Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, has recorded his first album of modern pop songs in 28 years. The album will be released by Atlantic and the artist’s Ya Records label in November 2007, on the 40th anniversary of the release of the first Cat Stevens record.
Atlantic Chairman/CEO Craig Kallman said, “He is one of the greatest singers and songwriters in history. Yusuf’s new songs are as moving and timeless as the classics that inspired a generation. His spiritual quest is one of the most extraordinary stories of our time – a life journey marked by courage, devotion, and transformation. We are all truly fortunate that Yusuf has chosen this moment to return to contemporary music, delivering a deeply heartfelt album that addresses peace, love, and the higher self.”
Stevens became a British pop star in the mid-1960s, while also writing hits for other artists, including “Here Comes My Baby” and “First Cut Is The Deepest.” In 1968, his blossoming career was suddenly derailed when he contracted tuberculosis. He spent a year recovering from his illness, and when he returned to recording, it was with new introspection and sensitivity.
Stevens reemerged in 1970, and the following year he made his US chart debut with the acclaimed “Tea for the Tillerman”. Over the next seven years, he had seven top ten albums, including such classics as “Teaser and the Firecat,” “Catch Bull at Four” and “Buddha and the Chocolate Box.” Having reinvented his music, he wrote and performed such personal and reflective songs as “Wild World,” “Father And Son,” “Peace Train,” “Moonshadow,” “Morning Has Broken” and “Oh Very Young”.
In the midst of his career, Stevens nearly drowned in the Pacific Ocean off Malibu, and experienced a spiritual turning point. Shortly thereafter, his brother gave him a copy of the Qur’an, and he was inspired to remake his life. Converting to Islam, in 1978 he left the music world entirely, changed his name and devoted his life to charitable and educational work.
Yusuf has received a series of awards for his life’s work, including the 2004 “Man for Peace,” given by a committee of Nobel peace laureates. Most recently, he has been invited to attend the upcoming PeaceJam 10th Anniversary Youth Conference in Denver in September 2007. The goal of this historic event, to be attended by three thousand teenagers from thirty-one countries, is to inspire a new generation of peacemakers to transform their local communities, themselves and the world.
Of his return to the pop music world, Yusuf says, “I feel right about making music and singing about life in this fragile world again. It is important for me to be able to help bridge the cultural gaps others are sometimes frightened to cross.”
Dear Readers
Our newsletter is now three months old, and we thought we would celebrate by choosing a new name. Ideally, the name should reflect the aims of the newsletter – to let people know about the Sahaja Yoga message of realising the Self and bringing balance into our lives, to provide a forum for discussing spiritual matters related to self-realisation and to share our experiences.
Please write and send us your ideas for a new name for our newsletter. For the most suitable suggestion, there will be a prize – a CD of beautiful, Sahaja Yoga music.
You can write to us at [email protected], or you can simply add a comment below. We look forward very much to your input.
Editor
In December 2006, 165 Sahaja Yogis from all around the world gathered in Mumbai, India, for a ten-day tour through the beautiful state of Maharashtra. Among the eleven Australians who went on the tour were two lucky people from the newsletter team.
In Sahaja Yoga terms, different countries of the world represent different chakras and aspects of the subtle system. India represents the Kundalini. Indeed, if you look at the shape of India, you will see that it is a similar shape to the sacrum bone where the Kundalini resides.
Maharashtra literally means “the Great State”. It is also known as the Land of Shri Ganesha, the elephant-headed God worshipped by the Hindus. In Maharashtra there are eight places where natural rock formations known as “Swayambus”, shaped like Shri Ganesha, came out of the earth. The picture shows one of the eight Swayambus in Maharashtra.
Australia is also called the Land of Shri Ganesha since it, too, contains a Ganesha Swayambu: Uluru, when seen from the air, looks like an elephant.
At the beginning of the tour we visited two of the Ganesha Swayambus, at Lenyadri and Ozar. This was followed by visits to Alandi where the poet Gyaneshwar took his Samadhi, and to Dehu, the birthplace of the saint-poet, Tukaram.
Many sacred sites and temples were included in the itinerary. We went to the Bimashankur temple at Tulajapur, the Bhavani Mata temple at Yamunachala Hill, the Shri Vithal Rakhumai temple at Pandharpur, the Mahalaxmi temple at Kolhapur and the Ganesha temple at Ganapatipule.
An important place of pilgrimage for Sahaja Yogis is Brahmapuri, a tiny village on the bank of the picturesque Krishna River. In the early days of Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji brought groups of western Sahaja Yogis to stay at Brahmapuri. Here, She gave practical training to the seekers in ways of spreading the Sahaja Yoga message to different countries of the world. At Brahmapuri, tour members enjoyed the cool vibrations and footsoaked in the fast-flowing Krishna River.
We spent some time in the beautiful mountain area of Mahabaleshwar, which is like a cross between the Grand Canyon and the Blue Mountains, in New South Wales. Spectacular scenery, cool nights and warm, clear days ensured that our stay at Mahabaleshwar was especially delightful. Like the Blue Mountains, it is a favourite place for honeymooners. As our stay in India coincided with a very auspicious time for weddings, the place was filled with newlyweds.
The tour ended with a stay at the seaside township of Ganapatipule, with its beautifully carved Ganesha temple. This is another place of pilgrimage for Sahaja Yogis. For many years, seminars were held at Nirmal Nagari near the beach during the Christmas and New Year season. Sahaja Yogis journeyed from all over the world to be with Shri Mataji in this sacred place.
The tour was a very special and blissful experience for all the participants, with many vowing to go again next year. The blessings from the tour remain with us, even though we have returned to our homes in different parts of the world.
When I talk of love, people think that I am trying to make you weak people because people think that those who love are weak. But the most dynamic power in this world is that of love. The most aggressive power is that of love. Even when we suffer in love, it is out of our strength that we suffer and not out of our weakness …
The love that Iam talking about, the divine love, makes you not only strong, but dynamic. It is the greatest, luminous power that we can think of. Only when love is surrounded by gross and is lost in the gross, it looks as if it is weak and under chains. At the time it is released, the dynamic power of love can transcend all the evil powers of the world …
But it is not now for the realized to sit down and to wonder and laugh at the foolishness of the people who are not yet realized, not even to take pity on them, but to come out, come out with the sword of love, to win the whole world. It is very, very essential …
All the wrong ideas about love, all the falsehood about love has to be given up. One must know that it is the dynamic power. And it won’t allow you to sit comfortably with yourself, enjoying the peace and the bliss, when the rest of the world is not enjoying that and is playing into the hands of these evil geniuses who have come in this world to destroy, to bring the satanic realm on this Earth …
Today is the day to brighten up your understanding about your own strength that is within you. Those who are gross should worry about their insecurities and their problems and their organizations, but not for the people who are realized …
You are never alone when you are realized. There have been many people who have been realized, before even you were born, who exist, who are happy to help you at every moment.
Shri Mataji, 1973