AVATAR EYES — ENGLISH BHAJANS
Give Us the Power (Let It Shine)
Follow the Lord
Giving and Forgiving
Avatar Eyes
Peace Shanti Peace
May We All Be Flutes Within Your Hands
River of Light
Dance Shiva Dance
Love Is the Way
THE STORY BEHIND AVATAR EYES
In 1981, during a visit to Swami at Whitefield, "Giving and Forgiving" was wirtten through me, and was the initial title of this CD. I was riding in a rickshaw and "Giving and Forgiving" poured through me. I instantly knew that Swami had shown me how to write an English bhajan. Sitting down at darshan, I had no thought of what I wanted...other than to quickly write down the words and then hand them to Swami. I did that, and tucked the piece of paper into my shirt pocket. Suddenly Swami appeared in front of me, with his hand outstretched and a smile I will never forget. I handed him that piece of paper, which He received. For the next 24 hours I felt "drugged on bliss." Pure bliss; no thoughts. For the rest of the trip I had the realization that every interaction with every person is an opportunity for enlightenment. When I returned to San Diego, I led "Giving and Forgiving" at the Pt. Loma Sai Center and realized that the last line didn't work. I re-wrote it and then decided to record an album. Even with such inspiration, the bhajan still needed some left-brain adjustments.
In October 1984 I was hit with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), but had no idea what was going on. I proceeded to set up a recording date for December 1984, and miraculously, my energy was normal for the recording. Several months later I would crash into years of dealing with CFS. The entire album took 84 hours to record. The night before the final session Swami came to me in a dream and said, "I know how much you want a house.......send your music to the Pope." The first part of His statement I would not understand for 20 years."Why did he say House, not Home?" I understood the part about Pope John Paul II. I won't share too many details, but the letter you see below, penned by Pope John Paul II, arrived 6 weeks after I mailed it to him.
There was a funny irony that this Jewish-born atheist, who somehow came to believe in God after 2 trips to see Sai Baba, would receive a beautiful letter from a Pope, the first of 3 letters from 2 Popes. Before I mailed the album to the Pope, I had begun thinking about returning to India, and I decided that, if my health returned, I would go to India November 8, 1985. My health did not return that quickly, but the first thing I noticed about the Pope's letter was the date: November 8, 1985. So, THAT was my trip to India in 1985.
Composing does not always feel inspired. As I prepared for the recording of the album, I needed one more song. I sat in a restaurant in Pt. Loma, California, before Thursday bhajans. As I waited for my dinner to arrive, I decided to write the final bhajan for the album. I had written a poem called "Avatar Eyes" and I thought it was a good title for the final bhajan. That final "uninspired" bhajan became the title of this album and it was complete before dinner arrived.
AVATAR EYES is available on Amazon.com. All profits go to International Fund for Animal Welfare.
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