Premiered August 4, 1996

Torrance, California, Rangoli Festival 96

Music – Rajkumar Bharati

Cast – Ron Brown, Nzingha Camara, Ron Burton, Lakshmi Iyengar, Anuradha Kishore, Shyamala Moorthy, Laria Saunders, Sophiline Shapiro & artist from India – Seshadri Ramchandra.

Mustard Seeds, a dance theater depicts a Buddhist theme. The images are drawn from the tale’ Kisa Gowthami’ written as an Opera-Play by the literary scholar Dr K. Shivarama Karanth of Karnataka, India. The parable is of great spiritual significance. The story reflects two important doctrines: 1. Everything in the realm of phenomenal existence is in change and is transitory. 2. The essential connection between a realistic acceptance of death of a loved one, and the realization of an ongoing compassion toward all living beings who, like ourselves, are subject to such a loss.