And then they encouraged me and sang the Gayatri with me every night before sleeping as a goodnight song, so my first contact with mantra was with this Gayatri Mantra. For me, it is the building block of my universe as well because my parents made the world come to me as my mother was pregnant with me. It is one of the building blocks of the universe. It came into being with the beginning of the universe. Can you tell us a little bit about first of all, what the Gayatri Mantra is and then why it’s important to you personally?ĭP: The Gayatri Mantra is oldest mantra. TS: You mention the Gayatri Mantra and I know that mantra is personally important to you. We can just come home to every one of these centers of devotion and that is really nourishing for us. You realize that the mantras are traveling around the world so quickly now. When we come to a new place and start the concert with a Gayatri Mantra and have the audience sing the words back to us, it’s just so uplifting.

And it is so beautiful to see that there is so much openness to mantras in all of these different countries. We both love traveling and we both love sharing the music as we move around the planet. It has been a really natural flow for us. Otherwise, we’re a few days here and a few days there. We’re here in Australia for three months, which also includes a tour in Australia, where were spending two months in the same place and in the same bed. It has been eighteen years now that we’ve been traveling and this is actually the longest we’ve been anywhere. TS: And what is your life like? I imagine that you’re touring, that you’re at yoga centers and it all sounds very romantic and fabulous, I have to say.ĭP: It has felt really romantic and fabulous. Maybe many of your listeners are familiar with Byron Bay. Where are you today?ĭeva Premal: I’m in Mullumbimbi, Australia.

Deva, I know that we’re speaking to you somewhere across the water. I’m here today with Deva Premal on Insights at the Edge. We also discussed and listened to three tracks from her Sounds True release, Into Silence: The Meditation Music of Deva Premal. We talked about mantras and how they work, and how devotional music can actually create a space, which welcomes all of our emotional experience.

They transmit a kind of openness and emptiness that is quite rare and beautiful to be with.ĭeva and I spoke about her experiences sharing music all around the world. I saw Deva Premal and Miten perform recently in Boulder, and they both have incredible presence on stage. Deva is a classically trained singer and musician known around the world for her devotional chanting and the inspiring music she creates with her partner, Miten. Tami Simon: You’re listening to Insights at the Edge.

What is the meaning of the moola mantra