The nature of classical music brings out the emotions within, in a controlled self-contained way where the energy within is channelized into rhythm with slow delivery. The mind can loose itself into the notes as they spill forth, and appreciation and enjoyment of the forthcoming notes brings out the emotion in the highest form.
It’s witnessed in the difference between Ananda Tandava and Rudra Tandava in Bharata shastra.
Every emotion is a display of what the human being is capable of, and if surrendered, even the heaviest emotion can be enjoyable.
Ananda Tandava is slow, a hand holding beat that dictates the next move. The body flows slowly, the emotions finding their way through mudra. It’s like speech with the Lord Himself. The Lord dances alongside, His eyes locked in mine as we perform together in the stage of life.
As the note rises He leads, inviting me to display the next emotion. The back moves, swaying with the note, the echoing rhythm around the pillared hall, the chalangai(ghunguru) being the only connect to this realm. All feet locked within the notes, the rhythm rolls on. Its a strange experience when the emotions find ways to explode through silent moves, so self contained that their potency needs to be experienced and not understood.
A quiet world, where the eyes meet, the feet move together and the fingers bloom into mudra, each abhinaya a word in silence falling out. Such is the potency of classical music and dance, understood by few, experienced in silence, each experience a concentrate within the self brought out, felt, cherished, remembered.
Rudra Tandava, a little faster in excitement adds more flavour to the moves. The excitement within, a completely different emotion jumps forth uncontrolled. The flow of the emotion much faster this time, needs to be directed with more care for the emotions move faster than the body itself. Thats when the Lord leads the way, and I follow, unaware that every step is repeated with the same underlying mano layam(chemistry).
It’s a challenge to keep up, to walk through the minefield of sprouting emotions each in a different direction as he shows me the abhinaya to dance through in rhythm. The result is a vibrant move of the body, a sway so strong, that my incapable self manages to handle. The eyes speak in excitement, the expression reflecting on the face, as my hand slice through the air following the Lord's every step. The feet rise and fly into the air as the chalangai(ghunguru) clap to the wild swing.
Its just a world of pure emotion, a vibration in the mind, ripples cutting through the air as two bodies rhythmically move, in the light of the dancing crescent moon among the jatas that form silent black waves enveloping both into complete mano laya.
Complete emotion experienced!!
10 comments:
The blog reminded meof ST.Meera & her"Madhura Bhakti".Channelizing emotions in a proper way is all that Indian culture & traditions seek to teach us.
Hi to Kavitha, Anilji (after a week’s outing)...
In Chapter XII of Gita, different ways to reach “Yogiraj Krishna” or Supreme Knowledge are indicated, which in essence indicate firm faith in the Creator, actions with detachment etc…
In his popular poem in North India - Madhushala (meaning liquor bar) – Millennium Actor Amitabh Bachchan’s father, Shri Harivansha Rai Bachchan, also summarised the Hindu Philosophy in his couplet, to the effect, “Everyone tells you a different path for reaching the Bar/ But I advise you to keep marching forward on any one chosen path and you would reach it (!)”
In so far as classical music/ dance developed in ‘India’ by the ancients are concerned, the normal practice is to present first a slower version (vilambit), maybe with/ without any percussion instrument as an accompaniment, followed by a faster version (drut) accompanied by a percussion instrument…
Generally, a properly tuned instrument, Tanpura, during the presentation provides the basic notes, Sa & Pa (Do & So) in lower and middle octaves in the ascending order so that the singer doesn’t sing out of tune, whereas the speed in the vilambit/ drut laya is controlled by the beats on the percussion instrument selected for the particular rendition…
Any song/ dance presentation is seen to be designed, based on practice and experience over long periods, after satisfying oneself that there is perfect harmony between the various participants, so that an environment of bliss (to reach God) is generated between the audience and the players with the audio/ video presentation…
Continuing, one could perhaps visualize how the ‘wise’ ancients had realized the purpose of human life - primarily to seek the “Truth”, i.e., read the mind of the believably Formless Creator of the apparent physical universe, while being apparently engaged in actions in the field of "fine art" - that are not directed towards fulfillment of the basic physical needs, which were considered secondary…
I give below what I had said on 'dance' in another blog on the 11th Feb '06:
"Once it is accepted that man is ‘a model of the universe’, and universe as ‘illusion’ such that there are as many ‘truths’ or ‘reflections’, of the ‘Absolute Truth’ as there are apparent viewers (‘images of God’), it becomes easy to visualize how the constituent members of the entire universe are ‘dancers’ – following some hierarchy, from ‘zero’ or still model to fast, and faster, moving ones … For, the universe apparently comprises innumerable galaxies of different shapes and sizes… Our galaxy contains innumerable stars of different sizes, all of which ‘dance’, or revolve, around its centre, that believably houses a ‘Black Hole’.
Within our galaxy, exists our solar system (near the outer periphery – like ‘cream’ or ‘essence’ of milk in a centrifuge - and hence the reference to Krishna as the cowboy during a particular era following the era pertaining to the story of the solar system!) wherein each member, called planet, planetoid etc., is ‘dancing’ around the sun, i.e., virtually copying the centre of galaxy…
The above is the ‘essence’ of the ancient ‘Hindu Philosophy’… as I have understood it…
If one were to go into the depth of ‘Hindu’ Philosophy - with the background belief that once upon a time they were highly advanced in Astronomy (and today we are freshly seeing the ‘advancement’in IT) - Ramayana, or Ramakien, the story of the ’suryavanshi king’ (i.e., related to our sun) in fact describes the behaviour of our solar system through humans as ‘models’, year after year…"
The above-said was posted with reference to Ramakien, the Thai version of Ramayana… However, the Centre of our galaxy, as per the ‘wise’ ancients, believably is the true ‘essence’ or a model of the formless universe or detached ‘Naadbindu’ a point source of limitless energy... And, so also our Sun as the centre of our solar system within it and, in its turn, our Earth also as the central driving force in the binary system it forms with the mysterious Moon… The description of these two Heavenly Bodies, as we have already seen earlier also, matches with that of Shiva-Parvati in the mythological stories [Earth, as the physical essence of the neutral centre of the universe, is cryptically expressed in the age old saying “Satyam Shivam Sunderam” while Moon believably acts with 100% efficiency in ‘Nature’, it however believably has its essence in different human forms at “Sahasrara Chakra” according to the grand design related with Time in terms of Yugas - resulting in reduced human efficiency as some part of the energy gets progressively locked up with passage of time at the “Mooladhar Chakra”... Moon believably represents the ever efficient controlling force or ‘Shakti’ for regulation of earth’s ‘laya’ or speed till eternity. Thus as Kavitha has expressed, a devotee of Shiva could at any time enjoy the dance with Shiva in one’s own mind…a poet has expressed the same thought in his feeling intoxicated with the wine that brews in his own heart!]…
The ‘Hindu Philosophy’ however communicates the Creator or ‘Naadbindu’ to represent zero time and zero space, or remaining ever unmoved, perfectly still, and all the apparent animation to be the result of His/ Her/ Its “Maya” or illusion!
The truth of this phenomenon perhaps gets reflected in the animal forms on earth apparently not getting the feel of earth’s rotation around its axis or its revolution around the sun- it is only by inference that one is made to believe otherwise…
Einstein reportedly was invited to a film studio where he was asked to sit inside a car and the film was shot. Shortly thereafter, after proper editing, the film was projected on a screen and to his thrill he saw himself flying in the sky seated inside the car!
I read only today the interesting contributions from Shri Bhatathiri, posted separately by Kavitha.
As per the ancient “Hindu belief” it is said that one must seek the truth on one’s own…after “reading between the lines” information on diverse subjects available to one.
In my opinion, if one were to observe closely, one would perhaps notice that ‘Nature’ apparently is seen to channelize different individuals in different fields of activities at any given point of time, which could lead one (an 'expert') to infinity through actions in any one particular field – like innumerable radials that can be projected from the common centre of a sphere (which could also be visualized in from the cart-wheel (Ashoka’s or even of a “Master Blaster” in the most popular game of Cricket – be it Sachin or Lara, and so on!)…
It was said, “Prevention is better than cure.” However, in Kaliyuga, the prevailing systems apparently believe in letting things first go bad and then become worse, to ultimately become incurable…The ancients therefore suggested surrender in the ‘Kalchakra’ (Krishna) or the Grand wheel of time while attempting to allow ‘Absolute Truth’ or ‘Naadbindu’ to reveal itself to the Yogi!
Thanks to Lord Vishnu’s believable “maya’, the characters that are called ‘scientists’ today are so blinded that they can’t see beyond their four walls. A ‘well known scientist’ expresses his sorrow at the present day status (instead of explaining why so?), “…Six decades after Independence, ignorance and superstition continue to flourish…Nehru’s vision of scientific temper has fallen by the wayside…”
I give below ‘my reaction’ to the article in the Times of India, which as expected would not see the light of the day (or would see it only in a blog)!
“I read with amusement lamentations of Jayant VISHNU Narlikar (Darkness at Noon – Astrology, superstition prevail over scientific temper, 18th Nov ‘06). Unfortunately, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru wasn’t a Yogi (like Krishna, an all rounder scientist as compared to the present day ‘experts’ in just one or a few fields!)
If practicing Astrologers today - perhaps even majority of time - are proved wrong in their predictions, it is because they are just copying some thoughts pertaining to some particular schools, passed on through generations without knowledge of the fundamentals made available to them (“Nakal ke liye bhi akal chahiye!”*) However, it doesn’t mean that the ancient scientists, or Yogis as they were called then, hadn’t reached the “Absolute Truth” or the Formless Creator (“Naadbindu”) of the apparent universe…
The present day ‘science’ doesn’t explain why I am not able to switch off ‘my thoughts’ even for a minute and, therefore, what is then their source??? Maybe Lord Vishnu, the super conscious being, can only clarify that - as He alone believably is at the root of the creation. However, He apparently loves to keep everyone in suspense as He did to Brahma even. Seated on the lotus that grew from His navel, Brahma was saved from being eaten away by two demons that had evolved from Lord Vishnu’s ears only at the nick of time!!!”
* “Even to copy, one needs brain!”
Kavitha, As I had earlier indicated elsewhere, I believably became aware of the ‘spiritual world’ through my daughter informing me about the cancellation of my flight from Guwahati to Imphal in the northeast region of India in advance on the 8th December ’81, the third death anniversary of my mother, at its ETD from New Delhi. Or, had it something to do with information recorded in different “Chakras” in human bodies that get released to human minds as different thoughts?
I have similarly narrated certain other incidents when I believed I had heard voices of the unseen - on two other occasions…
I give below a fresh encounter in the series during one week’s sejourn at Shimla in the “Devabhumi” of Himachal Pradesh recently!
My 83-year-old relative cum host’s house is located on the GF in rural Shimla...The house has its front facing Southeast with a clear unobstructed view of Shimla proper - Jakhu hill, where Hanuman Temple is located, on the left... In the nights one can see the lights in the main city – like stars twinkling in the sky...In the front is a covered veranda cum sun-room that provides entries to one bedroom on the left, and drawing room on the right, whereas the middle one leads to a bedroom (where I slept in a double bed that has a niche with shelves to keep the tape recorder, battery operated radio, etc. on the northeast end)...
When he is at Shimla, my host likes to follow a routine the old couple has set up for each day of the week. He wakes up at 4:45 and after his bath, pooja etc, he listens to Sanskrit news at Shimla radio station and Ram Charit Manas broadcast after that. It is followed by Mukesh's rendition of selected lines of the same on his tape recorder - cassetes with the particular day of the week marked on each...
With the above background, I think it was the second night (Tuesday), rather early morning when, after a toilet break, I had slept for some time that I heard believably the voice of a lady, saying, "Babuji!!!" I waited for some time with eyes open to see if any apparition becomes visible!! Nothing happend - so I slept again... It was two days after that (early morning Thursday) that, perhaps at the same time as on Tuesday, I was woken up by speech in Chinese interspersed with instrumental music - the transistor radio getting switched on, on its own (!!!!) I switched off the radio and slept again... In the morning, it was found that it was on the Short wave at the same location where it received Shimla, but on the Medium Wave!!!
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