10 October 2001, 12:21am IST
Shammi Paranjape.
There is a sufi story that says how god made a statue out of clay in his own image. he asked the soul to enter into this image. but the soul did not like the idea of getting captive in this form and preferred to be free. god then asked the angels to play music and as they did, the soul was so moved to ecstasy that it willingly entered the body in order to fully experience the music. the story illustrates the power that music has, it can enthral us and hold us in its grip. our life starts and is sustained by the rhythmic murmur of our heart-beats, and it is no wonder then, that rhythm and beat should affect us so profoundly. the musical rendition of anything delights the heart. even god, our scriptures declare, loves devotional songs or keertanam and rushes to any place where devotees gather to sing his glory. he is gaana vilola and bhava priya lover of song and lover of feeling... the divine sage narada expounded to humanity how singing joyously his name pleased god immensely and attracted his grace. music is a remarkable bridge between the world of matter and the world of spirit. saints recognised this mystic connection and used music to attune themselves to god. singing or chanting the glory of the divine is a tradition in most religions. we have christmas carols and psalms, buddhist and jewish chants and chanting of the qur’an. in the hindu religious tradition, music has played an important role in the lives of people since the time of the sama veda. sri sathya sai baba says that the three essential components of music — bh-bhav, ra-raga and ta-taal when joined together give us ‘bharat’. devotional singing is an integral part of our ceremonies as also our worship and adoration of god. it is recognised as one of the nine modes of nav-vidha bhakti for attaining god’s grace. it is one of the easiest paths to liberation especially in this kaliyug. in keertanam we do not just take the name of god, we sing it... the advantage of singing the name over plain recitation is the ananda it confers on the singer and the listener alike. sacred vibrations are produced which create a thrilling atmosphere surcharged with love. the weariness of samsar falls away and the singers feel attuned to their higher selves. down the ages many saints have glorified the tradition of singing god’s name. they recognised the power of keertanam to stir the depths of the human soul and exhorted weary humanity to avail of this simple road to bliss. the sixteenth century saint chaintanya mahaprabhu was one of the foremost exponents of this joyous celebration of god’s love in ecstatic song. he spent his life in popularising this mode of devotion amongst the people. saint mirabai attained an exalted state of mind singing soulfully to her beloved giridhar gopal or lord krishna. to this day mira bhajans hold our spiritual imagination and cast a spell on the listener. in the devotional tradition of india, keertanam in its pure technical form comprises compositions of great devotees that were sung by trained artistes with musical accompaniments. however, for lay people there are other popular forms of devotional singing like bhajan or sankeertan sung in groups with simple tunes easily followed by all. here raga or melody and taal or rhythm become subservient to bhav or feeling as inspired devotees give collective voice to their deep aspirations for god. this group singing, which comprises mainly of recitals of the divine names or a description of the attributes and leelas of the lord, creates a powerful vibration, filling the heart with divine energy. guru nanak popularised this kind of congregational singing with the aim of promoting the unity and spiritual welfare of the masses. musical instruments like mridang, chaplis and manjiras are used by the devotees. apart from the individual benefit, bhajan purifies the atmosphere by its positive vibrations. the idea behind devotional singing is to drop all self-consciousness and give yourself over completely to the joy of singing to the lord. only then does the energy created by the spirited keertan powerfully envelop all in a kind of transcendental rapture... sant jnaneshwar summed it beautifully, ‘‘by the power of chanting the lord’s name collectively, vaikuntha or heaven comes down into the mortal world for all....’’
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