SHYAMDAS 1953-2013 IN MEMORIAM

OBITUARY
HANNAH LILA SELIGSON-SCHAFFER
SHYAMDAS'S DAUGHTER
Published in The New Haven Register on January 27, 2013
Stephen Theodore Schaffer, known to most as Shyamdas,
was killed in a motorcycle accident in Goa, India on Saturday,
January 19. He was 59. A musician, prolific translator
of Sanskrit texts, and author of dozens of books, Shyamdas
was a pioneer in bringing Indian and yogic traditions to the
West. He traveled to India when he was 18 in 1971, and has
lived continuously in India ever since, returning to the States
part-time. Shyamdas wrote the manual on being a free spirit,
infusing his life and all those around him with a sense of play
and spontaneity. Shyamdas first studied under the tutelage
of Neem Karoli Baba-Maharaji who was guru to Ram Dass,
among others. He spent many years studying and living with
His Holiness Shri Goswami Prathameshji, one of the leading
masters of Hindu spirituality. During his time in India,
he developed fluency in Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, and Braja
Basha, translating thousands of pages of ancient texts into
English. He became enamored with the mystic poets of North
India, particularly with the poems of Surdas, widely considered
the Shakespeare of Hindi literature. Over the last decade,
Shyamdas packed rooms at places like the Omega Institute
in Rhinebeck, New York with hundreds, even thousands, of
devotees who came to hear his teachings and chanting, more
commonly referred to as bhajans, a word derived from Sanskrit
for devotional song. His teaching style was infused with
humor, calling his Woodstock community the "bhajan belt"
and sprinkling in phrases like "aum shalom," a remnant from
his secular Jewish upbringing. One of his trademark charac-
4 Special Issue • Shyamdas ~ In Memoriam
teristics was that he was equally adept at making his rapt audiences
explode in laughter as he was able to make them contemplate
the scriptures of the Bhagavad Gita. He touched the
lives of so many with his sharp wit, deep intellect, loving nature
and ability to make even the most esoteric concepts accessible.
Shyamdas often traveled with an entourage, not because
he purposefully cultivated one, but because people just naturally
flocked to him. Growing up in Woodbridge, CT, neighborhood
kids would gather on his doorstep to receive their
marching orders for the afternoon. Outside of his career as a
musician and author, Shyamdas was an exceptional athlete. At
13, he became the state wrestling champion of Connecticut.
Later in his life, he continued to ski and play tennis, winning
matches against people half his age. He was also a devoted and
loving father, son, brother and uncle. For Shyamdas, his spiritual
practice was in pursuit of the bhava, what he described as
"the enlightened, inspired state of pure being." "Bhava creates
in us a direct experience of the unity of all things," he wrote.
To put it another way, he was in the highest pursuit of bringing
bliss and uplifting the people around him through his music
and teachings, as well as everything he did in his daily life.
He is survived by his mother, Gloria Schaffer, who served as
Secretary of State for Connecticut from 1971 to 1978. He is
also survived by his sister, Susan S. Ryan, children, Hannah
Lila Seligson-Schaffer and David Marks Schaffer, son-in-law,
Andrew Geffen Eil, his niece, Mae Ryan, his brother-in-law,
Frank Ryan and his partner, Allyson Kreim.