ABOUT DEVA & MITEN
Miten: Finding my Soul
You could say I was living the dream – and it was a sweet dream. I had it pretty good: a loving partner/wife, a newly born son, and a successful career as a working musician, a happy family life – good friends…and music music, music, to explore and discover…A garden of cultural delights, that was London back then in the 70′.s.
Every night you could go out and hear great music…that’s what most of my friends lived for; good music! I saw Stevie Wonder at his peak…saw The Byrds singing their great harmonies with the great Clarence White on guitar before his early death…I saw Bob Dylan when he brought his ‘Born Again’ gospel band into town…changing my perception of what life could be, once again…through the music I heard him calling-calling to me ‘Desmond – when will you arise?” (he was actually singing ‘deadman – but i took it as a sign)…I saw bruce springsteen’s first ever London concert…we were born to run, baby – let’s go!…it was life a changing time…
and sometimes the drugs worked and opened the door to the questions i didn’t have answers for.
Who am I now?
Joni Mitchell opened my eyes and ears but she couldn’t answer those questions for me – she was searching too..Leonard Cohen mesmerised us…but he was drinking himself into the future as a Zen monk…The Beatles had been and gone and we were all grieving in one way or another, because we loved them so much…And then came ‘My Sweet Lord’ and George Harrison rolled up his sleeves and jumped into the fray to save us all. ‘All things Must Pass’…It was darshan on the radio….meditation and mantras on the airwaves…Ravi Shankar, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd…meanwhile, George’s guitar continued to gently weep and I began to play my part, opening as a ‘support act’ for Fleetwood Mac, the great Ry Cooder, The Kinks and one of my songwriting heroes at the time, Randy Newman.
And yet, I was becoming more and more estranged from everything… The sex, drugs, and rock & roll lifestyle became hollow and my mind was full of profound distortion. all my mentors had ceased to make sense…who were the new ones and where were they?
I had nothing more to give – I was just a sales commodity – a music industry pawn generating cash for company executives while the music inside me died.
The existential questions were coming thick and fast and I didn’t know where to turn…how did I get here..Is this where my songs and my music had led me?
Frustrated, lonely, and longing for something i couldn’t name I was close to the edge.
After spinning through this darkened world, increasingly alienated, I eventually came face to face with an inevitable spiritual crisis and when the breakdown hit me, holy smokes! – it became a Break-Through!
My future was hidden in a small book that opened my eyes into another world. A world i never knew existed, but sensed. I was 29-years-old when my spiritual journey began in earnest.
That little book was titled No Water No Moon. It was a transcription of collected discourses given by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, on Zen.
After reading Guru’s reflection and guidance written on every page, I knew i had to leave everything if my search was to come to fruition.
I was desperate to learn more and threw myself whole heartedly into the search – eventually coming upon his community in a loft in Chalk Farm in London, where I was introduced to his Kundalini Meditation for the first time.
I knew then, that i’d found my home and in his ashram in India and Oregon I began to see the ‘real me’..
At last I was on solid ground. Osho gave me a new name: Prabhu Miten (Friend of god) not knowing I had walked out of my life and didn’t have a friend in the world at that point! I wore the obligatory red clothes and a mala day and night and never took it off…daily Dynamic and Kundalini meditations were my spiritual diet..and I embraced my second chance at life.
The communal life suited me perfectly (by the way, just to clear up the many misconceptions – I was never asked for money or any kind of donation when I joined the community) I dived head-first into it all – I loved the life. I became a neo sannyasin – traditionally, a seeker who gives up his attachment to worldly values in search of the Truth.
Only this was far from a traditional ashram. Here, with the Masters guidance, we learned everything we needed to support ourselves on our pilgrimage towards Inner Peace.
In the great Zen tradition, my work in the community included everything from house cleaning to washing the rice, chopping vegetables and whatever else was needed. And every activity was based on meditation, which brought purpose and intent to our lives.
I found the courage to face my demons and I learnt how to overcome my sense of shame for leaving my son family (I count my son aamong my best friends now)…and how to celebrate life and welcome all its many challenges and blessings….There was music everywhere in the ashram – every one of Osho’s meditation techniques was accompanied by music created by fellow ashramites – and I could only marvel at its transcendent quality.
I began to experience forgiveness and gratitude for the lessons life had given me and I was headed inwards, towards a deeper sense of compassion – for myself and for others.
I had a purpose that didn’t involve ambition of financial gain, and I didn’t have the need to justify my existence by writing songs any more. Those days were gone.
What I didn’t know then, was that the music would return, and fifteen years later, I was to meet the love of my life, as she worked among the flowers in the garden of the mystic…
Deva: Finding my Voice
My mother, Gyan Viten, was an accomplished classical musician, especially versed in medieval music. To supplement the household finances she gave music lessons in piano and harpsichord and led the local church choir. She was my first teacher of music.
My father Wolfgang was a visual artist who had a passion for the rhythmical techniques of Middle Eastern music, especially drums. Both parents had embraced Zen spirituality and Eastern philosophy, well before my birth, and had a daily practice of chanting Sanskrit mantras.
I was told that when I was in the womb my parents chanted the Gayatri mantra to me daily, and later, as a young girl I was taught to chant it nightly, as a bedtime prayer.
My childhood was filled with chamber music, drum circles, mantras and mystical stories at meal times. The Gayatri mantra, took centre stage, although I had no idea of its power – or even, its name at that point. That came later, when I heard it chanted at a music festival in Osho’s ashram as a woman of 27.
For the most part, I didn’t really appreciate my parents’ influence – musical or otherwise. It wasn’t until I was older that I understood what a jewel they had given me.
As a child, I was fascinated by the biblical parables and actually pursued getting baptized. My parents, although steeped in Eastern philosophy, gave me their blessings and I decided to become baptised into the Church.
However, before the great occasion, I became interested in my mother’s growing discovery of Osho and his teachings, through the many books that passed through our house.
And after seeing Osho on a video discourse, I immediately felt a calling and even though I was age 11 my parents gave me their blessings (again!) and I became Osho’s disciple. He gave me the name ‘Deva Premal’ – (Divine Loving) and that has been my name ever since.
When I was 17 I finished school and travelled to India with the intention of joining Osho’s ashram, and it was there I became immersed in Osho’s teachings of Zen theology and in various bodywork techniques, which I studied. My eyes were opened to ancient healing techniques of Shiatsu, Reflexology and Cranio-sacral therapy. Under Osho’s guidance I was introduced to a menagerie of traditional techniques, including Sanskrit mantras, Sufi zikhrs. As a balance to my intellectual studies I worked in the ashram gardens.
Osho did not teach mantras as officially. He did, however, encourage us to share our own expression of the teachings, and music especially reflected this. Hence, our evening meditations would include everything from reggae to gospel and even samba.
It was in this environment of discovery and devotion that I met Miten.
By the time we came together, Miten had reconnected with his love of music and was co-ordinating the evening meditation music for Osho evening discourses. At Miten’s invitation, I joined the ashram music group and began singing and playing piano, violin and keyboards.
And it was then that destiny took over! After a few years Miten and I were playing at an Osho music festival in England, when I overheard, for the first time since my childhood, someone singing the Gayatri mantra. I became immediately reconnected to ‘my’ mantra and with Miten’s help, forged a version of the mantra that suited our western perception of harmony and reverence. Whatever shyness I carried regarding my own musical contributions suddenly dissolved as I chanted the Gayatri and suddenly I found my voice, reborn and connected to my childhood – and with Miten’s guidance and support, the courage to step out of the shadows and into my own light.
Awakened to this treasure of my childhood, we began exploring the world of Sanskrit mantras. A year later, in my mothers apartment – the very apartment in which I was born with my father chanting the Gayatri mantra – Miten and I recorded my first album, The Essence.
Years later, I had the honour of chanting the Gayatri to my father as he took his last breath. The circle was complete.
Since then, between us we have released over 25 albums, received a Grammy nomination, travelled the world from Miami to Siberia, from Peru to Melbourne… forever on the wings of the Gayatri.
