Somewhere you are the thief, somewhere the priest 

Somewhere you are sitting on a pedestal pontificating

Somewhere you are being martyred as Tegh Bahadur

You make your own army

Now who are you trying to hide yourself from?

किते चोर बने किते काज़ी हो,
किते मिम्बर ते बेह वाज़ी हो।
किते तेग बहादुर ग़ाज़ी हो
आपे अपना कटक बनाई दा,
हुण किस तों आप लुकाई दा।
कहीं आप चोर हैं, कहीं क़ाज़ी हैं,
कहीं मंच पर चढ़े प्रचारक हैं,
और कहीं शहीद गुरु तेगबहादुर हैं,
आप अपनी सेना स्वयं बनाते हैं,
अब आप स्वयं को किससे छुपा रहे हैं।

Here is an inspirational story I read today about a mompreneur called Stacy Stevens. I am sure you will be as inspired with this story and will want to sing as beautifully as Stacy does after you read this and visit her website: askstacystevens.com

Stacy Stevens, in her own words:

A little about me…
I grew up in a happy family home in Temperance, Michigan. My father worked for the railroad and my mother as a Purchasing Manager for a factory. When I was four years old, my mother noticed that when I looked at her, one of my eyes wandered. I was taken in to St Vincents for some testing. The news was not good. I had a tumor on my optic never, and they wouldn’t touch it. I was sent to Mott’s Children’s Hospital on the University of Michigan campus (GO BLUE!) in Ann Arbor, Mi.

It was there that I met the team of doctors that would save my life for the first time! The second time my life was saved was in 2005. I was involved in a very serious motorcycle accident. At 65 MPH a head on collision was not the way I planned on ending my evening! I’ll never forget the thoughts that ran through my head when I saw those headlights. I thought for sure, “This is where it ends…”

One month later, despite begin told otherwise, I was back at home with a wheel chair, a walker, and a healthy dose of determination. Within a few weeks I ditched the “tools” for a cane, and decided I’d just walk! I’m now in the best shape I’ve ever been in! Lucky for me I did not posses the understanding of things like, “No, you can’t do that” or “That will never work”.

I had it all figured out, until I changed my mind, again…
I graduated High School in 1995, and was on a mission to “grow up” as fast as I could! At 34 now, I think I’m almost there. By 1996 I was married and in Cosmetology School, 1997 gave birth to Christian, 1998 we added Davey to the family, and by 2000 I was raising them on my own.

After 5 years standing behind a chair in a salon, I looked around and realized, there’s more to life than this for me. I walked out the door and signed up for nursing school. I completed that degree and landed a great job, yet I still wasn’t completely satisfied. Being a great mom and a great nurse meant that I would work midnights so that I could be home for my kids during the day while they were awake. I sacrificed sleep to be the mom my kids needed me to be. I was exhausted, and still could barely afford to offer my children the life that I had envisioned for them. No matter what I did, there was still more month left at the end of the money! Being in their preteen years, I was worried that time was running out! I was even more worried that leaving them home alone after dark was not in all of our best interest if you know what I mean…

I needed to make a change and I needed to do it NOW! I wasn’t willing to take on another job and sacrifice more of my precious time away from them, I was already gone more than I should be! So, what’s a good momma to do?

Discovering the power of relationships and Networking…
You know those moments of desperation where you are beging for a sign, or a bone or something to come your way? I hopped on Facebook and was a little freaked out and doing some mindless clicking to clear my head! It was then I was introduced to It Works! Global, which I was pretty sure was one of those “pyramid things” I did my due diligence. The little voice in my head said JUMP! The little demon in my head said, “Thats not stable, bad move!” Good thing I don’t pay attention to demons! I began my endeavor as a Mompreneur and quickly left my career. I now have both personal freedom and the financial freedom I desired for my small family! I am Living the Dream, and loving every minute! I love to help others, I want to leave an impact on every life I encounter on my path to greatness! I hope you enjoy my sharing of my success, my struggles, and the joys I experience with you!

Last month I had the pleasure of singing this evergreen shabad at my parent's anniversary celebration kirtan.  I first sang the shabad in the old Pahadi raag tune and then a dhanasri tune. Dhanasri is the Raag of thanksgiving (see earlier post: The Meaning Behind Raag Dhanasri)

Here is a recording of the live program:


http://www.reverbnation.com/open_graph/song/14728379

I also made a piano-only composition of the Pahadi tune.  Leah Senibaldi, a young pianist and composer did this arrangement.


http://www.reverbnation.com/open_graph/song/14695571

I am delighted today to share some new music with you today.



It was a pleasure to give a simple melody of this song to a very talented young pianist, Leah Senibaldi. And she brought life to it.  She says that her mission is to bring music to the world. First it is amazing that she writes music really well as you can hear from this arrangement. She is very attentive to details and has the potential to be an outstanding composer. I found it especially amazing that while a lot of people older than her are lost in the maze of this world, she already has a purpose and is striving towards it.



As I see most of life through the prism of singing, I concluded a couple of years ago that the purpose of life is to sing. I continually learn from people like Leah that it is important to find the song you have to sing in life. We often forget our song. And those who have found their songs remind us. So it was an honor and a pleasure to work with Leah!

I encourage all of you to find Leah's music on her facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Musicians-Leah-Senibaldi-and-Christian-Farris/149318428438717

PS: I also have a written notation of Leah's arrangement.  I am trying to figure out how to make that available.  When I do, I will post a link here.

Decorations on a body
which does not live
is as false as a life
which does not sing

Singing: The Key To A Long Life

By Brian Eno

I believe in singing. I believe in singing together.

A few years ago a friend and I realized that we both loved singing but didn't do much of it. So we started a weekly a capella group with just four members. After a year we started inviting other people to join. We didn't insist on musical experience — in fact some of our members had never sung before. Now the group has ballooned to around 15 or 20 people.

I believe that singing is the key to long life, a good figure, a stable temperament, increased intelligence, new friends, super self-confidence, heightened sexual attractiveness and a better sense of humor. A recent long-term study conducted in Scandinavia sought to discover which activities related to a healthy and happy later life. Three stood out: camping, dancing and singing.

Well, there are physiological benefits, obviously: You use your lungs in a way that you probably don't for the rest of your day, breathing deeply and openly. And there are psychological benefits, too: Singing aloud leaves you with a sense of levity and contentedness. And then there are what I would call "civilizational benefits." When you sing with a group of people, you learn how to subsume yourself into a group consciousness because a capella singing is all about the immersion of the self into the community. That's one of the great feelings — to stop being me for a little while and to become us. That way lies empathy, the great social virtue.

Well here's what we do in an evening: We get some drinks, some snacks, some sheets of lyrics and a strict starting time. We warm up a bit first.

The critical thing turns out to be the choice of songs. The songs that seem to work best are those based around the basic chords of blues and rock and country music. You want songs that are word-rich, but also vowel-rich because it's on the long vowels sounds of a song such as "Bring It On Home To Me" ("You know I'll alwaaaaays be your slaaaaave"), that's where your harmonies really express themselves. And when you get a lot of people singing harmony on a long note like that, it's beautiful.

But singing isn't only about harmonizing pitch like that. It has two other dimensions. The first one is rhythm. It's thrilling when you get the rhythm of something right and you all do a complicated rhythm together: "Oh, when them cotton balls get a-rotten, you can't pick very much cotton." So when 16 or 20 people get that dead right together at a fast tempo that's very impressive. But the other thing that you have to harmonize besides pitch and rhythm is tone. To be able to hit exactly the same vowel sound at a number of different pitches seems unsurprising in concept, but is beautiful when it happens.

So I believe in singing to such an extent that if I were asked to redesign the British educational system, I would start by insisting that group singing become a central part of the daily routine. I believe it builds character and, more than anything else, encourages a taste for co-operation with others. This seems to be about the most important thing a school could do for you.

Independently produced for Weekend Edition Sunday by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman with John Gregory and Viki Merrick. Special thanks to Davia Nelson of The Kitchen Sisters for recording this essay.

Giving thanks for abundance
is sweeter than the abundance itself.
Should one who is absorbed with the Generous One
be distracted by the gift?
Thankfulness is the soul of beneficence;
abundance is but the husk,
for thankfulness brings you to the place where the Beloved lives.
Abundance yields heedlessness;
thankfulness, alertness:
hunt for bounty with the snare of gratitude to the King.

-- Mathnawi III:2895-2897
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"

I am just about to get on to a flight and pass through a store. First bought a strawberry banana smoothie. Was looking for some magazines. Pondered over scientific american for a while. It had a story on how future generations will be much smarter. Wondering if that is true, those philosophers of yesteryears must have been far ahead of their times.

But then I Chose to buy this book. I think it will be a fun to read. I have been listening to Joel Osteen's lectures. And I liked the concept of "Every Day a Friday". Let's see what it has.





What do i think to start with? Its interesting that philosophers of today are rejecting the now philosophy. "living in the now" does not use our powerful ability to dream. People are 10% happier on Friday than other days says the book. I bet people are less happy on Sunday. If you make everyday a Friday, then you gain this power to dream everyday about a brighter future. I say living in the hope of tomorrow is sweeter than living in the now. And what's the harm? The purpose of life is not to hold back. There are no compromises that need to be made. The purpose of life is to sing.

I'll write more as I read.