The Bhakti Bhav In Hindustani Music--THE SPEAKING TREE

Rasa and rang do play a significant role in Hindustani classical music. But, its spiritual life force

or prana has much deeper roots.

Anhad naad, the unstruck sound or naad has been mentioned by saints like Kabir and Mira, as

the music heard within the depths of one’s being. Anhad naad is a divine melody, a celestial

music which is transcendent, beyond the senses and intellect. It can neither be sung nor heard.

It can be contacted by the soul alone. Anhad naad and soul are in essence the same as God.

There is therefore a natural spiritual magnetic attraction between them. So when a listener’s

soul is turned towards the anhad naad within it is drawn like a needle to a magnet.

In the realm of Nirakar, the Unmanifest Supreme God, like every thing else in Creation, music

too is in its potentiality only. But this potentiality is the thing that eventually takes form —

aakaar — as music in our physical world when sung or played.

The pleasure or satisfaction experienced by the listener as rasa and rang is due to the union

of the manifest music with the unmanifest anhad naad deep within the listener.

The relationship between the listener’s soul and anhad naad within her being is like that

between the struck — baaj ke taar — strings of a sitar and its unstruck sympathetic strings or

tarben which resonate only by the vibrations caused by the struck strings. The musicality of the

sound produced by the struck strings is hollow and incomplete without the complementary

sound lent by the sympathetic unstruck strings. That is why sitar maestros give so much time

and attention to the fine-tuning of the tarben.

The same applies to the listener of Hindustani classical music. The more finely attuned are

her soul and the inner celestial melody, the deeper and more fulfilling will be the music heard

by her. This is why everybody does not appreciate or enjoy music to the same extent or

intensity. The fine-tuning of body and soul differs from person to person.

Every lover of classical Hindustani music may not be aware of the anhad naad within, like an

accomplished saint, but anhad is very much there as an integral part of the Supreme Akhand

and Anant or Oneness of the unmanifest or Nirakar and the manifest or Sakar.

Brahmn is “Shabdabrahmaswaroop”. He is manifest when audible (Omkaar or Om+aakaar)

and unmanifest when dormant and formless as “OM” in Brahmn.

Only a true and perfect maestro can join the disciples’ soul with the anhad naad within. We

cannot achieve this by reading books or listening to the recordings of past maestros. Anhad

naad is a transcendent entity and therefore cannot be conveyed or given to others indirectly.

Reciprocity is a must. Only a living person can open the current of the divine melody within

us. If his own soul has awakened to this anhad naad, he can awaken other souls too.

Our own zeal and practice do matter, but these too are part of the guru’s grace only. The

guru, performing artist’s soul, the listener’s soul, God and anhad naad, are one and the same.

Little wonder then that Pandit Amarnath finds bhakti bhav the essential underlying rasa in

Hindustani classical music. But bhakti bhav is the outcome of the spiritual roots of Hindustani

music. It is not the other way round.

Times Of India Mumbai; Date:2008 Aug 28; Section:Editorial; Page Number16

THE ROOT PROBLEM OF ALL PROBLEMS

The root problem of all problems is mind itself. The first thing to be understood is what this mind is, of what stuff it is made; whether it is an entity or just a process; whether it is substantial, or just dreamlike. And unless you know the nature of the mind, you will not be able to solve any problems of your life. 

You may try hard, but if you try to solve single, individual problems, you are bound to be a failure -- that is absolutely certain -- because in fact no individual problem exists: mind is the problem. If you solve this problem or that, it won't help because the root remains untouched. 

It is just like cutting branches of a tree, pruning the leaves, and not uprooting it. New leaves will come, new branches will sprout -- even more than before; pruning helps a tree to become thicker. Unless you know how to uproot it, your fight is baseless, it is foolish. You will destroy yourself, not the tree. 

In fighting you will waste your energy, time, life, and the tree will go on becoming more and more strong, far thicker and dense. And you will be surprised what is happening: you are doing so much hard work, trying to solve this problem and that, and they go on growing, increasing. Even if one problem is solved, suddenly ten problems take its place. 

Don't try to solve individual, single problems -- there are none: mind itself is the problem. But mind is hidden underground; that's why I call it the root, it is not apparent. Whenever you come across a problem the problem is above ground, you can see it -- that's why you are deceived by it. 
 

Always remember, the visible is never the root; the root always remains invisible, the root is always hidden. Never fight with the visible; otherwise you will fight with shadows. You may waste yourself, but there cannot be any transformation in your life, the same problems will crop up again and again and again. You can observe your own life and you will see what I mean. I am not talking about any theory about the mind, just the "facticity" of it. This is the fact: mind has to be solved. 

People usually  ask: "How to attain a peaceful mind?" I say to them: "There exists nothing like that: a peaceful mind. Never heard of it." 

Mind is never peaceful -- no-mind is peace. Mind itself can never be peaceful, silent. The very nature of the mind is to be tense, to be in confusion. Mind can never be clear, it cannot have clarity, because mind is by nature confusion, cloudiness. Clarity is possible without mind, peace is possible without mind, and silence is possible without mind -- so never try to attain a silent mind. If you do, from the very beginning you are moving in an impossible dimension. 

So the first thing is to understand the nature of the mind, only then can something be done. 
 

Dated: 27 May 2008

Place : Mumbai      S.K.Gupta