"As to what we call music in everyday
language, to me architecture is
music, gardening is music, farming is music, painting is music,
poetry is music. In all the occupations of life where beauty
has been the inspiration, where the divine wine has been poured
out, there is music. But among all the different arts, the art
of music has been specially considered divine, because it is
the exact miniature of the law working through the whole universe.
"For instance, if we study ourselves we
shall find that the beats of the pulse and the heart, the inhaling
and exhaling of the breath are all the work of rhythm. Life
depends upon the rhythmic working of the whole mechanism of
the body. Breath manifests as voice, as word, as sound; and
the sound is continually audible, the sound without and the
sound within ourselves. That is music; it shows that there is
music both outside and within ourselves."
"The ancient singers used to experience
the effect of their spiritual practices upon themselves first.
They used to sing one note for about half an hour and observe
the effect of the same note upon all the different centers of
their own body. They noted what life current is produced, how
it opened the intuitive facilities, how it created enthusiasm,
how it gave added energy, how it soothed and how it healed.
So for them it was not a theory, it was an experience."
"There are two ways in life, uniformity
and individualism. Uniformity has its strength, but individualism
has its beauty. When one hears an artist, a singer of Hindu
music, the first thing he will do is to tune his tamboura, to
give one chord. While he tunes his tamboura he tunes his own
soul, and this has such an influence on his hearers that they
can wait patiently, often for a considerable time.
"Once he finds he is in tune with his
instrument, with that chord, his soul, mind and body all seem
to be one with the instrument. A person with a sensitive heart
listening to his song, even a foreigner, will perceive the way
he sings into that chord, the way he tunes his spirit to that
chord. And by that time he has become concentrated, and by that
time he has tuned himself to all who are there. Not only has
he tuned the instrument, but he has felt the need of every soul
in the audience and the demands of their souls, what they want
at that time. Not every musician can do this. But the best can.
"When he synthesizes, and it all comes
automatically as he begins his song, it seems that it touches
every person in the audience, for it is all the answer to the
demand of the souls that are sitting there. He has not made
a program beforehand. He does not know what he will sing next.
But each time he is inspired to sing a certain song, or to play
a certain mode. He becomes an instrument of the whole cosmic
system, open to all inspiration, at one with the audience, in
tune with the chord of the tambura, and it is not only music,
but spiritual phenomena that he gives to the people.
"Once a musician was invited to play
the vina. The musician came and was welcomed. He uncovered his
vina. Then he looked here and there, and found some discord.
He covered his vina, saluted and began to leave. Those present
felt disappointed and begged him to play; but his answer was,
'No matter what you give me, I do not feel like playing'. This
is a very different thing from making a program months ahead.
The musician in the West is bound six months beforehand to play
a certain program; he is helpless. But in this way it is not
music, it is labor, it is done mechanically. A singer in the
East never knows what he is going to sing before he starts singing.
He feels the atmosphere of the place and the time and then begins
to sing or to play whatever comes to his mind. It is a very
special thing. I do not mean to say that the music of this kind
can be universal music; it belongs to some rare person in a
secluded place."
"We see today that there is an increasing
tendency to nervousness. It is caused by too much activity in
life. Life is becoming more and more artificial every day, and
with every step forward man is yet missing that repose which
has been as yeast to the human race. Therefore for the betterment
and education of humanity today the art of repose, which seems
to be lost, greatly needs to be rediscovered." *
( * -- and this observation
is from around the year 1900.)
"If there is any explanation of why man
rejoices or is impressed by the music played to him it is this.
Is it only an amusement or a pastime? No, there is something
else besides that. The principal reason is that in man there
is a perpetual rhythm going on, which is the sign of life in
him; a rhythm which is expressed in his pulsation and his heartbeats,
even in his heart.
"And upon this rhythm depends his health;
not only his health, but his moods. Therefore, anywhere, a continued
rhythm must have an effect upon every person; and upon each
person its effect is distinct and different."
Music, the word we use in our everyday language,
is nothing less than the picture of our Beloved. It is because
music is the picture of our Beloved that we love music. But
the question is, what is our Beloved and where is our Beloved?
Our Beloved is that which is our source and our goal; and what
we see of our Beloved before our physical eyes is the beauty
which is before us; and that part of our Beloved not manifest
to our eyes is that inner form of beauty of which our Beloved
speaks to us. If only we would listen to the voice of all the
beauty that attracted us in any form, we would find that in
every aspect it tells us that behind all manifestation is the
perfect Spirit, the spirit of wisdom.