Being in the Aran Islands this weekend was really amazing and while I was there, this song was just going over and over in my heart. So here it is, Lighthouse on the Cliff, written in the 80s, and sung for the first time in a very long time. It really sums up how I felt in the Aran Islands. 

I was asking myself the question how would Chopin feel,  when the song  Angel came to me, a song about unrequited love. But after singing Baba Nam Kevalam Kiirtan to it yesterday, I now see it in a completely different light. Its also a song about divine love, ideal love as well as human love, where the little soul wants to merge into the Cosmic Soul. The image is of a sculpture by Brendan Rawlings. 

Jyotsna (the Bengali spelling) Dile.The other night, during the storm here in Co Clare, I was singing a kiirtan from the song Jyotsna (the Bengali spelling) Dile. When a song  has your name in it, then of course you take it personally. Thats how I feel about this song, no 3069 of Prabhat Samgiit. The tune from this song is my Default Kiirtan that I sing when I really need to calm myself or just happily going about my day. Here I am singing it for you.  

When our volunteer on the farm asked me today asked me what is "your nearest and dearest one"?, in relation to the meaning of the universal mantra Baba Nam kevalam. I had to really think about what to say...So here's a song Occen.. that relates to my feeling about it, a little story about fearful love becoming fearless love.

Sometimes its hard to feel whats going on in the world right now, especially with people feeling the deep sadness of loosing loved ones, we all feel it. Thats the bad news. But the good news is that in places like Rarh, in India, they believe that kiirtan carries the soul to the Supreme Soul, to its final destination, so thats a very beautiful thought. I am singing a song I wrote for my Dad when he passed away in 1996, followed by a kiirtan. Then I talk briefly about the Course feedback given by some participants today, which I am very grateful for, thats more good news :). 

I wasn't into public speaking at all when I was young, music was the way I expressed myself, luckily. I learnt meditation when I was 18, and I remember how difficult it was to sit for a long time in those early days, 15 mins was my max. When I was asked to speak after group meditation one day, I thought no way! So i went outside and I wrote my first bhajan called 'You're New to me' and sang it after Dharmacakra, 'group meditation'. Here I sing it for you after many years. 

Spending time singing Daspera Raginii with Tinkuda on the back of the motorbike, was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.  This was while doing my fieldwork in Rarh, north east India, a region that is rich in music culture and spirituality.  Today I am singing Daspera Raginii melody for you, which is just a small segment of the actual raginii that is performed with the khol drum tals. The two are interwoven so perfectly in Rarhi kiirtan.  To hear the Kostuka group sing Daspera, with the khol drums and cymbals is something else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQdZLj7Uj6g

71/365 Tiny Green Island by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar has been sung all over the world. It has been translated into many languages including Spanish, Portuguese and Irish. Its still one of my favourites and I have recorded it twice (on Touched by the Sea album in 1994 and Avarta Kiirtan II album in Ireland in 2018) and could keep on recoding it, again and again with different arrangements. Click below to hear it in Irish and English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8xBNtXo1qE

Today on -Ekadashi (fast day)- I talk about what its like to fast every two weeks. I also saw a facebook post about George Stinney Jnr.  When I read about terrible injustices done to innocent people, plants, animals, whatever, it makes me so sad, to put it mildly. It reminds of the song by P.R Sarkar called  Manus Sabai Apan (no 1040 Prabhat Samgiit Collection). So today I am singing this song to keep in mind, that actually racism or any kind of 'ism' blinds us to the reality  that we have so more in common with each other than not, as the songs says, We all eat when hungry, drink when thirsty, love to see the smiling faces of our loved ones., we love the earth, the sun and moon....