Watch Snatam perform live at the 2019 Grammys Awards Premier Ceremony, February 10 from 12:30p-3:30p at Grammys.com
I composed the song “Water of Your Love,” one cold morning on a walk in the snow-covered forest near my home. To my right was a gurgling creek, still able to flow in the middle, while ice formations on either side reminded me of my own mortality. I zipped up my jacket and tightened my scarf. It was indeed cold. But the flowing water touched me, as it refused to give up. The voice of the creek asked me to continue on.
For years now, I have been in my own way working to bring awareness to the environment. I have a particular interest in the health of water, not only because I would like future generations to have the joy of experiencing a pristine lake or creek, but I also feel that it is absolutely paramount to our survival on this planet.
Without being a scientist, I’ll share a few basic tips to contribute to healthy water:
REDUCE OR ELIMINATE YOUR USE OF PLASTIC: Go for cloth shopping bags, instead of plastic. Every little bag makes a difference. Buy food items in glass or other materials that can biodegrade. Only buy plastic items that are made in containers that you know you can recycle in your local recycling facility. Plastics create a lot of sickness within the oceans and streams for all of the living beings relying on this water, and also to us as we consume water filled with plastic molecules. Even if our plastic containers end up in a landfill, these containers degrade, and the molecules leach out of the soil into surrounding creeks, rivers, and eventually make their way right into our drinking water.
USE ONLY NATURAL SOAPS AND DETERGENTS THAT ARE NOT LADEN WITH PLASTIC MOLECULES AND CHEMICALS: Here’s a good rule of thumb – If you don’t feel safe drinking a product yourself, it’s not good for the Earth, plants, and animals, and will eventually come back to you in harmful ways. These chemicals go out of your house in the wastewater and end up in the surrounding soil and creeks.
BE AWARE OF YOUR LOCAL RIVERS, LAKES, STREAMS AND OCEANS: Make sure your representatives and local businesses are doing everything they can to protect them. Your vote, consumer choices, and voice count. To find your elected officials, click here.
STOP SUPPORTING THE NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY AND SUPPORT RENEWABLE ENERGY INSTEAD: You can do this with your vote, with your voice to your local representatives and community, and with your power as a consumer. There are many negative ramifications to our planet’s water supply from the natural gas industry’s practice of fracking and offshore oil drilling. Fracking is the method of pumping water, sand, and chemicals underground to extract oil and gas. This process causes unbelievable water contamination for our local communities. To learn more about fracking, here is a helpful resource. Offshore oil drilling spills occur frequently, and these spills devastate the marine environment, commercial fishing industries, and tourism businesses.
GET INVOLVED: I am really happy being a member of the Sierra Club because they are standing up in a powerful way for important water issues in communities across the United States. I also receive communications from the Sierra Club that allows me to get involved as an activist on a local and national level. I invite you to join the Sierra Club.
We really have to ask ourselves, what quality of life do we want? If the answer involves clean water that we can drink, and oceans that marine life can thrive in, then we must come together – in all of our different religious, political and economic views – and diligently work to save our planet’s precious water supply. We are faced with a slow motion water pollution process, and that is the good news, because it means that we can take steps day-by-day to shift our needs away from fossil fuels, and save or bring back our water supplies to health. The job has to be on the shoulders of the many of us, and not just the few. We actually have so much power in our collective actions.
Here are the lyrics to our song from Beloved. I invite you to sing them, feel the precious water on this planet, and become engaged in whatever way calls you.
My blood flows like a river, to the heart of the ocean. Where my soul finds completion in the water of your Love. And we’re all flowing to you, All the creatures great and true. And you give us your love, in the water from below and above.
I am so happy to be able to share the chants from Beloved with audiences live on our upcoming concert tour. Being together physically and chanting is one of the most effective ways to teach and transfer the power of these incredible chants, to bring peace, love and light into our hearts. Please check out our schedule to see if you can join us.
Note from Snatam:
I love to look at Beloved as a sound medicine tool kit, with each track having a specific healing effect. Please use this list, and associated blog posts, as a quick reference to help navigate which track will be helpful for you at this time.
Amul – Priceless – To Feel the Priceless Love of the Divine
Gopaal – To Center the Self
Water of Your Love – To Tune in to the Sacredness of Water
Har Uplift – To Restore Equilibrium
Darashan Maago – Reestablishing Self-Esteem and Honor
Pooran Jot – Pure Light – To Access Your Authentic Light
Har Har Har Har Gobinday – The Power to Self Elevate to Your Highest Destiny
Sat Naaraa-iṉ – To Bring Inner Peace and Blessings
