This Embrace

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"A brilliant poet, marvelous songwriter, and lovely guitarist, Kirtana's albums have become more magical with each release. I've called her a Rumi of our time, and if you give yourself a chance to listen carefully to This Embrace, I'm confident you'll see why.

Guest artists joining her on this transcendent album include Alex de Grassi (guitar), Spencer Brewer (piano), Matt Eakle of The David Grisman Quintet (flute) and Dennis Murphy of Acoustic Alchemy (bass). A most special guest is Gangaji, an awakened soul who offers satsang around the world.

For lovers of New Age vocal music, it doesn't get any better than 'This Embrace'."
-- Steve Ryals, New Age Retailer

"Kirtana is an artist of many mediums; her angelic voice and brilliant musical compositions are matched by her gifts as both poet and songwriter. Her ability to bring together other talented musicians to support her musical skills is also laudable: Hilary Stagg on harp, Alex de Grassi on guitar, and Spencer Brewer on piano, are but a few who join her on 'This Embrace.'

Yet perhaps Kirtana's most impressive feat is her ability to weave these diverse elements and talents together while remaining true to the spiritual core of the album. Kirtana's lyrics speak of spirituality, from the light and playful to the sublime, with delicate passion. Her voice, as it plays with the instruments, is never demanding but always an inviting focal point in every song. The sincerity of 'This Embrace' is further enhanced through vocals by Gangaji, a well-known spiritual teacher."

For those seeking spiritual fulfillment, 'This Embrace' is not to be missed."
-- Bette Timm, NAPRA

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Tracks on this CD

Be Free

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The fishes are confused
In searching for the sea
Find what you can't lose (she said)
Be free

No where to go
No thing to know
Be before the questions start
And after answers fall apart
In your heart of hearts

Not was back then
Not will be when
Now is where the secret lies
Open-ended like the skies
Before all thoughts arise

The bars are just a ruse
The prisoner is free
Walk out if you choose
No key

Not near, not far
Right here - exactly where you are
So stop the search
You are the one
You're running toward
And running from
Let your kingdom come - right here

Be still
Jesus said be still and see
He said, "I am in the father
And the father is in me."
Be before the self divides
See beyond the ways it hides
Rest where truth abides
Be free

The fishes are confused
In searching for the sea
Find what you can't lose
Be free

Why the Sufis Whirl

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I used to like to read the poems of Rumi
But I did not have a clue
What he meant when he said Beloved Friend
Until I met you
Now I know why the Sufis whirl:
It's awfully hard to rest
With all this love and fire inside my chest

I never understood that last supper
I did not know what to think
When Jesus said, "my body is this bread
And my blood this drink"
Had he merged with all of creation? -
Or found some fountain of youth
Now I see what I thought was alchemy
Is just the literal truth

And you don't need to be a Christian mystic
Or be born under a lucky star
You only need to be still and ask who you are,
Be still and know who you are

And to know the sound of one hand clapping
You don't need to read Lao Tsu
Just look around, look around, this is the sound
Do you hear it too?
One hand clapping, one heart singing
One Being being me and you
Only one unmoving ocean
Where many waves pass through

And you don't need to be a Zen Buddhist
To pierce the heart of this mystery
You only need to be willing to stop and see,
See what is still and free

You don't need to be a whirling dervish,
Or study scripture or travel far
You only need to be still and ask who you are
Be willing to know who you are

I Am

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Before the body, before the story,
before the name
Beyond the mind's attempt to find
or explain
Before the breath, beyond the sense
of pleasure or of pain
And after death, and after death, I am

Within the heart, the whole and part
of everything I see
Behind the eyes, beyond disguise, reflecting me
At the silent core, and yet before phenomena began
And after it, and after it, I am

Many differences separate us
on the surface, yes.
But I cannot find a boundary in consciousness
And when you ask me,
where does awareness begin
and does it end
I have to say, I have to say
I've always been

Within the body, without the body,
not subject to
Changing moods or states of health
or points of view
Without needs before the deeds
and the monuments of man
And after them, and after them, I am

Many differences separate us
on the surface, yes.
But I cannot find a boundary
in consciousness
And when you ask me,
where does awareness begin
and does it end
I have to say, I have to say
I've always been

At the silent core,
and yet before phenomena began
And after it, and after it, I am

My Heart

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Like a field of grass on a hill so dry
That the air won't move and the birds won't fly
When the ruthless sun of your tender gaze
Ignites a spark that becomes a blaze
My heart, my heart, my heart, my heart

Like a lotus pod with no ground to stake
Floating freely on a silent lake
And I can't say how or exactly when
But my guard was down and you moved in
My heart, my heart, my heart, my heart

Like a canyon call when the walls are sheer
And an impulse there is an impulse here
Fill a different glass with the same, sweet wine
And we'll call that yours and we'll call this mine
My heart, your heart, my heart, our heart

Blessed Life

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What a blessed life
What a lucky find
The ending of the search
The stopping of my mind
How can I express
The changes taking place
The only words I guess
Would be amazing grace

And I cannot say how
This blessing came to be
I only know that now
An arrow's piercing me
And so you have my heart
And nothing is the same
I am falling into love
Like a moth into a flame

Though others have appeared
In answer to my call
In ignorance and fear
I sabotaged them all
But from you I could not turn
Where I had turned before
My heart would only burn
If I tried to close the door

Maybe on a dare
But by some saving grace
You caught the desperate prayer
I sent hurtling through space
You must have heard that prayer
For through the dream you came
And I am falling into love
Like a moth into a flame

What a lucky heart
Burdened by the weight
Of a love too big to bear
And what a hopeless fate
To be in the tiger's jaws
Having lost the chase
Dying into life
What a deep embrace

What a blessed life

Who You Really Are

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Could there be more
to this life we call "mine"
than a journey through space
or a story line? -
More to life than the body can sense
than the mind can conclude
from experience
Does who we are begin with breath,
depend on form or end with death? -
Strip away these roles, these names
and tell me what remains
And who you really are,
who you really are

We measure success
by the things we accrue
or the bonds that we form,
or the deeds we do
But these too shall pass,
as hard as we try
to hold on to form; form will die
But inherent in this dance of form
Is the chance to see what's yet unborn
And the choice to throw this chance away
And be caught up in the play
of who we think we are,
who we think we are

This is your lifetime; it could end at anytime.
Where is your attention?
Where is your prayer?
Where is your song?

In a fortunate life,
comes a call to be free
From the cycle of bondage and misidentity,
to wake from the dream
and finally realize
the truth of one's being
before the body dies
So before the final scene is past,
see the screen on which it's cast.
See what's seeing this me and you.
And then you will see who...t
who you really are, who you really are
Who you really are, who we really are

Living Truth

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How many storylines: how many years
Of hide and seek - How many tears
Before the living truth appears
In a form you can't ignore

And when she comes for you, you realize
she's courted you through other eyes
But somehow it took this disguise
To bring you to the door

Where she's standing
With an outstretched hand, motioning
And you don't understand
But you take her lead
For you have no need but this love

She'll still your mind
But steal your rest
By lighting fires in your chest
And like an overbearing guest
She won't leave you alone

If you go with her
You won't be back
And she won't leave you time
to think or pack
You'll be naked, but you won't lack
And love will be your home

And she's standing
With an outstretched hand, motioning
And you may not understand
But you take her lead
For you have no need but this love

How many storylines; how many years
Of hide and seek - How many tears
Before the living truth appears
And comes to take you home

Rivers Run

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Love of my life, sun in my sky, long lost friend
At last you appear, to welcome me here
where I've always been

We meet and I find patterns of mind eroding
And the walls of my heart bursting apart,
imploding, imploding...

Rivers run, for they have no choice
When I hear you speak, I can hear my voice
Calling me, calling me home

How much can I bear and how will I share
this fire you bring me
You ask me to say what words can't convey,
So sing me, sing me...

Dance through my limbs with anthems and hymns
that speak of this love
Make me your prayer lit up like a flare
And fling me, fling me...

Rivers run, ending where they start
When you look my way, I can feel my heart
Calling me, calling me home

How vast is this sky, this miracle I'm beholding
How far can I fall
And still be it all, unfolding, unfolding...

Rivers run for they have no choice
When I hear you speak, I can hear my voice
Calling me, calling me home

This Embrace

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As I fall into this embrace
I feel your arms extending into space
While a love that will not rest
Blows through my open chest

And tears fall from my heart like rain
Like liquid love pouring from the slain
Glistening with grace,
Christening my face

I'll let this love carry me
Down stream like a petal of presad
Uproot and ferry me
From the heart of confusion
To the heart of God

Words fall from my lips but they
All fall short of what I want to say
They gather where it's sweet
Then surrender in defeat

So I fall into namaste
With this life I nearly threw away
And say 'use it as you will;
The tiger keeps its kill'

I'll let this love carry me
Down stream like a petal of presad
Uproot and ferry me
From the heart of illusion
To the heart of god

As I fall into this embrace
As I fall into this embrace
As I fall into this embrace

If I could give you anything

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Is there something I can offer you
As a token of my gratitude
Every gesture seems so small
Still I'd like to try
I could bring you flowers
Flowers would be sweet
I could find your favorite kind
And lay them at your feet
But flowers fade and die . . .

I would rather be the ground
In which a flower's grown
Through which your feet must pass
From which all seeds are sown
If I could give you anything
I would be the ground

Is there some place that you'd like to see
Some corner of the galaxy
Name it and I'll take you there
For I have learned to fly
I could show you azure skies
Or multi-colored orbs of light
Glittering before your eyes
Like jewels in the night:
And they would make you sigh

But I would rather be the space
In which our lives are hung
The silent, unseen thread
Through which these stars are strung
If I could take you anywhere
I would be the sky

If I could only find a way
To tell you what my heart would say
I could finally sing this love
And it would make you cry
But I have never found the words
That can speak this grace
That is why I must rely
On a gestureless embrace
Even so I try

But I would rather be the love
From which attempts arise
The origin of poetry
And of these tears that flood my eyes
If I could tell you anything
I would be the love

If I could give you anything
If I could take you anywhere
I would be the ground
I would be the sky
I would be the love

I am the ground
I am the sky
I am the love

Going, Going, Gone

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Watch the colors consecrate the sky
Like watercolors not allowed to dry
Crimson into indigo
A blush of pink at dawn
Going, going, gone
Going, going, gone

I remember seeking refuge from some storm
Believing love lay with my lover's form
My arms reached for assurances
As if I could hold on
Going, going, gone
Going, going, gone

Like a kaleidoscope
The patterns change; they rise and fall
We can cling to the shape of things
Or find the hand that turns it all

When she died I tried, but I could not find
A trace of her in the body left behind
She danced awhile, and then the life
That lived her was withdrawn
Going, going, gone
Going, going, gone

Can you bear, can you bear
the beauty with the pain? -
And face the truth, bittersweet,
that nothing will remain
Nothing but pure consciousness
Before, beneath, beyond
The going, going, gone
The going, going gone

Like a kaleidoscope
The colors shift and rearrange
We can cling to the shape of things
Or finally ask, what does not change

So I must serve the eternal flame that burns
From which we came, to which all of this returns
On the altar of the infinite
I lay my life, my song
Going, going, gone
Going, going, gone

Going, going
Going, going...