so, our bless-filled usa tour is now behind us.
we said good bye to our road warrior compatriots in new york and dispersed
...never to be the same again.it was a precious experience – a learning curve for all of us – a celebration of a movement in flow, carried on the wings of grace.

for those of you who are wondering how it ever came about in the first place, here’s what happened.

terry mcbride, a rock impresario from vancouver became interested in yoga and heard our music in his classes.
consequently, he called us up and offered to set up a coast-to-coast U.S. tour together with krishna das
a rock style road tour -15 concerts in 23 days...and what you saw was the result...

terry basically bankrolled the tour, and as he so rightly predicted, almost every theater in every city was full - the yogis and yoginis, tantrikas, meditators, chanters, kirtan wallahs, enlightened and not-so-enlightened beings of america came...you came, we came, and we all came together, in the sound of the name

and what a thrill to share the mantras and kirtan in some of those classic rock venues,like the warfield in san francisco, and the crystal ballroom in portland (even though i know some of you preferred the churches).
to fill those dark places with mantras and meditation was of huge significance to me personally.
like many of us, it was rock music that led me towards a life of meditation and mantra in the first place,

and during the tour i often felt like i was traveling in an incredible, unimaginable, full circle -returning to those same rock venues, only this time, to chant the sacred names of god.life sure is full of surprises!

so, here’s the roll call: left to right: archit dave, kd’s mighty, mighty sound tec - always ‘on’ - always herenow, always with a smile.
then deva, kd, and kd’s fine bass player, mark gorman,
who i’d hoped to jam with but, due to the nature of the tour, never found the time,
and on his left, violinist, genevieve walker.

my pal and old time ashram buddy, manartha (caretaker)

here’s manartha chanting in 1976, in osho’s ashram (he’s the one with the beard)

manartha receiving darshan from osho

and here’s arjun bruggeman, kd’s rock steady tabla player

check the hands!

another rock steady element, tour manager paul temple, seen here with mom

beloved nina rao, who played kartals with kd (indian finger cymbals), and a huge part in putting the tour together, with parmita, our merchandise angel

john and susan, our super safe super friendly bus drivers

the one and only nadaraj, our sound tec extraordinaire, in whose safe and loving hands we were cradled, night after night.
here he is - the phantom of the opera - at his mixing desk in the webster hall gig in nyc.

denny, kd crew bus driver turned out to be the best musician on the tour!
he’s a super hot piano player
here he is playing at deva’s birthday party

breathing in your love in nyc, one last time

thank you friends, you, who brought the heavens along

one of the best parts of this travelling is meeting close friends along the way

this is our old friend shakti, who co-promoted the chicago concert

a photo of us at shakti’s flat on our first usa tour...!

with our beloved manose

...and finally, to bed!

thank you everyone, and in the immortal words of beatle john - i hope we passed the audition

"What a wonder full evening at the Webster Hall with you!! Spiritual, warm, soothing, funny, energizing, awakening... Your presence brought such light into that building. Everyone went home with the gift of you... of themselves... especially loved Fly High... the power of our collective Om, and Deva's mantras... santi, santi, santi... come back to New York again, we love you."

Chicago: "What a magnificently beautiful and joyful evening you created with us! Thank you, thank you, thank you! It was such a blessing to share in such exquisitely powerful and peaceful collective vibrations created though your music and chanting... Miten, I absolutely adored your rendition of 'You've got to move...' Ahhhh, a new twist on the blues!!!"

Boston: "Amazing concert, floated home!"

Philadelphia: "Thanks for a great show from a heavy metal and blues guy now enlightened to a whole new world of music."

Washington, DC: "Wonderful to hear so many varied expressions of love... the spontaneity (and fun!) of the blues tune was a highlight for me just as much as the more classic chants."

"Thank you so much for a wonderful night in Atlanta. And by the way I did (not as loud as some) request Gate. Imagine my surprise! I honestly think I had divine intervention though, as I was singing this the moment my father died last December and it helped me so much to get through that difficult time.... "

"Thank you for raising the vibration in AZ last night! Love to you Deva, Miten and Manose!!!"

"Amazing concert in SF last night! I am filled up with the Light of Love & so very grateful to have heard you in person... Thank you for bringing this beautiful healing music to bless all beings! May a thousand blessings return to you..."

"So amazing! What a wonderful time in Portland last night! Thank you so much for sharing your gifts! and Manose! the Tara Mantra....your flute playing made my heart sing!!!"

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