August 24, 2004

Archbishop Jajjawi at the Dances in Seattle In June and July of 2004 the Archbishop Dionysius Behnam Jajjawi was in the area to preserve some of the chants from the Liturgy of his Aramaic church. This was a project brought together through the fund raising efforts of Peggy Hegbar, of Ohio, and using the recording expertise of Anahata Iradah a dance leader from the Seattle area who has become an international powerhouse for creating, recording and fostering Dances of Universal Peace. i first managed to catch up with him at the Whidbey Island last Sunday monthly dance circle on June 27th. Where Hayra Fatah and Michael were leading. This group shot was actually taken by both Peggy Hegbar (upper right) and i (upper left) ... who are both in the image, the miracles of Photoshop;) Click to see more images of that dance event (in higher resolution). A week later on July 7th Anahata led dances at the regular Wednesday dances at Keystone in Seattle. In this picture we see the Archbishop giving us information on the relatedness of the words for peace in Aramaic and other languages on the chart behind him. Click on through for more pics, in higher resolution. This time Anahata was with him leading the dances with the support of many of our best local leaders and musicians, many of whom knew Anahata when she was a regular leader in Seattle. After the recordings, and the public Seattle events, the Archbishop continued on with Peggy and Anahata to Ohio where this web site lists some of their public events and gives some historical information of the origins of the Aramaic Church with St James. His church and monastery still occupy the original Cathedral where the Last Supper was held and the house where St Luke and Mary lived. Neil Douglas Klotz, the foremost scholar of the Aramaic teachings in the Dance community also has a web page. He met the Archbishop and gives additional information on the significance of the church and of Jajjawi's efforts towards peace, quoting him: "My friends, the Middle East has too much religion, not enough spirituality." 7:19:02 PM    comments []

May 16, 2004

Jamal's new book i was privileged to witness the opening of a new book by one of our local luminaries (one who spreads the light?) Jamal Rachman! Maybe you can guess by his pose here (unpremeditated i'm sure!) that he hopes it will be a contribution towards peace. He did regale us with a few anecdotes of one of the spiritual worlds favorite apocryphal beings: the Mullah Nasrudin, or known as Goha in Egypt - i wonder what in Bangladesh, where Jamal comes from? The Interfaith Church in the Ballard District of Seattle is a lot of fun and know how to put on a party. So there was lots of good food and dancing throughout. A Maypole was still up from Beltane so some of us took the opportunity to rewrap it. Speaking of Beltane i know i have been negligent in getting the photos for that (and many other events too!) out! Partly that was migrating some new blog tech to the web that i have been using for the latest edition of my CD (don't forget to ask me for one;). This should help with that. Let me know how you like the new layout. Part also had to do with a hard disk crash i suffered on the biggest day of the Beltane retreat Saturday May 1st: i have been experimenting with a magnetic ball head mount for my camera and it appears my microdrive CF card did not like that one bit! Fortunately after much searching for software i have managed to recover 95% of it - and i have modified my design slightly to keep the magnetic field out of the inside of the camera! i used that modified monopod quick release this time. BTW, these pics are stored at a new online photoarchive operated as a free service. Highstreet. As you saw earlier i opened an account with Photobucket to house the pics i took for the Dances of Universal Peace events. They also work by donation: please contribute to both! i know it is hard to believe, but even techies sometimes do not have money, and it helps to give them some, if you expect to continue to get help and other boons from them! 1:04:04 PM    comments []

February 21, 2004

Pir Shabda Kahn at the Universel 2004 Pir Shabda Kahn was at the Universel last weekend. From the smiles i think you can see he was well received. Shabda is the Pir or head of the Ruhaniat order, which is the direct successor to Samuel Lewis founder of the Dances of Universal Peace. He carries a direct transmission from Sam whom he worked with. He has been carrying some of the emphasis that Murshid Sam had for a more Buddhist approach to meditation, including sitting for short periods. Please click the pic to open up a photoblog of some 88 pictures taken on the Saturday. The storage for these pics is provided by Photobucket. -- Which is free but runs by donations. i have set this account up specifically for dupnw events with photo essays by anyone who wishes to contribute. If you think this is a good idea you can show your support by donating to Alex who runs Photobucket. Donating to that link will directly benefit our usage by lifting the 100MB storage and 2.5GB monthly bandwidth limits! This one essay has used over 10% of our storage! 8:18:34 PM    comments [] ShivRatri 2004 at Salt Spring Centre [Click for the full set of Pics] Amazingly good connections treking up to the SSC this year. Ganesh was at my back;) Actually got in before dark settled in. All the photography linked to above though was done at night and w/o flash - pretty hard to have a yogic ceremony going on with flashing lights ... waving lights, sure ... but even the shutter click is enough sometimes to be distracting. Anyway i hope the little photo tour gives you a chance to become acquainted with some of the people at the Salt Spring Centre. This year many of their mainstays were with Babaji (Baba Hari Dass, see the Mount Madonna Center where he stays most of the year) in India. Where he goes for a couple months every year at this time to the Sri Ram Orphanage in Hardwhar. 10:33:54 PM    comments []

September 29, 2003

Baba Hari Dass Satsangs The Hanuman poster started life as part of the daily sadhana practice of Harish Johari. Throughout the time i knew him he would draw a depiction of Hanuman during his morning sadhana, which he would always complete before allowing himself to eat. In 1992 he gave me one of these and i digitized and vectorized it. i changed the sanskrit lettering to quotes from my teacher Baba Hari Dass which i have transcribed elsewhere. i attribute to Sri Johari much of the enthusiasm and skill i have in working with graphical imagery. A normal day spent in his presence would be largely spent on drawing and painting, in transparent watercolor, highly technical drawings called Yantras. More of my work in this area will be forthcomming in this series. In the meantime please see what many other talented students of his have accomplished at the Sanatan Society website. As the poster says, we are restarting our Seattle Satsangs October 5th and on subsequent first sundays from 2-4pm at Santosha Yoga at 2812 E Madison Ave. We enjoy chanting praises to Hanuman who represents the perfect servant of God (the idealized human body) in the Hindu pantheon as well as bhajans and kirtans (literally nectar tones) chanting to many other manifestations of the one God in many languages. As well as performing ceremonies, reading scriptures and meditation on all this richness with which we are blessed. If you would like to join us please drop in, there is no charge just bring some soul instruments and be ready to celebrate the devine manifested in all of us gathered in Satsang (literally sharing the truth in community). Questions may be directed to me at d@krsnadas.org or call Rajani 323-8450. Notices about this and many other kirtans and satsangs in the Seattle area are regularly contributed to the SeaKir list by its members. Please join and contribute! Printable PDF version 4:33:58 PM    comments []

August 5, 2003

Beloveds i'm heading off to get the last weekend of this years retreat at the Salt Spring Centre, http://www.saltspringcentre.com/events_annual.htm, with Baba Hari Dass. Just in time i managed to get my photoblog together! So far it only has photos from last years retreats. But in the comming months i have half a dozen essays, already digitized, that i will get up. Perhaps in the fall i will find a way to acquire that digitizer i have been wanting, for oh so many years, and mine more of my 450 some rolls for yet more photo essays. In the mean time, enjoy the pictures at http://krsnadas.org/ i encourage you to comment on them as well, that will enhance everyones interest! i also encourage you to make this last weekend at the retreat. i know Babaji looks incredibly agile for an 80 year old (and he is!) but we may not have him for that much longer. Enjoy him while you can! krsn a''' /das 7:19:49 PM    comments [] photoblog Ta Da! Drum Roll! here is the first entry on Sita Ram Productions new photoblog complete with photographs essaying my 27th annual yoga retreat with Baba Hari Dass Comments especially solicited, here, on the navigational devices used. i expect to migrate the system around, in an effort to improve some issues i see, over the next months. Important to get those right early on so we don't become trapped in dysfunctional systems! Currently photographic items do not have the same capabilities as text items in the blogosphere ... so i am having to do a lot of work around. 1:29:03 AM    comments []

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