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Musical melodies without We see in our everyday
experience that music, instrumental or vocal, plays an important role in
religious congregations, whatever the nature, whether of the Yogins, the
Hindus, the Christians or the Sikhs. We
see the practice of Qawwali among the Muslims, the rich music in the quatrains
of Omar Khayyam, and the poetical compositions of Shah Niaz, Khawaji Hafiz,
Shamas Tabrez and Maulana Rumi. All the
teachings of the Sikh Masters in the voluminous Granth Sahib are arranged on
Rag forms--musical compositions. The
fact is that effusions from the depths of one's soul flow in unpremeditated
numbers. Peotry is, in fact, the
language of the soul, as much as prose is of the intellect. All these outer musical aids have, however,
an inebriating effect that lull a person to a state of intoxication but cannot
rouse in him Super-consciousness gradually expanding into the efflorescence of
Universal Awakening and Cosmic Awareness. All the wild ecstatic dances
in accompaniment with the outer music are of no avail to the mind that is both
blind and deaf. *182 GURU
AMAR DAS There are several resons for
this ineffectiveness. In the first
place the music that one very often hears is not an out-pouring of the
soul. It is a cheap commodity and
merely a means of livelihood. A musician makes use of his
tunes for the sake of earning a living And makes all sorts of
gesticulations, waqving himself fromside to side. With rattling ripplets at
the ankles, one calls himself a devotee of Ramdas and thereby earns a living, Another shows himself off
with the observance of fasts, vigils and performance of set rituals, And still another sings out
hymns and verses with a mind an utter stranger there to. *183 GURU
ARJAN With the dog of hunger gnawing
at the very vital chords within, one cannot possibly get over his sense of
doubt and skepticism, with the result that he remains in darkness, far removed
from Reality. Secondly, most of the
musicians spend all their time and energy in setting right the tunes and
strains of their instruments, vocal or otherwise. A searching investigation of some of the Ragis (professional
singers) revealed that they live in constant fear of losing their gift of
popular tunes and thus always try to show off what they may or may not actually
possess. With the attention riveted all
the time on the tunes alone they simply sing off the Bani regardless of its
true import and thereby not only lose sight of the inner meaning it conveys but
more often than not make such phonetical blunders that the true significance
itself is distorted and lost. The Yogin plays the part
with his hands, But the tunes do not ring in
true. *184 GURU
RAM DAS The hearers too cannot
understand the verses properly; unless they are well acquainted with it
beforehand, they lose it in the strains and turns of the accompanying
music. The saints have, therefore, not
attached any special importance to outer music for it fails to develop true
concentration and consequently one cannot contact the Reality within, lose the
sense of I-ness and get above body consciousness, nor achieve inner peace and
ecstasy. O Yogin, with the music of
the zither you cannot develop concentration nor reach the Truth, O Yogin, your zither shall
not give you inner peace nor shall it rid you of your egotism. *185 GURU
AMAR DAS The time spend in preparing
tunes and strains is a dead loss without any yield whatever. If this time were spent in attuning the soul
with the inner Word, according to the instructions of the Master, one could
gather many untold treasures of Divinity. How long will you adjust to
play the ripplets and the guitar? Why not spend the time in
the Word instead of in preparing the tunes? How long will you dance and
extend your hands? GURU
RAM DAS It is no good to
emotionalize, sing and dance wildly to the accompaniment of music, tire oneself
out of breath and then faint away, sinking into oblivion that leads the spirit
nowhere. The outer musical aids no doubt
do help temporarily in gathering in the scattered outgoing faculties and
wandering wits, but cannot lead one to higher Consciousness. On the other hand, they take one to a state
of forgetfulness both of one's self and of God. Beethoven tells us that music is the mediator between the spiritual
and the sensual life. We seem to enter
into a new mental world of our own which, of course, is superimposed on us by
the musicians. But it fails to wean the
mind from the inner cravings for the world and all that is worldly. In brief, the teachings of the Masters are
crystal-clear on this subject. We may
be attracted by and get absorbed in the outer music and all of us fully enjoy
it, yet with all that we cannot break loose from the three Gunas and transcend into
the beyond. Without the aid of the True
Music of the Soul that beyond. Without
the aid of the True Music of the Soul that is going on everywhere and all the
time, one remains a constant prey to sorrow and affliction in the realm of
maind and matter. Engaged in useless pursuits,
the musician keeps the people spell-bound in Ragans, He remains within the snares
of the three Gunas and goes round in transmigration, As without contact with the
All-pervading Word one remains in suffering and sin. *187 GURU
NANAK It is only the Word that can
take one ut of the delusive matter.
*188 GURU
AMAR DAS The saints have, therefore,
neve rcommended any course of discipline, neither of music, nor yogic practices
nor anything else. They have always
laid stress on the love of Naam or Word, the primal Sound Principle of Godhead. Some engage in the music of
the bells, Some in fasts, vigils, beads
and the like, Some smear their bodies with
sandal paste. But I have only the Lord for
my devotion. *189 GURU
ARJAN The Muslim devouts also perferred
the practice of Kalam-I-qadim, the most ancient inner Call of God, to all king
of outer musical melodies. Take the stop-cock of doubt
and distrust from your ears, And listen to the Melody
that is floating down from above. O brave soul, rise above the
sensory plane, And hear thou Heaven's
Music. What a pity to remain in the
prison-house of the body, And not to listen to the
Voice of the All-Merciful. Bhai Gurdas, in his Kabit
Sawais, tells us that by Nad-Bad (oute ragas and raginis--tunes and melodies),
one cannot have access to the True and unending Melodies. So long as one enjoys ragas
and raginis, He remains far removed from
Anhad. *190 The ragas and raginis
(musical notes) have just a sensual appeal and one engaged in them remains
entangled all his life, trapped unawares like a swift-footed stage or a mighty
elephant, both of whom, in their ignorance, fall an easy prey to the wiles of
the hunter. Just as a stag by listening
to the music of the frum gets drenched in ignorance, So man without Shabd remains
without peace and happiness. *191 Far beyone Nad-Bad (outer
music) lies the Anahat or the unstruck self-supporting Music. One has to go far beyond the
musicdal tunes for union with the Anhad.
*192 It is only by communion with
Anhad that one can rise above the physical plane of the three Gunas. This Godly Music helps us in breaking
through the bondage of the world, and while remaining in the world we cease to
be of the world. Henceforth, like a
lotus flower we keep above the muddy water which is our natural habitat, and
like a sea-fowl always keep high and dry, unaffected by the natural element in
which we live. In the Sikh scriptures the
Nad-Bad has often been described as Bikh-bani or Bikh-Nad, meaning Bani or Nad
with a mortal sting in it, for it injects one with a dealy poison from which
one can find no escape. Through palate and eyes we
are all entangled, And we get deadly poison
through the ears, Without the Shabd we are
lost all the time. *193 GURU
NANAK The ears get so attuned with
the false music, that the Music of God does
not appeal to us. *194 GURU
ARJAN It is only by substituting
the Nab-Bad with the Divine Melody that we can have any honor in His presence: Leave off Ragas (outer
music) and momune with the Word, Then shalt thou be honored
in His Court, O Nanak! by meditating on
Him according to the instructions of the Master, one rids himself of all
vanities. *195 GURU
RAM DAS The worldly-wise keep busy
all the time in Nad-Bad which is nothing but sound arising from matter: O Man! How shall I describe
all this? It is all but a false rattle
from matter. *196 GURU
ARJAN The path of the Masters
starts where all these ragas and raginis (music notes and tunes) come to an end
and one transcends theplane of the senses, beyond which the unstruck Music
ceaselessly plays of Itself. One who is
in tune with this Dhun-atmak Shabd (Song of the Soul) may sing as much as he
likes and it benefits him to do so. He who has seen the Reality, His songs are acceptable, and He is honored in His
Court. *197 GURU
RAM DAS It is only by contact with
the Word that one can escape from the sea of delusive matter; outer musical
notes of whatever description are of no avail. The mind keeps oscillating
when sitting in devotion, Buy by listening to the
Master's Word it gets stilled, The True Sound drives away
all worldly attachments, The Shabd opens the eye to
Reality. *198 GURU
AMAR DAS While engaged in singul
pursuits one sings Ragas (songs) and bears testimony to the truth of what they
say, little nowing that without the Word allis a farce. *199 GURU
NANAK The inner Music of the soul
is the real song. It tunes are
self-existing and self-supporting and need to no outer aids of hands, feet or
tongue and lead to the source from whence they come, the Minstrel divine. The sweet symphonies of the
Music float without the aid of hands and feet, Whoever communes with this
Music, he beholds the Truth. *200 GURU
NANAK The strains of the Heavenly
Music become manifest only to one who is a true devotee of the Master; through
a Master-soul many get benefited: A devotee of the Lord sees
and sings of His glory, He hears the playing of
cymbals, bells, zither, guitar and flute, He surrenders his all to Him
and gets to the Truth, Whoever believes in Him gets
on the Path and ends his round of births, He doth escape the fires of
hell, o Nanak! and truly comes to his own.
*201 GURU
ARJAN The Yogins and Derveshes,
however, make use of the outer music as an aid in developing the transcendental
hearing. The Sufis, in particular,
call music a divine or celestial art, not only because of its use in religion
and devotion, and because it is in itself a universal religion, but because of
its fineness in comparison with all other arts and sciences. Every sacred scripture, holy picture or
spoken words produces the impression of its identity and leaves its own image
upon the mirror of the soul, but music stands before the soul without producing
any impression whatever of either name or form of the objective world, thus
preparing the soul to realize the infinite… The Sufi, recognizing its
importance, calls music Ghiza-I-Ruh, the food of the soul and uses it as a
source of spiritual perfection; for music fns the fire of the heart and the
flame arising from it illumines the soul.
The Yogins and ascetics blow Narsinghas (big-horned instruments) or
Shankha (a conch or a big shell), to awaken in them the inner tone. Derveshes play Nai or Algoza (a double
flute) for the same purpose. The bless
and gongs in the churches and temples are meant to suggest to the thinker the
same sacred Sound, and thus lead him towards the inner life. *202 HAZRAT INAYAT
KHAN Music
used as the art of arts and the science of sciences, containing the fountain of
all knowledge, is helpful in developing the finer sense of hearing; but if
practiced for exhibition and sho or as a means of earning a living it loses its
inherent charm and real utility. The
saints at times press music into their service as handy aid in collecting an
audience, for people are generally attracted more by music than by anything
else. Again,
it is out of the abundance of heart that a man speaketh. As the true saints are imbued with the intoxication
of the inner unstruck divine Music (Anahat), the spontaneous songs welling out
of the depths of their soul bring about a tremendous impact, instantaneously
leading them to full spiritual efflorescence. From a study of ancient
tradition we see that the first divine messages were given in songs; the Song
of Solomon, the Psalms of David and the Gathas of Zoroaster. The Vedas, the Puranas, the Ramayana, the
Mahabharata, the Zend Avesta, the Kabala and the Sikh Scriptures are all in
verse. Kabir, Nanak, Baba Farid, Hazrat
Bahu, Surdas, Dharamdas, Sadna and other saints used mostly verse for
disseminating their ideas. The very
atmosphere in the gatherings of the saints is charged with spiritual vibrations
and often some of the devout listeners get into Wajd or a state of intoxication
at their very sight. The two simple
words "Hari Bole" addressed to a washerman by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,
the sage of Bengal, turned the very washing ghat into a veritable ring of
dancers with the chant of "Hari Bole" on their lips. This then is the power of real music coming
from within the secret chambers of the heart. |