This month is a bumper one for creativity! We have poems from Rudra on the joy of life and an Invitation to Shiva from Kalyani; music from Praful and Peru album ‘Breathing Love’ and Tantric sculpture from Anil.
Poetry
First are two poems by Sarita’s brother Rudra (pictured left), who recently died of cancer. She says: “Recently I was called urgently to Vancouver Canada, where my brother Rudra lay dying of throat cancer. I arrived just in time to say goodbye, and to help him move into the beyond. He was a musician, a father, a grandfather, a meditator, a lover and a poet who didn’t know what the word compromise meant. He followed his own unique path to his last breath and was much loved by many people. In tribute to him, my gentle brother, I offer here two of his poems:
After Such Dark Fear
Only way to transcend terror just
Face & engage it, not running away
After Diving into Such Dark Fear
Healing Revelations usually appear
Bringing to light the precise plight
Of the suffering soul & what might
Restore wholeness & integrity to a
Splintered spirit so assailed by an
Implacable conviction of unworthy
Traits that only Purgatory awaits.
All bullshit of course. No remorse
For being born, only scorn for the
Idiotic idea of sin contrived to be
A device to control minds, deviate
Destinies via fear. But ineluctably
Lights of Realisation will appear &
Eventually most everyone will hear
The echoes of cosmic songs & gather
To repudiate hate with celebration
And joy-full empathic co-operation
Rudra July 10 2009
Drum Circle
What about the tyranny of time
Supposed to be rushing us to
Death downstream in a dream
We are taught to call reality?
We capture it in polyrhythm nets
Of collective rapture and even
Time is entranced into dancing
The beat of this total moment of
Bliss without which it could not
Even exist, being but a spiral of
Cycles disguised as linear flow
Any Drum Circle can unmask it
With beats revealing the simple
Intricate secrets of synchronicity
Rudra Aug 26 2000
Next we have Kalyani’s poem, an Invitation to Shiva. Kalyani is a gorgeous Tantric healer, based in Yorkshire. See her website to find out more about her healing work.
Invitation to Shiva
Come and walk on my path Shiva,
I saw you arrive from afar.
Let yourself be guided by the perfumes
Of a valley ripe with promises.
Smell honey in my hair caressing your body.
Find traces of sun on my skin.
Lose yourself in the intoxicating fumes
Of the sacred river where you dip
Your fingers and your lips.
Come further down that path Shiva,
Hear the laughter of your heart
Echoing my joy of seeing you explore
All the landscapes I offer to you.
Listen to your pleasure rising from deep within,
Turning your sighs into an erotic melody.
Feel alive again, vibrant in each cell of your being.
Pace your moves on my own ecstatic moans,
Becoming one in the longing and intensity of our union.
Look around you Shiva, this land
Has been waiting for you, patiently cultivated.
Appreciate how the beauty of the soft slopes
Is an invitation for you to rest and find yourself again.
Take in the vibrant colours that make up this landscape,
Each enhancing the facets of your life.
And as you open up to the bliss of being here,
Know that I am, at the centre, watching,
Or rolling, running, teasing and daring you on.
So if you dare to go further Shiva,
Come and tame this landscape through you touch.
Learn everything there is to know with your fingertips,
And let your being receive the gifts I hold.
Shiver as my caresses play in tune with your body.
Let go as your skin becomes incandescent
And radiates divine energy in harmony with all.
Experience and give as one gesture, the sensations
Melting your mind and bringing you close to the void.
You will then be ready to taste it Shiva,
The sweet nectar of Samadhi,
When nothing else matters than the present moment,
And our lips touching, dissolving in the perfection of that kiss.
Recognise that taste in all you eat,
In the ripe juiciness of mangoes.
Offer a blessing for that gift in all you drink,
For the wine that mellows all the hearts.
I am the priestess bringing the gifts to your lips.
I await you with gratitude Shiva.
Music
Praful and Peru (left) are both multi-talented musicians, who together created a divine soundscape of Tantric, shamanic and spiritual music, infused with passion, beauty and delight. Praful is a saxophone and flute player from Germany, who is a pioneer in world music. His soulful music is both touching and enlivening. Peru is an Australian singer and musician, who is known as the voice of mother earth. Her powerful and haunting singing voice is once heard, never forgotten!
They played their only UK concert this year at the Osho Leela Tantra Festival in June. But don’t worry if you missed it, we have a video clip here of a song from their gorgeous album of Tantric music, ‘Breathing Love’. This is a clip of ‘Here I am’ plus some other excerts from their concert in Moscow earlier this year. And you can listen to this audio – Breathing Love-Pre-Listen2, excerpts of songs from ‘Breathing Love’.
Praful and Peru say of their music: “Tantra has greatly influenced our music and creativity and together we have shared our experience of Tantra and love-making on our album ‘Breathing Love’, both in lyrics and music. When we are in the music together, we fall into a very deep space, where the energy of the masculine-feminine, shiva-shakti, unites, carries and plays us.
Peruquois: “The words and the melodies are not thought up, but arise from the direct experience of divine love-making with man, the cosmos and the earth. So singing, for me, is a direct arousal of that sacred energy moving through my body.”
Praful: “Making music is essentially a Tantric experience to me – it’s an endless play and love-making of my male energy with the essentially feminine energy of music – the more I open myself to that energy and become a hollow vessel, just like a bamboo flute, the more joyful and powerful the experience and music become. The real art of creativity is to me, after having learned as many skills as possible, to then forget about these skills, any teachings, any rules and anticipations and let life and inspiration just happen and flow through me.”
We had a wonderful concert at the Osho Leela Tantra Festival – the audience was totally open and receptive, a lot of Shakti energy rising, which is always a privilege to be a part of. Devoted and open audiences like this, which we find at festivals and retreats where people are in a longer process, are our favourite audiences.
From 14 to 20 August we will play at the Tantra Earth Celebration in Holland, where we will join an international audience and group of selected Tantra teachers and share our music. We are excited about sharing this space again with Sarita, who’s one of our favourite Tantra teachers on this earth.
We will also play a full concert in Amsterdam on July 21, at the beautiful venue Studio K.
For more information, see our websites:
Praful and Peru
Peru
Praful
And check out our videos on Youtube.
Sculpture
And to complete this feast of creativity, a beautiful Tantric statue (left) by Anil. Anil owns a hotel overlooking the marble rocks in Jabalpur, the place where Osho studied and taught as a professor at the unversity there, and also where he became enlightened. As well as carving these beautiful statues, Anil also guides people into Tantric experiences using the 64 sculptures at the Yogini temple in his village, including a unique carving of Shiva and Parvati on their wedding day, riding the back of a bull.
Are you a budding poet, author, songwriter, or painter? Send us your creative outpourings (including video clips and mp3s) and mark the email ‘Creativity’.
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