Raga Dvesha
The Vatican forgives John Lennon for saying, "The Beatles are more popular than Jesus"....But they still won't admit it. -[gbSk]
It's not news that yoga is popular with hedge fund managers and financial types, but it is surprising how the Wall Street Journal groks some of yoga's more profound teachings— "...one key principle poses an implicit challenge to Wall Streeters: Value the process of hard work rather than the rewards it brings." Good article. Yoga just might be a more effective means of political transformation than rioting the streets. Link. (Thanks, Susan!) -[SA]
Dr. Dragan Dabic, a practising mystic medicine man in Belgrade, is Europe's most wanted war criminal. Apparently he hid out at the Ostrog monastery, a Serbian Orthodox holy site, studying the traditional Balkan practices of energetic medicine and stillness meditation. Link. (Bruce Sterling visits the Doc's website.) -[SA]
Gardening has long been known for its relaxing, grounding, satisfying effects upon the mind. But now scientists have discovered a friendly and plentiful bacteria in soil which reportedly affects the brain in a way similar to antidepressants. Link. -[SA]
Yoga classes over the telephone... I wince to imagine somebody saying this with a straight face, "It's such a beautiful way to have a spiritual connection with someone." Link. (Thanks, Susan!) -[SA]
The New York Times Magazine published 20 questions for Robert Thurman. Pretty good questions; cagey, astute answers. They had me giggling out loud. Link. (Thanks, Erin!) -[SA]
Fidel Castro —“When I speak of consciousness I am not referring to a will capable of changing reality but, on the contrary, to knowledge of objective reality which can determine the path to follow.” Link. -[SA]
Just ask the J. M. Smucker Company, after relocating of the White Lily flour mill while using the same ingredients: the whole must be more than the sum of its parts. And rasa is bound to time and place, established vis-a-vie ongoing repetitions over long periods of time. ”It means something to have been made in the exact same spot for 125 years, and it’s unconscionable not to respect that.“ Link. (Thanks, Erin!) -[SA]
Probably the smartest couple of sentences in the recent New York Times article about "advanced yogis" in the USA— “Lots of young strong people want crazy tricks, and that’s fun and part of it, but in my view that’s not advanced at all.” Link. -[SA]
"Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good for our brains too. In a new study...an international team of scientists...describe how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses." Link. (Thanks, Robert!) -[SA]
Erowid now serves honey: “Honey is perhaps the only predigested food that humans know.. [It] has a long history of use as a healing remedy or a 'heavenly medicine.'" Link. -[SA]
When Virupa was asked to throw in his robes for eating pigeons and drinking liquor, he confessed and complied. Some Buddhists however, the New York Times reports, prefer to have their cake and eat it too. Link. -[SA}
Hindu groups in India are showing no love for the Love Guru. (Who can blame 'em?) Link. (Thanks, gbSk!) -[SA]
More news on the use of yoga for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorders. Link. (via) (Thanks, Antonio!) -[SA]
The Wall Street Journal— “Yoga's Next Twist: Turning a Mystic Discipline Into an Olympic Competition” —Wouldn't breakdancing be better? Or how about Vipassana? (On second thought, maybe I have a future in yoga sportscasting...) Link. (Thanks, Susan!) -[SA]
Craigslist's Craig keeps it real in today's NYT's Business section — "While unwilling to discuss his wealth, he said he could be a lot richer if he wanted to. 'We know these guys in Google and the eBay guys,' he said, 'and they are not any happier than anyone else. A lot of money is a burden.'" Link. -[SA]
The NYT's sweet profile of a zen gardener in California— "But poison hemlock holds a special place in her heart.... Without the presence of this pernicious carrot look-alike, a potent vertigo-inducing poison that when ingested can cause death, she reasons, her garden would be all cloying lilac- and lily-scented perfection — boring, in short. The innocent-looking malevolent weed, which she allows to flourish for its capacity to draw rich minerals from the soil for compost, 'gives the garden its punch,' she said, 'snapping me back to my senses.'" Link. (Thanks, Chrysanne!) -[SA]
Muslims in western India have been observing a bizarre ritual - they've been throwing their young children off a tall building to improve their health. Link. -[Nike]
From the NYT's obit for Dr. Albert Hofmann, discoverer of LSD: "More important to him than the pleasures of the psychedelic experience was the drug’s value as a revelatory aid for contemplating and understanding what he saw as humanity’s oneness with nature." Erowid has links to obituaries and remembrances world-wide. Link. -[SA]
As if the writing wasn't on the wall already-- Time is up for yoga in Mysore. (Those who know don't speak. Those who don't, teach.) Link. [SA]
Finally, an expression of yoga in the West that doesn't leave me embarrassed to be a practitioner. Keep it up! Link. The Street Yoga site. (Thanks, RF!) -[SA]
On teaching dharma to a dog. A really cute dog. Link. (Thanks, a-dub!) -[SA]
File under Kali Yuga cringe: Karmasheetra. Link. (Thanks, RF!) -[SA]
"Paambukalkku Maalamundu!" --he got them Malayalam blues. Link. (Thanks, Josh & Henry!) -[SA]
More yoga in advertising: now Apple's chiming in. (Notice how the Windows guy and the yoga girl are the losers here. Is yoga is officially uncool again?) Link. (Thanks, RF!)-[SA]
A wonderful animated rabbit film that obviously (but obliquely) says something about the poisons of the mind, like violence and greed. Karma, too, plays a role; as does idle idol worship. Wow. Link. (Thanks, RF!) -[SA]
Space Invader: Varanasi. Link. (Thanks, gbSk!) -[SA]
Yesterday's New York Times Magazine features a pithy piece on the influence of the Source Family's outlandish attire upon modern fashion designers. Link. -[SA]
Happy Dent surrealist Jyoti gum makes use of yoga poses in advertising, but easily transcends. Link. (Thanks Eddie, keep on kickin'em at me!) -[SA]
A real-life Hindu Janus has been spinning the interweb's gawking wonder wheels & is being worshipped as Goddess. Link. (Thanks Eddie, Roberto, and RF!) -[SA]
Souljerky pal and historian of yoga culture, Stefanie Syman, first pointed this phenomenon out to me in a talk last year —that "the yoga lifestyle" is now being used to sell other products, like this cell phone service in Italy. Link. (Thanks, Antonio!) -[SA]
NPR just ran an article about the Source Family with great music and slides. Link. UPDATE: It's 3 part series.. Damn! Day 2. Day 3. -[SA]
Enlighten Up is a forthcoming yoga movie that could actually succeed in articulating some of the ironies, idiocy, and vanity in which we find ourselves tangled, in mind and practice, amdist the reality of yoga teachings in today's shrinking world... but I'm not holding my breath. Link. (Thanks, Eddie!) -[SA]
Over 1500 villagers marched to the Coca-Cola company's bottling plant in Mehdiganj in Varanasi, India yesterday demanding that the bottling plant shut down immediately... Breaking a police barrier, the villagers rallied at the plant's gate accusing the company of creating severe water shortages and polluting the water and land. Link. (Thanks, Eddie!) -[SA]
Indeed, yoga in America has gone to the dogs. Link. -[sb]
The Application of Yoga Meditation Techniques to the Use of Psychedelic Sacraments by Sri Brahmarishi Narad. This article originally appeared as an uncopyrighted set of mimeographed sheets sometime during the late 1960’s, which was freely distributed on a limited basis, probably in San Francisco. Link. (Thanks, Stefanie!) -[SA]
Ganesh gets a bag - and the designer assures us that the "puja room-like icon" with 12,000 crystals in 30 colours is indeed special. Link. -[RF]
Scientists are beginning to uncover evidence that meditation has a tangible effect on the brain. Link. (Thanks, gbSk!) -[SA]
"Everyone's trying to get that spiritual moment of perfection. We had it. We lived it." —the Surf Wise trailer. Link. Apple Trailers link. (Thanks, RF!) -[SA]
The Army just unveiled a $4 million program to investigate everything from "spiritual ministry, transcendental meditation, [and] yoga" to "bioenergies such as Qi gong, Reiki, [and] distant healing" to mend the psyches of wounded troops. Link. (Thanks, Rachel! -- also via) -[SA]
The sacred moais on Easter Island, monolithic statues of Polynesian ancestors, are phenomenal works of human ingenuity. By defacing one of them and stealing a chunk of its earlobe, a tourist has reminded us of the folly we are also capable of. Link. -[sb]
The spiritual side of beauty: Halle Berry, Angelina Jolie, and other fabulous hair extension fans often end up wearing a hairy prasadam "outsourced" from women who offer up their locks to Hindu gods in Indian temples. Follow one pilgrim's hair from Bangalore to Munich. Link. -[RW]
A still-at-large bear has been convicted of honey theft by an exasperated beekeeper. "For a while he kept the animal away by buying a generator, lighting up the area, and playing thumping Serbian turbo-folk music." Link. -[sb]
A bandit-infested region of India is trying to persuade men to undergo sterilisation by offering to fast-track their gun licence applications. Link. -[RF]
In honor of Equinox, Toby Sifton just emailed this lovely, ancient description of the onslaught of springtime—“During Spring the subtlety and vastness of the universe, the intelligence and intuition of the human being, the ability of the earth to produce the ten thousand things, the natural movement of wind, and the upward motion of plants, collectively produce the movement of the tendons, the color green, the shouting of the voice, spasms and convulsions, the eyes, the the sour taste, and the angry emotions. These are all associated with the liver, since the liver is responsible for maintaining the patency of the flow of energy, and its nature is movement and expansion.” - Qi Bo, The Yellow Emperor's Classic. Link (pdf excerpt). -[SA]
Chinese officials have given their first formal account of clashes in Tibet, as violent protests spread. Link. BBC slideshow. TibetNews link. (Thanks, David Newman!) -[SA]
This moving TED talk was passed around by emails last week —Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight. (It's interesting how both Dr. Bolte Taylor and Ram Dass become transcendentally informed by this tragic occurrence). Link. (Thanks Dom & Jamie!) -[SA]
Okay, so nadis work via some kind of bio-electrical mechanics, right? And by stimulating certain channels and chakras, specific results can be achieved. Fine. But it's all-too-easy to get stuck in the mud on the way up the spine... Move over Orgasmatron, move over Excessive Machine, electric orgasms are now being served. Link. (Thanks, David!) -[SA]
Buddhist monk, a.k.a. "Mr. Happiness," plans to hip-hop you out of suffering. Link. Mr. Happiness blog (in Japanese). -[RF]
NPR's show New Sounds recently aired a program on the music of South India. Link. -[sb]
The Jimmy Kimmel security team takes yoga at AYLA. It's a pretty silly talk show situation. Link. (Thanks, Roberto!) -[SA]
Is bottled water becoming as uncool as smoking indoors? Link. -[RF]
Researchers recently revealed the first 30,000 pages of the online Encyclopedia of Life, a collaboration between the general public and scientists to document all life on earth—an estimated 1.8 million known species. Link. -[sb]
A clinic in Goa has a new program for treating mental illness in the developing world, with talk therapy, yoga, and medication. Link. -[sb]
More praise for turmeric. Link. -[sb]
Holy Moses! —"The acacia tree also has psychedelic properties... is mentioned frequently in the Bible, and was the type of wood of which the Ark of the Covenant was made." Was the man tripping? Link. -[SA]
A chunk of incense shows how the making of Maya blue, the superpigment used in Maya ritual, was a ritual in itself. Link. -[sb]
Cheer up: depression's not so bad. "Psychological unease can generate creative work and the rebirth after depression brings a new love affair with life." Link. -[sb]
Remote participation for the Oneironauticum is open —“Shakyamuni Buddha taught his followers to consider reality a dream. All phenomena, in waking and dreaming states alike, arises and dissolves around our own impermanent subjectivity... waking and dreaming worlds are merely different states of being in a world forged from thoughtform.“ Link. -[SA]
Somehow The Golden Child blipped by me unnoticed upon its 1986 debut, but it now tops my Netflix que —a hair-lipped, mustache-era Eddie Murphy goes to Tibet to save the world. Link. (Thanks, David108!) -[SA]
Unchained monkeys get hitched. Link. -[sb]
Spock to White Rabbit: Feed your head! Link. (Thanks, l.i.!) -[SA]
"Indian music seems to embody universal principals... a language in itself which is spiritual in nature..." explains Alice Coltrane as she drops an audio love bomb on Bombay circa 1978 w/ Don Cherry, Zakir Hussain, and violinist L. Shankar. Link. (Thanks, Marcus!)-[SA]
Oxford academics have been awarded 1.9 million pounds for scientific study on "why we believe in God". Link. -[gbSk]
Were yogi samskaras engrained into our soft young minds vis-a-vie Sesame Street? Link. -[RF]
A prison in Norway has stopped holding yoga classes after it found that instead of calming inmates, they were actually making some more aggressive. Link. -[RF]
The hero, his wife, and the demon king get a makeover as the Ramayana hits the TV screen, again. Link. Link. YouTube. -[SB]
Souljerky homie Erik Davis talks with Sun City Girls guitar legend Sir Richard Bishop about India, tantra, Assam, Kamakhya, shaktipitha, goddess, death, Varanasi, pilgrimage, deity, and of course, music. Link. -[SA]
Aditya "Romeo" Dev is the world's smallest bodybuilder. Link. (Thanks, gbSk!) -[SA]
Dis-ease curing shirts and trousers... Link. -[RF]
More fruits from Hin-jew diaspora: the Kirtan Rabbi! Link. -[SA]
Trained by monks: tea pickin' monkeys. Buy some. Link. (via + via: Thanks, Robert!)
“What he wanted was to stop looking at history through a rearview mirror and to probe the meaning of the present. Whether he liked it or not, however, he was a futurologist, if only because he never stopped repeating that with information travelling at the speed of light the present is the future." --from In the Garden with the Guru. Link. (Thanks, Rachel!) -[SA]
“On the highest point of the mountain is a mound of earth, forming an altar of Zeus Lykaios, and from it most of the Peloponnesus can be seen,” penned ancient greek travel writer, Pausanias. Now archeologists have found evidence that this super-puja site enjoyed some pre-Greek, pre-Zeus use. Link. (Thanks, Barry!) -[SA]
There's a church in NYC that sports 150+ (and growing) weekly congregation with ceremonies held in a rotating (and seemingly endless) set of yoga studios across the city. Now the LA Times Magazine reports upon this swelling cultural tide --the popularity of Ayahuasca, its ceremonies and churches, particularly amongst 20+30-somethings. Link. -[SA]
Liz Claiborne Inc. sold active brand Prana for $36.5 million (+$4 million or so depending upon 2008 performance) to Prana Living LLC, a company formed by Prana's management team, and Steelpoint Capital Partners, a private equity firm with a portfolio that includes Kidrobot and Tasti D-Lite... Claiborne is to receive $18.1 million in cash after settling a contingent earnout of $18.4 million owed to Prana's founders, who reinvested the money in the buyout. All of the estimated 80 staffers on the Prana team will stay. Link. -[SA]
Baba Ramdev: ‘I have cured more than 1,000 cancer patients.’ Link. -[SA]
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi steps down and retires from his empire: "His work is done and now he'll be concentrating on the field of silence and dedicating himself more to pure knowledge rather than administrative matters." Link. -[SA]
Sometimes Rob Brezsny can really hit the nail. From this week's Real Astrology (Pisces) —"Neither God nor the gods are dead, but they've virtually disappeared because so few people are capable of carrying on authentic relationships with them anymore. The materialist delusion rules our world: Millions believe that nothing is real unless it can be perceived by the five senses. So what can the deities do, having been banished from our midst?" (He gives a decent answer.) Link. -[SA]
The Boston Globe just ran a story about yoga in the workplace. Link. -[SA]
Just because they're hot & nude doesn't mean they can't take it to the Himalayas and get knocked up. Link. -[SA]
Buy a car, get a free puja. Link. -[SA]
Advertiser-funded "scientists" create brilliant "new" colors with mind-bending, psychedelic franken-mooshikas: "Using genetic tricks to develop fluorescent proteins, the scientists were able to colourize the grey matter in the mice, resulting in the emergence of about 90 new colours. Unfortunately, you need an expensive telescope equipped with a neon light (or a tab of mellow yellow [LSD]) to see them." Link. (Drat! Link just switched to a pay-based article scheme. Although not nearly as culturally weird --or well written-- you can read about Brainbows at Wikipedia... ) -[SA]
A solar-powered IT rickshaw, "Telecentre On Wheels": A manually run tricycle featuring two solar panels which power a laptop computer with Internet, a printer, and facilities for digital photography. LInk. (Thanks, Antonio!) -[SA]
Modern cosmologists in the New York Times slowly begin to wrap their minds around an old quandary —"How do you compute the probability to be reincarnated to the probability of being born?" Link. (Thanks, Stef!) -[SA]
Dow Jones and Dharma Investments to launch new indexes measuring the performance of companies according to the value systems and principles of Dharmic religions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism. Link. (via the stellar Bhakti Collective) -[SA]
Scientific American surveys the new, rising wave of interest in psychedelic therapy. Souljerky-pal Dr. Strassman is featured (I participated in his early-mid-90's, ground-breaking study). Maybe the times are a changing. Link. (Thanks, Chris!) -[SA]
Dewy Cox in India with the Beatles. Link. (Thanks, A-dub!) -[SA]
John Cleese reports on laughter yoga. Link. (Thanks, A-dub!) -[SA]
How modernization is making the age-old profession of the Indian letter writer obsolete. Link. -[gbSk]
A new law will allow woman to work behind the bar in India. Link. -[gbSk]
Daytona, Florida yoga teacher gets tasered. Link. -[gbSk]
The Washington Post celebrates Laura Huxley as "a devotee of yoga, the trampoline and natural foods." While the New York Times lists her as a concert violinist, freelance filmmaker, lay psychotherapist, self-help author, head of a children’s foundation, lecturer on the human potential movement, and "a restrained investigator of LSD." She died this month at age 96. Aum Nama Shivaya. Link. Link. -[SA]
Salon has a smart interview on the "atheist delusion". Link. -[SA]
Dig this Anandamayi Ma archival love explosion, brimming with video, bhajans and more from the late, great 20th century master. Link. (Thank you, Shambavi!) -[SA]
Our Beloved Mooshika is not the only fearless rodent on the block. Link. -[gbSk]
This is not what i though i would get when i saw a headline that said "Lakshmi" and "Eight Limbs", but well worth posting. Link. - [gbSk]
One's perspective alters the material world: "Simply by telling 44 hotel maids that what they did each day involved some serious exercise... [researchers] were apparently able to lower the women’s blood pressure, shave pounds off their bodies and improve their body-fat and 'waist to hip' ratios." Link. -[SA]
National Institute of Ayurveda to begin its online consultancy service within a month. Link. - [gbSk]
The Wall Street Journal: "Real kung fu monks don't fight. They meditate and practice kung fu to reach enlightenment." And my favorite quote of the article: "Every fist contains my love." Link. -[SA]
In India, death is a part of life — and, at one restaurant in western India, a part of lunch. The bustling New Lucky Restaurant in Ahmadabad is famous for its milky tea, its buttery rolls, and the graves between the tables. Link. (Thanks, Shankara!) -[SA]
The Japanese lunar explorer Serene beams back HD video of the earth. Link. - [gbSk]
TIME magazine posted the "Top 10 Religion Stories" of 2007: #3 The Reverend Jerry Fallwell dies; #9 The Creation Museum opens. Link. -[gbSk]
Is Bal Ganesh is available on DVD? Link. (Thanks, Robert!) -[SA]
The resident monks of Divya Dham temple are bringing the Himalayas to Queens —via a replica that spans almost an entire basketball court. Link. (Thanks, David!) -[SA]
Discovery throws down a pretty snazzy clip on dabawalas and their crazy routing algorithms: "To work, you need a strong mind and body. God has given us this. Not education." Link. (Thanks, Kelley!)
A judge in India has summoned two Hindu gods, Ram and Hanuman, to help resolve a property dispute. Link. (Thanks, Shankara!) -[SA]
An open letter to Ram and Hanuman ...."You failed to appear in court despite notices sent by a peon and later through registered post. You are herby directed to appear before the court personally", Judge Singh's notice said. Link. -[gbSk]
After being pressured by the Chinese government to run as "Miss Tibet/China," Tsering Chungtak pulls out of "Miss Tourism" pageant. Link. -[gbSk]
Fly. (Thanks, A-Dub!) -[SA]
Jesus loves His Dark Materials —“They relish spirit and the magic of belief and love, are soaked through with divine inspiration of a kind any intelligent Christian (or honest spiritual seeker of any stripe, for that matter) should crave the way Lindsay Lohan craves cocaine.” Link. -[SA]
This one's on my must-see list: How To Cook Your Life. Link. -[SA]
I would really love one of these bad boys to help me out with my asana practice every now and again. What is frightening is that the military seems to get it's paws on all these gizmos first. as Maxwell Smart used to say "if only they used their powers for good instead of evil." Link. - [gbSk] (You might have to hit 'refresh' on your browser.)
A retired Italian insurance broker uses his powers of 'remote vision' to construct an underground temple the local government has dubbed "the eighth wonder of the world". Link. -[gbSk]
I've always noticed the "MADE IN INDIA" imprint on New York City manhole covers. A New York Times reporter uncovers the story. Link. Slideshow. -[gbSk]
A Chicago Tribune columnist cures his insomnia with guided meditation podcasts that bore him to sleep. Link. -[SA]
Will Smith, who has studied Hinduism and Buddhism, studies Scientology with Tom Cruise —wherein, Smith points out, 'spirit' is called a 'thetan'. In yoga that might be called a purusha. Now Smith might try explaining that to Amy Winehouse, who apparently has taken to the practice. Link. More. -[SA]
Children's yoga classes deemed "un-Christian" and banned by Somerset vicars...too many priceless quotes to choose just one. See for yourself. Link. - [gbSk]
Foreign tourists to many of India's most famous landmarks will no longer be able to pay the entrance fee in dollars, the government says. Link. (Thanks, Shankara!) -[SA]
The Palestinian philosopher Sari Nusseibeh: "If you think about it, when we talk about politics and history and how events unfold, sometimes we talk as if it's all about metaphysical forces. We assume...that there are objective impossibilities. I am a pragmatic philosopher. And...in the final analysis it's not so complicated. It can be reduced to the actions of a person, and that person can in fact make a lot of difference." Link. -[SA]
A Thai painter has the nation in a Saturnian uproar over Monks With Traits of a Crow. Link. -[SA]
This is hilarious: Lululemon may have shown Wall Street that there's money in yoga, but there's something fishy (Why would they lie?) about their seaweed fabric. Link. (Thanks, Erin!) -[SA]
Acupuncture is more effective at relieving lower back pain than conventional methods, German researchers report. Link. (via) -[SA]
"What establishes the authority of the Buddhist teacher in America is the book... I can't say for sure whether that is good or bad, but let's at least be honest about it." (It's even worse in yoga, where you don't even need to write. Just speak in platitudes and hire a stylist.) Link. -[SA]
An Indian man marries a female dog to help him atone for stoning two dogs to death. Link. (Thanks, Shankara!) -[SA]
I lived on the moon. Link. -[SA]
An Aussie radio program (podcast too) explores the neuroscience of meditation and its increasing use in evidence-based mental health treatments: Dr Mindfulness: Science and the Meditation Boom. Link. (via) -[SA]
Back in the 80's I saw a sign in a LA tattoo shop that read, "Life is uncertain, get her name in Japanese". I guess in this new millennium it's more trendy to get her (or his) name in Sanskrit. So, if you don't wanna screw up like Beckham ...this guy's here to help. Link. -[gbSk]
Richard Davidson, a University of Wisconsin neuroscientist and among Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People for 2006, is spearheading a national pilot study on the effects of contemplation in the classroom: "The brain can change in response to training," he says, dismissing any notion of unwarranted mind control. "I think this is actually deprogramming" children from media influence and "returning the mind to its natural, unprogrammed state." Link. -[SA]
Even a rough morning at your local yoga class will seem like a cake walk after seeing this flickr set from the "Mongolian Contortion School". Link. -[gbSk]
JAXA (Japan's version of NASA) and uber-broadcaster NHK team up to bring the first ever HIGH DEF video of the moon's surface shot from lunar orbit. Link. -[gbSk]
Now the LA Times is chiming in on western medicine's new interest in yoga and meditation, particularly for pain management — "Doctor's orders: Cross your legs and say 'Om'"! Link. (via) -[SA]
She may have sold sanctuary, but these days it's more about Buddha Dharma. The classic psychedelic metal band, The Cult, is taking cue from the American Beats and singing more about liberation and detachment from the wheel of suffering. "I think everyone is looking for spiritual authenticity, not only in the arts, but in life." Link. -[SA]
ABC News ran a hefty piece about yoga for heart failure patients that's making waves at the American Heart Association: "There was considerable improvement in their overall ability to do well... [They had] improved moods and felt better, with not as much depression... They slept better, they were more energetic." Link. -[SA]
The simple message that a Cleveland Clinic doctor couldn't say on Oprah —that proper breathing, meditation and a sensible diet can extend your life. He has nice x-rays too. And recommends a neti-pot. Nice! Link. -[SA]
This past Sunday the New York Marathon began (for professional men and the general public) at 10:08 AM. I find that somewhat peculiar and magickal. Link. (Thanks, Eddie!) -[SA]
Gifts for the Gods: Images From Egyptian Temples. Exhibition: Link. NY Times review: Link. -[SA]
NPR ran a news piece on Mysore's status as a yoga mecca and how that spells cash money to the local economy. Plus it makes yoga fashionable (again) to the indigenous middle and upper class. How cool is that? Link. (Thanks, Heidi! via) -[SA]
Ground breaking ceremonies for the Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple were held this weekend in Berlin. When completed in 2009 it will be Europe's 2nd largest Hindu temple. Link.....(who's the BIGGEST?). -[gbSk]
Without comment: Yoga for Indie Rockers. Links: Amazon. Netflix. MySpace. (Thanks, Stefanie!) -[SA]
“I Am” —Brion Gysin's classic existential machine-sound-poem from 1960. Link. (via) -[SA]
Maybe we can blame god for global warming. The bible is filled with fire and brimstone, floods, and other fun ecological disasters. Now you can listen as contemporary scholars go back to the good book to look for modern day answers. Link. - [EdSh]
Donovan, David Lynch, and What-the-Bleep talking-head, physicist John Hagelin have been touring the UK promoting the Invincible Donovan University — offering "traditional" university subjects as well as training in transcendental meditation— "I know it sounds like an airy-fairy hippy dream to go on about '60s peace and love... [but] the world is ready for this now, it is clear this is the time." Link. -[SA]
Disney's Ratatouille has our lil' rug-rats clamouring for pet Mooshikas. Link. -[SA]
The outsourced brain. Link. (thanks, Dom!)
FOLLOW UP - while most of the space rock failed to bring in the big dollars, the bovine killer fetched $1,554. Link. -[gbSk]
I've been in condom-plation over the term "Nirodah": used both by Patanjali in his classic summation of yoga, and in this pro-condom television jingle. Link. (via) -[SA]
"I am Shiva the God of Death!"— a phrase repeated twice in Michael Clayton (and in the trailer). The movie's pretty good too. Link. -[SA]
'Cow-eating' trees of Padrame. Link. -[gbSk] UPDATE: Now on video! Link. (via) -[SA]
Praise the lord and pass the hotdogs! No more philandering, gambling, or bearing false witness for these sports players, for if they want to win the big game they rely on the big guy upstairs. Link. -[EdSh]
Souljerky pal Barnaby Harris, of Fuck Yoga infamy, has Frank Gehry wearing one of his new shirts: Fuck Frank Gehry. Link. -[SA]
Bid against Steven Spielberg and Yo-Yo Ma as a bovine killing space rock goes on the auction block in NYC. Link. -[gbSk]
Delicious and brilliant: Let's get drunk and meditate. Link. (via) -[SA]
Running all the way 'Om'. Link -[SA]
I’m not sure if these guys will have the impact that bands like Shelter and the whole straight-edge scene had on raising Krishna Consciousness, but Boston based MC's Govinda Sky are takin' the bhav to the streets with tunes like Black Smoke Rising and My Samadhi. (Read more about the Krishna-core scene by our BFF Erik Davis.) Link. –[gbSk]
In an NPR interview, Condoleezza Slice, captain of Scare Force One, a DC women's roller derby team says, "I think some people find stress relief in yoga, ya know, things that are more calming and some people need a more maybe violent…maybe contact sport." Hmmmmm! Link. -[gbSk]
Dutch levitator, Ramana, outsourced his trade from India. Link. (via) -[SA]
“Discover Magazine recently had a contest to...create a two minute or less video of everything you need to know about string theory. You can view some of the best entries (video) as well as the winning video: String Ducky!” Link. (via) -[SA]
In the spirit of Charlie Manson, former U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft and other psychopathic crooners, it seems that Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo's jailed leader Shoko Asahara was a bit of a mischevious minstrel himself. Link. -[gbSk]
A new yoga school in Brooklyn, popular with journalists (Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, Salon, Glamour, The Observer) — “New York is a great laboratory—when the guy on the subway won’t move, how do you make that a yogic moment, instead of flipping him off?” Link. (via) -[SA]
It's the 50th anniversary of the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency. And what better metaphor for the nation than the almighty (on the) dollar? Link. -[EdSh]
Good luck finding Jesus. He's sold out. Link. -[SA]
Cody throws down a solid first draft of a plain english version of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, Sadhana Pada (Book 1). Link. (Thanks, Rachel!) -[SA]
The story of Oedipus in 8 minutes, performed by vegetables. Link. -[SA]
I come from a long line of shepards, so what's the big deal, science? You think you's so fancy. It's 15% human, sure. But I'm 15% sheep. Link. (Thanks, Kelly D!) -[SA]
Christmas and the fourth of July may only come but once a year, but if you live in New York City you can have the lights and fireworks concurrently. On Oct. 14th over 100,000 people are expected to visit the day-long Diwali mela. Satiate your spiritual cravings at Americas largest Diwali celebration. Link. -[EdSh]
A Calcutta community is building a huge model of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in celebration of the Durga Puja festival, and JK Rowling is suing for copyright infringement. Link. (Thanks, Shankara!) -[SA]
Check it. Madlib's mindnumbing audio-video globalist mashup groove rises up above the chafe: Beat Konducta in India. Link. (via) -[SA]
"The commercialization of holy festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi ("festival") and Durga Puja ("worship") has meant people want bigger and brighter idols and are no longer happy with the ones made from eco-friendly materials." Link. (Thanks, David!) -[SA]
Feeling short of “divinely superfluous neurons,” and really who isn’t, then you might not have spent enough time at recess as a kid. In an interview on the NPR program Speaking of Faith Dr. Stuart Brown draws a link between play and the development of spirit and character. He suggests that play, in its many forms, reduces levels of violence and promotes trust and empathy. This is one more example of modern science confirming ancient wisdom – the shastras told us ages ago that it was through divine play (lila) that world was brought into existence. Link. -[EdSh]
If you can describe the most profound act of kindness that you've ever witnessed or received by the end of tomorrow, and email it to Beliefnet, you can win free tickets to attend HHDL's teachings on Nagarjuna's 70 Verses on Emptiness. Link. -[SA]