I am on a mission to capture the heart of the kirtan and yoga community. Since 2005 I have been inspired by my gurus to utilize my camera to share the bhakti that is blossoming around us.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of this work (from a photographic perspective) is that kirtan and yoga are generally performed in low-light conditions. Often the main artists are sitting on the floor with band members sitting next to them, as in the case of sit-down harmonium kirtan performances. Microphones and monitors clutter the stage, crowding the shots, so it'a a challenge to capture the beauty of kirtan. Artists lament that they work so hard on their craft... yet have virtually no good photographs of themselves. So I have taken it on as both a technical and artistic challenge to work on stages in low light that are cluttered with artists and equipment. I want to show that it is possible to create great photos of bhakti no matter what the circumstances of the shoot.

In the yoga of devotion and karma, effort counts for everything. With effort comes grace!

My devotional occupation started when I was 20 years old (pictured right). I lived in the ashram in Boston and was trained to perform selfless service, began studying Sanskrit, learned Indian cooking and became deeply immersed in putting the philosophy of Bhakti Yoga to work in my life.

Being raised in a family of artists, I naturally looked toward the day when I could integrate my creative spirit in the service of the divine. In 1986 I moved to a larger ashram where I was able to serve as an artist. There I not only drew and painted, but learned graphic design, professional writing and how to publish newspapers and magazines. Later in my career I produced The Light: Philadelphia's Interfaith Newspaper, worked at the legendary New Frontier Magazine and also LA YOGA Magazine in Los Angeles.

In 1989 I left the ashram life and became a wandering monk. I was deeply curious about the spiritual "landscape" in America, so I decided to follow the tradition of Sanyassis in India and utterly depend on the divine for everything. So I walked across America on a spiritual pilgrimage with another monk.

I was 26 years old, bearded and robed in a monk's cloth of my own design. My companion and I often walked 10 miles a day, hitchhiked on endless highways, jumped freight trains and even tried to hitchhike small aircraft! In traditional manner we begged our meals, and slept wherever sunset found us.

On my pilgrimage I stayed at 14 Catholic monasteries, as many Zen and Tibetan Buddhist centers, and stayed briefly with Shree Maa and Swami they had their ashram in the Bay Area. I also stayed with Bishop Ajari, spent time with Brother David Steindl-Rast, had darshan of Master Ching Hai, visited the hermitage and grave of Thomas Merton, and received the blessings of many priests, monks, and Lamas including Father Bernard Sandler OSB, Lama Karma Dorje and Lama Trinley Drupa and Lama Inge Zangmo.

Discarding my robes, I returned to the secular world to study and promote the arts. In Ann Arbor I lived for several months at Crazy Cloud Hermitage with my beloved Traktung Rimpoche, who saved my spiritual life and introduced me to non-dualism. He gave me countless blessings and encourged me to use my skills in graphic design to spread the dharma. I also had my first darshan of Ammachi at the Parliament of World Religions in 1993, which introduced me to the path of the Divine Mother.

However, my heart and soul would come to rest in 2000 when I met my guru, Amma Sri Karunamayi in Atlanta. Amma has given me everything.

As artists turn their vision toward love, and answer the call to the union of spirit and the media, our society will increasingly sway with devotion - as the cradle of our culture is rocked by the blessed hand of the Goddess, the first muse and creatrix.

It's easy to rapturously read Rumi, or gaze in awe at Michaelangelo's David. But it's our own humble effort toward greater unconditional love, service and creative freedom that can truly fulfill our dreams. Om Shanti.