P: As “Mantra Masters”, how has that effected your life... In terms of how it has transformed you? is there a particular story you could share that speaks to that? DP: I feel my whole life is the ‘Gayatri’ because I was born to it - my father and mother chanting it for me during the pregnancy - and teaching me the mantra as a little kid so I sang it every night as a bed time song! The Gayatri is a prayer of the Sun ~ it’s an invitation and a celebration of Light, so that Enlightenment can inspire all of our actions with the Wisdom of the Light. Just like the Sun shines on everything on the planet, the Gayatri shines on every aspect of our lives & it’s illuminating every aspect of life & I love it all; the Gayatri really opened my voice. I was very timid before. The Gayatri really opened my vocal expression - rediscovering & connecting with the Gayatri when I was in my 20's was the opening & the flowering of my being! M: It’s amazing that it’s been with her forever! P: I recall that story you told in Portland back in Oct. about how during your birth the Gayatri mantra resounded the soundtrack! So you’re like the embodiment & emanation of that mantra for us all! M: Yes she truly is! P: What kind of responses are you getting from your devoted listeners of your music? DP: Oh, so many inspirational messages! ... so amazing! Just last week we received a message from a person who said that they were ready to take their life but the music came & gave them back the joy & the spirit to live. It is very powerful for us to contemplate that - very humbling - & I could at least think of many similar messages where people really had some strong intense challenges & the music came and carried them through. P: That’s very amazing! M: You know it also very organic - it's something that happened at the right time, & what I mean by that is that a whole arising has opened out of India to a whole generation o f westerners, & the result of that is what we experience now. When we started you could count on the street the kind of people that would show up at a mantra meditation event - singing in a yoga studio - but now you can’t tell; we go & play in Moscow for instance, and there are 4000 people there &it's like that all over, many different cultures, many different countries, many walks of life, & where we connect is in AUM, & we’re given that Taste ... & many people are now tasting it who knew that there was something more to life & they now find themselves in the mantras - and that keeps their inspiration in tact. ... & that’s where the stories come from. After playing for so many years we have hundreds of messages coming through, even from autistic kids asking for the Gayatri mantra & the teacher is like this has never happened before...!
“What you’re doing when you chant the mantra is that you’re inviting the universal energy to enter into you - you're opening up without effort - that’s why we feel good, its opening up to the Universal Light!” ~Deva Premal