|
In 1974, I migrated to the USA from Iran, after graduating from high school.
In 1976, I met my first spiritual teacher,
Emahmn
who was actually my paternal uncle. He left Iran when I was born.
He introduced me to yoga, meditation, kirtan, self awareness, healthy eating and much more.
Then in 1978, he took me and three others to India to meet Maha Avatar Babaji (Hairakhan Baba), at his ashram in
the foothills of the Himalayas.
|
|
That was the beginning of my discipleship with Babaji.
Over the next 6 years, I traveled to India as often as I could and spent much time in close
contact with Babaji and his other disciples.
|
|
On February 14, 1984, Babaji left his body. After returning from India,
I spent three years away from the ashram and India. Then I returned to India and continued to visit India
on yearly basis, spending much time learning about the culture and the music.
|
|
One of Babaji's many gifts to me was allowing me to take his photos.
Over the years, I took many photos of him and most of them are available online, along with many recordings
of kirtan I made in Hairakhan, on a website called
Hairakhan.com.
|
|
In 1977, I started studying tabla and subsequently in 1979 & 1981
I had the good fortune of studying tabla with the great Ustad Alla Rakha (Abbaji), in San Francisco.
After that, in 1982, I became a student of Abbaji's son,
Ustad Zakir Hussain.
Over the next many years, I spent much time traveling in India with him, listening to live performances and learning.
|
|
I have been singing kirtan and playing Indian music since 1978
and later I started combining Indian classical music with other styles of music and creating my own
world fusion music albums. In 1989, I founded a world music label called
Eternal Music and since then
have produced and released over twenty albums.
|
|
In 2013, I met
Mahalakshmi in California and we embarked
on our journey of creating and producing music together soon after that.
|
|
