all of them dear friends and great devotees. I wish we could have remained close to all of them, but almost twenty years have passed and it’s not easy to stay connected when you lead busy lives on separate continents.

      What I love most of all is this shot of Ramesha and me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen myself looking happier than in this photo.

      Joy is God, indeed!

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      Going on and on and on…

      It’s been a while since I shared one of John Roedel‘s amazing poems.

      Ramesha read this one today and was deeply touched. He thought I might want to put it in tonight’s blog, and he was right.

      on my last day
      here on Earth
      let me be like I
      was on my very
      first day

      let me be

      ready for my
      great voyage
      between worlds

      let me be

      ready to ride the cosmic
      river of the vast unknown

      on my last day
      here on Earth
      let me be like I
      was on my very first

      let me be

      ready to see what
      all the fuss is on
      the other side of
      the womb that I’ve been
      hearing so much about

      let me be

      ready to be bathed in
      a light that I could have
      never have imagined

      let me be

      ready to be held in
      the arms by my lovely
      creator and to feel safer
      than I ever have before

      on my last day
      here on Earth
      let me be like I
      was on my very first

      let me be

      ready to see the smiling faces
      of all those who have been
      eagerly waiting to meet me

      let me be

      ready to be swaddled up
      in the warmest cotton
      blanket of fresh starts

      on my last day
      here on Earth
      let me be like
      I was on my very first

      covered in the
      miracle of creation

      no wonder newborn
      babies cry

      no wonder 45-year old
      men cry

      it’s all such an adventure
      it’s all such a journey
      it’s all such a circle
      it’s all such a flowing river
      it’s all such an endless passage

      it’s all such a mystery

      and it goes on and on and on
      and on and on

      it all goes on

      and we go on and on and on
      and on and on

      we all go on

      oh, divine light
      oh, sacred spirit
      oh, God

      please let me

      go on and on and on
      and on and on

      oh, I can’t wait to see
      what comes next

      ~ john roedel

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      Part of my heart is still in San Francisco

      Photo by Amogh Manjunath on Unsplash

      It was Ramesha who read this morning that Tony Bennett had passed away at the ripe old age of 96. He told me the news and then asked who Tony Bennett was.

      Of course, I immediately started singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” which meant exactly nothing to Ramesha, who was born and raised in Switzerland.

      But as I sang the song — the entire thing, remembering pretty much all the lyrics — I remembered just how much I loved “the City by the Bay” for the twenty-odd years I lived there.

      And even though I was never a huge Tony Bennett fan, I feel a lot of sadness on his passing. As well as a whole lot of gratitude for gifting us with this wonderfully iconic song.