A Bhaktimala for Ram Dass
A Bhaktimala for Ram Dass in Benefit of Hanuman Maui
A Bhaktimala for Ram Dass is a devotional music album dedicated to continuing the legacy of Baba Ram Dass.
All profits from this album and fundraiser are offered in support of Hanuman Maui: Ram Dass Loving Awareness Sanctuary. Hanuman Maui is a 501c3 nonprofit with a mission to preserve Ram Dass’s legacy on Maui and foster community through the teachings of love, service and devotion.
This album features nine renditions of the Sri Hanuman Chalisa, a forty-verse prayer that sings the praises of Lord Hanuman - the embodiment of loving devotion and selfless service. Ram Dass and friends proliferated this prayer among the West over the last 50 years as a method to connect with our truest nature.
Kripa is deeply humbled to be producing this album. We are especially grateful for the generous donations of time and talent from Krishna Das, Nina Rao, Shantala, Lily Cushman, & Jeremy Hoffeld.
Album Art by Dani Kozikowski
The album art for A Bhaktimala for Ram Dass by Dani Kozikowski. You can find Dani’s work on Instagram & Facebook @dani_stillwater and http://www.danifarahphoto.com/ . Her art beautifully expresses the love, intimacy and devotion of this project. Below is a note from Dani:
Hare Krishna,
Sub Ek - All One.
When I first learned of this phrase through Ram Dass describing how Maharajji would raise one finger and intently say this, my spiritual identity clicked into place. Suddenly, concepts that I had been exposed to from a multi faith background (Christian, Jewish and living in a Muslim country for a few years as a kid) that originally seemed separate melded into a holistic truth.
My asana practice began at 19 which then led me to an ashtanga teacher who introduced me to the Gita and Krishna Das. Around the same time the book ‘Hamsa; I Am That’ literally fell off a bookstore shelf in front of me. Somehow Swami Muktananda led me to Bhagavan Das who led me to Ram Dass, who led me to Maharajji who led me to Hanuman and Krishna, who led me to Srila Prabhupada.
Thirty years later my spiritual life is sustained through all the teachers in the Be Here Now Network, ISKCON, study of the Srimad Bhagavatam with Wisdom of the Sages & personal study of Bhakti scripture. In addition, my husband and daughter are my greatest teachers on a daily basis.
During those years after every deep dive there would eventually come an upheaval that kept me immersed in, and more deluded by, the material world until, through the Guru’s grace, I realized that I can choose instead to see the world through my identity as loving awareness.
It has been a slow process of polishing the mirror of my heart with several dark nights of the soul. These all paled in comparison to my soul-niece leaving this world last year in a tragic accident. The scales finally tipped to where my mind takes up more space in the spiritual, rather than the material world. Now my soul sister and I have been planning ways to live our best spiritual lives while giving back to the community that supports us - we’re not exactly there yet but will be soon.
I have a BA in fine art & art history, an MA in library science & am a 200 RYT. This piece was painted digitally in Procreate (while listening to versions of the Hanuman Chalisa) and based on a vision I had of Ram Dass floating in the sea with Hanuman. My love for Hanuman is rooted in his deep devotion to Ram as the prefect servant. I meditated on this and how Ram Dass & Maharajji were perfect servants of God as well. I am blessed through the creative process, it’s an act of offering for me and through it I come to a deeper understanding of the divine. It is my hope that other seekers may find some inspiration for their own paths from my work.
In ‘Paths to God’, Ram Dass reminds us that the kingdom of God is within us: ‘Within you! But are you living in the kingdom? Between that inner you and the you you seem to think yourself to be are all the veils of thought, all the opacities of color and form, that make up the slide projections, which create the world you experience.’
Through my work I actively participate in creating the color and form of my experience and I kneel, joining Hanuman, praising and taking refuge in the Lord, wishing to be the perfect devotee and servant of the servant of the servant.
I humbly thank Kripa and the Hanuman Maui team for including me in this project of love to preserve the legacy of Ram Dass. Jai Ram!
If possible, I would like to specifically thank the following spirit souls whose offerings have been of particular service to me:
Bhagavan Das for the blessing of experiencing his kirtan & his book ‘It’s Here Now, Are You?’.
Parvati Markus for giving me the experience of Maharajji’s darshan and the company of the original western devotees in her book ‘Love Everyone’.
Miribai Starr for guidance through her book ‘Caravan of No Despair’.
Krishna Das, David Newman and Ananda Devi & Shiva Das for their beautiful versions of the Hanuman Chalisa that I listen to on a loop.
Ganga Devi for being a true sangha friend.
And of course, Ram Dass for, well…everything in the Bhav.
In gratitude and love,
Dani Kozikowski
