Integral Yoga Magazine
interview with Sevika - February 6, 2005

INTEGRAL YOGA MAGAZINE : How did you start doing bhajans?

WAH!: I went to Oberlin College and Conservatory and studied during a Winter Term with a disciple of Ravi Shankar, Roop Verma. He taught raga on orchestral instruments. I learned raga on violin. I also began playing tabla, singing with the harmonium. And about that time, I started doing yoga too. It all came together in the same package.

IYM: So you didn't study one more than the other.

WAH!: I was seventeen at the time, and I was studying African music and Indian music and many other things. African music for me was all about community and healing, folk traditions and culture. For me, African music is part of tribal life, it brings everyone together in community, it's the folk music of the people. It's used for healing, for ceremonies, for gatherings. And Indian music is similar in that way, it brings people together.

IYM: Can you speak more about the mystical aspects of chanting?

WAH!: The music that I am attracted to is music that is used for healing and in community. In Africa, it involves drumming and melodies that healers use to invoke various spirits. Indian music can do that too. In essence, it is what I am attracted to, which is healing vibrational essence. The Sanskrit, the deities inject a special quality into the music. It can increase people's intent to evolve.

IYM: What is that quality? Can you describe it?

WAH!: We are beings on earth who carry a density. Just as wood and stone have density, our bones and muscles have density. Solid matter has molecules that move more slowly. Liquid moves a little faster, and gaseous substances move the fastest. Spirit is ether or air - the molecules move quickly and freely. Our bodies are somewhere in between solid and liquid. Sacred music injects some of the faster moving frequencies into our bodies and speeds things up a bit.

IYM: In yoga psychology, it is understood that you have to reach a higher frequency to experience healing. Analyzing and going over events in the mind will give you insight but not healing.

WAH!: Yes. And what I want out of it is healing. All the laws of physics apply to our bodies as well. As the spirit world comes in contact with the body, it changes the body's vibrational attributes. The spirit world is more transparent, more changeable. By sourcing higher vibrational frequencies, healing can happen-

IYM: -by opening pranic channels -

WAH!: -exactly. And then you feel so much freer as a result.

IYM: One of the swamis here is using chanting with the mentally ill with great success. Can you comment on the accessibility of chanting?

WAH!: Yes, it works with everybody! The chants that we do are all the simplest mantras. It's designed for uneducated people. It's not Vedic chanting, you don't have to be a Brahman priest, study hard, or memorize long passages. If you just say Shree Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram while you're plowing the fields, cleaning the temple floors, or making up the beds in your house doing housework, it can elevate you in whatever you are doing. It is the simplest practice. This is why I do it. There are no qualifications, no pre-requisites. Which means I can connect with just about anybody.

IYM: It's simpler than classical Indian music.

WAH!: Yes, all the bhajan rhythmns folk are in 4 beats or 7 beats, it is not intellectual. You just react to it. Folk music is for the masses. In a classical Indian concert, everyone in the audience is learned. After 108 beats when the musicians return to beat one, everyone in the audience is keeping track and enjoys the moment of unity. But you have to be educated to appreciate it. I want my chanting to be very accessible. It must be appreciated by the everyday person. That means it's folk music. What is the folk music of America? Pop. We introduce some pop & folk elements and Western instruments into the music. We use electric bass and the Cuban drum cajon - it makes sounds similar to a drumkit even though it's just a wooden box - and people react to that. We want people to relax and feel comfortable both with us and with themselves. Because that's when the healing happens. Not when you're trying hard to be something elese. It has to be integrated. It might not work for people in New Delhi, but I am not performing in New Delhi. I'm performing in America, Europe, Canada, Australia. Introducing Western elements into the music is a natural thing.

IYM: It's part of being a Westerner.

WAH!: Exactly. And it has to be integrated in a way that makes sense to us.

IYM: Some critics feel that this new brand of kirtan is not as sacred, not the real thing, that you can't even call it kirtan.

WAH!: I think you'll find resistance to change in any arena. Let me put it this way: Yoga and chanting are both sacred in nature. The listener has to decide for him or herself if the teacher/performer is drawing them into sacred space. "Is this connecting me to Source energy? Is it helping me connect to myself?" Each person has to ask and decide. Some of the music out there is sacred; some of it is not. You have to sift through it.

IYM: What is behind your work? How do you experience it?

WAH!: The basis for my work is evolution of the soul. I study all the different forms of yoga, meditation, pranayama... I am a very thirsty soul. I really want to know what's going to help and inspire people to grow and evolve. Intense study, intense practice, humor, and kindness/light-heartedness are integral parts of personal evolution. So I try to study how I can use those elements to help myself and the people I come in contact with.

IYM: And how do you approach it personally?

WAH!: My husband says I am a Type A spiritual personality. I am driven by my desire to find ways to access our spiritual nature. I have been that way my whole life. Krishna Das once said, "Wah! you have no boundaries!" And it's true; it's both a strength and a weakness. Things of the spirit move quickly; they're transparent. For someone who is trying to be less dense, having no boundaries seems essential. Translating into life, it means that I have put myself in all kinds of situations in order to experience that growth. For me, spiritual growth is placed above everything in my life.

IYM: Do you have a guru?

WAH!: Yes, but I am not sure I want to reveal Her name. I don't want to add to the spiritual shopping market. Her nickname is Amma. www.amma.org She really is quite amazing, what She does and who She is...

IYM: Is chanting something we can do to help those in need, specifically the victims of the Tsunami disaster?

WAH!: Chanting is a practice you do for yourself. Seva is the practice of giving of yourself to benefit others, and you can do that in any number of ways. We had lots of benefits all over the country - dinner parties, chamber music, I did chanting. You do whatever you already do, and allow that to help others.

IYM: You will be leading a weekend at Yogaville in August. What can people look forward to?

WAH!: Great chanting at night, yoga in the morning, and meditation and discussion in the afternoon. Those are the basic elements and then it varies slightly from workshop to workshop according to who comes and what they want to get out of it.

IYM: In your opinion, why has chanting experienced a Rennaisance in this country?

WAH!: There was a big media blitz several years ago. Was it the celebrities who made yoga popular or was there divine intervention in the first place that allowed the media blitz to happen? I think people had a genuine longing and that's what brought yoga and chanting mainstream. Now it's accepted, it's on every corner. People are not afraid to try it. There is a genuine longing to embrace more light. We're out of the Dark Age now; the Kali Yug ended in the 1700s. (see www.thegreatyear.com) As we move towards the Golden Age, we need to embody more light. How are we going to do that? Through yoga, chanting, 12-step programs, eye movement therapy, neurolinguistic programming, counseling. It's great that all these techniques are out there, including yoga and chanting. People feel more comfortable to try these techniques and they really do work, they have an effect.

IYM: We look forward to having you at Yogaville.

WAH!: Thanks, it's going to be a lot of fun.