alxindia

An eclectic spiritual & inspirational place to heal, learn, feel & expand. Heart & soul first. Miraculous experiences from India as well as the life & times of a spiritual healer/teacher in the U.S. Miracles, saints, sages, gurus, healing, life & death... and more...!

Saturday, April 29, 2006

what the...?


A & angels Om Sai studio06
Originally uploaded by alxindia.


angels?


what do I mean by angels?

see the brightly-lit, glowing orbs over my head? to the left of Jesus?

yes, angels.

Om Sai in studio...


Om Sai group4-26-06
Originally uploaded by alxindia.



but we couldn't record a lively bhajan/kirtan CD alone, now could we?

no, certainly not.

so we invited a few friends... (we get by with a little help from our... hey, who let those ANGELS in???!!!!)

check out the angel forms (digital cameras pick 'em up where the naked eye can't see them) in the photo, especially above the head of James, smiling in the back row, third from the left.

you think there's something TO all this sacred singing?




Om Sai in studio!


IMG_2352
Originally uploaded by alxindia.


more music news:

Alx & Jonathan jump into recording a CD as Om Sai, a Music As Medicine duo....




new Mystic Jamms Band!


IMG_2339
Originally uploaded by alxindia.




so some folks know but some don't -- the old Mystic Jamms Band (and acronym for Jonathan Alx Martin Maya & Sage) is swaha, offered into the fires of temporality as it rearranges and morphs into a new lineup.

our dear friends Maya & Sage, with whom we began The Mystic JAMMS Band, and brought many incredible songs and bhajans, kirtan and mantras to music life, are going off to India to live in Penukonda (how strange! why would anyone want to do a thing like that??) ( ;-) )

and so...

a new chapter of The JAMMS has begun.

here's the new band with its new members -- Martin, Alx & Jonathan are the old-timers, and Carmen & James are the newbies...

oh, they have NO idea what's in store for them as we ramp up into performing our first Music As Medicine concert (May 12th in Santa Cruz) together.

having a tiger of love by the tail!

so, we've had many many adventures with Maya & Sage, and are sad to 'lose' them (as if anyone or anything is ever lost in this creation) for now... (of course they can always jump into the existing or differently existing JAMMS and we can start up a whole new groove... I'm thinking, "expanded Talking Heads," you know, the one with all the extra chorus singers and two bass guitars and....... and.....)

and we're delighted to welcome in James & Carmen.....

hmmmm....

new acronym?

Martin
Alx
Jonathan
James
Carmen..

the MAJJC... ?

Alx

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

om gam...


Ganeshpurples
Originally uploaded by alxindia.

Gam -- pronounced 'gum' -- is the bija mantra of Ganesha; that is, the syllable that expresses his particular soul structure.

it means, chanting gam is connecting directly to Ganesha, to his soul, his energy structure. it's a brilliant practice.

the traditional Ganesh mantra is

om gam ganapathayay namaha

it's just been a Ganesha kind of day.





romping in the cosmos


Ganeshvivid
Originally uploaded by alxindia.
on the Ganesh celebration day, some years ago, Jonathan and I were in Singapore...

(this post temporarily under repairs and construction...)

Ganapathi


ganeshgreyed
Originally uploaded by alxindia.

in my own life and spirituality, I'm constantly invoking Ganesha -- before every meditation, every healing, every process, concert, whatever. this is part of the Indian tradition, and part of the meditation/spiritual life that I learned in India...

so I'm constantly thinking about, saying a mantra to, or singing about Ganesha. it's common, in the Indian tradition, to be doing that.

I also keep Ganesh statues or images of some kind at every doorway in my home and also down one walkway, before people reach the entry door -- he automatically washes out negativity from people coming into the house and gives them a beautiful blessing.

it's a smart mechanism, to have Ganesha greet people before they enter your home -- in India, if you visit a temple complex, you'll see a Ganesh temple in front of the main temple buildings. people ALWAYS go first to Ganesha, then into the other deities.




a few things about Ganesh...


Ganesh
Originally uploaded by alxindia.
people have been asking about Ganesha, the Indian deity who embodies the removal of all obstacles, so I thought I'd write a bit about his nature and his stories, as I understand them...

here's some flavor:

his head actually came from an elephant-demon named Gajasura (whose friend was a rat-demon named Mushika) who got, as demons usually do, a boon from Shiva that he couldn't handle and he wound up dying because of it.

at the same time, Parvati (Mrs. Shiva), the Mother Divine, was upset with Shiva (he's meditating all the time and has no time to spend with her!) because he didn't want children. in her bath, she thought, "well, I can make my own baby, I don't need him....." and she started making, with her own sweat and sandlepaste (from the bath) and some kum-kum (red powder), a little boy, a baby.

that baby was Ganesha.

unfortunately, the lila goes that She set him outside the door to guard her bath while She was meditating.... and Shiva came home from his hard yogi work and didn't recognize the boy in front of the door.... of his own wife....

anyway, Ganesha didn't know Shiva, either, and so wouldn't let him in to see Parvati. at this point, Shiva got enraged and started fighting a duel with Ganesha... and the long and the short of it is that he lopped off the boy's head.

oops.

Parvati came screaming, hysterical... and Shiva couldn't fix the boy again. neither could Mother.

so they sent some Brahmarshis (top Rishis) out to find the head of the first creature they could find, sleeping with the top of its head to the North (the direction of death, when you're sleeping -- not too smart to sleep that way!) and they found the dying Gajasura, an elephant demon... and stuck his head back on the body of the boy Parvati had created.....

and so was created Ganesha.

he's the ultimate siddha, the great great great siddhic master -- Mother's gatekeeper, meaning, gatekeeper to the supernatural abilities....... (which ARE Her.)

relaxation....


kittystyle
Originally uploaded by alxindia.



"relaxation is 90% of success in spirituality."

-Sri Sai Kaleshwara Swami




Friday, April 14, 2006

soon to come...

since today is "Good Friday" in the Christian tradition, and this-coming Sunday is the celebration of Easter.... it seems right to be talking about the deeper meaning of Christ, his life and times. it's been on my mind a lot.

in the meantime, however -- Dr. Seuss has the last word:

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter."
- Dr. Seuss