Return the River
The forgotten lineage — Faria · Bengal · Braid
The science of the healing trance did not begin where the textbooks say. Its founding insight crossed the ocean with the Abbe Faria of Goa — the power sleeps within the sleeper; its first great harvest was gathered in Bengal; and its meeting with yoga came when a surgeon read of a yogi's wintered breath. This song is the album's act of restitution: fado for the sailor, baul textures for Bengal, harmonium gathering everyone in — the river carried home, ending in pure kirtan joy.
Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings everywhere be happy and free.
Traditional Sanskrit blessing
What healed you came from somewhere. Say thank you by passing it on.
A son of Goa crossed the water With one lamp hidden in his coat "The power sleeps within the sleeper No iron wand, no master's stroke" In Bengal courtyards, trance was medicine Hands of the land, names history lost And far away a northern surgeon Read of a yogi's wintered breath Return the river to the mountain Carry the song back to its source The science of the healing whisper Comes home along its oldest course Let it come home... let it come home For every book that kept the treasure And lost the names of those who gave We speak them back into the morning We bring the river to the wave Not to take, and not to tame We lay the science on the altar We bow, and speak the older names Return the river to the mountain Carry the song back to its source The science of the healing whisper Comes home along its oldest course Let it come home... let it come home Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu (May all beings everywhere be happy and free) Home... the river remembers Home
The song, the book and the research are one teaching entering through three different doors.
Listen to all twelve songs here, with libreto, lyrics and mantra — and on Apple Music and Spotify.
The long-form reading and the YVH model, on the author's site.
OpenThe published research at the World Happiness Foundation.
Open