Born on the full moon and jupiter conjunction and on the auspicious appearance day of Lord Balaram - elder brother of Krishna! Born: August 27, some year or t'other at 6.12 am in Otley,(and yes - that's on t'other end of Ilkley More Bar Tat - art that)! Yorkshire, England (Don't like age consciousness cause so didn't put year of my birth. We are all eternally about 18. In any case just about everyone is dyin at the end of 2012 - so we are all only 3 years from death and age considerations are only relevant bearing that in mind. Martin founded England's highly respected underground progressive folk group - 'Spirogyra' together with Mark Francis, in Bolton, England in 1967-68 and then again in Canterbury, England in 1969 when Barbara Gaskin, Julian Cusack and Steve Borrill also joined the line up.
The band went on to record 5 albums considered by critics and many musicians and fans as some of the greatest examples of English progressive folk ever recorded:
1. 'St Radigund's'
2. 'Old Boot Wine'
3. 'Bells Boots & Shambles'
*This album has been called by music critics "The magnus opus of British psychedelic folk"!
4. 'Burn The Bridges'
5. 'Swan Songs (now available.)
Details on 12 Canon Page
These albums are still bubbling under like some 'newclear' meltup, which is about to burst to the surface on it's own artistic merit like a volcanoe of gold - and without the help of any company much!
After this Martin travelled around Ireland by horse and cart and ended up at 'Cloonshear More', near Macroom - West Cork.
About Jan 1 - 75 Martin went overland to India with no money for return journey heading for Nirvana in the Himalayas. In Rishikesh heard about Vrindavana and thought that was near enough and would do nicely since it had Krishna in it - a beautiful blue gOD, with a not bad Goddess either named Radha!
Stumbled upon the exploding Hare Krishna movement and it's founder - His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivendanta Swami Prabhupada.
Joined, got initaited as Mahaaksha das. Became celibate monk student studying all important vedic literatures, sanskrit and hindii for about 3 years whilst travelling all over India teaching Indians their own religion!
After Prabhupada's departure from the planet went to Australia for 6 months and then went back to Ireland to write songs.
Late 70's
'Cloonshear More'
Eire
Fled to southern hemisphere! Stumbled upon Bali island and decided to try to teach Krishna yoga there. Got lot of support from lovely Balinese people!
Went back to Ireland to write more songs. Became friend of Sir Paul McCartney who wrote a song called 'One Of These Days' on first meeting Martin!
Left ISKCON as full time member (remained supporter, though) and moved to California and settled into Topanga Canyon where wrote incredible album of songs and got seed idea for movie (which has now become 'Invasion of the gODS'). Travelled around by VW Camper van.
Was evacuated to Big Island of Hawaii by heavy duty arch angles and United Airlines. Lived without hardly a dollar, on semi-wild fruits for two years in Waipio Valley - 'The Valley of The King'.
Had chanting temple in Paradise Park and self sufficent organic fruit tree garden and farm along the lines of Prabhupada's vision - 'An Acre Of Land And A Cow'. Used all solar power and rain water and grew many varieties of organic fruit trees.
The moved to Maui, & Oahu,
Then Desert Hot Springs where managed a hot springs retreat for Dylan's doctor - Dr. Dahi.
Went back to Topanga and worked in Hollywood as a movie extra.
Moved To San Francisco area (San Anselmo) with two container loads of huge stone and transcendental deities from Bali making 'Maha Deva' Gallery in San Anselmo with friend Jitendra.
2001. Came back to the wars in London to write songs with Original 'Spirogyra' member - Mark Francis.
See 12 Canons page for latest news on albums in the pipeline.
Other Biography
Martin Cockerham, is also known as Mahaaksha Das. He Founded 'Spirogyra' - English Progressive Folk-Rock-Pop Group in Bolton, Lancashire in 1967 with Mark Francis. Martin expanded the band in Canterbury, England in 1969 to the famous line up with Barbara Gaskin. Martin starred in lead Shakespearean roles in Manchester Youth Theatre. Played Prince Hal (Henry 5th)! "Once more unto the breach dear friends....." Toured Europe and UK with 'Spirogyra' for 7 years. 1974 Set out down the west coast of Ireland by horse and cart and opted out for a more natural and spiritual life style. Lived on a self sufficient 5 acre farm near Macroom called 'Cloonshear More' - (The standing stones of the faeries) It's here I got my first taste of the overwhelming joys of a totally alternative, self-sufficient and off any grid life style. Ended up suddenly going overland to India and heading for 'Nirvana' in Himalayas, with no money for return journey in search of spiritual enlightenment. In Himalayas heard about 'Vrindavana' - the land of Krishna near Mathura and turned back south to go there, since it sounded a bit like 'Nirvana' and had Krishna in it! Became initiated disciple of His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada - the founder of the Hare Krishna Movement. Had much personal association with His Divine Grace, including becoming his driver on many occasions in India. Became his foremost Vrindavan Collector and was with him personally at least 100 times. Went on the night of Prabhupada's dissappearance to bring his Samadhi foundation stone from Agra. On that stone sits Srila Prabhupada's transcendental form and the next 10,000 years of civilization!!Extensively visited all major holy places of India - some many times over - you'll probably be hard pressed to find a sadhu in India who has been to more! 1977 After Prabhupada's departure spent 6 very happy months in Sydney,Australia. 1978 Returned to Ireland to 'Cloonshear More' in the west Cork hills where wrote 'Seer's Songs' album of songs. Returned to London to finish 'Seer's Songs' and to record 'The Ship' with friends. To hear some of these songs go to www.myspace.com/martincockerham. Was one of the last handful of devotees allowed to stay in Bury Place temple with the Deities and friends like Havi - Ilan Chester and Patrick Berndhart (Prahlada) - Sakshi all very expertly and blissfully managed by Hare Krishna Das etc. 1979 Opened first Krishna temple in Bali, Indonesia and helped many Balinese to find Krishna consciousness. Partly as a result there are now at least 5000 devotees of Krishna in Bali. Mahaaksha was widely regarded by the Balinese devotees (still to this day) as the King Of Bali - Baliraja. Did all this in Indonesian and Balinese languages as back then no-one spoke English there and Bali was still a Paradise - before they developed (ruined) it like everywhere else! 83-85 Wrote and recorded 'The Ship' an album to be released. In 84-85 Was secretary of Hare Krishna European regional leader for one year and travelled all over Europe and the world. Decided not to go the route of most of my godbrothers, but instead to continue as a songwriter! Also preferred to find an alternative self sufficeint way of life and was not generally happy with the direction ISKCON was going away from this! 1986 Moved to Topanga near MalibuCalifornia. Soon ended up as usual living on the road in a VW camper van like all self respecting rainbow people, actual sadhus and Phew Age Travellers! Then wound up broke by Christmas that year when a friend gave me a free ticket to the BigIsland Of Hawaii and said 'go there my son....' Moved to Big Island of Hawaii only by divine arrangement and lived without money for 2 years in Waipio Valley - (The Valley of the Kings) eating mostly wild fruits and vegetables and the odd businessman who took a wrong turn! 1989 Started self-sufficient organic fruit tree farm and music/chanting temple in ParadisePark on BigIsland. Held many festivals and ecstatic full moon parties - still famous on the island - until 1996. Had huge and exceedingly beautiful life size Pancha Tattva deities land in our house, along with Radha Krishna. Had a transcendental garden with many many varieties of fruit trees and flowers. But decided to go back to the cosmic wars as otherwise planet earth was doomed! Returned to England to last two real Glastonbury festivals, 94 and 95, after which it was taken over by corporate yuppies! There has never been really good weather at any Glastonbury festival since! Not like in 94-95 anyway! But before that happened, recorded live in Glastonbury the album "Standing On One Of The Stones Up In TheSacred Field" to be released. Continued on to 1 year in Maui with Maui family where started a studio in the 'Cyber Cafe' with Om from 'Lost At Last'. Wrote album 'Maui Wowee' to be released! On trip to India and Bali met band 'JusLuv' from LA. Went to Hollywood Hills to record with them. Then lived again in TopangaCanyon working as a humble movie extra in Hollywood and wrote another album - 'Desert Hit Springs' to be released.! Throughout these years continued to write and record songs and tried in vain to get record company backing. Many times sending in demos, always to have them rejected! These rejected and never released albums are all coming soon. In 97 managed a Hot Springs retreat in 'Desert Hot Springs' for Dylan, Ringo and George Harrison's doctor and friend Dahi. Jeff Lynne heard me playing a song one day and ran in to ask if I wrote it. Afterwards Dahi said he had never in 10 years ever heard Jeff Lynne say he liked some music before - except famous people like Dylan, Petty and Beatles! Returned to Maui and Bali and teamed up with Jitendra to open 'Mahadeva' Gallary/Temple' in San Anselmo, Marin nr. San Francisco - importing huge stone statues and dieties of Buddha, Ganesh, Lakshmi, Shiva, Krishna and other gods!! This really was 'The Invasion of the gODS'! 2001 returned to India then London to work with original 'Spirogyra' co-founder Mark Francis and wrote - and am now finishing new album under name Spirogyra - 'Gyram'. Currently working also with Ameet Swamy from Bombay on new band/album 'Krishna Colours'. To hear our astrobhajan music go to: www.myspace.com/krishnacolours Also studied extensively Vedic Astrology since 1975 and am well known for many accurate predictions. Unless I'm broke I don't do astrology for money but to help guide people through the labyrinthe of uncertainty called life! In 2010 I will be firing a 12 canon assault aimed at the demons controlling this planet. This assault has been ordered by the Galactic Invasion force who have ordered it, despite my prefering a peaceful life in the country! The Galactic force will be attacking simultaneously with mystical weapons they gave me! These are love weapons which kill by creating something better - then stepping into it and simultaneously dissolving the old reality. Thus change comes about without any violence! This assault consists of the release of 12 albums - my life's work - all my previously unreleased music since 1974. Also I'm currently working on a book and movie script called 'Invasion of the gods' It is 'Star Wars' meets 'Mahabharata' meets 'Last Emperor' meets 'Lord of the Rings' but more! That's why it's called 'The Movie You Never Came Out Of!!' OK - NOW ARE YOU READY FOR THE ACTUAL BIO????. - I AM A DREAM WARRIOR FROM THE PLANETS OF THE GANDHARVAS OTHERWISE KNOWN AS FAERIES - Dream Warriors do not fight by destroying things or violence. They instead create superior dreams and stepping into them they dissolve the old inferior dreams! I CAME TO THIS PLANET WITH AN INVASION FORCE OF THE gODS. THE PLANET EARTH HAD BEEN CAPTURED BY DEMONS WHO PLANNED TO MILK IT DRY - AND THEN ABANDON IT. THEY ALSO PLANNED TO POISON IT (with nuclear waste) FOR THE NEXT 20,000 YEARS SO THAT THE gODS COULD NOT GET IT!! BEING AS THE DEMONS HAD CONTAMINATED SO MUCH THE ATMOSPHERE ON THE EARTH THE gODS WERE UNABLE TO COME PERSONALLY. THEY ALSO SENT IN MANY OTHER VOLUNTEERS FROM THE PLANETS OF THE CARANAS, GHANDARVAS (FAERIES), APSRAS AND SIDDHAS WHO CAN MOVE THROUGH BOTH REALMS. WE WERE ASKED TO TAKE BIRTH ON PLANET EARTH AND IT WAS HOPED THAT IN TIME WE WOULD REGROUP but it was a risky affair as birth here meant we would lose all knowledge of who we really were! MEANWHILE THE ENTIRE FLEET OF THE MOTHER FORCE OF gODS WOULD ENCIRCLE THE EARTH IN THE 5TH DIMENSION. THE gODS ALREADY SENT IN SOME VERY HEAVY DUTY ARCH ANGLES WHO MADE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC, AND A MAITREYA WHO GAVE PERFECT SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE AND TOGETHER THEY MADE A MAJOR IMPACT ON THE DEMONS. BUT THE DEMONS WERE ABLE TO REGROUP AND REPULSE THE ATTACK - Learning from that attack they took serious control of the media and filled it up with crap poison under the name 'music' which was not music at all, and was actually designed to destroy everyone's higher self and make them 'slave zombies'! THAT'S WHEN THE gODS SENT IN THE DREAM WARRIORS!! UNFORTUNATELY THE DEMONS GOT WIND OF THE PLAN AND INCREASED ALL KINDS OF DEVIATING TECHNOLOGY AND MIND POLLUTION TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT ONLY A FEW OF THE DREAM WARRIORS WERE ABLE TO WAKE UP. THE gODS HAD STAKED EVERYTHING ON THE HOPE THAT SOME OF THE DREAM WARRIORS WOULD FIND THE HIDDEN EARTHLY GATE THROUGH TO THE 'LAND OF LOVE'. THERE WE WERE TO OBTAIN THE 'LOVE LAZARS' AND ETERNAL MUSIC THAT COULD BE USED TO WAKE UP ALL THE DREAM WARRIORS TOGETHER AGAIN. IT WAS HOPED THAT MANY OF THE EARTHLINGS WHO HAD BEEN MADE SLAVE ZOMBIES BY THE DEMONS COULD ALSO BE AWAKENED AND JOIN 'THE LOVE REVOLUTION'! I ALREADY FOUND SOME OF THE GATES BY MEDITATING IN A CAVE UNDER A SACRED MOUNTAIN IN INDIA WITHOUT FOOD FOR 40 DAYS and in the Valley of the Kings and at the hellish portal to the undeworld - the gate is moving it seems and can be drawn down by mystic yoga! It doesn't remain under the control of one person. Others have also found it and been through. Meanwhile the mass media do not tell you what is actually going on - they do everything they can to NOT tell you, and to keep you fearful! They only have lies. They never tell the truth, even by mistake! The demons appointed various, so called musicians were actually 'shape shifting demons' in disguise who they promoted the hell out of, in order to deflect people from the real revolution. THEY HAVE NOW INCREASED THE INTENSITY OF ALL THE LIES AND IGNORANCE WHICH THEY CONTINUALLY HEAP ON EVERYONE'S HEAD THROUGH THE MEDIA - so much so that people do not even understand that there is an alternative to this entire technological nightmare - SO MUCH SO THAT MANY OF THE ORIGINAL DREAM WARRIORS WHO WERE FIGHTING ALONGSIDE ME HAVE NOW FALLEN INTO A STUPOR - otherwise known as selling out! Luckily 'The Warriors of The Rainbow' - The Rainbow Tribe - have survived, together, but many 'devotees' got bought out by cheap glorification and acted as if salvation was all it was about, whilst leaving planet earth to die and using plastic cups etc! Meanwhile playing the holy sadhu game to great personal benefit! - Not an actually enlightened thing to do when planet earth herself was under severe threat! Thus in this confusion demons also got into the originally pure various spiritual movements and perverted their real purpose! AND, AS IF THAT WAS NOT BAD ENOUGH, the mainstream culture - IN ORDER TO GIVE ANY KIND OF SPIRITUALITY A BAD NAME - HAVE TOTALLY RUINED CHRISTMAS By INCREASING IT TO 3 MONTHS OF UNENDING TORTURE - instead of the 2-3 days - maybe 12 max it's meant to be! THUS - EVERYONE HAS BECOME COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY SICK TO DEATH OF IT. IT REMAINS NOW TO BE SEEN IF THE LAST SURVIVORS OF SGT PEPPERS WILL JOIN THE FIGHT TO RID THE EARTH FOREVER OF THE 'BLUE MEANIES' (blue movies) AND THE TORTURE OF MORE OF THE DEMON'S CHRISTMASES??? AND NO NO NO, WE ARE NOT DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS! WE ARE DREAMING OF BING CROSBY DROWNED IN A VAT OF PERFUMED OIL!!!!
None Sine Sole Iris: There can be no Rainbow without the Sun
Became celibate monk student studying all important vedic literatures, sanskrit and hindii for about 3 years whilst travelling all over India teaching Indians their own religion! 
