I'm listening to him right now. He's real good. And every now and then, when I listen to Indian music ... when the cosmos is lined up just right ... when the stars are smiling their toothy smiles at me ... I get it. For a brief instant, out of nowhere, I am the receiver of some divine particle of knowledge and understanding of the innermost workings of the universe. God, it's incredible. By the way, if you didn't know, Ravi Shankar's daughter Anoushka also plays the sitar and she's even better than him, in my opinion. And as an aside, she's also so beautiful she takes your breath away.
I saw Anoushka in concert here at the University. She is great. Ravi's other daughter, Norah Jones is quite good also.
I'm glad someone here got something out of this music other than "oh wow man that is trippy shit" From Wikipedia: Ravi Shankar has been critical of some facets of the Western reception of Indian music. On a trip to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district after performing in Monterey, Shankar wrote, “I felt offended and shocked to see India being regarded so superficially and its great culture being exploited. Yoga, Tantra, mantra, kundalini, ganja, hashish, Kama Sutra? They all became part of a cocktail that everyone seemed to be lapping up!”
Oh, lucky you, Spud! She's not coming anywhere near me this year or next, unfortunately. And I definitely agree with you about Norah Jones. I'm glad someone here got something out of this music other than "oh wow man that is trippy shit" LOL ... I haven't heard anyone say something like that in a long time.
If you have the chance, listen to the Concert for Bangladesh (George Harrison and Friends). Ravi Shankar opened the concert. Before he got started, George Harrison talked about indian music and asked the crowd to be polite and "get into the indian music." Ravi comes on and introduces the musicians and asks the crowd to refrain from smoking. The music starts. It sounds great and lasts about a minute. The audience claps - they love it. Ravi says, "thank you, but we were only tuning our instruments." The point being, "that was some pretty trippy shit, man!"
"thank you, but we were only tuning our instruments." LOL ... well, that's all most of us are doing, Spud ...
The Vibrations that the Sitar reaches taps in to the cosmos with a frequency that creates a tunnel into your consciousness. It alines the vibrations with the universal flow and we are then harmonized and in tune with the ALL. It's all about vibrations and frequencies. That's why you feel so in tune while listening to the Sitar. If you do Yoga while listening to the Sitar, it becomes a whole new experience. Bright Blessings on your journey sh
I have also experienced the same thing while walking out in the desert. Suddenly, without warning, I will feel an incredible sense of union with the earth and the universe. It's only happened a few times, and for just a few seconds at a time, but it's like ... all the living things out there become my brothers and sisters .. the plants, the animals, everything. I look at a saguaro and it winks back at me and says "hiya". I don't mean literally ... I don't hallucinate ... but spiritually I feel a sense of intimacy with all the living things out there. This feeling is elusive. You can't bring it on consciously. Or at least, I can't. But maybe it's possible ... maybe that's what the mystics have been trying to tell us for centuries.
I agree, Ravi is the sitar god. They actually make a sitar guitar now, I'm saving up for a bass and the sitar guitar.
It's easier to 'connect' in still quiet places. The dessert is like the ocean. They hold certain energies bc there is no interference in the vibrational flow between the Universe and Earth. It's Chrystalene in it's purity and in it's most potent form. It is in it's own perfection. As we are part of this creation of energy/frequency/vibration we are immersed and quenched in it. We feel full and content in the inner connection of Life Force, liquid and pulsating. The Sitar grabs your soul and takes it to the cosmos. Wow, I feel it inside me as we speak. Once you 'feel' it you always remember.
Normally, I get my "vibrations" from another source ... *giggle* ... but yes, I totally know what you mean. It wasn't an accident that Jesus went into the desert to seek God.
Yup' pretty tough for western ears to find pattern in those ragas. They don't seem to have a beginning or end. Very complex shit, if you ask me. Very cool, indeed. ZW eace:
I'm in Missoula, a cool little hippie collage town, but I lived in Denver till about '82. I spent about a year in Tucson '86-'87 or so.... loved the desert, hated the cops!
Cool! I'm just so used to people who barely know where Montana is much less Missoula. I wish I was in Tucson today though. It's a goddamn winter wonderland here... Actually I wish I was in Baja, eatin' fish tacos on the beach!!! :cheers2: Happy holidays eace: ZW
mmmm ... yes! It's not a winter wonderland here today, but storming. It's nice to have storms that don't involve snow.
This is some funny shit... I was recently traveling in India and a lot of the young men wear WWE shirts. They give us all the things listed above and we give back The Undertaker.
