Conscious Paths

Although my musical path was firstly built since an early age by being next to music Maestros  while growing in India, there was a total different training that came later since my early-twenties, when I worked close to some spiritual masters. The first experience was next to Osho, when he was still in the body, who very strongly introduced the significance and importance of incorporating music in...

What is the character of a Guru? Do we need a Guru? The One who brings us out of the darkness into the light is called a Guru, a wise, eyes-opening guide in one's life. In a journey of a seeker of truth, the figure of a Guru is extremely important because he/she has already crossed that path in which we find ourselves at the moment. A Guru is not a theoretical concept, but a reality, part of...

If you go to any musical gathering in India, you will see that the playing of Harmonium sounds completely different from what most people have been exposed to in the west. Naturally, to learn anything from a foreign culture takes more effort, more dedication, more time - but one should commit to that process if one would like to learn any art or instrument. Commitment and lots of patience has alwa...

Many times it is believed that meditation is just about relaxing the body and the mind. Although this may be a consequence, it is not the purpose of meditation. Meditation is inquiring about the true nature of the self, dropping ideas and acquired beliefs and ideologies. And an earnest retreat for this purpose should provide the space, energy and content necessary for this to manifest.  In the sam...

Meditation is not about 'doing something.' Yes, we can work on meditation techniques in order to arrive to a more meditative state. The technique will help the cleansing of the mind, the cleansing of the psyche. But at some point the technique has to be dropped, and the real meditation has to manifest. That is, in real life. So even when someone tells me, "i practice a lot of medita...

Interview / Entrevista with Mantra FM 91.9, during the transmission of EL PORTAL. Where we talked about the science of mantra, how to use it, what is the best approach to mantra practice, what is the reality of mantra music, and other information that is very useful to any people who are not from India and would like to learn more about the true science and practice of Mantra. With Spanish transla...

Learning music, and many other forms of arts in India is quite a different experience and requires a whole different approach and mindset than in the western learning path. I used to travel from Pune to Mumbai for hours in the slow and crowded trains to take my music lessons regularly, just because i knew the value of my teacher. And I would just get the direct attention of the teacher for about t...

"The right music can smoothen the journey of a seeker without too much effort. If the person is available, if the person is not resisting, if the person is in a flow with an open heart, the right music can take the listener to a completely different dimension, effortlessly." Listen to this truly interesting conversation between Martin Frischknecht, chief editor of Spuren Switzerland and...

Most yoga-practitioners and asana teachers in the west use the word Yogi, as if a yogi would be an asana (exercise) practitioner with great flexibility and contortion skills. It is the nature of the ego to acquire more and more identities — and spiritual identities are just one more kind of them, "that i am a meditator, that i am a great yogi, that i am spiritual, that i am holy. . ." pr...

India is probably one of the richest sources of spirituality as well as a source of inspiration for spiritual growth in the path of any seeker. The core of spirituality from India is to be able to find the natural state, the true state of being, free from all acquired knowledge and outer conditionings. That is why the masters call it practical spirituality, as opposed to static philosophies and re...

One cannot "do" yoga or meditation, one can "be" in a state of yoga or meditation.  If meditation is not bringing awareness into our day-to-day life, then there is no point to it. Meditation does not ‘end’ after that hour and then we can go back to our unconscious pattern in our life. Meditation is not an activity - it is a journey of growing into awareness, it is a journey of...

Sanskrit has the capacity to express the inexpressible and that's how they came up with the word "Advait." Based on one of the mantras he composed, Shivswarupoham, Manish explains the meaning of the mantra and how it is deeply rooted to the ancient wisdom from India and all its manifestations. Shivoham, Shivoham, Shivswarupoham is an expression of the nature of consciousness in the...

A mantra practitioner should have a clear understanding of how mantra practice works and what to expect, and what not to expect. Actually mantra practice should never have expectation, but instead faith.  The right attitude is to do the practice of the mantra with faith and with all the possible devotion, and not expect any outcome. The outcome is up to Existence (or God) —not up to us. That is wh...

Mantras don't need music. The actual tradition of mantra chanting in India is not really elaborately musically based. So when one composes a mantra, and tries to put it to the music, it is a very responsible job, because the melody, the composition needs to bring and enhance the essence of a mantra — and that's where the element of Indian music comes in.