MUSIC AND LIFE

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5. MUSIC AND LIFE

 

BY A. SWAMINATHA AYYAR

 

The simplest idea conveyed by Music is that it is an art which

employ sound as the medium of artistic expression. It has a province

of its own in many respects anatague to, but yet distinct from the

other art, such as literature, sculpture, painting or architecture,

in that it suggests the inward feelings of the outward expressions of

the latter. This quality places music on the higher level of art

excellence and has the merit of serving the purpose of a universal

primary the giving of pleasure to man in his several stages of

physical and mental development. But the aesthetic respect of music

is not the whole thing. It is also the means where by the individual

is enabled to put himself in harmonious relationship with the longer

life of which he is a part. There is no tradition point the origin of

music with the Highest Deity manifested in his true aspect of Brahma,

Vishnu and Maheswara. Brahma the grand-Siva his supposed to be ever

engaged in changing the Vedas which contain the earlier music known

to man, especially the Sama Veda, for it is this Veda which has the

full complement of seven notes. The Lord Sri Krishna in the Bhagavat

Gita says" of Vedas I am the Samam" and He is associated with the

flute in which he plays the song of life. Mahadeva is also Nataraja,

the King of dancers. Music is incomplete without dance and expression

(Nartana). The Ananda tandava of Nataraja is the cosmic dance that

starts the course of involution or disintegration of the universe at

Mahapralaya. The four-faced Brahma kept Narada sang accompaniment. So

our traditional conception of music (Sangita) is harmonious

synthetic and interrelation of song, dance, instrument and expression.

 

One can understand why the world's greatest thinkers, seers and

prophets have characterized music as the solace of the afflicted mind

a kind of unfathomable speech which leads us to the Infinite. I have

already referred to the Riks of the Rig Veda which as the earliest

musical compositions that we know of. The Riks are addressed to Agni-

the messenger from man to God, the mediator between them. We have

hymns addressed Indra of the thunderbolt, with which he renders

asunder the dark clouds so that the heavenly rays and waters may

descend to bless and fertilise the earth. Indra has his abode in mid-

air. The brilliant Sun God, who rules the sky, is besought to enable

the germination of seed and the maturing of crops and to enable the

flocks on which agriculture depends to thrive in gladsome prosperity.

The conception of Vedic Gods as terrestrial, aerial and celestial

apparently means no more than that the Manifestations of divine power

in nature may be traced to three centers of force, one in the sky,

one in the air and one on the earth. The Riks of the Rig Veda contain

indelible traces of how the poet in man opens out a Vista of grandeur

and sublimity, a sense of sweetness and sincerity in which he plays

the role of an humble and cheerful devotee. The Vedic Aryan "

approaches his Gods with meek, yet cheerful submission intertwines

them with his own self and gather strength. Many a hymn may be cited

to show how the spirit if submission to the Divine will operated as a

factor in his scheme of life. As his intellectual horizon widens, we

find his view of life becoming more and more speculative and his mind

yearns in search of something beyond "what he has been a accustomed

to see or to conceive. The unfolding and perfecting of the human self

becomes the greatest problem of man. And to merge in one individual

unity the spirit of man; the spirit of nature and the spirit of God

was the supreme achievement of the Rishis who sang the immoral

Upanishads. The emanation of the human self from the Infinite and its

final return to the Infinite, became the theme of the speculations of

the Poet Rishis And we find in the early Upanishads the question

asked almost in the same words as in the written of the Greek or the

Chinese philosophers or in the philosophers of Modern Europe-

questions which must have been asked for thousands of years whence

are we born? Whither are we going?

 

To the great majority of mankind however, such speculations can be of

little avail and to these, the immoral epics, the Ramayana and the

Mahabhratha came as a welcome relief and served as the vehicle

through which was conveyed the message of the godly and heroic in

human relations. The story of the origin of the compositions of the

Ramayana is significant. As Valmiki roamed through the forests around

his Ashrama, he marked with pleasure the happy sights and scenes

around him, the sporting animals and the merry birds. And as he was

watching a pair of Krancha birds sporting each other, a fowler shot

one of the pair and the hen-bird fluttered round her dying mate

uttering piteous cries. Bhagvan Valmiki, moved by pity and love, also

cried aloud. His words fell into the form of a sloka, musical and

sanorous and Brahma appearing before the sage bade him tell the story

of Sri Ramachandra in that melodious metre. Thus as aptly observed

y Dr. Radhakrishnan, the other day, out of oka was born the sloka,

and wherever is chanted, these qualities still find birth, In the

Mahabharata, we have the Lord's song the Bhagavat Gita, and the

Vishnu Sahasranama, addressed by Bhisma from his bed of arrows, to

the Pusushottama. Well as Sankaracharya, said sing the gita and the

thousand namas of the Lord- Geyam Gita Nama Sahasranam.

 

Coming later periods, we have in the stotras (devotional hymn lyrics)

as an expression of feeling comparable to the Riks of the Rig Veda,

and in which we find the old Hinduism of feeling and fervour

reasserting itself. The inspiration of the Vedas and the strotras

find full expression in the devotional songs of the poet saints of

India. The earliest recorded name is that of Jayadeva Goswami

(Bengal) 12th century whose master piece the " Gita Govinda" is a

perpetual source of inspiration to the devoted. To this brilliant

galaxy of India's Saint Singers belong Guru Nanak, Kabir, Tulasidas,

Surdas, Mirabai and Haridas in the north, Samarth Ramadas, Eknath,

Tukaram Sadhu, Vamdev and Jnanadev in the Maharastra country and

Ramdas Swami of Bhadrachalam, Ksharajna (North Arcot), Purandaradas,

Sri Thygaraja, Muthuswami Dikshidar and Samasastri, Andal and

Arunagiri Nathar, all coming from the Southern county who have

endeavoured to keep alive the lofty aspiration and the many-sided

spiritual culture of India, the noble heritage to which they were the

worthy seccessiors.

 

In theses days of democratization music, its spiritual aspect may

come to be ignored, while far much prominence may be given to its

aesthetic aspect. Not that the latter aspect of music should be left

in the cold. The technique of an art, must invariably be as perfect

as possible, for behind the conscious mental impulse to perfection,

there is always an unconscious psychic impulse to contact God, the

Archetype of perfection. But the danger is when art becomes a

dictator in the spirit, instead of being its standard bearer. This

should be guarded against.

 

There is music in every heart and when the master musicians of the

world sought to invoke the aid of music to realize the Infinite. They

spoke not for one country or nation, but for all mankind. There is

souls sympathy with sounds; some chord in unison with what we hear is

pinched within us and the heart relies. There is a harmony between

the constitution of man and that of nature and whatever is most

perfect (i.e., beautiful), in the outer world excites the most

perfect and delightful emotion in the soul of man. And when Divine

music touches this chord, we seem to have a new freedom, a new

extension of over personality, a yearning for the realization of the

larger self of which were a part. We seem to have a vision of the

world harmony, the Divine Dominion of Loves supine and a new

conception of brotherhood, Music if it should serve its highest

purpose, must be liberated from the prison of the ego. One cannot

worship God and mammon with the same oblation. Well and the Apostle

St. Paul, said in one of his famous Epistles, " I will sing with the

spirit and I will sing with the understanding also". If this is borne

in mind, the outer vesture of a song, its language garb becomes a

secondary consideration.

 

(From Sai Sudha Feb 1944)