– 28 February 2025
Chinmaya’s life in his own words
I was born in 1954, in Kent, England, an area then accurately described as the ‘Garden of England’. Around our 400-year old farmhouse was a patchwork of hop gardens, apple orchards, wheat fields, woods and streams – a playground in which I could disappear for hours without my parents having any idea of where I was. (To dispel any notions that it was a true paradise, let me point out that this was rural Britain in the 50s and 60s – a repressed, depressed and tradition-bound culture that made being a rebellious Scorpio teenager a tough job!)
1970 was a turning point for me. I smoked my first whiffs of euphoria, hitchhiked to see Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight Festival, and acquired my first guitar (a nylon string).
Over the next years of school and Art College, I mixed my love of painting with learning classical guitar and trying to copy the sound of my favourite folk musicians ‘Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band and Planxty’. (The sound of my favourite progressive bands – Pink Floyd and Genesis was altogether beyond my abilities!)
India was always calling in those years, and in 1975 I took myself off on the hippy trail through Turkey and Afghanistan. Holed up in the mountains of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province surviving on fellow travellers’ generosity for months, having lost all my money, I got my first taste of the gentle rhythms of the East, where acceptance of whatever comes is more important than pushing your own goals. I also became a vegetarian (I have not lapsed) and started yoga.
It was my next trip East in 1979 that proved the decisive turning point in my life. At an all-night concert in Delhi, I saw Ustad Amjad Ali Khan playing sarod and instantly fell in love with the instrument.
On the same trip I fell in love with my first Osho sannyasin and started out on my journey with the infamous ‘Bhagwan’.
Returning to London, it took me four years before a sarod teacher appeared on the scene. Gurdev Singh (by chance Amjad’s leading disciple) found me an instrument and taught me over the next years.
Right from the start I seemed, mysteriously, to have some feel for Indian Classical music. I remember at Gurdev’s house, his fellow musicians sometimes putting their heads round the door to the back room where I was practising and saying, “Wah, I thought it must be an Indian playing not a gora (white man)!”
In 1988 I moved to the Osho Commune (now Osho Meditation Resort) in Pune, and studied sarod under Pandit Shekhar Borkar. I also began performing with some of the Commune musicians, people of diverse musical backgrounds blending Indian with Western music in the presence of Osho.
Two years later I recorded my first CD ‘Terra Incognita’ with some of them (including Prem Joshua and Ravi, both now well-known artists).
‘Tribal Gathering’ was released on Tao Music (today called New Earth Records) but is now only available as a rare CD.
During the 90s I lived in Munich, Amsterdam and Maui, Hawaii, returning each year to Pune for a few months.
I made a series of CDs for Nightingale Records in Germany and then rejoined New Earth Records in 1997 for ‘Celtic Ragas’ (with Vidroha Jamie), a CD that was later to bring me as close to fame as I am ever likely to get, when Paul McCartney fell in love with the CD and invited me to perform at his wedding in Ireland in 2002.
I formed the Celtic Ragas Band especially for the occasion. We assembled from all over the world for rehearsals in Wales and then flew off to our mystery destination (Paul’s people had kept all details secret and only instructed us to be at Manchester airport at a certain time!). He was very welcoming, danced along with us as we played and was kind enough to write afterwards a few words about us to use as a quote:
I love the unique blend of Irish and Indian style music of Celtic Ragas. It has become one of my favourites.”
– Paul McCartney
I now have nine CDs released on New Earth Records and a further three on Malimba Records. On each of them I have been joined by wonderful musicians to explore the crossover points between Indian classical music and various Western music traditions.
I see myself as an explorer of this musical territory. I also just enjoy creating with my friends!
The Celtic Ragas Band has given a series of multimedia ‘Concert for India’s Environment’ in India over the past few years. These aim to raise awareness about the many difficulties facing the natural and human environment in India because of unrestrained ‘development’. These have also turned me into a filmmaker with my films ‘Concert for India’s Environment’, the ‘Smiles From Off the Road’ series and ‘Green Ragas’.
I spent many satisfying days deep in the Indian wilderness collecting wildlife footage for these, and travelled to some remote places for interviews and shots of the people who live around and depend on the wilderness.
After four years of living in Auckland, New Zealand (while my Israeli partner Naveena trained as a midwife) I moved to Goa in August 2007, where my daughter, Koyal, was born in 2009.
The following six years saw my development as a wildlife filmmaker (Birds of Goa, Kumaon etc), the creation of the multimedia environmental awareness band ‘Green Ragas’(performances at Delhi Commonwealth Games, 2010, Earth Day etc) and my initiation of the ‘Assagao Mehfil’, a performance space in Goa.
In 2014 we returned to live in Auckland, where organic gardening, bee-keeping and exploring living off grid became my focus.
In December 2018 we left New Zealand for UK. It is the first time in thirty years that I have called UK home.
Chinmaya took sannyas in 1982. At the beginning of last September, Chinmaya was diagnosed with Stage T4 oesophagus cancer. His next online benefit concert (gofundme.com) was scheduled for 16 March 2025.
Rag Kafi Bandish
I was given this Bandish by my first sarod guru, Ustad Gurdev Singh, in 1985. He told me it is an ancient compostition.
Chinmaya Dunster, Ricky Romain and Lewis Riley, live in Devon
recorded in January 2025
Watch on YouTube
Podcast interview
Related articles on Osho News
- Chinmaya writes about his life: ‘My sarod and I’
- Chinmaya’s contributions to Osho News
Links
- Podcast: sannyas.wiki
- Website: chinmaya-dunster.com
- YouTube: youtube.com
- On New Earth Records: newearthrecords.com
- On Malimba: malimba.com
Coming Home
by Waduda and Bhikkhu
It was a shock last September to hear from Chinmaya about his cancer. But he was very positive and upbeat, and his alternative treatments seemed to work fine. Waduda and I talked many times with him via WhatsApp and he looked forwards to the finishing of his little casita as his healing place. We even discussed releasing new music on New Earth Records, but… it never came to that.
It was even more shocking to hear this morning from Naveena that Chinmaya had left his body and liberated himself from the torments of his cancer.
Over the years he visited us in Santa Fe and we met him in Aukland on our trip to Australia. He was also part of concerts we had organized in Munich and, of course, in Pune and during the Celtic Ragas tour to Paul McCartney’s wedding in 2002 in Ireland.
His music always touched a special chord in our hearts. It was this balance of relaxing flow with the touch of India and meditation, which made his sound pretty unique, especially in the beginning of the nineties when yoga and meditation were still very unknown in the West. Plus it carried the flavor of the world of Osho within.
We will miss Chinmaya and feel for Naveena and Koyal, their daughter. His music will live on forever.
Chinmaya, you are blessed and your spirit will continue its journey into the light.
We love you. Fly high.
Waduda and Bhikkhu
Live Nataraj Music
by Vidroha Jamie
In 1989 I was playing music in the ashram in Poona. Months before I met Chinmaya, I sent a request into Osho via Anando. I asked him if I was permitted to remake the music for Nataraj Meditation and play it live in the meditation camp. His answer was yes and he stipulated that it should be for all the three days of the meditation camp.
The rest is history, as by day three of the camp it was so crowded for Nataraj, the sannyasins spilled over onto the driveway around Buddha Hall as it was full to overflowing. Live music then became the standard fare for Nataraj Meditation.
I organized live music for the next three or four months of meditation camps and then afterwards other people started participating. It was during the second or third meditation camp that I met Chinmaya and we composed the music for the song that we played for Nataraj which later became Paul McCartney‘s favorite on the CD Celtic Ragas. A piece called Chance Meeting.
Chinmaya was a very accomplished musician, playing sarod. Certainly more so than me on the guitar. But what happened when we both made music together was bigger than the both of us, and was one reason why the CD Celtic Ragas sold so well, and why Paul McCartney liked it so much.
Vidroha Jamie
One Heart
by Shastro
Beloved Chinmaya left his body yesterday morning in his family home in the UK, in the precious company of his beloved Naveena and his daughter Koyal.
When a friend like this departs it cracks your heart open, not only because you have a heart but because that’s where he was coming from, and his heart is now within yours – and you have to make space for it!
…a little pause for the tears…
And his heart was so big that it will take some time to make space for it in mine and probably a lot of beautiful tears will need to come to melt all that needs to be melted within my own heart.
Diamonds… tears… that’s how Chinni called the tears. I loved that, and surely they feel precious like diamonds these tears that are coming, uniting everything and everyone into one heart… That was very much his flavor, his way of living, of being, of operating…
He was – better say is – a great networker, pulling all kind of people together, in different ways; with musical projects but not only. And yes, I feel he is still doing his work in this moment and in many more moments to come… and forever in my heart of course.
I am sharing with you some old pics I found. We shared probably thirty or more years of our life together, ten of which living on my property on Maui, giving birth to a beautiful project, developing the land, creating a beautiful garden out of a dead abandoned forest… Oh, how much fun we had among laughters, chain saws, digging in the soil, moving huge rocks, creating waterfalls and ponds and, of course, our ‘Dal Nights’ that he and Naveena hosted once a week in their outdoor kitchen. He would pull in friends from everywhere and we would eat, laugh and play music. Yes, this is very much ‘life with Chinni’.
Let me share with you some old pics I just found on my computer. How precious those moments become when one of us has moved on, and how short this life feels like!
Shastro
From friends to family
by Sandeep Srivastava
Chinmaya and I connected on MySpace in the early 90s. He liked my music and invited me to sing with his band, Celtic Ragas, at the Hilltop Anjuna, Goa, in 2006. That was the first time I met him, Naveena, and some lovely people who loved Osho, music, and life.
In 2009, Chinmaya was invited by the British Council, New Delhi, to present a multimedia concert on the environmental theme. As I lived in Delhi, he asked me along with my Delhi-based musicians to collaborate, and we gladly accepted the offer. He and Ramadhan stayed in my Delhi apartment and we had full-band practice for several days.
That was the beginning of our deep friendship and wonderful musical collaborations. We formed the Green Ragas Band and played another concert for the British Council, Commonwealth Games 2010, IFFI, Chinni’s Dreamworld release at the Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
Together, we made an album, called The Pilgrimage, for Shastro’s Malimba Records and an independent album The Mystic Poets of India.
My Delhi apartment was Chinni’s transit camp. I fondly remember when Naveena carried Koyal and stayed at my place. We, from friends, became a family when Chinni announced: “‘Sandeepi’, you’re going to be the child’s godfather.”
2012 was a rough year for me in terms of personal and professional life. I was desperate for a change, and Chinni was the first one to know this. He advised me, on the phone, to move to Goa. I loved his suggestion and moved to Goa by road with my pet Safedu.
He found me a gorgeous, furnished house in Assagao, and I started to enjoy my life again. He used to call me around 9 am, “Come over for coffee.” We used to chat for hours.
The afternoons used to be beach time at small Vagator or Ashwem. Naveena’s avocado/pesto salad, couscous, pasta in tomato sauce, and pumpkin soup with olive oil, were to die for. I was treated to the fare every now and then. Those were wonderful days!
In 2013 Chinni and I started the Assagao Mehfil at Kabir’s place, where local and travelling musicians joined us for a monthly celebration. We later shifted to Hotel Astoria, where the number of performing artists and audiences grew larger with the help of our very dear friends Ida Fonseca, Jessica Boyd, Chiara Nath, and innumerable brilliant musicians who, for just a token amount, ad honorarium, played at the Mehfil.
Chinmaya beloved, this all could happen only because of you! You were and will remain the guiding force.
Fly high, my friend 🧡
Sandeep Srivastava
Chinmaya Dunster and Sandeep Srivastava created Green Ragas to raise environmental awareness through live performances blending music, video and information. This film is based on a 2010 concert at British Council, New Delhi, India. chinmaya-dunster.com – youtube.com/playlist)
Timeless heart connection
by Gopal
Chinmaya and I had a heartfelt video call just days before he left his body.
We had often played music together through the many years at the Pune meditation resort. When outside the resort, we were in touch by email.
To see and hear each other by video, so recently, was a gift. He had asked me, “How about a video call?” Soon after, we had that special sharing.
He started off by wanting to express his appreciation for our friendship which had developed so easily after he first arrived in India, maybe more than 35 years ago. As musicians we had much in common, and he shared that I was one the first persons he met. Unbeknownst to me, he said that I had helped him to get into the music scene that was happening at the time.
He wanted to share his love and gratefulness for all the good things that happened to him after coming to Pune. He was very much in the moment, wanting to share from his heart.
He said to me that he felt Osho very deeply and was also grateful for all the love he was receiving from Naveena and Koyal – his love for them so obvious. He also shared how much it meant to him to receive love from so many friends around the world.
I knew his body was ill and yet his alive spirit was so touching – he was so present. We laughed and had silent moments where just the timeless heart connection could be felt.
I still feel that now, as I write this. I am sure he left the body with all that love, and perhaps his laughter too. I remember him that way – what a way to go!
Love,
Gopal
No words – just love
photo slideshow from Karunesh
With Rashid (1937-2025)
Goodbye, beloved Chinmaya,
I really hoped that you’ll pull through the cancer and get back to health again.
We had a great journey in this realm. I will miss you.
You made the world more beautiful as you’ve always wanted. Now I am sure your essence is one with beauty and resting in that realm of beautiful music.
I love you.
Rama
Mere dost,
You often mentioned that you wanted to leave this world a better place as you found it. Frankly speaking, you did.
I remember our first phone call. I was running a birthing centre with my ex-wife in Assagao. You were in NZ where Naveena had just finished her widwife training. You a musician, I working in the music business for 25 years. The midwives couldn’t get a solution but we talked for 20 minutes and you booked the flights to India.
For some years you came twice a week or so to my house to have coffee together. We never talked about Osho because I was on a very different journey and you respected that. But things changed. My old life fell apart and I was left alone, heartbroken, depressed.
Almost every day I visited you in your lovely house in Assagao. We were sitting on your veranda. I cried most of the time and you gifted me with your compassion and patience. Till the day you looked at me and said, “Man, it’s enough! You act like a beggar. It’s embarrassing, you need to change. I never mentioned Osho to you but you need to go to Pune and visit the Osho Resort.” I was so desperate and ready to do anything and just asked: “When?”
You said, “TODAY!” You left the veranda and came back with two red and one white robe. You called a friend at Lane 5, where I could stay. I packed some stuff and took the night bus to Pune that very evening.
There… my new life started. I became a better man, a better father, a better lover, a better human being.
I’m grateful to you, mere dost. And since we share the same birthday, I will celebrate you on that day. A place in my heart is yours, forever.
May your soul have a great journey and find a peaceful space. Hooka Hey!
Farewell, my friend!
Kabir Nowhere, Assagao, Goa
Goodbye, beloved Chinmaya,
‘Terra Incognita’ – that’s all about your life, it seems. The unknown land, where you may have come from, where you were living among us, to where you may have gone back.
I remember when in April 1998 I shifted to Mumbai (to Osho Now in Juhu), the first cassette I bought was Terra Incognita, and then Five Fingers. I had never heard the term Terra Incognita before, but those words created a resonance in me.
Later, I grasped the meaning while listening to Osho, and I was so grateful and happy. I could perhaps say that this album must be the one I have listened to the most, all these years –and am still listening to it as if for the first time.
After receiving one of his newsletters I told Chinmaya about my fascination with these music tracks (especially Shepherd’s Dream and Himalayan Celebration). The smile he conveyed will be shining forever.
Namaste Chinmaya!
Dhyan Tarpan
Latihan and Prayer, an album we made together (chinmaya-dunster.com), was perhaps his last release on an online platform (youtube.com).
Chinmaya always gave fair opportunities to the musicians he came across.
Thank you, Naveena and Koyal, to be at his side in his last hours.
God bless you immensely, dear friend! Until next time…
Amano Manish
Chinni, Most Beloved…
A week later and I still can’t believe it. What is the world without you in it?
We talked only a few days ago and you were doing so well, full of energy after your radiotherapy, out in the garden checking the plants for spring, clearing away the stones…apparently getting better and so full of life.
What a wonderful, attentive, loving friend you were, phoning me regularly through my illness and yours, listening, chatting, giving me updates, coming to see me whenever you were in London, sometimes with Koyal. Even breaking the Covid rules to visit me in hospital.
Nothing indicated that you would be going soon.
In Pune, when I was still living there, you’d turn up with your guitar and seven or eight of us gathered in my flat for an evening of song and laughter.
Dear, sweet friend, be well in your departure, soar high, be filled with the love of those who adored you…
Savita
‘Swami Chin’, as my daughter and I called, him was close, intimate even, not as a boyfriend, but as an employer and ‘mid-husband’.
Yes, he was my midwife at Maya’s birth. Having worked with him for about a year previous to her birth, and incidentally, previous to all his fame as a musician, he assisted me in a big way. This was February 1987. No doctor was needed, and the two hospital midwives just looked on…
I want to express my gratitude and wonder at his incredible awareness and empathy to all human beings.
I include two pictures. One with Baby Maya (yes, she was called after him too), and one in my flat on the couch with all the little family (Soma, the older sister, Chinny, baby, his then girlfriend and me flaked out on the bed).
Shruti
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