Mirabai and Friends
Based in the San Francisco area, Kirtan artist and yoga teacher, Mirabai, offes her unique expression of chanting, singing, and performances for special events, yoga studios, and centers all over the Bay Area.
In September 2007, Mirabai (accompanied by her friends) offered her soulful Kirtans for an evening of darshan with Louix Dor Dempriey at the Open Secret Bookstore. This was one of the first events which inspired the documentary A Great Awakening. Her chant Loka Samasta accompanies a three minute video montage of images and footage from that evening, other events during that period, and archival footage from the Louix Dor Dempriey Foundation.
With guitar and vocal background in folk and jazz, and Kirtan studies with Sargam Shah and Jai Uttal, she uniquely blends Indian Sanskrit chants with her own Western-fusion melodies. Enjoy some samples of her live performances.
Ganesha Sharanam - 5:48 (Mirabai & Friends)
Hamuman Bolo - 8:04 (Mirabai & Friends)
A Bittersweet Farewell…
This past week has marked the passing of two more important events in the life of this documentarian: the departure of my beloved Sylvia to Australia, and the latest recording session with Joel. Needless to say I am quite emotionally raw, but I also feel as if some big inner changes are at work, and on that level I feel really good.
The recording session was one of the best that I have ever been involved in. It was ease, grace and flow the entire way and we came out with four of the ministry’s standard bhajans (a bhajan is a form of Indian spiritual chant) that they sing in their Kirtans (a form of Indian sing-a-long). I was really impressed with the harmony between the group members. Normally, these sessions are wrought with ego clashes and arguments but with this group it had more of a love-filled, campfire feel. We go back into the studio next Friday to add the finishing touches and master the tracks. I can’t wait to do the next round of recording with these guys, it is really an awesome, God-filled experience.
Sylvia is currently mid-air, somewhere over the Pacific, probably watching a movie or trying to sleep. Her departure was definitely different than I had expected. I pictured your standard movie scene where there is a teary good-bye and sad music playing in the background, Sylvia ascending up the escalator, crying and giving those last-look-back glances as I stand there watching her leave. It was not like that at all. We waited for the hour between checking luggage and boarding the plane sipping chai and enjoying each other’s company. There were no dramatic words said, no teary confessions, just normal life stuff, a few laughs, some talk about the details of communication abroad and a lot of hugs, hand holding, and meaningful, loving eye-contact.
The whole experience was very bizarre. We were having a very intimate, quiet, God-filled parting moment, sitting amidst fake palm trees with camouflaged loud speakers attached to them, neon lights, Malaysian tourists devouring Mc Donald’s burgers, and right behind us a group of people toasting their upcoming vacation in a faux-Tex-Mex cantina, Margaritas and Coronas in hand. All of that seemed entirely surreal, like we had walked into some strange postmodern cartoon surrounded by caricatures of a lifestyle I had all but forgotten, and here we were, holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes as if nothing else existed but each other and the timeless moment between us.
When it came time to part, we whispered our love into each other’s ears and affirmed that we would see each other soon, and that was that. She went through security and I made my way home. It wasn’t until this morning that my tears were able to catch up with me. Even those tears weren’t tears of missing Sylvia, so much as a lifetime of tears and pain of separation from feeling unconditionally loved, and tears of joy from the knowingness that my separation was finally over. I finally have everything that I have ever wanted from life, and I felt as if I had arrived. I wept for joy at finding my way home, I wept the tears I could not cry when I felt alone, I wept with the feeling of pain at being separated from my beloved, and I wept for joy at the blessing of having been gifted the two most important things anyone could ever receive in life: my guru, and my beloved.
Now it is time to get back to life-as-usual, which has felt quite difficult. I have a feeling that this week might feel rough. We’ll see. Right now I just feel empty, good empty, but empty nonetheless.
My Vision
I see humanity coming together in a spirit of peace and harmony.
I see a laying down of arms, an extending of brotherhood, an outpouring of unconditional love.
I see eyes shining with compassion, hearts opening in empathy and hands reaching out.
I see nations rising, not to conquer or invade, but in support of one another, in solidarity.
I see an equal distribution of abundance and wealth, resources dispersed and shared. Individuals tithing, fulfilling the law of creation.
I see boundaries and racial divisions disappear. Discrimination and prejudice of any kind can not be sustained in a world where your neighbour is seen as yourself.
I see Mother Earth nurtured and sourced by loving children upon Her lands.
I see Her restored to Her former glory, honoured and cherished as the early native peoples showed us how to honour Her.
I see prayers offered up, permission sought before even a single piece of fruit is plucked from one of Her trees.
I see Her glowing and vibrant and shimmering, a prized jewel in the universe, adored and revered by all beings upon Her and admired and respected by beings of other worlds.
I see God in all His/Her forms as held by all faiths and beliefs merge and blend into One. Allah, Yahweh, All That Is, The Holy Father, The Great Spirit, are all perceived as one and the same. And the Bible, the Koran, the Gita are celebrated as aspects of that Oneness.
I see goodwill to all men 365 days of the year.
I see Heaven on Earth.
The Once and Future King
God is reclaiming dominion of this planet.
He extends His hand in peace to you,
if you choose not to accept it you will be brought to your knees by your own refusal.
For long now we have been beguiled by the world,
plundering our souls, defiling our divinity, pillaging our destinies,
desecrating them to a mere fragment of what they were meant to be.
For too long now, we have betrayed our Lord and King with earthly desires and attachments,
with baser temptations that leave little but a hollow return.
The time has come.
We must all seek the Holy Grail,
embark on that journey within to commune with the Christed One,
the shining light in the darkness of our willfulness and ignorance.
The Druid priest has the power to end the battle before it has begun,
if we will allow the rebuilding of Camelot –a new strength, a new life, a new commitment.
He has come for us in our time of need at our bidding and we will not be bereft of His guiding hand,
unable to feel the great love He has for us or the great peace that He offers for the asking.
If we choose to silence the warring factions that keep us from Him,
the petty kings that swear their oaths only to the altars of self,
the insane voice of vengeance that pits son against Father
though He stands guiltless of any transgression.
The once and future King has returned
and unconditional love is reclaiming dominion of this planet.
The prophecy will be fulfilled.
Big News…
This past weekend the most beautiful and amazing event of my life occurred: on March 7th, 2008 Sylvia and I were formally betrothed to be married! I have never been so happy, ever, in my whole life, and am so excited to spend the rest of my life with her. This is one of those life moments where you are not quite sure how to feel. You are so overwhelmed by it all that you walk around blissfully with a dopey grin on your face and giggle a lot. My family was very happy for me, and the wedding will take place after the ashram moves to Maui. The thought of getting married on a beach in Maui is incredible, and I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to have such a fairy-tale wedding. Nothing that I could have ever planned for myself in a million years could come close to how this romance has played out; it has been absolutely magic every step of the way. I am so excited to think that the wedding will fall within the yearlong scope of the film, and it stands to make a pretty cool ending!
I met Sylvia the same day I started work on this documentary, and from the first time I laid eyes on her I knew that she was the one. I know that that sentiment has become overused and cliché, but in this case it is one hundred percent true. It may sound fantastic, and trust me it felt fantastic in the moment, but when we were introduced for the first time at the Medicine Buddha Temple in San Francisco, where I was living at the time, time froze and I had a vision where in front of my eyes she was transformed into a Hindu woman dressed in a lavender sari, complete with bindu and vermillion in the part of her hair.
I was seized with the intense feeling of what I now know as Shakti, the primordial creative energy of the universe. It felt as if my whole body was vibrating and as if light were pouring into every cell of my being. My hands and feet began to tingle and pulse, I began to sweat, and my mouth went dry. These words hardly do the sensation justice, but they will suffice to give you an approximate understanding of what it was like. In the moment it felt as if years had passed, but I awoke as if from a deep trance, and realized that she was approaching me for a nice-to-meet-you hug.
As I hugged her, my body felt as if electricity were running through it and I felt quite embarrassed and confused, not understanding what was going on. Then a total calm descended on me and I experienced the knowingness in every cell of my being that this was my wife. My mind, though, too afraid to admit the full implications of the experience, immediately assumed that what I was experiencing was a past-life memory, and I became mentally convinced that she had been my wife in a past life. This was easier for me to handle than knowing that she would be my wife within six months, which is how long ago that experience took place.
I spent the rest of that week working with her in close quarters, as she was Pranananda’s personal assistant on that trip, and I was unable to say anything to her. We barely even spoke. Our relationship really began when I visited the ashram for the first time a month later, but that is a story for a different blog.
I want to thank all those in attendance at our betrothal for their love and support in sharing that amazing experience, which is also a story for another blog. I really appreciate all the support I have received from everyone, and look forward to starting a family in this beautiful community.
Zimmaron Zsido – Producer, CEO
Zimmaron has produced and filmed events worldwide. In the past ten years, he has produced and managed tours, conferences, seminars, and pilgrimages in Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, India, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States.
He has organized fundraising and sponsorship campaigns, involving extensive marketing, research, and development, and has worked with all forms of media, including magazines, Internet, radio, and television. He has also served in prominent positions within many corporations, including the Louix Dor Dempriey Foundation, where he now serves on the Board of Directors.
Zimmaron has an insatiable desire to uplift humanity and share with the world the profound transformation that he has witnessed in his own life and in the lives of others. Through his dynamic creative energy he has the uncanny ability to bring the most profound and abstract visions to life in a way that is accessible to all. His ultimate goal is to produce projects that benefit, inspire, and enlighten people of all walks of life.
Back in Laguna Hills
This past weekend in New York was a whirlwind and it seemed like time stretched itself out so thin that you could see through it. The retreat and Darshan event were amazing, and very powerful energies abounded. I had my first ever-public Shakti experience (on tape no less), which was both amazing and quite cleansing. Toward the end of the experience (I cannot say how long it lasted, as time was meaningless while the energies were moving) Zim and I devolved into a laughing fit that lasted, off and on, all night. Alex Grey’s Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) was one of the highlights of the trip and it was absolutely breathtaking. His paintings are so detailed and beautiful, each one is its own journey. To where? That depends on who is looking at it. I would love to go back, and if any of you have never seen his work, check him out at alexgrey.com. We stayed at an old Jesuit monastery on Staten Island, which was recently turned into a retreat center. Everything about the center felt old. You could feel the spirits of the monks walking the halls, the laughter of the children playing before Catechism, the soulful moaning of bagpipes accompanying another soul on its journey to heaven. It was a gorgeous property that reminded me of the school Holden Caulfield goes to in Catcher in the Rye. The weather was bitter cold, it even snowed one evening, and all of the trees stood naked, as if they too were remnants of the past. There is something about visiting the East Coast, especially places like this. They are filled with history. All in all we made a lot of new friends and had a wonderful time. Now it is back to work to get this DVD out. There isn’t much left to do, so look for it by the end of the month.
The Story
A passionate young man, disillusioned with the world and its trappings, embarks on a journey of self-discovery that takes him to the far corners of the world…. Unwittingly, he finds himself on a spellbinding—and often challenging—journey with a spiritual Master, who propels him into a world of miraculous healing, other-worldly beings, ancient wisdom… and the experience of Enlightenment itself.
Throughout the ages, great Masters, mystics, and sages have walked the Earth, sharing ancient wisdom and teachings to enlighten humanity into a new way of being: to live in accordance with the universal laws that govern Creation, to live as unconditional love, and to experience true, lasting inner peace and joy. Many such beings changed the course of history, their legacies becoming the foundation for many of the world’s religions and spiritual beliefs, while others were persecuted because of the fear and ignorance of those around them.
A Great Awakening is the amazing true story of Zimmaron Zsido, a young man whose personal spiritual quest leads him on an extraordinary journey of self-discovery and into an unorthodox and intensive spiritual training program. His personal relationship with his Master exposed him to many of the inner workings of the Guru/disciple relationship, as well as the infinite tapestry of his Master’s omniscience and how it can safely guide ones into the deepest, darkest, recesses of their psyches and emerge victorious.
From the wilds of Mt. Kilimanjaro, to the Pyramids of Giza, the sun-burnt Australian Outback and the spice-laden bazaars of India, to the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan, the film follows Zimmaron’s personal pilgrimage all over the world, and documents the profound miracles and blessings he both experienced and witnessed in countless others. Interspersed with interviews, eyewitness accounts, reenactments, state-of-the-art special effects, and archival footage spanning over 10 years, this film is about the triumph of the human heart.
A Great Awakening illustrates humanity’s quest to discover its true spiritual heritage. It is a message of hope and a quest for unconditional love, told through the life experience and personal journey of one man who gave up his dreams and the world he knew to dedicate his life to following Louix Dor Dempriey’s living example of peace, love, and joy. The film demonstrates how the power of one so dedicated and committed to his personal transformation, can change not only his own destiny, but the destiny of the whole planet.
