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By mat, November 21, 2011 11:16 am

Apologies for not updating my site for over a year, but now with the very recent signing of Ashirvad to Times Music in India, this is not only a time for personal celebrations, but also an auspiciously appropriate moment to share some personal reflections.

As we approach the prophetic year of 2012, we seem to be building up to some sort of grand ‘Karmic Crescendo’ on planet Earth, with a wopping cast of 7 billion human beings taking part in the unfolding drama. We’ve just had the 2011 Arab Spring, and now we’re having the European Winter. Long entrenched and established political leaders are dropping like flies, along with their corrupt and dysfunctional regimes, we hope. The ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest movement of the 99%’ers . is building up momentum and spreading like wild fire throughout the main political and financial centers of the world.

Social changes always involve a certain amount of conflict between the old established orders and the heralders of new dawns, it’s just that the nature and rapidity of recent and present events, are happening on a scale that is unpresidented in our lifetimes. The massive shifts in social perspectives and realities that are occurring all over the world at present are telling symptoms of the imminent planetary crisis that we are all destined to face, one way or another.

The recent BBC documentary ‘How Facebook changed the World’, focusing on the ‘Arab Spring’ phenomena, provided amazingly in-depth research and detailed accounts, of how popular use of the internet, via computers and specifically mobile phones, was at the heart of the numerous uprisings. Without the use of incredibly modern internet facilities like Facebook, Youtube and sophisticated mobile phone interfaces that have only been in existence for a few years, none of this would have come about in the way that it has and will continue to do so. We now know that the world is a much more unpredictable place to live in than we could have ever imagined a few years ago, and the rapid rate of change we are witnessing and experiencing, is only going to keep on increasing until it reaches some kind of climax or amazing crescendo. And what’s more, we’re all part of it somehow.  We can’t escape our communality with the rest of humanity and all the other gross and subtle life forms on earth, what to speak of the multitude of beings that inhabit other dimensional planes of existence – we are all links and threads within the intricate web of life.

Will the unsettling turmoils that are sprouting all over the world at present, eventually lead to a unification of the people towards a common cause that is for the good of all, or will the mighty 1% attempt to halt the tides of change,  by clamping down on the revolutionary zeal with excessive draconian measures? But what we do know, is that millions of people around the world right now, are also busy with speculating and prophesying about the various outcomes that may or may not befall our collective lot. Through living in Glastonbury, the New Age spiritual center of Britain, throughout the spring and summer seasons this year, I became consumed to the point of suffocation, with all the latest conspiracy theories and cosmic prophecies that are doing the rounds. And as with most info. these days, it is all coming via sources on the internet. Though the most popular trend amongst my circle of friends has been to start building up stores of dry and tinned food in preparation for the imminent world wide crisis that many of us are expecting, whether it be through economic collapse, cosmic catastrophe, natural disasters, war, massive social upheaval, alien intervention or through a mixture of causes.

Everyone is talking about change as if it were some new  phenomena, but change is the most inevitable aspect of reality that we have to encounter on a daily, or moment to moment basis – But the reasons why we’ve  become so obsessed with the notion of change in recent times, is because everything in our realities is shifting with such rapidity that it has become unsettling for many and a new cause for wonder, plus there are a host of tangible reasons, why the human race must radically change it’s lifestyle orientations as a must for the very survival of the planet.

Meanwhile the cosmic clock is ticking away, moving us all towards unknown futures. In actuality, we have no control over the outcome of our desires, actions and wishes, all we can do is choose what type of thoughts and actions we would like to contribute towards the well being of our souls and others, perform our dharmas and strive to achieve those goals, but ultimately everything will rest in the hands of the gods.

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By mat, November 19, 2011 1:11 pm

My personal statement, in celebration of ‘Ashirvad’s’ contractual signing with Times Music of India

We are honoured to be joining the great rostrum of talent available on
the Times Music catalogue, the most prestigeous music label in India
and Asia…We are also proud to introduce a new flavour into the
melting pot of modern contemporary crossover music.

I’ve had a love affair with Indian culture and spirituality for over
40 years, specifically with music in its various forms; regional folk
music, bhajans, dhoons, kirtans, thumris, khayal, and Drupada. So it
was with good fortune that I was able to meet Darren with his vast
technical know how and mature aesthetic sensibilities. We were also
fortunate enough to share a mutual vision, where through collaborative
efforts, our creative synergy has produced a harmonious blend of
musical elements, which we believe is not only unique, but also
provides an accessible bridge in the contemporary cross cultural
genres, adding a refreshingly new contribution to the ever expanding
marriage between east and west.

‘Ashirvad’ was recorded with a mobile studio as part of our sacred
pilgrimage through India, so the initial inspiration and intention
behind the production of ‘Ashirvad’ became intrinsically woven into the main fabric and creation of the album, which naturally evolved to take the listener on
a kaleidoscopic, transcendental journey through this colourful and
fantastic land.

The musical flavours of Ashirvad are inspired by the different tastes
and rasas (aesthetic sentiments) inherent in the varieties of Indian
music that we both relish and desired as crucial elements in our
album. Our creative challenge was to try and enhance those traditional
elements, along with western instruments and the sensitive use of
modern technology, which we feel we’ve achieved, and therefore feel
extremely pleased and fortunate to be able to finally share the fruits of our
creativity with other discerning listeners and enjoyers of beautiful
music in India………..

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By mat, May 30, 2010 6:46 pm

‘The Hare Krishna Movement’ – ‘The Post Charismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant.’

The first time I came across references to, ‘The Hare Krishna Movement’ – ‘The Post Charismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant’, edited by Edwin F. Bryant & Maria Ekstrand, was in ‘Forty Years of Chant and Change’, a book published last year by Iskcon UK. I checked it out on Amazon at that time, but only managed to order it just over a week ago. Since then I’ve been absorbed in reading the many fascinating, informative and sometimes challenging essays that have been collected by the editors, to create this unique compendium, that focuses on the fate of ‘The Hare Krishna Movement’ after the passing of A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami in November 1977. The editors have gone to great lengths to ensure that as many sides and voices of the complex Krishna phenomena as possible could be covered in a 430 page scholarly volume.

Over the last three years I’ve been working on my own autobiographical project ‘Between Worlds’ – ‘The problem with being Mathura das’, with a major chunk of it concerning my personal involvement with Iskcon between 1973- 80, and my passionate interest in general with the historical, philosophical and sociological Krishna phenomena that I have been a part of and am still inextricably involved with as a major contributing factor towards me being ‘Mathura das’.  I therefore desperately needed to read this comprehensive volume for my personal research needs, as many of the contentious issues and anomalies raised in this unique compendium are the same as, or similar to the ones I’ve had to face, or that have come up through writing my own persona account of things, and also through my interest in general with exploring the broader historical context of the modern Krishna Movement.

The scope and range of issues attended to by the twenty nine authors in ‘The Hare Krishna Movement’, is so vast that I will not attempt at this stage to give a comprehensive review but rather just some short comments to possibly inspire others to get hold of a copy via Amazon and read it for themselves.

The editors have divided the book into six sections;

• 1. Krishna Consciousness in the Context of Hindu Theology. incl. four essays.
• 2. Bhaktivedanta Swami and His Predecessors- five essays.
• 3. Post- Bhaktivedanta Controversies of Lineage- four essays.
• 4. Heresies- two essays.
• 5. Social Issues. six essays.
• 6 Re-evaluations. with three essays and a final essay, ‘Concluding Reflections’ by the editors.

  Continue reading 'Book review on ‘The Hare Krishna Movement’'»

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By mat, February 9, 2010 3:11 pm

I’ve just returned to my Himalayan retreat in Mussoorie from a wonderful short trip to Vrindavana, the earthly playground of Sri Krishna and His bhakta’s (devotees). While there I happened to meet up with Satyaraja das (Steven Rosen) a prodigious devotee writer and publisher whom I was in communication with 20 years ago when I was coordinating the music department at the Mayapur Gurukula in West Bengal four hours north of Calcutta. Somehow or other we lost contact, but I have been avidly following his progress as a prolific writer, editor, publisher and communicator of Vaishnavism and Gaudiya Vaishnava culture through his unique and brilliant biannual publication the ‘Journal of Vaishnava Studies’.

Apart from editing and publishing these brilliant compendiums by academic scholars, he’s published 22 books dealing with interfaith conversations, ‘Om Shalom’ – ‘East West Dialogue’ and with other various topical subjects such as, ‘Vegetarianism in World Religions – ‘The Reincarnation Controversy’- ‘Vedic Archeology’, as well as his well researched, readable and informative short summaries on the lives of Sri Chaitanya and other influential saints in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. In fact Satyaraja far excels other contemporary writers that deal with these fascinating subjects, not just by the vast range of pertinent topics that he covers, but also by the accessible manner with which he is able to convey complex theological and historical ideas to both students of religion, scholars and lay readers alike.

So I was excited to find out through my old friend Kiran that he was in Vrindavana on a rare visit from New York, as well as having copies of his latest books, ‘The Yoga of Kirtan’, ‘Holy Cow’ and a new edition of  ‘Journal of Vaishnava Studies’. We had a wonderful long chat over refreshments in the MVT restaurant along with our mutual friend Kiran, about all sorts of fascinating subjects, especially his timely new publication on the rapidly expanding popularity of Kirtan in the Western yoga world.

‘The Yoga of Kirtan’, ‘Conversations on the Sacred Art of Chanting’, is a collection of interviews with some of the most prominent kirtan and devotional singers in the Western World of Yoga. Satyaraja manages to skillfully direct the interviews in a format that allows the twenty one singers to tell the very personal and revealing journeys that led them to become chanters and singers of sacred sound. By telling their individual stories we get to hear all the amazing and varied ways in which spiritual seekers interact with the divine presence. Some are mature adepts in their 50’s and 60’s and a few are younger, representing a new generation of children born to parents who adopted yogic practices in the 60’s and 70’s. Due to these fascinating personal and historical anecdotes the book oozes the wonderful quality of human warmth through a revealing honesty and humility that seems to pervade and unify all the twenty one approaches expressed here.

Continue reading 'A book review of ‘The Yoga of Kirtan’ by Steven Rosen'»

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By mat, January 21, 2010 12:45 pm

Keeping in touch with the rest of the world from 6000 ft in the Himalayas with a weak internet connection is not always easy. But somehow we are managing to keep abreast of developments back home in the UK and abroad. Darren has moved Sangita Sounds Studios down to Glastonbury in the West Country and has been settling in over the last couple of months during the festive season and snowy spell you’ve been having in Europe this winter.

Here in the Himalayas we are blessed with warm sunny days as the rest of North India shivers under a dense blanket of fog stretching for thousands on miles from the far West below Kashmir, all the way to Bengal in the East.

The massive Haridwar Kumbha Mela festival only 3 hours away, has already started with the first main bathing day of Maha Sankranti on the 15th Jan. attracting millions of pilgrims. The next important bathing days are on the 15th Feb. and 15th March, which is the most important day of the three month long festival, and are on Amavasya’s (days of the dark moon). There has been a lot of tension this year from the local Govt. and police of Uttarakhand due to the fear of terrorist attacks and in providing enough power and facilities for the millions expected. Haridwara Kumba Mela is quite a different set up from the Allahabad Kumba, having it’s own set of unimaginable human logistics to contend with. I have been to 3 major Kumb’s and one Aradh Kumbh(half) and spent weeks at both of the two major locations, the other two being Nasik and Ujjain. This year I’ll probably pop in for a couple of days around the 15th March to capture some visuals on my Kodak HD Zi6 camera for our Sangita Sounds video archive.

I’ve also been making progress with my autobiographical project ‘Between Worlds’ focusing on the events of 1978 when I was still a full time member of the ‘Hare Krishna Movement’ and the dramatic sequence of events which proceeded the passing of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the founder of Iskcon in Nov. 77 which I was also fortunate to witness. There are very few, if any personal descriptions of this important historical period involving the tricky transition of power in Iskcon and the calamities that followed in it’s wake. I’ve been sitting through the winter months here at Mussoorie in my cozy pad, reliving those events and describing what actually happened and how it affected me personally and the lives of thousands of others at the time. But the ramifications of those turbulent events are now being felt by millions throughout the world due to the vast expanse of the Krishna phenomena that was instigated and inspired by HDG. Srila Prabhupada. I hope to do justice and bear witness to the truth and reality as seen and experienced by me and share that with anyone who is interested in the story of Iskcon, social religious history and a personalised account of how and why it happened and what it all possibly means for us 2010 and beyond.

That’s all for now folks. Must dash.

Peace & Love

Mathura das

Image Credit : Dirk Hartung

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By mat, November 19, 2009 12:32 pm

I’ve been back in India for a month now, and feel I’ve just settled. Although I’ve been visiting India on a regular basis now for over thirty years, and was just here back in May, I still experience mild forms of culture shock every time I return. Each culture (East/West) is so powerfully absorbing, that spending a few months in either completely engulfs one’s being and it always takes some time to readjust to the other world. And they are like other worlds, both mysteriously cohabiting this planet together but running on very different energetic frequencies, historical backgrounds, seasonal patterns, population densities etc. etc.. The list could go on and on, East is East & West is West and all that. But as the years roll by, the cultures are definitely moving closer together despite my own perpetual culture shock syndrome. In India the pace of modernization is so rampant and upwardly mobile that it makes the West (UK) look like a Imperial Relic, floundering through the economic crisis.

My beloved Vrindavana the holy place of Krishna’s divine sports (Lilas), just three hours south of Delhi, has become a victim to this new wave of economic prosperity sweeping over India’s middle classes. Spiritual tourism has become extremely popular these days and Vrindavana has become a convenient pilgrimage destination for city dwellers wishing to escape with their families to somewhere different for the weekend. Unfortunately the infrastructure of Vrindavana is unable to cope adequately with the massive influx of Vehicles plowing into the small town. To make it even worse, work on the roads was left unfinished during the height of the popular Kartick season, thus creating even more havoc, dust, pollution and disturbance than usual.

A new bridge is also being built across the Jamuna river right next to Keshi Ghat, and none of the public seems to know who has authorized it’s construction or why it is there. Apparently there are various parties and organisations both political and non political in the Vrindavana area, that are competing with each other to implement their various agendas and blueprints for the regeneration of the area, and some seem to have more powerful connections than the others and it looks like the more questionable parties have the upper hand at present.

Let us pray to Sri Sri Radha Govinda that some sort of sincere civic sense eventually prevails and that development in the Holy Dham can move with times without completely decimating it’s remaining charm and natural beauty in the process.

Peace & Love

Mathura das

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By mat, September 28, 2009 3:30 pm

The Super Spirit Rainbow summer camp during late August near the Forest of Dean, was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of a magical season that was packed with all sorts of inspiring creative endeavours. Rainbow Spirit is a tribal collective headed by Sid Rowles and his wife Jules, that has expanded and grown over the last 10 years into a unique community experience. It is the most inclusive type of gathering I’ve ever been to in years of visiting English festivals. There is something for everyone of all ages, from tiny tots to teens and grandparents. They have managed to develop a wonderful understanding of what creates, makes and sustains a community event, and how to get the most out of it by wisely utilising the Rainbow symbol and perspective of unity in diversity.

Rohini, Fenula and family provided one of the most beautiful versions of the ‘Radha’s Grove’ sacred space ever, for our non aligned Krishna collective to congregate and make mystical merriment. Many wonderful, chants, bhajans, pujas and arotics streamed constantly from Radha’s Grove throughout the Rainbow Camp, mingling with other joyful sonic creations from other micro tribes dotted around the picturesque hill top site.

I felt honoured to be invited by Jules to give a work shop on the sacred sound traditions of India and equally blessed to share my experiences in Radha’s Grove with my friend and co-producer Darren. We ended our presentation with a small world premier of our new album ‘Ashirvad’. Even though it was played on a small ghetto blaster the audience were blown away and gave us more ‘blessings’ (ashirvad) to complete our project.

Sangita Sounds studios is in preparation for a move from London to Glastonbury in the West Country in the middle of November. So we decided to move the essential studio equipment in advance down to our dear friend Jagganath’s house near the Mendip hills not far from Taunton, where we were going get the mastering done. John Dent of LOUD MASTERING in Taunton Somerset came recommended by two of my friends, Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker and John Leckie the award winning record producer, so we knew we would be in safe hands.

Continue reading 'The Rainbow Spirit camp and the final mastering of ‘Ashirvad’'»

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By mat, August 9, 2009 1:01 pm

“We refuse to be, what you wanted us to be, we are what we are and that’s the way it’s going to be.”   Bob Marley – ‘Babylon System’ from the album ‘Survival’.

30,000 active participants of the British ‘Alternative’ counter culture collective have just experienced a very peculiar situation. Regularly for over ten years now, around the end of July, thousands of dedicated, caring, creative eco enthusiasts have been coming together to share and celebrate alternative lifestyle options as a way of expressing our democratic rights to be who we are. Unfortunately the last minute cancellation of this year’s BGG by elements within the local Mendip council and Police force, in cahoots with the central Govt. has shocked many reasonable peace loving people by unmasking the true nature of the rapidly encroaching fascist police state developing here in the UK..

One of the ways the Babylon System uses to control and manipulate the masses is by limiting their rights to congregate en mass, as it is an extremely frightening prospect for control freaks who absolutely loathe any type of threatening force that stands in the way of their various nefarious modus operandi. So you can see how scared they are of the largest bunch of hippy types getting together to do their own thing. They’ve been scared of the Alternative type of persons refusal to be taken in and milked by the System since the late sixties, and now that the world is in crises mode and the ideas generated from that revolutionary period are becoming more relevant, they are even more scared than ever. This attempt from the Establishment to thwart our alternative lifestyle options is another proof of how powerful ‘People’ can be in a unified type of state. The reason they are scared of events such as the BGG happening, is that the people coming together to celebrate and share their visions are clever, funny, well informed, creative, spiritual, motivated, and have an immense influential power potential in the synergistic amalgamation of their combined collective.

‘As above so below’ as the old saying goes. While all this underhand manipulation of UK’s grooviest peoples, favourite family week out of the year was being carried out with smug smiles from the masonic brotherhood, the stars and planets were lining up into rare configurations, indicating the seeds of revolutionary upheaval ready to rise again in full force for next year’s 2010 major summer Planetary Alignment. Things are stirring in the heavens and the micro cosmic reflections on Earth indicate a developing of radical energy shifts away from and in conflict with the ‘Old Order’ that is scared of it’s impending demise as the main force driving the direction of the Earth and human project.

Continue reading 'The ‘Big Green Gathering’ that wasn’t'»

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By mat, July 2, 2009 2:45 pm

The illusive high Summer English madness has re-emerged with a vengeance after a two year break, sending us into that rare tropical mode when the rigid North European Protestant work ethic completely breaks down in the overwhelming heat wave.

With the blessings and assistance of lovely friends, we’ve luckily managed to escape in the nick of time to the quiet and breezy country side to finish off the final mix’s of ‘ASHIRVAD’. Hopefully we will have the album mastered in a couple of weeks, with more focus going towards the cover lay out, art work and more promo video’s.

The second half of July is going to be a busy season, with the Bindoo Babas performing at the ‘BUDDHA FIELD’ Festival followed by the Big Green Gathering. I’ll keep you informed on our developments as the splendour of summer unfolds.

Peace & Love

Mathura das

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By mat, June 16, 2009 3:32 pm

There’s been a buzzy atmosphere brewing at Sangita Sounds over the last week as we temporarily shifted gear into the creative world of video production. As the ‘ASHIRVAD‘ album project rolls towards final completion, we thought it was prime time to give a world wide sneak preview in the form of an entertaining promo video on You Tube.

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