Category Archives: Music

OSHOfest 2019 is on the horizon. Now in its twenty-fourth year and with a super band coming, this is a once-a-year phenomenon not to be missed.

SEPTEMBER

6 – 8 Virginia
venue: Seven Oaks Retreat Center (https://www.sevenoaksretreat.org)
contact: Anam and Vasanti
phone: (813) 830-1008
email: dhyanyogamc@gmail.com
www.dhyanyogamc.org
contact: Nirdhum
phone: (703) 946-4093
email: oshosangham@gmail.com
www.oshosanghamdc.com

13 – 16 Ensenada, Mexico
venue: Osho Gran Kustal
contact: Amritananda
phone: +1 (760) 887-4192
email: osho.nmc@gmail.com
contact: Kamala
phone: +52 (646) 226-7842
email: oshoensenada@gmail.com
www.oshoniranjana.org
www.meetup.com/Southern-California-Meditation-Center/

20 – 22 New York
venue: Abode of the Message
contact: Arpana / Padma NYC
phone: (917) 684-8255
email: info@padmanyc.com
www.padmanyc.com

27 – 29 Atlanta
venue: George Washington Carver Park
contact: Paritoshp & Anuradha / Osho Atlanta
phone: (678) 574-8150
email: rohit_mathur@hotmail.com
www.oshoatlanta.com

OCTOBER

4 – 6 Texas
venue: Hidden Cove Park
contact: Sangeeta (214-724-1991)
email: OshofestTexas@gmail.com
www.OshoDallas.com

The Osho RISK Summer Festival (this year titled “Roots & Wings”) was in a word, amazing. I had a super band of musicians giving wings to the heart while a daily schedule of wonderful workshops kept roots watered and nourished. The festival reminds me of my childhood, playing in the ocean surf in the big waves tossing me here and there while I screamed in sheer delight. After seven days of festival bliss, I discovered myself washed up on the shore, the tide gone out but something forever changed inside. We were blessed to have the talented photographer, Saku Suutari (https://sakusuutariphotography.com/) and Om, who made the exquisite short film with his drone (https://youtu.be/PCf5vxYvHtg).

In May, I did a twenty-one days Dynamic Meditation adventure in collaboration with our New York City meditation center, Padma NYC. In addition to enjoying some of the twenty-one days at the center, I facilitated an online group of about twenty people internationally who hopped on for the ride. Committing to something like this is a challenge any way one cuts it, especially to manage it daily with one’s job and other responsibilities. But as the days progressed, the feedback from everyone was so inspiring and supporting, I think everyone quickly realized the benefits far outweighed effort involved. Interspersed among the three weeks were some wonderful dinners at Padma NYC and other treats that made the journey all the more enjoyable. The experience continued after Day 21 with many of the friends coming to Connecticut for the weekend and a two-day retreat that included one more rousing Dynamic that even the neighbors survived. The retreat included not only meditation, but was also an opportunity for the group to connect, cook together, walk in Nature, and most importantly, relax.

The Padma NYC Spring Festival Saturday felt like a fresh breeze. The day had such an easy effortless flow from Dynamic Meditation straight through Meera’s delcious and nourishing celebration dinner. It was wonderful having Lee and Geetesh in the music and Vasumati’s soft guiding presence in the afternoon session where we explored the essence of celebration and gratefulness. The celebration overflowed into Sunday as we enjoyed South Indian breakfast ala New York City with Vasumati and the Atlanta friends in attendance: Paritosh, Anuradha, and Chandra. Later in the evening, we convened again, this time with Meera and Arpana, for desserts and coffee at the iconic Italian eatery at Madison Square Park, Eataly. More laughter and fun ensued before final goodbyes were said (with hugs) before all headed off to our respective beds for a contented night’s sleep. The festival was a wonderful inner reset, a great way to say hello to the Spring. Stay tuned for further upcoming events at Padma NYC, the best place in New York City to meditate and grow.

Such an amazing two weeks: the festival, the mountains, the beautiful nature, the silence, the celebration, the wonderful people, not to mention Kathmandu… Osho! Many thanks to my wonderful One Sky Band — Prabodh, Tarisha, and Vatayan — for lifting spirits high with the music. And, a BIG thank you to Amritanand and the entire OSHOfest Nepal team for manifesting the miracle. Stay tuned for 2020!

So, this is funny. And interesting!

Yesterday, I left the house in a hurry to catch my train to New York City. I reached the platform just as the train was pulling up. Realizing I would not have time to use the ticket machine on the platform, I thought “no prob, I will just use the app on my phone”. The train doors opened and as I was reaching into my pocket for my phone I… panicked! It was not in any of my pockets! I had my wallet, and could have managed the ticket onboard paying a small penalty, but panic had already set in. I stepped back from the train, the doors closed, and my mind raced at a million TPS (thoughts-per-second). OMG, how will I survive without my PHONE? Funny enough, this was my number one concern: how would I survive. A million more thoughts raced through my brain before I centered myself, and after a deep breath, realized i was going to be FINE. I will survive! Breathing, breathing. Long story short, I reached Manhattan on the next train, phone-less, but actually strangely content not having a phone somewhere on my body to distract me.

My primary reason for visiting the city was to attend the meditation dinner evening at Padma NYC. It was the second time the center offered this and again, it was a home run. Meera and Yoko, our two chefs, knocked it out of the park with an delicious array of home-cooked Japanese cuisine. To start, we the guests sat in silence and were treated to a “sound bath” of temple gongs and bells. Simple exercises and playful awareness games shared by Arpana added to the heightened sensory experience. By the time food began coming out, everyone was so relaxed and ready to enjoy each delightful mouthful that ensued. All in all, it was a super evening made all the more intriguing without the constant urge to check my phone. Mind you, reaching home later that evening and finding my phone just where I had left it gave me the contented sleep of a baby.

According to Meera and Arpana, these meditation dinners are going to be happening twice a month with different themes and cuisines. The next will be an Indian Wedding theme: a festive, colorful and of course, tasty, five star dining experience in the great city that is New York. Check out www.padmanyc.com.

It was a special evening at Padma NYC in Manhattan January 19. A sold-out event, it was a different kind of dining experience than usual, an opportunity to bring awareness to one’s senses and enjoyment of food. Participants were blind-folded and asked to trust as they were led into the candle-lit room and their seats. Everyone remained in silence for the first few minutes while Arpana explained how the evening would unfold. Meera and Yoko, the two main chefs, had prepared a vegetarian Japanese feast fit for kings and queens. Highlights included kabocha squash croquettes with burdock root (kimpira) and mixed varieties of rice; Japanese pickles (tsukemono); sake-lees soup (sakekasujiru); and dessert of marinated pear with delicately-flavored sweet tofu sauce. At some point, blindfolds came off and conversation was allowed. But silence was observed every time the meditation bell was rung. It was a first-class evening with a dash of meditation and a delightful expansion of the Padma NYC’s ongoing flowering. The center’s schedule of events is updated every Monday, so be sure to check out www.padmanyc.com to enjoy the meditations, groups, sessions, and special events on offer. Photos credits: Kamal.

A year of possibilities lies ahead. Best wishes to all on this new adventure!

“There is a possibility of a new man, of a better man, of a natural man, of a healthier man, of a more religious man in the future… a world without wars, without nations, without religions… a world peaceful, loving… a world in search of truth, of bliss, of ecstasy.” Osho

It was a holiday highlight, a weekend in New York City to remember. Friday evening, a group of us went to listen The Mike Stern Band at the iconic NYC music club, The Iridium. The band featured Randy Brecker (trumpet), Dennis Chambers (drums), and Tom Kennedy (bass). Mike Stern’s delightful and talented wife, Leni, joined for a few numbers. After the show, we walked to Time Square, and also visited the Christmas Tree at the Rockefeller Center; not to mention the window displays at Saks 5th Avenue! It was a super night out and good start to the Full Moon Winter Festival at Padma NYC which started bright and early Saturday morning with Dynamic Meditation. The festival program was a delight from start to finish. Meera’s sushi dinner was the ultimate finale to an amazing day — and weekend!

In the series “The Great Pilgrimage From Here To Here” Osho speaks about music and silence several times. In discourse #18, I asked him specifically: “Would you please explain your statement from the other morning of how music can be next to silence?” 

Osho starts out by saying softly, but very sternly and deliberate: “Milarepa, I don’t know what I said the other morning — I don’t carry unnecessarily luggage from the past. But I will explain it to you this morning, in spite of the fact that I don’t know whether I made the statement or not.”

It was a hit for me. At least, that is how I felt it. A wake-up call to open my eyes and get out of my sleepy mind. From there, Osho launches into a beautiful explanation of the relationship between music and silence that, for any musician or meditator, is a timeless resource and inspiration.

Three days later in discourse #21, Osho wrote his own question on my behalf and signed my name to it: “Beloved Osho, Am I a philosopher?” and starts out by saying: “Milarepa, philosophy is not the real thing, and to be a philosopher is just to go astray.” He then goes on for a full ninety minutes, the whole discourse, addressing this one question, essentially the difference between philosophy and philosia: a person who thinks about life and participates as an outsider looking in as opposed to a person who lives life totally, fully immersed and dissolved in it. He also speaks again about music and very beautifully. The entire discourse is too long to post, but I would like to share a part of it relevant to the photo of the band from my wild, wild country Ranch days:

“… Music consists of sound and silences. Philosophy is only so much prose, just words and words and words. The word is a secondary phenomenon. Sound is a primary phenomenon. You can listen to the music of a waterfall, you can listen to the music of wind passing through the pine trees… nothing is said, but much is understood. The wind passing through the pine trees has no words, but it has a sound. In the fall, when all the paths become full of falling leaves… have you walked in a forest? Just by your walking you create sound, because the paths are full of old leaves. Just a little breeze comes and those old leaves start dancing and moving. Existence is full of sounds, but it never speaks a single word. The birds are singing but they are only making sounds. They are not saying anything, but their songs are immensely beautiful. They touch the very core of your heart. Music is a higher system than philosophy, because music is something in between philosophy and philosia; in other words it is something between words and silence, perhaps just a midway overnight stay. If you fall back, you can become a philosopher. If you go ahead, you can become a mystic. Falling back means losing sounds and catching hold of words. Going forward means losing even sounds and just entering into silence because music consists of both the sound and silence. It is a rhythm, a dance, hand in hand between sound and silence. A musician can easily become a meditator, he is very close. There is nothing closer to meditation than music — wordless, meaningless, but tremendously significant. It says nothing but shows much, expresses nothing but brings to you a great splendor. From musician move towards the mystic. The day your music consists only of silence, you have arrived home. This will not make you sad. Music is not serious; it is playfulness, it is song, it is dance. It has an immense beauty. It can move peoples’ hearts. Entering into music, don’t remain stuck there. That’s where modern music has got stuck. It has become too much sound and it has forgotten the silences in between. You have to change the gestalt.”

I resonate with Osho when he says “music is not serious, but a playfulness” when I see this photo of our Ranch band from 1983-1984. We played in our Portland nightclub, Zorba The Buddha on weekends. We had fun, especially dressing up in the clothes Sheela and the girls bought for the commune that no one else could possibly wear. They would buy in bulk at big discount warehouses and there was always some crazy stuff thrown in we would sort through at Howdy Doody (as our clothing department at the Ranch was called) to wear onstage. We were a good band when we didn’t drink too much coffee during our set breaks which would play havoc with our grooving. I learned a lot in the year and a half music was my “work” at the Ranch. I burned through every ambition I had to be a musician in the world. I also learned to keep music fun and a joy. I will always be grateful to my band members in those years: Bodhisattva, Buddha, Deva, Gulabo, Govindas, Lalit, Premgit; and to the guys who ran sound for us and kept the house rocking between sets: Qadin, Premo, and Rajesh. Not to mention our coordinator, Garimo! One highlight for us was playing a Ranch concert during the Annual World Celebration in 1984. There were over four thousand people from all over the world rocking out with us in Buddha Hall that evening to our Buddy Holly and Rolling Stones medleys! I remember Shunyo coming up to me the next day saying they could hear the celebration all the way up to Lao Tzu House where Osho lived. She said Osho asked her, “What’s that sound?” And she said, “That’s Milarepa and the band playing.” And he said, “Are they any good?” And I seem to remember she said , “Yes, Osho. Very good.” At least I hope she did! lol

Osho finishes the discourse by saying, “With me, drink your future as deeply as possible. I am your future. When you are alone, watch quietly and silently your present. From your present, from your muddy mess, will arise a flower. Where you are today, I was exactly there yesterday, so I know what a great future you have. Where I am today, you are going to be there tomorrow — or at the most the day after tomorrow.”

Zorba The Buddha Band, Portland, Oregon 1984 (left to right: Govindas, Bodhisattva, Premgit, Gulabo, Milarepa) *photo taken in the courtyard of our Portland Hotel