Krishna Das, That One Man...

I blame Krishna Das for keeping me away from the Shala this morning. He should know that yogis turn into pumpkins after a certain hour. I left at 10 after being there since 7! I was running a bit late so I didn't get to play socialite with anyone but was pleased to see Matthew and India, Abby and her family and Dave and his daughter. Really, the only other folks I knew were the staff from Jivamukti Detroit. There were over 200 people there! The Detroit yoga community is much larger than I often perceive it to be, which is very very Cool. It was wonderful to be in the Bharatiya Temple again. I love the space and feel like I can safely let go and open up there.

So how'd it go? Though it took me a while to warm up, I chanted my ass off last night! I've only been to a few kirtans and though I enjoyed them all this one certainly stood out. I absolutely love Krishna Das' voice and the stories he relates between chants are just perfectly composed. They're short, simple and packed with ideas that have kept me thinking all day today. The energy of the satsang was intense. 200 plus people chanting divine names for a couple of hours will do that to a space. Not to mention that the Temple is really amped up there to begin with. I managed to keep my wits about me for the first few chants, but about half way into it I let go and just rolled with the energy of the music and the crowd.

It was all good until that last "hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare, hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare." At some point in there I found myself in Padmasana, eyes closed, rocking back and forth slightly, with head tilted up to the sky. Then I lost myself, utterly. The whole room went bye-bye and I saw before me the birthplace of stars. Krishna manifest as a bright star exploding from the womb of nothingness into reality. As he came into being the ordered chaos of time was stretched out from a single point into the linear hymen of reality. Yeah, I lost my shit there on the carpeted floor of the Temple. But slowly as the Universe came in to being before my eyes so too did my consciousness return to my body. It was there, still chanting all the way. We shifted beautifully into an "Om Nama Shivaya." At some point here, thankfully Matthew touched my shoulder and grounded me as he sat down next to me. I was getting a bit too far out there and needed to reel it in a bit before driving home. It was a good night. I lit up a little, I wept a little, and I let go a little.

I'll write a bit more about Krishna Das' stories that struck me later, but I want to get this up now so it'll have to stand as is.

Thanks to everyone who made it out, to the Jivamukti crew for putting it together and to Krishna Das for doing whatever it is that he's doing. I tell you, that one man...