James M. Brody

I can’t believe how time has flown so quickly since Jim left this plane of earth. It reminds me to value our friends and acquaintances especially if they were as helpful as he was to my personal and teaching growth.

James Brody or Sarmad was a wonderful friend and patient teacher as well as a kind employer. I worked for him in the early 1970s at Greenwood restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. I always hoped he and his family had a wonderful life, and his children Asha and Sophia grew up happy.

Jim was a delightful person. I took his synthesizer class at ETSU in about 1970. He told me that there was another student that I should meet, who turned out to be Jay Cotton-- a main friend in my life, though another crazy person, like me. I meditated with Sarmad and Sharda's sufi group in Commerce for a few months and the chanting and Sarmad's koans were very helpful to me. I was able to enter a quiet place in the mind, though I have perhaps not spent enough time there. I needed an adviser...

Jim Brody was my Sufi teacher. I call him Jim rather than Sarmod, because he was one of the few ephemeral beings that could like the dervish spin in many worlds and keep sight of reality while uncovering the truth in the moment. Much love to this compassionate blissful soul.

A Salute to James Brody:
From Bach to Xenakis:
http://graphicwitness.org/music/index/aadirectory.htm

Sarmad was my sufi teacher when i lived in Houston many years ago. There is so much I will never forget. I just found out he has died but he is still with me in so many ways.

Dear Brody Family,

My condolences on your loss. It was with great sadness and joy that I learned of his passing from an internet search to attempt to reconnect. I knew Sarmad from his Greenwood adventure. I worked for him for several years in the late '70's as a cook, bookkeeper and assistant as well as visited regularly after I moved on to other endeavors. We spent many hours in those times discussing philosophy, science, politics and all things spiritual. He did San Antonio and...

This guy was the first music teacher I had at East Texas State University. He had the electronic music class where i met Gary Panter and both of us went on to do the Pee Wee herman Show and I just did the music for his recent Broadway show. I rented Sarmad's ( I would call him "Doormat Breathhard" and did a comic about him called "Song of Sarmad" and he'd laugh) house one summer. He was just at ET for one year filling in for Thomas "Shabda Nur" Wirtel. Brody/Sarmad was a most righteous dude...