"Celestial Good Vibrations" - Mike Love on Ravi Shankar

[Justin]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-love/ravi-shankar-celestial-good-vibrations_b_2403914.html?utm_hp_ref=entertainment

I was in the middle of working on a tribute to the great Ravi Shankar when the news stories of Sandy Hook broke. Like most of us, I spent the next few days trying to make sense of it all. And I couldn't. It's not possible to make sense of something so violent and cruel. The images of those beautiful children and the heroic educators will live on in our collective memory, and our hearts, for many years to come.

As a parent and a co-founder of a school, I understand the enormous responsibility that comes with caring for children. When a societal trust like the safety of school children is so savagely violated, and darkness sets in, it's hard to remember, that there is still some good in the world. When something as evil as this shooting incident happens, we can take some small comfort in remembering the world is largely made up of good people, who work in big and small ways to better mankind for us all... Which brings me to Ravi Shankar...

The best music, for me, comes from three places: the heart, the spirit and the actual locale synonymous with the sounds you're hearing. With just a few plucks of his sitar, Ravi Shankar captured all three at once. You could hear something personal, you could hear the lively villages of Varanasi, and you could hear the heavens.

Around the time The Beach Boys brought the fun and the sun of Southern California to every corner of the world, those stateside began to experience the mystical sounds and the extraordinary culture originating from the Eastern world. Mr. Shankar played a very large part of that important discovery. He brought the world closer and expanded our minds at the same time. His talent, his craft, and his worldwide travels exposed the Western World to the endlessly fascinating music originating from the land of the Vedas- India.

For many, Ravi Shankar was the world's ambassador to the extraordinary ragas and melodies of India. This music was the foray for millions of Westerners to Eastern philosophy and practices like transcendental meditation, which has had a profound impact on my life for more than 40 years.

I was first exposed to Indian music in the spring of 1968 at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Academy in Rishikesh. George Harrison and I both shared our birthdays in India that year, and music was a big part of our celebrations. It was George's personal relationship with Ravi Shankar, and his tremendous interest in sitar (and other instruments native to India) which became the vessel that connected Eastern and Western worlds. Ravi actually taught George how to play sitar. And that sitar sound in Beatles songs like "Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown)," "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Across the Universe" moved boundaries musically and culturally.

Much of the music that came from the East and West during the sixties was about peace and love. And Ravi and George embodied the spirit of this time as well as anyone. They didn't just sing about peace and love, but they lived it. They used their talents and names to inspire positive change. Although he became a musical ambassador to the west, Ravi never forgot his homeland and people -- he brought the plight of Bangladesh to the attention of the world when he and George Harrison organized The Concert for Bangladesh in 1971. Beyond the funds the concert raised, it pioneered the "rock and roll benefit concert" which has had a profound impact on our culture and raised hundreds of millions for those in need. The roots of The Concert For Bangladesh grew into 1985's Live Aid and have continued to blossom in every all-star benefit since, including the recent epic 12.12.12 concert at Madison Square Garden.

I'd like to think there is a grand celebration in Heaven right now, and not to mention some incredible music being played. If you listen closely, I bet you could pick up some celestial good vibrations. Let's hope they find a way back to earth.

[Cabinessenceking]

already in the comment section below the haters are hatin' 

[Rocky Raccoon]

That was a really nice article. 

Surprised to see a right winger like Mike Love blogging for the Huffington Post.

But I digress.  That was a really sweet tribute to Ravi.

[KittyKat]

Mike is a smart and eloquent man. Which makes some of the things he's done at times more baffling. But I'd never underestimate him like some of his most vociferous critics.

[Shane]

It is the occasional thing such as this, that really makes me like Mike.  And I will continue to like him, until the next time he does something objectionable.

[joe_blow]

Great article! He didn't even mention having Fun Fun Fun in it!

[Autotune]

That was a really nice article. 

Surprised to see a right winger like Mike Love blogging for the Huffington Post.

But I digress.  That was a really sweet tribute to Ravi.

You can't box Mike as a right winger. He's a free thinker in the full sense of those words.

[Justin]

Great article! He didn't even mention having Fun Fun Fun in it!

 

[Mikie]

If Mike Love tips any more to the Right, he'll fall over.

[KittyKat]

If Mike Love tips any more to the Right, he'll fall over.

Mike is very pro-environmental and active in that cause up at Tahoe and through the TM people in Iowa (he was environmental czar for them at one time). He's also expressed the view that people who have wealth should help out those who are less fortunate. He has helped out a lot of charities such as schools and funds for disaster relief, though I'm sure he's not into higher taxes if he can avoid it . He has supported candidates who are to the right of his own views, since many modern Republicans are opposed to environmental measures and giving out money to people, but he seems to be more of a center-right Rockefeller Republican type.

[Autotune]

I don't know. He supported an environmental candidate a few years ago, who must have gotten 9 votes. I don't think he's publically endorsed any candidate, although it's true that the BBs were circumstantial friends with Bush Sr. and the Reagans.

[AndrewHickey]

I don't know. He supported an environmental candidate a few years ago, who must have gotten 9 votes. I don't think he's publically endorsed any candidate, although it's true that the BBs were circumstantial friends with Bush Sr. and the Reagans.

I believe he's stated in the past that he was a supporter of the Natural Law Party (which would make sense, as it's a party founded by the Maharishi). He did, however, make enough anti-Clinton jokes on stage in the 90s that it's fairly safe to assume that he would be happier with a Republican President than a Democratic one.

[Awesoman]

I don't know. He supported an environmental candidate a few years ago, who must have gotten 9 votes. I don't think he's publically endorsed any candidate, although it's true that the BBs were circumstantial friends with Bush Sr. and the Reagans.

I believe he's stated in the past that he was a supporter of the Natural Law Party (which would make sense, as it's a party founded by the Maharishi). He did, however, make enough anti-Clinton jokes on stage in the 90s that it's fairly safe to assume that he would be happier with a Republican President than a Democratic one.

I recall their tour manager (back in 2004) telling me that Love was not a big fan of George W. Bush at the time. 

[Autotune]

I don't know. He supported an environmental candidate a few years ago, who must have gotten 9 votes. I don't think he's publically endorsed any candidate, although it's true that the BBs were circumstantial friends with Bush Sr. and the Reagans.

I believe he's stated in the past that he was a supporter of the Natural Law Party (which would make sense, as it's a party founded by the Maharishi). He did, however, make enough anti-Clinton jokes on stage in the 90s that it's fairly safe to assume that he would be happier with a Republican President than a Democratic one.

I recall their tour manager (back in 2004) telling me that Love was not a big fan of George W. Bush at the time. 

He was openly against the Irak war. In fact, other than those Clinton jokes in the 90s -like if there was no reason to- his public statements regarding politics and social issues are on the liberal side, it seems.

[Kurosawa]

Mike's a West Coast/East Coast style Republican which would make him a Democrat everywhere else. Bruce is the real right-winger, he even runs around cussing Obama and stuff.