In the evening of the 17th of April, in a village hall on the panoramic edge of Dartmoor, we celebrated Neera’s journey onwards. She was a lovely singer of the communes. From the speakers in the hall we listened to her voice drift round us like the pre-dawn breeze that passes through a sleeping city. We sat and felt the beauty of both life and death. All hearts were touched with love.
The format of the celebration was simple. Sitting with her voice or with silence, a hundred friends and family formed a large circle around a table erupting with flowers on which nestled a photograph of Neera taken after death, along with pictures of Osho and the young Gurdjieff. Then friends spoke of Neera or read or sang for her. Afterwards each person there, in turn, lit a night-light from one candle and took it to place before the photo and to stand with her for a moment of farewell and blessings.
Later a meal was served from food brought by all who had come to honour and celebrate.
And then followed dancing and hugging and dancing and singing and more hugging and more dancing.
Even as we danced to a ten or twelve strong shifting band of musicians, it is a wonder that these old tunes to which we danced thirty years ago have not grown dull, have never lost their beauty, their vigor and their inspiration.
And why? Because they are the legacy of a Master whose perennial teaching inspired us then to start this incandescent journey. The years roll by and this journey brings us nowhere but back to our own individual heart, which is, of course, not ours but the one cosmic heart. The singers and musicians know there is no music but from the heart, and that is the music that was the fitting send-off for Neera, a loved musician.
Neera’s obituary
Last November Neera wrote how she would like her Obituary to read.
It was left sealed unread until she died.
She lived, she loved, she danced, she sang.
She had moments of pain too,
Not understanding that there were lessons being learned,
And yet she would change none of it.
Finally arriving where it all merged into one,
Grateful for the lessons,
The successes and the failures,
Knowing that ultimately none of it matters
And all that is left is love & presence
And if she could say anything, she would say that.
And thank you to all her beloveds
And forgive me for any hurts I may have caused
Through her lack of awareness, for we are all here
Together in this beautiful game.
And always and above all else, touched being, this, now here, the thread that runs through it,
And never dies.
Om, Love... on and on and on... forever.
Neera’s albums:
The Thread Runs Through It is available for download on Apple itunes and Amazon
Baul Essentials available from Dhinraj (pay through paypal button below) – £11.99 including shipping in the UK,
£13.99 outside the UK
Lotus Paradise is an album with Milarepa and is available on
oneskymusic.com
