Since I moved to Hyderabad, it was very rare to go for any musical concerts as it is not common in this city. In college days I have been associated with SPIC MACY, hence got chance to interact 1:1 with various artist however my understanding to the music was not as pure(or perfect) as those artist were in their art. But I really liked it but unaware why I do.
Pandit Chaurasiya, Shivji (Pt. Shiv kumar sharma ji) , not publicly known (more precisely non commercial) form of Shubha Mudgal , Neeladri Kumar, Pt. Yashvant Bua Joshi etc. These are just few names but only one thing was common in all of those “Dedication to the pure music” and understanding of it and all were MASTER in there area.
After a long time, today I got the chance to see the performance by Birju Ji Maharaj, he was in different mood totally, not just performing also linking this art to the Nature and Philosophy of life. Generally I have many questions in my mind irrespective of situation or person but today I had absolutely nothing!! This is only due to purity / perfection of Biraju Mahar ji! May be some small contribution is also due to my expended exposure to this world.
Years of practice and purest form of Art; Sur , Taal, And Bhav(Emmotions) – outstanding!! I have been listing to known Vocalist for long time so I was really amazed to listen thumari from Maharaj ji! He is known Dancer not a Vocalist, But it was Perfect! Perfect! Perfect!
To dance one need some rhythm, Bol, Beets, but he need nothing; these things are there in his mind. I had listen a story about him, he was performing somewhere near sea, and mostly it was on High Tide at that time, he asked to stop the Tabla player and started dancing with sound of Waves!!! Amazing!!
Seams to be difficult or fake? No, as one thing is common between Nature and classical music : they are natural, hence pure!! As per the evidence I can say only one thing “Sur Saat Hote Hai” and no buddy could found 8th Sur.
After the performance I did talk to Maharaj ji! And just communicated my state of mind, he answered in one sentence “I was not dancing, I was seeing the dance”!!!
Amazing ! one sentence Maharj ji has defined everything.
In further chat between Kiran Seth and Maharj Ji!
“Ye to Bas seediya hai jiname mai rang bharata hua upar jaraha tha , tukada kaho ya chhand, ya thumari ye to keval seediya hai”
I or Kiran did not asked where these ‘seediya’ goes as we have our own terminology to define that. Being professor Kiran has defined it as “Alpha-Domain” I was smiling when he started on this again, 6-7 years back we (Our Group Students) used to have discussion around his terminology - and about Alpha-Domain, today I have no questions.
Meeting Kiran after a long time was another interesting thing, just for introduction; he is founder of SPIC MACY, working constantly for it. By profession he is professor at IIT Delhi.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Shabari ke Ber: Discovering Intentions
In Indian mythology, there is a short story about Lord Shri Ram and Shabari. Shabari gave Ram berries (ber) which she had already tasted.
Since Ram was a god, he was clear about Shabari's Intention. What if one is not a god?
How a person can be so sure about someone's intentions?
Generally we all go by faith. This faith is generated in several ways - the amount of
interaction with the person, one's own experiences etc.
These things are mostly fact-driven. For example, if I think with my logical mind, then the first question that comes is, “Why should the person give me tasted ones?”
and get irritated.
Then if we go by empirical mind which learns by its neural network, then we might give the person the benefit of the doubt. But then again, this mind also has some data as input from one's exposure to life.
Then how can one be as sure about someone’s intention as Ram was if we don't want to use a fact-driven method.
Ram's certainty came from his perfection being a god. And certainly it is difficult (but not impossible) for us to be perfect like Lord Ram. We have to make out people's intentions based on what we have despite our imperfection.
This is what we usually call a gut feel, mostly not influenced by any data and fact ( i.e. exposure of life ). But how dependable is one's gut feel?
I believe that there are varying degrees of imperfection. And with time, we can reduce the level of imperfection and move further along the scale towards perfection.
In my childhood, my Granny had talked to me about the concept of “Manasa Vacha Karmana” based on old Indian literature (Ved and Upanishad). “Manasa Vacha Karmana”
talks about doing what you say and say what you think -in effect having your thoughts, talk and actions in harmony. As people become more capable of brininjg their thoughts, words and actions in sync, they become closer to perfection.
I also remember a song from Shankar Mahadevan (aka Shankar Ehasaan Loy) “Heart and Body; Mind and Soul”, which explores a similar concept. This is more elaborated “Manasa.” Here the idea of 'manasa' is divided into three - Heart, Soul and Mind.
I believe these three are not mutually exclusive and feel that each element has it's own attribute; Heart – Emotions, Soul - Gut feel, Mind – Beliefs.
Beliefs are based on our exposure of life. Emotions can be situational. A gut feel, on the other hand, is independent and absolute.
Our beliefs are more susceptible to change based on our expanding exposure to life. For instance, while discussing social issues with my friend, we talked about whether it is right to avail the services of Red Light District.
My friend argued that it is as simple as paying for a service and availing it. If we go with this logic, it seems that there is nothing wrong in it. This logic begins and ends with the individual.
As we discuss the issue with a group, we see that there are several other issues that play a factor in deciding whether this(my friend’s) argument is right or wrong. For example,
1. Should there be any difference between hiring a car and hiring a person to fulfill one's desires?
2. Often, the hired person does not opt to provide this service, and is often pushed into it because of financial or social circumstances.
3. One way or another, this creates friction in the family and society.
So in this case it is possible that exposure to others' ideas changed my friend's beliefs. So, as our exposure expands,we can get better and better at a logical level.
With the possibility that our set of beliefs is changeable, it becomes more difficult to practice “Manasa Vacha Karmana” and keep your thoughts words and actions in sync. However, as we understand ourselves better and are able to keep these three elements more and more in sync, we will be further along on the road to perfection.
Let me link this to start of this article. More the sync, less the imperfection and a person's gut feel (like Lord Ram’s about Shabari’s Ber) becomes more reliable with it.
It is individual’s choice to continue to work on reducing the percentage of imperfection. And it is also imperative that one is at least able to maintain the percentage of perfection one has achieved, to avoid dissatisfaction.
Comments:
I feel there are few approaches to keep Heart and Body; Mind and Soul in sync one can choose to start with soul – like “Budhdha”, soul and heart – “Kabeer”, Or can choose to go by mind and body – Like “Swami Vivekanand”.
Above are two extremes, most of us choose to be in between i.e. mix and match of two extreme or philosophy. ‘ll try to elaborate about these philosophies in future articles.
Since Ram was a god, he was clear about Shabari's Intention. What if one is not a god?
How a person can be so sure about someone's intentions?
Generally we all go by faith. This faith is generated in several ways - the amount of
interaction with the person, one's own experiences etc.
These things are mostly fact-driven. For example, if I think with my logical mind, then the first question that comes is, “Why should the person give me tasted ones?”
and get irritated.
Then if we go by empirical mind which learns by its neural network, then we might give the person the benefit of the doubt. But then again, this mind also has some data as input from one's exposure to life.
Then how can one be as sure about someone’s intention as Ram was if we don't want to use a fact-driven method.
Ram's certainty came from his perfection being a god. And certainly it is difficult (but not impossible) for us to be perfect like Lord Ram. We have to make out people's intentions based on what we have despite our imperfection.
This is what we usually call a gut feel, mostly not influenced by any data and fact ( i.e. exposure of life ). But how dependable is one's gut feel?
I believe that there are varying degrees of imperfection. And with time, we can reduce the level of imperfection and move further along the scale towards perfection.
In my childhood, my Granny had talked to me about the concept of “Manasa Vacha Karmana” based on old Indian literature (Ved and Upanishad). “Manasa Vacha Karmana”
talks about doing what you say and say what you think -in effect having your thoughts, talk and actions in harmony. As people become more capable of brininjg their thoughts, words and actions in sync, they become closer to perfection.
I also remember a song from Shankar Mahadevan (aka Shankar Ehasaan Loy) “Heart and Body; Mind and Soul”, which explores a similar concept. This is more elaborated “Manasa.” Here the idea of 'manasa' is divided into three - Heart, Soul and Mind.
I believe these three are not mutually exclusive and feel that each element has it's own attribute; Heart – Emotions, Soul - Gut feel, Mind – Beliefs.
Beliefs are based on our exposure of life. Emotions can be situational. A gut feel, on the other hand, is independent and absolute.
Our beliefs are more susceptible to change based on our expanding exposure to life. For instance, while discussing social issues with my friend, we talked about whether it is right to avail the services of Red Light District.
My friend argued that it is as simple as paying for a service and availing it. If we go with this logic, it seems that there is nothing wrong in it. This logic begins and ends with the individual.
As we discuss the issue with a group, we see that there are several other issues that play a factor in deciding whether this(my friend’s) argument is right or wrong. For example,
1. Should there be any difference between hiring a car and hiring a person to fulfill one's desires?
2. Often, the hired person does not opt to provide this service, and is often pushed into it because of financial or social circumstances.
3. One way or another, this creates friction in the family and society.
So in this case it is possible that exposure to others' ideas changed my friend's beliefs. So, as our exposure expands,we can get better and better at a logical level.
With the possibility that our set of beliefs is changeable, it becomes more difficult to practice “Manasa Vacha Karmana” and keep your thoughts words and actions in sync. However, as we understand ourselves better and are able to keep these three elements more and more in sync, we will be further along on the road to perfection.
Let me link this to start of this article. More the sync, less the imperfection and a person's gut feel (like Lord Ram’s about Shabari’s Ber) becomes more reliable with it.
It is individual’s choice to continue to work on reducing the percentage of imperfection. And it is also imperative that one is at least able to maintain the percentage of perfection one has achieved, to avoid dissatisfaction.
Comments:
I feel there are few approaches to keep Heart and Body; Mind and Soul in sync one can choose to start with soul – like “Budhdha”, soul and heart – “Kabeer”, Or can choose to go by mind and body – Like “Swami Vivekanand”.
Above are two extremes, most of us choose to be in between i.e. mix and match of two extreme or philosophy. ‘ll try to elaborate about these philosophies in future articles.
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