Daniel Goleman is an author, psychologist and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for The New York Times, reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences. His 1995 book Emotional Intelligence was on The New York Times Best Seller list for a year and a half, a best-seller in many countries, and is in print worldwide in 40 languages. Apart from his books on emotional intelligence, Goleman has written books on topics including self-deception, creativity, transparency, meditation, social and emotional learning, ecoliteracy and the ecological crisis, and the Dalai Lama’s vision for the future.
Ram Dass, also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and author. His 1971 book Be Here Now, which has been described as "seminal", helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga in the West. He authored or co-authored twelve more books on spirituality over the next four decades, including Grist for the Mill (1977), How Can I Help? (1985), and Polishing the Mirror (2013).
Neem Karoli Baba or Neeb Karori Baba, known to his followers as Maharaj-ji, was a Hindu guru and a devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman. He is known outside India for being the spiritual master of a number of Americans who travelled to India in the 1960s and 70s, the most well-known being the spiritual teachers Ram Dass and Bhagavan Das, and the musicians Krishna Das and Jai Uttal. His ashrams are in Kainchi, Vrindavan, Rishikesh, Shimla, Neem Karoli village near Khimasepur in Farrukhabad, Bhumiadhar, Hanumangarhi, Delhi in India and in Taos, New Mexico, US.
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm was an American musician and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, multi-instrumental ability, and creative drumming style, highlighted on many of the Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".
Kirtan is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts, connoting a musical form of narration or shared recitation, particularly of spiritual or religious ideas, native to the Indian subcontinent.
Krishna Das is an American vocalist known for his performances of Hindu devotional music known as kirtan. He has released seventeen albums since 1996. He performed at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where his album Live Ananda (2012) was nominated for the 2013 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. He's been described by the New York Times as "the chant master of American yoga".
Bhakti Charu Swami was an Indian spiritual leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and a disciple of ISKCON's founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Dol Purnima, Dol Jatra, Doul Utsav or Deulis a major Holi festival of braj, Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, Odisha and Assam. This festival is dedicated to Sri Krishna and Radha. It is mainly celebrated by Gopal community of Odisha. On this auspicious day, a deity of Krishna and his beloved Radha, richly adorned and besmeared with colored powder (Abir. In Brajvasi, Bengali, Odia and Assamese, is taken out in procession in a swinging palanquin, decorated with flowers, leaves, colored clothes and papers. The procession proceeds forward to the accompaniment of music, blaring of conch shells, trumpets and shouts of 'Joy' and 'Hôri Bolo' in Odisha. Odia women wash their courtyards with cowdung and decorate with rice powder and flowers. Milk items like home made curd, cream, butter and 'panchamrit' are offered. The people who accompany are offered sweets and drinks. In villages, drinks made of curd are distributed among people and rejoiced by putting Vermillion on each other.
James West, also known as Jim "Kimo" West, is a Canadian guitarist best known for working with "Weird Al" Yankovic. He auditioned for Yankovic after being introduced by Steve Jay and the two have worked together ever since. West can be heard and seen on all of Yankovic's videos, albums, and concerts since 1983.
Sharon Salzberg is a New York Times bestselling author and teacher of Buddhist meditation practices in the West. In 1974, she co-founded the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts, with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. Her emphasis is on vipassanā (insight) and mettā (loving-kindness) methods, and has been leading meditation retreats around the world for over three decades. All of these methods have their origins in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Her books include Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (1995), A Heart as Wide as the World (1999), Real Happiness - The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program (2010), which was on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2011, and the follow-up Real Happiness at Work (2013). She runs a Metta Hour podcast, and contributes monthly to a column On Being.
Santana is an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1966 by Mexican-American guitarist and songwriter Carlos Santana. The band has undergone multiple recording and performing line-ups in its history, with Carlos Santana the only consistent member. Santana had early success with their appearance at Woodstock in 1969 and their first three albums, Santana (1969), Abraxas (1970), and Santana III (1971). Other important core members during this period include Gregg Rolie, Michael Carabello, Michael Shrieve, David Brown, and José "Chepito" Areas, forming the "classic" line-up.
Indradyumna Swami is an ISKCON Guru and a sannyasi for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. He is a disciple of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and is known for his traveling and preaching activities around the world, especially in Poland. Indradyumna Swami shares his experiences and realizations as a traveling monk in his journal The Diary of a Traveling Monk.
Jai Uttal is an American musician. He is a Grammy-nominated singer and “a pioneer in the world music community with his eclectic East-meets-West sound.”
Giriraj Swami is an initiating guru in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and one of the leading disciples of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of ISKCON.
Sas Carey is an American film director, author, teacher, holistic nurse and spiritual healer. She is best known for her four feature documentaries: Gobi Women's Song, Ceremony, Migration and Transition and her book Reindeer Herders in My Heart: Stories of Healing Journeys in Mongolia, and founding the non-profit Nomadicare, which works to support and preserve traditional Mongolian nomadic culture through healthcare, films and stories.
Wynne Paris was a new-age and world beat musician/producer with a special focus on yoga music and kirtan, the call-and-response singing of Bhakti yoga. His live performance combines Kirtan chanting, American music, world beat rhythms and raga scales. He sings in both English and Sanskrit. Paris plays a variety of musical instruments which include the guitar, sarod, harmonium, saz and percussion. Wynne Paris died suddenly of a heart attack on March 22, 2021.
Awake: The Life of Yogananda is a 2014 documentary about the Indian yogi and guru Paramahansa Yogananda who came to the West in the 1920s to teach yoga and meditation. The film is in English with subtitles in seventeen languages.
Mantra - Sounds into Silence is a film exploring the musical and social phenomenon of chant and response meditation directed by Georgia Wyss.
Festival of Chariots refers to the Ratha Yatra festivals run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousnesss (ISKCON). The main event is a chariot procession through the streets. The procession may then be followed by performing arts presentations on the stage and visiting various booths encamped at a park site. The festivals involve chants, the arts, music, and free vegetarian feasts that can be seen over the world but specifically in the United States. ISKCON, commonly referred to as Hare Krishna is a branch of Hindu religiosity. ISKCON have used the practice of Hindu festivals as an important element of Hare Krishna expression, and is a recognisable feature of their appearance in the public realm. Kirtan is an element that is common to all ISKCON festivals. Kirtan is a process of musical worship, that is accessible for group participation and as described by Edwin Bryant as “Krishna in vibratory form”. The practice of kirtan are melodies, mantras, spiritual texts that proclaim God's name in his many forms. The ‘Festival of India’ is the International society for Krishna consciousness conveying Indian expression in the global sphere.
Jahnavi Harrison, also known by her spiritual name, Jahnavi Jivana dasi, is a British musician known for her mantra meditation music (kirtan). She regularly appears as a presenter on BBC Radio 4's Something Understood programme and BBC Radio 2's Pause for Thought.
