Every Day Yoga by Tara Stiles
One Time at Yoga Camp…
I heard Krishna Das
Jul 16, 2008
I thought chanting was weird…and then I heard rock star KD.
I heard someone in a workshop say to KD, “I’ve gotten waves of
advancement in my practice, like I’m becoming more enlightened. How do
you know when you are becoming a more advanced yogi and more
enlightened?” His answers crack me up because he tells it like it is.
My mid-west sensibilities are right on the page with that. He says
thing like, The Dalai Lama doesn’t run into the bathroom when no one is
looking, jump up and down and shout, “I’m the Dalai Lama, I’m the Dalai
Lama.” It’s not about becoming more spiritual than the next person, or
being able to do a headstand or a hand stand. He says when you start
to see yourself as separate or better than anyone else you’re on the
wrong path. I think that is a huge message.
His voice sounds like Tom Waits; low, raspy, and full of soul. He says
his chanting is an offering, a prayer. It’s his gift, talent, karma,
however you want to put it. He talks a lot about how he wanted to be a
rock star when he was younger. How that got him into a lot of trouble
and he moved to India with no thought of coming back. He says, “I
wasn’t coming back. I gave away my blue jeans.” He credits his guru,
Neem Karoli Baba, with where he is with his singing now. He said Baba
told him he had to go back to the states. KD didn’t want to but he did
anyway. Now, he is the rock star he wanted to be.
Go to his website.
