Jyoshna - From Nothingness To Empowerment

Tonight I reminisce about my stay at Bethells Beach, Aotearoa and some things I am grateful for (even though its not over yet). I end with a beautiful Prabhat Samgiit sung by Didi Ananda Anuprabha and Tiny Green Island in Irish and English sung by the Sunrise Singers.   

Gunatiita's new kiirtan album began more than seven years ago and its finally reached its completion. In this podcast she speaks about her background in alternative medicine, her work with wind power, her sustainable land project, and her new kiirtan album. This album was written in Sweden and recorded in Brazil whereas her Swedish song album was recorded in Norway, both n...

Emere, an animal activist and opera singer, works ceaselessly for PCAP (Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Plants). In this podcast she speaks about the black back gulls of Aotearoa that are now endangered due to climate change and over fishing. She goes down every day to Aotea Centre to feed the birds, which in the past were pets. Emere also talks about how artists such as her mother, the renow...

Ini has faced a major life threatening illness recently and with a little help from her friends has risen above it to inspire us all with her deep heart wisdom and her amazing music. Listen here to her story and download Ini's Affirmation Album Click here: https://open.spotify.com/album/2BL0XZU40Z8EK9j41vJFSN

Six months ago, we lost Saskia, a beautiful creative woman from our community in Mount Shannon, Co Clare, Ireland. Our Community is small so it had a huge impact on all of us. I am in NZ at present so have time to write music. Here I offer a draft of a song, using her poem and my music. 

'Golden Dawn' or Sonali bhor, and 'New year' or Ek Nutaner songs are the some of the most deeply mystical and empathetic songs ever written. Listen here. 

Dada Daneshananda Fundraises only once a year for his "Every Life Counts' Project for women and babies in the rural areas on Nigeria. His generous sponsor, will match any amount given, so please let's give a little to help those in emergency situations. He speaks with excitement about the Health Cultural Rallies that are very entertaining as well as educational. On the other hand he also says a li...

Didi Ananda Gunamaya speaks about how being in Accra, Ghana is not too different from Brasil but how she has greater opportunity for spiritual growth and surrender here. She runs not only a Children's School "Lotus Children's Centre' but also leads mass feeding projects while Tapatii runs a very successful vegetarian cafe in the region and supports Babas quarters. From having to keep vegetarianism...

Puspa shares some wonderful stories about her life and her inspiring projects, including Memory Cafe and Perculator for the Aged.  She speaks about her involvement with Ageless Grace, a Body/Mind and Movement Exercise. Puspa also sings three beautiful songs with original lyrics written to some catchy kiirtan tunes, and ends with a brilliant Baba story. Check out the Memory Cafe website below&...

Premratna aka Sarah Spence is an amazing woman- she is a classically trained vocalist who loves to sing kiirtan, has trained in many different healing modalities including dream work and Dalian Method for Health and Consciousness, works in IT and Learning, is into astrology and more. Musically she has recorded two solo albums so far and has been a founding member of the women's group called 'Shakt...

When I saw the line up for NZ Yoga day I was disappointed to see that there weren't any female kiirtan players. So I set about doing something to change that. I called old friends, from when I was here four years ago, Sarah, Mel and Fern from Shakti band. They were keen to do something and then Sarah contacted Rachel and Emma too and Mel called Angie. There were ten of us in the end who came forwa...

So the three greatest polluters on our planet are EAT or Energy Agriculture and Transport. Did you know that the temperature only has to increase by  1.5 degrees more and we will be at our tipping point? So what can we do? Jiivan has some great suggestions for the First world countries, who are causing havoc in the Third world countries. In technology alone there is 54 million tons of waste,...

Narada Muni is an extraordinary person with a wealth of spiritual knowledge gained from experience, firm determination, courage and surrender. In the first half of the interview Narada talks the situation that lead to him being incarcerated at 18 years of age. He talks candidly about his experiences in jail, all the way through to when he was released. In the second half, Narada Muni talks about h...

Tonight I share my experiences with my amazing sisters who came to help me get my stuff together, working as a team. It made me reflect on the power of collaboration even in so called solitary activities like meditation. I then share a demo of a new song/bhajan and kiirtan.  

Hiranmaya Henryque Cunha is a young man with a mission. He seeks to share his experiences and to work collaboratively with other musicians.  He's studying Music Therapy, connecting with others in RAWA (Renaissance Artists and Writers Association) Brasil, and experiencing the bliss from  the songs that he's inspired to write since COVID. He says that morality, firm determination and surre...

Sutapa shares her spiritual journey here with poignant humour: how she was so determined to get initiation, her astounding spiritual dreams, how she overcame her complexes in public; how she got the inspiration to sing online every day during the pandemic and much more. She ends with a mesmerising kiirtan from Prabhat Samgiit.

I rarely talk politics, its not my area of expertise, but tonight I want to express something about diversity, it being a natural, expression of identity that cant be denied. I end with a song that I wrote today, a draft only, called 'Respect'. 

 Didi Ananda Gaorii has been a worker in Ananda Marga for over 40 years and today she shares her experiences about her background, how she survived in India during the Emergency, and the work she does as a Didi, including her school in Laos, called Sunshine Schhol which has around 400 students. Didiji also speaks about the aesthetics of art and music, as well as her experiences writing bhajan...

Sukhadeva is wildly passionate about living life with sincerity, with the touch of the divine. In this podcast he talks about how he got onto the yogic path and the transformative experiences he has had. Sukhadeva sings a short kiirtan. I end with a song called 'Lift Her Higher,' which is dedicated to Suzanne Nelson, Sukhadeva's his mother-in-law, who has just been admitted to hospital. 

Anirvan Deva's music is a genuine revolution of the heart. To get there, he went through being in a punk band, to DJ'ing, to breaking down, to kiirtan and meditation to Dj'ing again but in a new style. The sequence of events that happened transformed his life completely. He created a unique style of blended world music, deep beats and bass, sound textures, mantra and the spoken word, a kind of emo...

Today I honour and celebrate this immensely special day 'Kiirtan Divas', when 51 years ago in 1970, Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji gave the siddha 'empowered' mantra 'Baba Nam Kevalam'. I share five poignant kiirtans written over the past 5 decades, each one with a short story behind. Check out the Kiirtan Academy Video here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We-Et-S62-8&t=737s

Tonya or Tapasii as I know her, is an educator and environmental scientist. She speaks about her longing to expand her life while growing up in Tasmania and her longing to become vegetarian and a yogii. These days she inspires youth to get to know and love their environment, to widen their perspectives and include indigenous knowledge, drawing on Maori mythology for example.  I end with a kii...

Manasvinii is one of the new generation of kiirtaniyas. She started off with two kiirtans and now she knows so many and is composing her own. She's dedicated a year or more to working as a volunteer or  LFT (Local Full time worker for Ananda Marga) service projects and kiirtan is her passion. She plays her own kiirtan at the end, with her rich melodious alto voice.  

Dada Daneshanandaji has experienced the most heart wrenching births and deaths in Nigeria, yet he is full of hope and love for the African villagers where he works in reproductive health and emergency obstetric services. He has set up community owned and community Managed projects in these villages. In this podcast he speaks about his work, and also about his favourite musicians at present includi...

I have been friends with Michael and Sarah Lloyd since the nineties. We have done many recording projects together. Today Michael is working on a new album with Chris Banks (Ex Deep Obsession). In this podcast he is sharing his insights into the producers role as he navigates new musical arenas due to covid. He also speaks about his own new sitcom called 'Heaven', something of a radical tragic com...