Music - A Spiritual Journey
Music is the purest form of art. Therefore many poets who are seers, seek to express the universe in terms of music. The singer has everything within him. The notes come out from his very life.They are not materials gathered from outside.
-Rabindranath Tagore
Gods favourite sound is the sound of His Inner Music. This Inner Music is the music of transition and transformation of the universe and its human perception. Music is the expression of the harmony of this ever pulasiting dynamic universe.
Music is intricately related to achieving perfection in a spiritual evolution. Man goes from truth to higher truth. In this journey of spiritual evolution, perfection plays a major role. To achieve perfection is like touching the horizon. The closer one seems to go towards the horizon, the further it seems to move away. According to Hindu Philosophy, to attain this perfection is to attain Enlightenment. A state where one goes beyond time and space.
We need to be born a million times more to reach that state.
-AdiShankaracharya , Vivekachudamani
Indian Classical Music is all about hitting that perfect swara, though it is not restricted only to that, as raga, laya, taal etc are other of its important aspects too. But above all being in perfect sur is where the journey of music starts.
For me Sur is Namaaz and Namaaz is Sur
- Ustad Bismillah khan
Let us reflect on these two words: Asur and Sur. If we remove the letter A, we get Sur. Asur being the demon, and Sur denoting God. "Being in Sur" means being one with God. God is the one who is always perfectly tuned and always in tune.
To find the Sur is nothing short of a miracle. It is like the edge of a sword. Only right swara can transform this edge of the sword into a smooth, expanded and vast space of transcendence - shoonya. One can bask in this shoonyata in pleasure, and can continue to stretch it further and it remains ever so perfect on that note. This is Swar Sadhana in Hindustani Classical Music. A student of music meticulously polishes every note, till it shines with the tejas and aura of the sheer purity of the sound of that note.
Music is the highest form of art, and those who understand it, the highest form of worship
-Swami Vivekananda
Swara, a sanskrit word: swa- meaningself, ra -meaning to bring forth or throw light upon. The artist goes deep within himself to bring out the essense of Self to the surface. Only then it reaches out to others to touch the core, and one is moved by this music. Its like a candle, once lit, throws light on all others around. Words, virtuosity, control, mastery over taal, laya, harkat, etc. are all fabrics with which a musician clothes that swara for people to enjoy, just like swagun is nothing but clothed version of nirgun niraakaar.
Music is the wine, which inspires one to new generative process, and I am Bacchus, who passes out this glorious wine for mankind and make them spiritually drunken.
-Beethoven
When the musician is egoless, humble, surrendering, in a state of perfect self, with the perfectly placed swara, he is one with the Eternal spirit. That is spirituality in music.
I despise a world which does not feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy
-Plato
