The Digital Dispatch

From NOEBIE.net

New Recording: Cowboy Mahamantra

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About three and a half years ago, my wife needed a backing track for mantra practice. Being a musician, with a little bit of experience in audio production from radio and podcasting days, I recorded a very basic track for her. One thing led to another, and eventually Kirtan Music became a huge part of my life.

At some point, this melody came to me, and I decided to do my best to make a listenable recording of it.

The project began in earnest in mid-July of this year when I recorded the first acoustic guitar track. I finally wrapped up the final mix yesterday, and published the YouTube video.

Here’s a link to the post at Shyamatara Das with more information on the recording.

Today I’m in the process of distribution elsewhere, with the goal of making the song as widely available as possible. I have no illusions of fame or fortune, but I want to ensure that anyone can listen on their preferred music platform.

Some of the music platforms will not allow songs to be offered without charge, but I wanted to make sure that the song is available for free to anyone who wants it. So it has been uploaded to the Internet Archive, and can be found at this link. https://archive.org/details/the-cowboy-mahamantra

It’s also available on BandCamp, with any proceeds from that being donated to the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram in Taos.

If you use Spotify, you can pre-save the track here.

It should also be available soon on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeart Radio and elsewhere.

I’ll either update this post, or add new ones when links to the other services become available.

I hope you enjoy singing along!

ॐ†

UPDATE: 2 November 2023

The song is now available on most of the major streaming services.

https://noebie.com/the-cowboy-mahamantra/

A Visit to New Vrindaban

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Claudia and Brian at New Vrindaban

In September my wife and I traveled to Western Pennsylvania for an annual retreat with my meditation teacher. Having read about the splendors of Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold nearby, we decided to take a quick detour on our way back home to have a peek.

The building is touted as one of the “40 most beautiful places to visit in the United States” on par with the Biltmore Estate and New York City’s Central Park. Google’s map showed that it was less than thirty miles out of our way, so we took the exit from I-70 near Wheeling, and followed the tortuous winding road to the New Vrindaban complex at Moundsville, West Virginia.

As we walked up the path from the visitor parking lot, we heard music, and Claudia said “Maybe it’s a festival and we’ll be able to have lunch.” I remembered only then that it was Radhashtami, the commemoration of Radha’s appearance on this earth, and a day of celebration for devotees of Krishna such as those at New Vrindaban.

We wandered around a bit, enjoying the views, finally making our way to the entrance of the Palace of Gold where tours begin. A monk – with the classic shaved head, pony tail and orange robes – eventually appeared, asking if we had received prasadam (food that is served at such celebrations). He told us that he was the one who conducted the tours, and that we would have plenty of time to eat before the next one began.

We passed a beautiful lotus pond on our walk down the hill to the picnic area. As we arrived, we were greeted by a devotee named Nityo, who asked “Do we know you?” This seemed like an odd turn of phrase. I responded “I don’t think so,” then related that we were traveling, and had heard of the Palace, and dropped in to tour it.

“So you just happened to be passing through? And you just happened to drop by? And it just happened to be on Radhashtami?” I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable with the questions, and fumbled for a response. Then he said “And you just happened down the hill when the line for prasadam is empty. Have some food!”

Nityo followed along as we picked up plates and the devotees filled them with amazing vegetarian fare. When Claudia mentioned that she hadn’t smelled such lovely aromas since her trip to India, Nityo asked why she had travelled there. “Do you work for the government?” She explained that her company outsources some work in Chennai.

Our new friend sat with us at table, and the conversation was casual and friendly. At some point, a woman came up and greeted Claudia, called her by another name, and then apologized, saying that she had mistaken her for another devotee who used to live there. There were some other odd exchanges between this woman and Nityo which we took to be none of our business.

As we ate, another devotee brought a fresh garland of jasmine and placed it around Claudia’s shoulders, and handed me a white rose that had been on their altar that morning. We felt like special guests, and marveled at our luck to have arrived on such an auspicious day, and to be treated so well.

We enjoyed the tour of the Palace, and headed on down the road toward home, buoyed by the fragrance of the jasmine, and feeling fortunate at having stumbled into such a delightful experience.

When we arrived home two days later, I did a Google search for our new friend to try to find his email address and send him thanks for the meal and his kindness. What turned up in the search results made the entire episode seem eerie and surreal. It turns out that in the 1980s New Vrindaban had been at the center of a murderous sex scandal.

After the initial shock, as we reflected on our visit, we wondered if our reception there was somehow unusual – if our appearance or manner or the timing of our arrival had created suspicions among the devotees. We speculated that perhaps we fit the profile of snoops of some variety (law enforcement, journalists, disgruntled muck raking former devotees, or what not) and that they welcomed us so warmly in order to keep a close eye on us. Some of the conversation and behavior that we recalled seemed a bit sinister in this context. On the other hand, the gestures of hospitality seemed free and genuine, and while we were actually on the site, we felt no misgivings or signs of anything untoward. In fact, we agreed that we would still be interested in visiting again, even after reading these reports. Despite the jarring revelations, we felt fondness in our hearts for the place and for the people we met there.

We were surprised to learn, last week, of a documentary expose that has just premiered on Peacock, covering the establishment of the settlement, the troubled years during leader Keith Ham’s descent into madness, and the aftermath.

We viewed the series this week. Despite the sensationalistic trailer, and the film’s focus on horrific murders, physical abuse of women devotees, physical and sexual abuse of children in the community’s school system, and other crimes committed under Ham’s leadership, if one cares to be thoughtful the documentary also presents a picture of beauty and devotion which endures among many who still live and worship at New Vrindaban.

If you are interested in watching the film, I would encourage that you do so with an open mind and heart. It is awfully easy to default to judgment and condemnation, especially in these days of cancel culture. I believe that the devotees at New Vrindaban and others associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness deserve better.

I would also encourage you to read the ISKCON Communications Ministry’s official response to the film. It comes pretty close to expressing my own sense of things.

Here is an excerpt from another statement released just prior to the debut of the film, which also seems on track. “What we know for certain is that ISKCON is founded on, and aspires for, the highest principles of Vaishnava ethics and values. We also know that we are a society, like every society and religious community, made of human beings with flaws and the human tendency to be covered by material consciousness.”

For me, the most poignant moments of the film were when the sons of one of the murder victims, Charles St. Denis, performed the Vedic rites for their departed father in India, on the Yamuna River at Vrindavan. Also, their testimonies throughout the film, along with those of Detective Thomas Westfall, were some of the most compelling and heart wrenching.

Toward the end of the film, Sergeant Westfall said that he was happy that the community at New Vrindaban was able to recover and heal from their collective trauma. I believe he referred to them as people of hope.

Hope, devotion, kindness and hospitality toward strangers. One could hardly ask for more.

The Global Consciousness Project

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RNG UnitWe recently set up a random number generator node in our home as part of an experiment called the Global Consciousness Project 2.0.

The RNG “egg” generates numbers randomly, and sends the data to a repository where it is logged and correlated with that from other nodes all over the planet.

Much of the time, the data is what you might expect – random. On some occasions though, the units seem to sync up and show “coherence.” This seems to happen when there’s something stirring the consciousness of large numbers of people, during crises, times of joy and celebration, times of empathy, times of fear or other strong emotion.

The node just sits there and blinks, but I like to think that when I meditate, it notices.

Pilgrims On The Road

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Several years ago, I first heard about the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. The idea of backpacking 500 miles across Spain to arrive at the burial site of an Apostle caught my imagination, but it was not something that I thought would really be possible for me to undertake. I filed it away as another pleasant thing to dream about.

A few weeks ago, we ran across Stefanie Hurtado’s marvelous documentary of her trek on the Way of St. James. It inspired me to reconsider, and it looks like it may be feasible after all. Claudia and I are still in very early discussions about the possibility, but are thinking we may attempt at least the portion of the pilgrimage from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela some time in 2025.

I’ll be posting more here as we continue to plan. In the meantime, the video above is highly recommended.

Here’s a link to the English version of the official website for the pilgrimage.

https://www.caminodesantiago.gal/en/inicio

Louis Theroux in India

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A friend in our work chat this morning shared this video after a short exchange about Hindu and Buddhist practices. It’s from the BBC program Weird Weekends with Louis Theroux.

Theroux is, I think, a sincere and light hearted skeptic. The video presents a mostly amusing look at some Westerners who have gone to India seeking enlightenment, their practices, and the Gurus that they follow, from OSHO to Prabhupada.

Toward the very end of the program, we witness Theroux’s encounter with Amma, and it is a moment of beauty and truth.

What I’m Reading: Born to Run

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Born To Run Book CoverThe old aphorism “when the student is ready the teacher will appear” is perfectly apt in describing how I ran across this book.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I found Earth Runners sandals while looking for footwear that was consistent with the practice of Ahimsa (non-violence or non-hurting). The fact that people ran in these sandals, and their connection to the Raramuri (Tarahumara) running people, was interesting, but entirely beside the point for me at the time.

In a rambling conversation with my niece (which was also mentioned in the earlier post about grounding) she brought up Christopher McDougall’s book Born To Run. A few days later we were at our favorite local used bookstore, and of course they happened to have a copy.

The book begins like a mystery thriller, and remains a page-turner from start to finish. The story is beautiful and compelling. The personalities portrayed are fascinating. The book is a pleasure to read.

Beyond that, it turns out to be a book that changes people’s lives, and it has changed mine.

When I was young, I took up running. This was during the jogging boom of the 1970s. I had not been an athletic child. I was routinely among the last ones picked during P.E. class for any team sport. I was clumsy, slow, etc. Running gave me a way to be active and sporting without having to compete with anyone but myself. At first I think the attraction was about trying to find a niche. Some people played basketball. Some golfed. Some played tennis. “Yeah. I’m a runner.”

As time went on, I found that I loved the act of running even more so than the idea of it. When I ran, I felt strong and vital and free.

I also felt sore, and exhausted and miserable a lot of the time. Twisted ankles, lower back issues, sore knees and the like dogged me. I learned from chats with other runners and from running books and magazines that this was normal. The human body is just not made for this sort of activity, they said. The cardiovascular workouts are good for your heart health, in moderation, but unless you are one of the lucky ones who are genetically predisposed, be prepared to suffer, both during runs and between them. Better to stick to “low impact” activities.

At some point, the pleasure didn’t seem worth the pain, so I got out of the habit of running. Once in awhile I would try to take it up again, but as I got older I became convinced that it was something that I just couldn’t do anymore.

Part of the beauty of McDougall’s story is that he found himself in a similar situation. Podiatrists (and nearly everyone else he consulted) told him that the human body – especially his body, which he describes a being Shrek like in those days – is not suited to running. Then he finds this tribe of folks who run incredible distances well into old age, injury free, wearing home made sandals that are little more than rubber tire treads strapped to the soles of their feet with thong. He gets swept up in the efforts of Micah True (one of the central characters of the book) to hold an ultra marathon in Mexico’s Cooper Canyons, and in the process uncovers a secret. Our species’ bodies are not only well suited to the activity of running, but actually evolved specifically to run long distances. We are, all of us, truly born to run.

On June 3rd of 2023 I pulled on my Earth Runners and ran down the street a few blocks just to see how it felt. It felt good. That was the beginning of a very cool journey of discovery. What I’m learning is that running does not have to be a test of will, every day a struggle to push through inevitable pain and suffering. It can be an opportunity to discover the limits of pleasure rather than the limits of endurance. I started with very short runs, and then added a block or two at a time as long as it continued to feel good. Three or four miles a day is my usual distance at the moment. Recovery time is minimal. No lingering soreness. No exhaustion. No ill effects.

There are some things that I’m paying attention to that have helped, of course. I’m working on keeping a short stride with my feet landing directly under my hips as much as possible. The single most important factor though, for me at least, seems to be that running in thin-soled, flat footwear prohibits long strides and heavy heel strikes. It just hurts too much to run that way, so we learn to stop doing it. So running in this sort of footwear (or barefoot) virtually forces you into better form. It’s not that our bodies aren’t made for running. It’s that they aren’t made for running in heavily cushioned footwear with hefty drops, “stability control,” arch support and such. Let your feet move the way they should, and they will provide all the support that you need.

Through this book, I have joined thousands of others around the world who have found the joy of returning to our deep ancestral heritage. We have learned that like the Raramuri, we are all the Running People.

Discovering Grounding

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There is a natural health practitioner in our area who sells and promotes a lot of odd, gadgety, gimmicky items. When my wife and mother-in-law, who is her patient, began talking about “earthing” a decade or so ago, it set off my BS alarms. Without any further investigation, I dismissed it as pseudoscientific quackery, with benefits only to the quack’s cash register.

I think that this was partly because of the name “earthing.” For some reason, if the products had been called “grounding mats” I might have reacted slightly differently. Earthing just sounded too calculatingly new-agey.

Lower back pain desperation eventually got the better of my prejudice, though, and I purchased one of the mats and put it on my chair, thinking that it might help. Of course, it didn’t, because of the layers of clothing insulating me. The mat got rolled up and placed in a drawer.

I accidentally rediscovered grounding about two years ago. I was looking for a decent pair of sandals to wear every day that were not made of leather. I felt a little foolish searching for “Vegan Sandals” but there you go. I found Earth Runners through the search, and began to look into them.

One of the features of the Earth Runners is a copper plug on the outsole, connected to conductive lacing for grounding. This set off my skepticism again, but this time I researched a bit, and found some actual demonstrations of folks checking effects of the footwear as compared to typical running shoes (and to bare feet) using a continuity tester or voltage meter. One of the more dramatic demonstrations was filmed underneath towers of high voltage electrical wire. The Earth Runners’ grounding was comparable to barefoot, while the sneakers completely insulated their wearer from the ground, and its voltage clearing effects.

I’ve worn the sandals, almost to the exclusion of all other footwear, year ’round ever since. I wear them principally for the comfort and health of my feet, and until recently considered the grounding effect a less important side benefit.

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with my niece that drifted into the subjects of running, and footwear, and the legendary Tarahumara barefoot runners. Afterwards, this led to a book and web search rabbit hole which eventually brought me to the video at the top of this post.

I take back every cynical, dismissive, condescending word that I ever uttered about this practice.

The science is good and fairly conclusive (even at this point, with more studies being done all the time). The benefits of grounding – whatever you may call it – are wide ranging across the dimensions of life, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Once should consider the practice even if only for the well documented anti-inflammatory effects.

Our family is certainly spending more time with our bare feet on the ground now, and we’ll be adding an earthing mattress to our bed as soon as it arrives from Ober’s earthing.com website.

I would recommend the documentary most highly, and will not scoff if I find you sitting naked on your back lawn.

What I’m Reading: Came the Lightening

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Came The Lightening Book CoverLast evening, I finished reading Olivia Harrison’s Came the Lightening – Twenty Poems for George.

I’m almost embarrassed to admit that my fascination with the Harrisons’ relationship stretches back nearly fifty years now. During the early years of his solo career, I happened on an issue of People magazine with a story about George, and it included a photo of him and Olivia. They looked so incredibly joyful. To my teenage mind, I could not imagine a life more vibrant or exciting than the one I pictured them leading. For quite some time seventeen-year-old me did his best to emulate George’s style and manner, and I was more than a little smitten with this dark eyed beauty who was his new love.

George Harrison was, and is, one of the great heroes of my lifetime. I remain a huge fan of his music, and his philosophy. When the Dark Horse album came out in 1974, I listened to it constantly, fumbling around trying to pick out parts on guitar or bass, singing along “It is He, Jai Sri Krishna!”

I still have that original vinyl record. On the sides of the record itself, the labels with the track listings have a photo of George on side 1 and Olivia on side 2. The smiling eyes are still just as captivating when I look at them today.

Side 1 Label Side 2 Label

Watching the Scorsese documentary Living in the Material World for the first time a few years ago, I was struck by how much deeper and more exciting and vibrant – and tragic and difficult – the Harrisons’ life together had been. Besides George’s musical brilliance, and the incredible balancing act he lived out (maintaining a lifelong dedication to the spiritual path while burning off worldly karmas like Sherman’s march to the sea), what struck me most about the film was Olivia’s grace, poise and intellect. The love they shared shone through every word she spoke.

So I was delighted to find this book. She wrote these poems in part to make sense of their life together, and to make sense of his passing, and her grief. As a result, the book presents a more intimate portrait than a memoir likely could.

Fair warning that it is painful to read some of these poems, particularly Heroic Couple (about the nearly deadly attack on the Harrisons in their home by a crazed intruder) and Came the Lightening (about the moment Harrison left the body).

This is a must read for any George Harrison fan, but it would also be of interest to anyone who is trying to come to grips with loss, the power of love and marriage, the meaning of life itself.

One who is graced to live life (and face departure) on their own terms, as Harrison did, is lucky indeed. We who remain are lucky to find inspiration in his story, and in the loving memories so boldly set to the page in this book.

Every Hare Krishna

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Goodness is the harvest produced by the seeds of peace, sown by the peacemakers. – James 3:18

Mala and Bagbeneath the blue homespun
rough beads of tulasi
pass between thumb and finger

every hare krishna
every hare rama
is a seed in the field of consciousness

patiently planting
minute by minute
day by day
toward a garden of bliss
for everyone

What I’m Reading: An Essential Guide to Kriya Yoga Practice

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Kurczak Book CoverRyan Kurczak is one of the foremost teachers of Kriya Yoga in the world today. He is the author of numerous books on the subject, he hosts the Kriya Yoga Podcast, and his Kriya Yoga Online YouTube Channel has tens of thousands of subscribers. Ryan teaches in the lineage of Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar and Paramahansa Yogananda. His own teacher, Roy Eugene Davis, was a direct disciple of Yogananda from 1949 until the great yogi’s passing, and Ryan was authorized to teach by Mr. Davis more than a decade ago.

I finished this latest of Ryan’s books a week or so ago. In addition to step-by-step instructions in Kriya Yoga meditation techniques, he presents a concise history of the lineage, along with a survey of essential teachings relevant to the practice from the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita.

The book is well-titled. It covers pretty much anything someone would truly need to know about Kriya Yoga. Although these practices are best learned under the guidance of an experienced teacher – and they usually take many years of daily effort to learn to do well – there is certainly enough in this book to begin learning, and it will also serve as a reference guide for reviewing philosophy and technique throughout one’s life.

The lineage and teachings of Kriya Yoga is a deep well, and one could spend a lifetime of study and still find something new to learn. An Essential Guide to Kriya Yoga Practice is one of the most thorough, practical, and authoritative works currently available on the subject. I highly recommend it for curious newcomers and seasoned meditators as well, though some of the content may be just a bit dense for someone who is not at all familiar with meditation or similar spiritual practices.