SHYAMDAS 1953-2013 IN MEMORIAM

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EVERYDAY WITH SHYAM MIKE "HEERA" DIAMOND AKA MIKE D OF THE BEASTIE BOYS Everyday with Shyam was a bhav-filled adventure spent in search of God consciousness. This consciousness also was the destination, journey and the sound track. I will forever remember and cherish many days spent with Shyam driving through Vraj and Rajasthan on the back of his trusty Honda Hero motorcycle from one simple rural baithak to another. It was soothing cutting through the warm air on the bike, getting away from the mass of humanity that is everywhere in India and Shyam always had this internal and external bhajan soundtrack going at all times. It was in these very modest temples that we would meet the simplest pure and most highly devotional of all beings. Souls for whom everything was seva or service. All thoughts, all food, all water, every breath was offered to God first and then eventually modestly imbibed as prasad. Shyam was my guide to all. He taught me Sanskrit, a bit of Braj Basha and numerous practical necessaries such as how to bathe in the Yamuna River with a dhoti on, washing the clothes, changing and hanging the now clean cloth out to dry. Shyam was a real life and other worldly search engine for the divine. A tour guide to other realms. He was able to see the lila or divine play at work in all – just as much when he was in the North East U.S. as in the Krishnafocused village of Gokul. There is something that happens around people who are truly comfortable in their own skin, as Shyam was. Others start to feel the same. No matter how different or foreign appearances seem. I mean, we would roll up into small rural temple towns in Northern India, where very few if any Westerners had ever been seen, and after talking or, more commonly, yelling in Hindi, it would be all betel filled smiles and greeting of "Jai Sri Krishna". It was Shyam's great gift that he was able to take this experience along with his absolute devotion to the texts of Sri Vallabhacharya and other saints, and weave them into seamless and very palpable stories for the delight of all who would listen. Shyamdas walking in the fields of Braj, sitting on the banks of Yamunaji, & drumming at his home in Jatipura. Photos by Ally Gopi and Deva Premal 8 Special Issue • Shyamdas ~ In Memoriam
IN MEMORIAM GAURA VANI KIRTANIST & MUSIC PRODUCER, AS KINDRED SPIRITS MANTROLOGY.COM Shyamdas and Gaura Vani On the early morning of January 20th, 2013, a rare and special soul was taken from this world. Shyamdas, world-renowned scholar, author and translator, kirtan leader and dear devotee of Krishna, was killed in a motorcycle accident while in Goa, India. He was there with a group of friends, students, god-brothers and sisters teaching Sanskrit, leading chanting and sharing his deep love for Radha and Krishna. The following note is posted on his website about his final days in Goa: a r i OM...Ou r priceless f r i e n d shy a M d a s j i Hleft this world last night. He spent his remaining hours, as usual, in satsang and bliss with a group of dear friends. On this night in particular they were reading Shri Vallabhacarya’s teaching “Krsnashraya” and reflecting deeply on and repeating the refrain, “Krsna eva gatir mama"… "Krishna is my refuge and destination.” He has arrived at his final refuge and destination now. Shyamdas' passing gives me an opportunity to share my appreciation for him as a devotee of Krishna and genuine lover of God. I am indebted to him in many ways, for, although he was from a different lineage than I am (Vallabhacharya’s line, also called Pushti Marg), he made an undeniable impact on my world by his example of tirelessly spreading the yuga-dharma (the prime spiritual duty for this age) of chanting God’s names and introducing thousands to the beauty and joy of kirtan. Because of this, he holds a place as a very important teacher in the modern age who influenced some of the most well-known and important cultural icons of our time, such as the musicians Sting and the Beastie Boys. He also acted as a link to the sacred land of Krishna, known as Vraj or Vrindavan, for many in the modern American yoga scene, inviting them and guiding them into a physical and spiritual connection with that holy land. So we celebrate his life with this humble remembrance. Shyamdas is mostly known as a kind of divine madman whose kirtans were filled with spontaneity and humor. He was an incredible raconteur and extemporized during his kirtans about everything from current events to stories of Radha and Krishna. He could speak five languages and translated many of the songs and writings of saints from the Pushti Marg tradition, including those of Vallabhacharya, Govinda Svami, Raskhan, Surdas and others. He was always distributing prasad (sanctified food) that he’d cooked for his deities and, magically, always had enough for any last minute guests. He played tennis in a dhoti. He always wore bundi-style kurtas that seemed like a throwback to a bygone era in Indian devotional fashion. He was a do-it-yourselfer and had no problems doing any service, whether it was humble or grand. There are some beautiful stories about Shyamdas’s life and spiritual journey in the book The Yoga of Kirtan by Satyaraja Dasa (Steven J. Rosen) www.yogaofkirtan.com. One incredible story stands out in my mind. He was taken to a psychologist as a young child because he would often tell his family about a beautiful, “blackish boy” who would sometimes follow him. He remembers having visions of this boy throughout his childhood, which were accompanied by a mystical and transcendent feeling. Later he came to the conclusion that this “boy” was actually a form of Krishna, who is also often described as blackish or blueish in complexion. Shyamdas was introduced to spirituality in the 60’s and began reading books on Buddhism and yoga. Somehow from his reading, a very specific question arose clearly in his mind which then fueled his search for a guru and led him to India and ultimately to his life’s work of devotion to Krishna and kirtan. He wanted to know whether God was formless and devoid of qualities or whether he was the possessor of all diversity and all qualities. This search brought him with a group of other young seekers to the ashram of his first guru, Neem Karoli Baba, in Vrindavan. Shyamdas stayed and studied with saints in Vrindavan, eventually meeting his second guru Sri Prathameshji, whom he studied with for twenty years. Shyamdas began to carry these teachings with him when he visited January 2013 9
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SHYAMDAS 1953-2013 IN MEMORIAM

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