What is music therapy and where did it originate?
Each individual has his or her own vibration or beat, and it is different in everyone. And it is the same with music or raga. The right raga can stimulate and facilitate an individual’s physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual well-being.If someone is suffering from an ailment, the music therapist has to assess that and carry out specific musical strategies to address his/her goals and objectives. The success of the music therapist lies in how he/she identifies the right raga for a particular individual. A music therapist can never prescribe a raga just like an ordinary doctor who prescribes pills for his patients. A music therapist has to understand the whole gamut of problems the individual has and then becomes his spiritual guide. “Raga chikilsa” (treatment) or music therapy was known to rishis and gurus from ancient times. This form of treatment was done by gurus and they are mentioned in the Vedas. Sabdikabheshajam (sabdika means voice and bheshaja means medicine) was one of the methods of treatment used by the aswinikumaaraas, the ancient vedic doctors. Based on the ancient literature the six charkas (chakras mean the nerve plexuses, which in yogic literature are called mooladhara, swadhishtaana, manipoora, anahatha, visudhi and agna) and the birth star of the patient are taken into account whil selecting the raga. There are 72 melakartharaagaas, which are basically related to the charkas and the birth stars.
.What does music therapy do?
It helps to alleviate pain, releases stress and tension, provides the feel good factor to lead a happy life, softens you up and brings you closer to spirituality, enhances your capabilities to understand another person, increase communication skills, improve self respect, confidence and helps you to become an ideal individual.
Who can benefit from music therapy?
People with health issues such as high blood pressure, cancer, substance abuse, visual impairments, Aids, Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism and pervasive development disorders, eating disorders, emotional trauma, learning disabilities, mental illness, insomnia, mental retardation, pain control, palliative care, physical disabilities, speech and language impairments.
Can conventional medicine be replaced with music?
Conventional medicine cannot be replaced immediately when you start music therapy. The music therapist will take many sessions to find out which raga or musical strategy would suit the individual. Once the therapy starts to show signs of improvement on an individual then gradually he can do without medicine.
The Holistic Health Village to be set up by the Kerala government and Mata Amritanandamayi is said to promote a vast array of spiritual and physical therapies.How will ordinary people of Kerala benefit from this?
I am not aware of this, but I have heard that there are moves to promote music therapy by the government. Amrita Institute has already started work on this and the response from ordinary people is overwhelming. I am trying to spread awareness about music therapy by giving invited lectures and talks on these subjects on Sundays and holidays all over Kerala.
Is there a particular energy current emanating from the cosmos that affects the life of an individual? Is an individual not in control of himself?
Yes. An individual has both cosmic energy and human energy but the success lies in harnessing these two energies in a way that he leads a purified life.
What do you see as the most significant achievements of your rather distinguished career?
I think the most significant achievement in my career is that I am a happy, free person, leading a contended life with whatever I have and that people love me as their own family member wherever I go.
Can you share with us an astonishing cure you have witnessed with the help of music therapy in Kerala?
I must say that music therapy is not a miracle or a supernatural cure. It is the most natural way of curing one’s own illnesses, physical, mental, spiritual and intellectual. It is a scientific way of life as well. Hypertensive patients on treatment who has not been able to bring down their BP with usual medicines have been able to bring down the BP with music therapy. I have also seen cancer patients with anxiety, insomnia and other associated symptoms of terminal illness been cured of such symptoms. I have a 29-year old patient who has undergone maxillectomy. She and her caretakers tell me that after music therapy her quality of life has improved.
Based on music therapy do you have any advise for young parents?
Young parents have to make sure that their children listen to music that is harmonious to their ears. For example, a music that will release in them an all-pervading ‘feel good’ sense.
Friday, July 13, 2007
How a pathologist uses the Indian Darsana in everyday life
There are 6 darsanaas (perceptions)in India.The first is the chaarvaaka or lokayatha which is a naasthik one and says one can believe only those which one see directly.(direct perception alone is the pramaana for science).The others believe that the direct sensory perception alone is not enough and anumaana and aagama are also taken as scientific proofs(especially the nyaya schools of Bengal,assam and kerala)and this is the darsana of akshapaada and of Gouthama.
Anumaana are of 3 types.
1.poorvavath.(as observed before.)one has observed that if raincloud comes there will be rain .because of the previous experience one guess the presence of rain.If we follow only the sensory perception we can never predict a tsunami or a disease epidemic etc.so anumaana is important and thus the nyaya school refuted the lokayatha /charvaka view and thus the naasthik was converted to the aasthic /nyaya side.
2.Sheshavath.There is flood in a river.The inmference is either there is rain in the hills,or there is melting of a glazier or there must be a dam opened.Here also we don’t see the event with our eyes but we infer.
3.Saamaanyatho drishtam.When we see change in position of the planets ,we infer that it must be due to the fact that there is gathi(movement )to them.This is a general theory.All the 3 were accepted because the nyaya school gave adequate illustrations and argued their case logically.This method is used in all the other darsanaas and one can find this type of logical argument at its zenith in sankaraa’s commentaries.That is why all the other darsanaas were pushed to the background.Not that sankara was a autocrat who destroyed anything,he was a scientists who argued logically on his viewpoint and all others accepted his views because they were flawless (.If one can call this conversion,we can call it so. )Conversion on any other background(political,for money,power etc)cannot be called a free conversion by will.It is here that we have to consider the facts very critically.
The science of Pathology (which I follow ,)still uses the 5 steps which Nyaya school used.I will illustrate it thus:
Step 1:Prathigna .In this I state what I am going to prove,in front of a group of people who know the scientific language I speak(fellow doctors/pathologists).I just say that the diagnosis I have made is so and so.
2.Hethu:What are the reasons I have to prove my side/diagnosis.I have to be very thourough in my saubject and should have excellent communication skills to discuss this.
3.3.Udaaharanam:There are some lakshana(linga)for a disease and I should be able to state the relation between these and this comes from my previous experience with similar cases,(case studies)called swaanubhava and the references from others(paraanubhava)
The references are of 2 types.As you know even now in evidence based medicine and other modern sciences ,to be acceptable in a journal we have to cite the thought processes and experiences of other scientists .These may may be people who are still in the human memory with a specified time,space,specified book/journal etc called pourusheya(traceable to a thinker/reformer/scientist in timespace)or may be prehistoric people who have left their ideologies and thoughts for posterity ,but have disappeared from the memory of mankind and hence called apourusheya.(veda/scriptures/cave writings etc)and these are the precious things that we have to preserve for posterity without change.Whereas ,the scientific/logical thoughts and sciences are naturally changed with time and are dynamic(called smrithy )and in memory of man.For a proof ,these two types of references are used and since smrithy /science is dynamic and changes from time to time there is always scope for new discoveries and these has to be substantiated by every scientist.The sruthy(apourusheya)is to be kept for posterity as common heritage of mankind.
4.Upanaya is the 4th step.How I can apply the above said points into the specific case study of my patient(the present case)This is a discussion of the present case
5.Nethy nethy is a deduction/induction process or an exclusion diagnosis in which you exclude the other possibilities by negative findings
It is after these steps that we proceed to the final diagnosis or nirnaya(nigamana)and Akshapaada calls this thought process as Aanweekshiki (tharka/vaada)
Charaka is ver y specific about the two types of assemblies(parishads)and about the two types of discussions or conversations we make.I will briefly state his view thus.
The two types of sambhaasha (conversations)according to Charaka.
Sandhaaya sambhaasha
Vigrahyasambhaasha
Conversation with people who are learned in the particular subject,and are eager to know about the subject more.
Benefit of this:1.Increase of knowledge by 3 means.knowledge of things we have not known before,clearing of doubts,increasing the previous knowledge.
2.Lokakalyana.Benefit to the entire world and the human race.
Conversation with people who don’t know the subject and do not want to know at all.Such conversation is mere jalpa/vithanda.
Prayojana :nil.Just killing time .
Charaka asks to avoid such conversations and to conserve our bioenergy for better things.(this is one of the essential prerequisites of health)
The two types of assemblies(parishads)each consists of mithra(friend),sathru(enemy)and sannigda(neutral)
Agna(ignorant)
Vigna(learned)
The mithra among agna can be slowly and steadily lead to knowledge ,but not through gnaanamaarga .By bhakthymarga or karmamaarga.(This is probably a type of conversion)
The other two(sathru and neutral)among agna has to be ignored and do not waste time in talking to them.
The mithra among vigna are the real rasika,sahridaya ,sishya,etc and they are the real valuable friends and a man with intelligence will not loose a chance to have contacts with them(sadsanga).
The enemy among the vigna just try to win you over and they make mere jalpa just for that purpose,not for increasing knowledge or for lokakalyana.therefore do not have contacts with them.
The neutrals among vignaas have doubts to be cleared.It is the duty of the learned scientist to clear their doubts with logic and intelligence.These clearing of doubts form treatises on each subjects and are known as the commentaries or saasthragranthaas etc used by posterity.
Here,you can see a change in your sentence” Every religion originates as an ideology, rather a Dharsana to uplift mankind both spiritually and materially, but in the course of time degenerates into an institutionalized hierarchy. This hierarchy then overpowers the ideology. Religion then becomes a tool of the hierarchy and the clergy. Religion looses its essence and becomes an institution wielding enormous powers. “
According to Indian darsana and science of Charaka,every science originate in this way,as a darsana for lokakalyana(upliftment of society)for perfect physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health but after sometime degenerates due to various reasons ,one of them being institutionalized hierarchy.These various reasons include increase in the number of agnaas(ignorant people)and the vignas who are selfish ,and the lack of genuinely interested unselfish people who are ready to do the saadhana for aquiring knowledge and to seek truth.(genuine scientists are less in kaliyuga).
Rather ,it would be correct in the Indian sense,that darsana is a perception only in the primary sense and it is science in the secondary sense.Only when a darsana is tested for a very long time ,Indians accepted it as a science.Long discussions and verifications (documented as treatises)can be sen before a darsana is accepted as a science by the assembly of learned people from Kashmir to Kerala.A scripture(A agama) is thus a darsana+saasthra,accepted by the learned parishads,verified over a long period of time by generations of people and for the sake of the god of society.(the world).
Individual preferences are what we call an opinion(in Sanskrit a matham which is translated as religion in English)and it can change ,since it is subjective to each person’s level of grasping and intelligence.But ,the values and the scientific methods accepted by generations of human beings (ancient and modern)makes what you really call as spirituality and in that realm whatever change is made has to come from prolonged discussions over the subject,by learned people ,and then verified and proven that it is for the good of society.Such a democratic scientific thinking is good for society but it doesn’t happen often .
In spirituality of India there are two sides to the coin.(it should be there in spirituality of any country or of any individual since these are general things)
1.The logic and scientific methods of the darsanaas verified in the crucible of time by generations of scholars and documented as scriptures for future references.
2.The empathy or compassion originating in an individual mind which thinks about the world’s miseries and tries to find out a solution for alleviation of miseries and pain of the entire world(lokakalyana is a word originated in such a compassionate mind)
If there is only the first(logic )it is science or saasthra.If the second alone is there it becomes a dream or a mirage which we may not be able to put into practice.
But if we combine both,it is the real spirituality and Indians used this as a way of life.Hence,many of their scriptures does not even mention the name of the rishi who formulated a darsana or spiritual path.such selflessness was considered the hallmark of spirituality..The Indian culture and civilizations had this character ,and it was more individualistic and social and for the community and the world as such ,and not for a few people in an institution(institutionalised religion was not there).
Spirituality is always within an individual consciousness.It can never be institutionalized.The personal qualities and charisma of a spiritual person attracts similarminded and learned people.and a sadsangha like that flourish as a gurukula and their ideas spread far and wide.When this is taken up by selfish groups of people to weild power over society ,religions form and they are actually political institutions and may have nothing in common with the idea spread by the spiritual Guru .To know Christ, or Krishna one has to go deep into one’s own consciousness.Not into religious rites.For this the scriptures may help .But the best help comes from within your heart and from God’s grace.I just voiced the views of the Indian masters of darsana in brief.I think this is what every ideology will agree to,since human brain and its lateralisation has started during the prehistoric times and so far our brain structure and our hormones and our thinking prowess has not undergone any radical change.As a group human beings(homosapiens)are one race sharing the same characteristics of neuropsychoimmunology and nervous structures and gestalt neuronal assemblies.
For me,the best language which we can share with everyone in the world is musical language because music is universal and speaks the language of the heart and hence of compassion and everyone understands its universal language.That is why saamaveda and Raagachikitsa (music therapy)has healing effects on human species through neuropsychoimmunological effects.
Since I am at present involved with raagachikitsa,I find it a useful tool for generating a global awareness of peace and harmony,a new Mahaa advaitha for the present century.
Anumaana are of 3 types.
1.poorvavath.(as observed before.)one has observed that if raincloud comes there will be rain .because of the previous experience one guess the presence of rain.If we follow only the sensory perception we can never predict a tsunami or a disease epidemic etc.so anumaana is important and thus the nyaya school refuted the lokayatha /charvaka view and thus the naasthik was converted to the aasthic /nyaya side.
2.Sheshavath.There is flood in a river.The inmference is either there is rain in the hills,or there is melting of a glazier or there must be a dam opened.Here also we don’t see the event with our eyes but we infer.
3.Saamaanyatho drishtam.When we see change in position of the planets ,we infer that it must be due to the fact that there is gathi(movement )to them.This is a general theory.All the 3 were accepted because the nyaya school gave adequate illustrations and argued their case logically.This method is used in all the other darsanaas and one can find this type of logical argument at its zenith in sankaraa’s commentaries.That is why all the other darsanaas were pushed to the background.Not that sankara was a autocrat who destroyed anything,he was a scientists who argued logically on his viewpoint and all others accepted his views because they were flawless (.If one can call this conversion,we can call it so. )Conversion on any other background(political,for money,power etc)cannot be called a free conversion by will.It is here that we have to consider the facts very critically.
The science of Pathology (which I follow ,)still uses the 5 steps which Nyaya school used.I will illustrate it thus:
Step 1:Prathigna .In this I state what I am going to prove,in front of a group of people who know the scientific language I speak(fellow doctors/pathologists).I just say that the diagnosis I have made is so and so.
2.Hethu:What are the reasons I have to prove my side/diagnosis.I have to be very thourough in my saubject and should have excellent communication skills to discuss this.
3.3.Udaaharanam:There are some lakshana(linga)for a disease and I should be able to state the relation between these and this comes from my previous experience with similar cases,(case studies)called swaanubhava and the references from others(paraanubhava)
The references are of 2 types.As you know even now in evidence based medicine and other modern sciences ,to be acceptable in a journal we have to cite the thought processes and experiences of other scientists .These may may be people who are still in the human memory with a specified time,space,specified book/journal etc called pourusheya(traceable to a thinker/reformer/scientist in timespace)or may be prehistoric people who have left their ideologies and thoughts for posterity ,but have disappeared from the memory of mankind and hence called apourusheya.(veda/scriptures/cave writings etc)and these are the precious things that we have to preserve for posterity without change.Whereas ,the scientific/logical thoughts and sciences are naturally changed with time and are dynamic(called smrithy )and in memory of man.For a proof ,these two types of references are used and since smrithy /science is dynamic and changes from time to time there is always scope for new discoveries and these has to be substantiated by every scientist.The sruthy(apourusheya)is to be kept for posterity as common heritage of mankind.
4.Upanaya is the 4th step.How I can apply the above said points into the specific case study of my patient(the present case)This is a discussion of the present case
5.Nethy nethy is a deduction/induction process or an exclusion diagnosis in which you exclude the other possibilities by negative findings
It is after these steps that we proceed to the final diagnosis or nirnaya(nigamana)and Akshapaada calls this thought process as Aanweekshiki (tharka/vaada)
Charaka is ver y specific about the two types of assemblies(parishads)and about the two types of discussions or conversations we make.I will briefly state his view thus.
The two types of sambhaasha (conversations)according to Charaka.
Sandhaaya sambhaasha
Vigrahyasambhaasha
Conversation with people who are learned in the particular subject,and are eager to know about the subject more.
Benefit of this:1.Increase of knowledge by 3 means.knowledge of things we have not known before,clearing of doubts,increasing the previous knowledge.
2.Lokakalyana.Benefit to the entire world and the human race.
Conversation with people who don’t know the subject and do not want to know at all.Such conversation is mere jalpa/vithanda.
Prayojana :nil.Just killing time .
Charaka asks to avoid such conversations and to conserve our bioenergy for better things.(this is one of the essential prerequisites of health)
The two types of assemblies(parishads)each consists of mithra(friend),sathru(enemy)and sannigda(neutral)
Agna(ignorant)
Vigna(learned)
The mithra among agna can be slowly and steadily lead to knowledge ,but not through gnaanamaarga .By bhakthymarga or karmamaarga.(This is probably a type of conversion)
The other two(sathru and neutral)among agna has to be ignored and do not waste time in talking to them.
The mithra among vigna are the real rasika,sahridaya ,sishya,etc and they are the real valuable friends and a man with intelligence will not loose a chance to have contacts with them(sadsanga).
The enemy among the vigna just try to win you over and they make mere jalpa just for that purpose,not for increasing knowledge or for lokakalyana.therefore do not have contacts with them.
The neutrals among vignaas have doubts to be cleared.It is the duty of the learned scientist to clear their doubts with logic and intelligence.These clearing of doubts form treatises on each subjects and are known as the commentaries or saasthragranthaas etc used by posterity.
Here,you can see a change in your sentence” Every religion originates as an ideology, rather a Dharsana to uplift mankind both spiritually and materially, but in the course of time degenerates into an institutionalized hierarchy. This hierarchy then overpowers the ideology. Religion then becomes a tool of the hierarchy and the clergy. Religion looses its essence and becomes an institution wielding enormous powers. “
According to Indian darsana and science of Charaka,every science originate in this way,as a darsana for lokakalyana(upliftment of society)for perfect physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health but after sometime degenerates due to various reasons ,one of them being institutionalized hierarchy.These various reasons include increase in the number of agnaas(ignorant people)and the vignas who are selfish ,and the lack of genuinely interested unselfish people who are ready to do the saadhana for aquiring knowledge and to seek truth.(genuine scientists are less in kaliyuga).
Rather ,it would be correct in the Indian sense,that darsana is a perception only in the primary sense and it is science in the secondary sense.Only when a darsana is tested for a very long time ,Indians accepted it as a science.Long discussions and verifications (documented as treatises)can be sen before a darsana is accepted as a science by the assembly of learned people from Kashmir to Kerala.A scripture(A agama) is thus a darsana+saasthra,accepted by the learned parishads,verified over a long period of time by generations of people and for the sake of the god of society.(the world).
Individual preferences are what we call an opinion(in Sanskrit a matham which is translated as religion in English)and it can change ,since it is subjective to each person’s level of grasping and intelligence.But ,the values and the scientific methods accepted by generations of human beings (ancient and modern)makes what you really call as spirituality and in that realm whatever change is made has to come from prolonged discussions over the subject,by learned people ,and then verified and proven that it is for the good of society.Such a democratic scientific thinking is good for society but it doesn’t happen often .
In spirituality of India there are two sides to the coin.(it should be there in spirituality of any country or of any individual since these are general things)
1.The logic and scientific methods of the darsanaas verified in the crucible of time by generations of scholars and documented as scriptures for future references.
2.The empathy or compassion originating in an individual mind which thinks about the world’s miseries and tries to find out a solution for alleviation of miseries and pain of the entire world(lokakalyana is a word originated in such a compassionate mind)
If there is only the first(logic )it is science or saasthra.If the second alone is there it becomes a dream or a mirage which we may not be able to put into practice.
But if we combine both,it is the real spirituality and Indians used this as a way of life.Hence,many of their scriptures does not even mention the name of the rishi who formulated a darsana or spiritual path.such selflessness was considered the hallmark of spirituality..The Indian culture and civilizations had this character ,and it was more individualistic and social and for the community and the world as such ,and not for a few people in an institution(institutionalised religion was not there).
Spirituality is always within an individual consciousness.It can never be institutionalized.The personal qualities and charisma of a spiritual person attracts similarminded and learned people.and a sadsangha like that flourish as a gurukula and their ideas spread far and wide.When this is taken up by selfish groups of people to weild power over society ,religions form and they are actually political institutions and may have nothing in common with the idea spread by the spiritual Guru .To know Christ, or Krishna one has to go deep into one’s own consciousness.Not into religious rites.For this the scriptures may help .But the best help comes from within your heart and from God’s grace.I just voiced the views of the Indian masters of darsana in brief.I think this is what every ideology will agree to,since human brain and its lateralisation has started during the prehistoric times and so far our brain structure and our hormones and our thinking prowess has not undergone any radical change.As a group human beings(homosapiens)are one race sharing the same characteristics of neuropsychoimmunology and nervous structures and gestalt neuronal assemblies.
For me,the best language which we can share with everyone in the world is musical language because music is universal and speaks the language of the heart and hence of compassion and everyone understands its universal language.That is why saamaveda and Raagachikitsa (music therapy)has healing effects on human species through neuropsychoimmunological effects.
Since I am at present involved with raagachikitsa,I find it a useful tool for generating a global awareness of peace and harmony,a new Mahaa advaitha for the present century.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Brahmasindhu
BRAHMASINDHU
COMMENTARY ON BRAHMASOOTHRAM
Suvarna Nalapat
Brahmasoothra is the least understood and the most important philosophical text of India discussing aspects of Naadabrahma as supreme absolute truth in four chapters and 192 parts called adhikaranam.Adhikaranam is the basic part which discusses the meaning as five separate headings.
I The subject discussed:Brahma.
2.The doubts prevalent about subject before the discussion
3.views of others on it.(poorvapaksham)
4.The views of the present commentator(sidhanthapaksham)
5.The relation between the present discussion and the upanishadic vakya.
For this ,the sidhanthapaksha uses very scientific and scholarly views .
Brahmasoothra is part of Prasthaanathraya(The other two being Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads)and the present commentary is the first of its kind by a householder woman in the history of the world.All others have been by ascetic males.
The essence of the discussion is not only theoretical but also the practical side of life where one has to follow strict and rigourous selfcontrol The theme of realizing Brahma by a householder is the practical side of yoga and naadalayayoga and Indian classical music and the saamaveda were formed for this purpose.All the rishis who formulated the prasthaanathraya were householders like vasishta,yagnavalkya,etc.
The concept of human bioenergy as the jeevathma and the cosmic energy as paramathma ,the perfect blend of these as jeevathmaparamathmalayanam has to be achieved,not merely talked about.Since energy has no sex,creed,cast ,or any other differences Brahmasoothra does not find any difference or dwaitha in existence.Because of this,anyone who has an aptitude to learn,the intelligence to understand,and the courage to withstand the trials of sense desires can practice advaitha .This practice is in Bhaava (emotions and thoughts)and not in kriya(action).It means ,One can love the entire creation alike in advaitha,but one can have physical relationship with only one man/woman.This rigourous practice and the ability to love all children as one’s own (the children who come to learn to a gurukula-the shishya)helped the guru and gurupathni to have an ideal gurukula,in India.
The concept of Nada and Prakaasha(sound and light)as the same finds its major role in the discussion of naadabrahma.Sound and light travel together from the same source but reach human ear and eyes at different times.The only difference is in the timings and in the manifest form due to difference in the receiving end.This concept of oneness of energy as manifested world of names and forms is understood only with advaitha.Brahmasoothra deals with these in detail.The present study is a wholistic approach to the subject which draws examples from music,music therapy as practiced in India,the yoga,thanthra,and manthrasaasthra,and medical knowledge of the past and wherever needed explanations from the modern views on the subject also given so that the modern western reader also can be benefited.
COMMENTARY ON BRAHMASOOTHRAM
Suvarna Nalapat
Brahmasoothra is the least understood and the most important philosophical text of India discussing aspects of Naadabrahma as supreme absolute truth in four chapters and 192 parts called adhikaranam.Adhikaranam is the basic part which discusses the meaning as five separate headings.
I The subject discussed:Brahma.
2.The doubts prevalent about subject before the discussion
3.views of others on it.(poorvapaksham)
4.The views of the present commentator(sidhanthapaksham)
5.The relation between the present discussion and the upanishadic vakya.
For this ,the sidhanthapaksha uses very scientific and scholarly views .
Brahmasoothra is part of Prasthaanathraya(The other two being Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads)and the present commentary is the first of its kind by a householder woman in the history of the world.All others have been by ascetic males.
The essence of the discussion is not only theoretical but also the practical side of life where one has to follow strict and rigourous selfcontrol The theme of realizing Brahma by a householder is the practical side of yoga and naadalayayoga and Indian classical music and the saamaveda were formed for this purpose.All the rishis who formulated the prasthaanathraya were householders like vasishta,yagnavalkya,etc.
The concept of human bioenergy as the jeevathma and the cosmic energy as paramathma ,the perfect blend of these as jeevathmaparamathmalayanam has to be achieved,not merely talked about.Since energy has no sex,creed,cast ,or any other differences Brahmasoothra does not find any difference or dwaitha in existence.Because of this,anyone who has an aptitude to learn,the intelligence to understand,and the courage to withstand the trials of sense desires can practice advaitha .This practice is in Bhaava (emotions and thoughts)and not in kriya(action).It means ,One can love the entire creation alike in advaitha,but one can have physical relationship with only one man/woman.This rigourous practice and the ability to love all children as one’s own (the children who come to learn to a gurukula-the shishya)helped the guru and gurupathni to have an ideal gurukula,in India.
The concept of Nada and Prakaasha(sound and light)as the same finds its major role in the discussion of naadabrahma.Sound and light travel together from the same source but reach human ear and eyes at different times.The only difference is in the timings and in the manifest form due to difference in the receiving end.This concept of oneness of energy as manifested world of names and forms is understood only with advaitha.Brahmasoothra deals with these in detail.The present study is a wholistic approach to the subject which draws examples from music,music therapy as practiced in India,the yoga,thanthra,and manthrasaasthra,and medical knowledge of the past and wherever needed explanations from the modern views on the subject also given so that the modern western reader also can be benefited.
Brahmasindu
BRAHMASINDHU
COMMENTARY ON BRAHMASOOTHRAM
Suvarna Nalapat
Brahmasoothra is the least understood and the most important philosophical text of India discussing aspects of Naadabrahma as supreme absolute truth in four chapters and 192 parts called adhikaranam.Adhikaranam is the basic part which discusses the meaning as five separate headings.
I The subject discussed:Brahma.
2.The doubts prevalent about subject before the discussion
3.views of others on it.(poorvapaksham)
4.The views of the present commentator(sidhanthapaksham)
5.The relation between the present discussion and the upanishadic vakya.
For this ,the sidhanthapaksha uses very scientific and scholarly views .
Brahmasoothra is part of Prasthaanathraya(The other two being Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads)and the present commentary is the first of its kind by a householder woman in the history of the world.All others have been by ascetic males.
The essence of the discussion is not only theoretical but also the practical side of life where one has to follow strict and rigourous selfcontrol The theme of realizing Brahma by a householder is the practical side of yoga and naadalayayoga and Indian classical music and the saamaveda were formed for this purpose.All the rishis who formulated the prasthaanathraya were householders like vasishta,yagnavalkya,etc.
The concept of human bioenergy as the jeevathma and the cosmic energy as paramathma ,the perfect blend of these as jeevathmaparamathmalayanam has to be achieved,not merely talked about.Since energy has no sex,creed,cast ,or any other differences Brahmasoothra does not find any difference or dwaitha in existence.Because of this,anyone who has an aptitude to learn,the intelligence to understand,and the courage to withstand the trials of sense desires can practice advaitha .This practice is in Bhaava (emotions and thoughts)and not in kriya(action).It means ,One can love the entire creation alike in advaitha,but one can have physical relationship with only one man/woman.This rigourous practice and the ability to love all children as one’s own (the children who come to learn to a gurukula-the shishya)helped the guru and gurupathni to have an ideal gurukula,in India.
The concept of Nada and Prakaasha(sound and light)as the same finds its major role in the discussion of naadabrahma.Sound and light travel together from the same source but reach human ear and eyes at different times.The only difference is in the timings and in the manifest form due to difference in the receiving end.This concept of oneness of energy as manifested world of names and forms is understood only with advaitha.Brahmasoothra deals with these in detail.The present study is a wholistic approach to the subject which draws examples from music,music therapy as practiced in India,the yoga,thanthra,and manthrasaasthra,and medical knowledge of the past and wherever needed explanations from the modern views on the subject also given so that the modern western reader also can be benefited.
COMMENTARY ON BRAHMASOOTHRAM
Suvarna Nalapat
Brahmasoothra is the least understood and the most important philosophical text of India discussing aspects of Naadabrahma as supreme absolute truth in four chapters and 192 parts called adhikaranam.Adhikaranam is the basic part which discusses the meaning as five separate headings.
I The subject discussed:Brahma.
2.The doubts prevalent about subject before the discussion
3.views of others on it.(poorvapaksham)
4.The views of the present commentator(sidhanthapaksham)
5.The relation between the present discussion and the upanishadic vakya.
For this ,the sidhanthapaksha uses very scientific and scholarly views .
Brahmasoothra is part of Prasthaanathraya(The other two being Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads)and the present commentary is the first of its kind by a householder woman in the history of the world.All others have been by ascetic males.
The essence of the discussion is not only theoretical but also the practical side of life where one has to follow strict and rigourous selfcontrol The theme of realizing Brahma by a householder is the practical side of yoga and naadalayayoga and Indian classical music and the saamaveda were formed for this purpose.All the rishis who formulated the prasthaanathraya were householders like vasishta,yagnavalkya,etc.
The concept of human bioenergy as the jeevathma and the cosmic energy as paramathma ,the perfect blend of these as jeevathmaparamathmalayanam has to be achieved,not merely talked about.Since energy has no sex,creed,cast ,or any other differences Brahmasoothra does not find any difference or dwaitha in existence.Because of this,anyone who has an aptitude to learn,the intelligence to understand,and the courage to withstand the trials of sense desires can practice advaitha .This practice is in Bhaava (emotions and thoughts)and not in kriya(action).It means ,One can love the entire creation alike in advaitha,but one can have physical relationship with only one man/woman.This rigourous practice and the ability to love all children as one’s own (the children who come to learn to a gurukula-the shishya)helped the guru and gurupathni to have an ideal gurukula,in India.
The concept of Nada and Prakaasha(sound and light)as the same finds its major role in the discussion of naadabrahma.Sound and light travel together from the same source but reach human ear and eyes at different times.The only difference is in the timings and in the manifest form due to difference in the receiving end.This concept of oneness of energy as manifested world of names and forms is understood only with advaitha.Brahmasoothra deals with these in detail.The present study is a wholistic approach to the subject which draws examples from music,music therapy as practiced in India,the yoga,thanthra,and manthrasaasthra,and medical knowledge of the past and wherever needed explanations from the modern views on the subject also given so that the modern western reader also can be benefited.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Indian aesthetics -The personal and the impersonal
Indian Aesthetics -The Personal and Impersonal
Dr Suvarna Nalapat
The English word language comes from Latin lingua and from the Sanskrit root linga which means the sign ,the toungue and the male generative organ.It denotes any means of expression/revelation or communication of thoughts and feelings.Therefore ,the Sanskrit word for language is Bhaasha ,from the root Bha ,to shine,to express or reveal.Bha is always related to light,so that it is something with a form (roopa)and hence perceivable(darshana)and enjoyable.The heard(sruthy-veda and music)is thus not separate from the darshana or light(the visualized.)What is visualized in the mind of the Rishi(Pashyanthy)comes out as the heard(language,music)so that the listener also get the same images or visions of the rishi.The bhaasha or language are of three classes
.1.The sound(dwani,shruthi,naada)
2.The sign(mudra)
3.The word.(Vaak or varna)
The sound originate from instinct and develop into art of music and consists of inarticulate sounds(termed notes in music)which proceed through vocal chords.The sign originate both from instinct and reason and consists of gestures of the body.The word is based on reason,consists of spoken and written words which require palate,toungue ,teeth,lips and nose .Thus ,in India ,in ancient Tamil speaking territories the development of isai(music),iyal(literature)and naatakam(drama) in the thinking,reasoning,feeling,enjoying and communicating brains of our ancestors happened simultaneously..Natyasasthra of Bharathamuni gives a beautiful description of how it developed as the vrithy(Bharathy,saathwathy,kaisiki and Aarabhaty )from the dance and wars of Vishnu.Since it originated from the lawfull gathi(niyathagathivishesha)of Vishnu they are called Nyaaya.Bharathamuni (1)says he is using this natyaveda for his poetic works also.He received Bharathy from Rigveda,sathwathy from yajurveda,kaisiki from saamaveda and Aarabhaty from Atharvaveda.The rasa for sathwathy are veera,adbhudha and roudra.(no sringara or karuna )Aarabhaty also has rasa like krodha,vega and characters of kapata,vanchana,dambha,anritha etc.(since it is in war).Bharathy is prose .Hence all the three are not used by the Indian classical music.And according to Bharatha these were created out of Vishnu in male form.But kaisiki was created in vishnu’s activity as a woman(mohini)and it is in this we find women participating with beautiful dresses ,dance,music,drama and feelings of eros and agape.In the saivist traditions also this developed from the face of Girija while the others developed from the faces of Shiva. The king of the rasa is sringaara and it is predominantly seen in kaisiki and is the main ingredient of the Indian aesthetics and aesthetical theories. There are four anga for kaisiki related to the different rasa..
1.Narma.
Aasthaapithasringaaram
Visudhakaranam nivrithaveerarasam
Hasyaparavachanabahulam
Narmathrividam vijaaneeyaath
The prominent rasa is sringara and is pure dance without veerarasa,but with sense of humour.This is of three types.Vipralambasringara or love in separation can turn to anger,to criticize,and also to attract.These are the three types of narma in sringara.
2.narmaspunja.
Nvasamgamasambhogo
Rathysamudayaveshavakyasamyuktha
Gneyo narmaspunjo
Hyavasaanabhayaathmakaschaiva
There is fully developed and expressed emotion of eros,and the dresses and bhava of the hero and heroine is attuned to that emotion and there is the first unin with pleasure and then followed by fear of being known to others or of separation.
3.Narmasphotam
vividhaanaam bhaavaanaam
lavairlavair bhooshithobhahuvisheshai
asamagrakshiptharaso
narmasphotasthu vigneya
All the different bhavas are present in different proportions ,but the rasapoorthy or final union does not happen.
4.Narmagarbha
vignaanaroopasobhaa
dhanaadhirbhi naayako gunairyathra
praschannam vyavaharathe
kaaryavasaannarmagarbhosow.
The hero is uthamapurusha excellant in knowledge,beauty,wealth and all the qualities,but he is hiding these qualities due to some reason from the beloved and the rasa is uthamasringara itself .The love in disguise is narmagarbha.
In short,sense of humour,eros or sringara ,are in kaisiki,veera and adbhudha in sathwathy,roudra and bhayanaka in aarabhaty and karuna and bheebatsa in bharathy.
Since music is predominantly kaisiki and partially sathwathy(veera and adbhutha)and partially bharathy(karuna)but never aarabhaty we can assess the rasa or aesthetics associated with classical music from this description.
From sound language arise prose and poetry.In vocal music this consists of the melodic prose part (raga alaapana )and in vocal conversation the natural musical tones peculiar to certain languages.Poetry of sound language is either artistic or artificial.This include melody,harmony expressing external emotions,harmony expressing internal emotions.The sign language also has prose and poetry in it.The prose part of sign language is gestures in conversation,lipreading,manual alphabet,signals used in railway,road,military and naval departments etc.The poetry part is the artistic mudra or gestures used in Indian dance,and artificial are the ones used in physical drill,in organized games and also in European dance.
The word language has a prose part of noisy day to day conversation ,and novels and other critical prose in literature(Scott and kadambari given as examples).It has a poetry part or kaavya (kaalidaasa and Shakespeare given as examples)(2)
From the abovesaid facts ,it is clear that to communicate the aesthetics of the art of classical music certain prerequisites are needed.The aesthetics of the music and information theory(3) or communication theory (which term I prefer)since music is not mere information gathering but communication between the artist and the rasika for enjoyment of rasa.The information value of any symbol,sign and its meaning can be either as aesthetic information or communication(artistic)or as scientific nonaesthetic information.The criteria for aesthetic communication of music are
1.the originality of the music
2.the optimal extent to which people are attracted to the performer and the performance determined by the crowd and by the time (in years)he or she can sustain the attractive effect on the society.(whether momentary or longstanding)
3.whether the people are enthralled by it.
4.What types of rasika are attracted.whether all the types of rasika ar e among his/her followers.Lifelong fans who admire,critics(samaalochak)who evaluate ,criticize,grades and appreciates the performance as well as the performer,and think for the singer and improve the singing.Daarsanika(visionaries)concerned with defining the notion of musical experience,his(listener’s) or her position in it,and the identity as an eternal listener to an eternal singer (metaphysically to God).The daarsanika understand and experience the ecstacy at a yogic level.It stimulates the others including the singer.(4 and 5)
The function of the message or communication from music are different in different individuals
1.Transmitting a new mental image (innovative)
2.integrating the new mental images with already existing ones
3.systematizing the mental images
4.characterizing them so that they obtain a very high degree of specificity for the listener.
For this innovation,integration,systematization and characterization to happen ,the singer has to have a sustaining effect on society and the listeners should have listened to him/her for a long period and thought about and enjoyed his/her music and studied it analytically.That is,saadhana and experience are required for the total aesthetic experience to bloom not only from the side of the singer but also from the listener.That determines the originality,sustained enthrallment and saadhana from the rasika as well and henc e the rasika is not a passive listener but a very active participant totally involved in the singing activity and hence psychologically and physiologically becomes a potential singer or a mute artist(6)Listening to the tonal swara variations ,the rhythmic laya and the form of a particular singer’s music the rasika develop a type of mystical rapport with the singer and towards God and that is how Indian music is spiritual than earthly.It goes from the personal to the impersonal level.and vice versa.
The rasa experience depends upon three factors.The listener,the singer and the inherent properties of the music itself.There are a few excellencies and defects (qualities and faults)described for the voice of a singer ,for the singing style and for the singer as a person in Indian music.(7) which are important for getting the optimum aesthetic bliss.
Geethidosha according to Naaradeeyasiksha
Excellance Defects
Unisonant(suraktha)
Shaky(sankita)
Complete(poorna)
Scared(bheetha)
Embellishment(alankritha)
Agitated(udhrishta)
Happy(prasanna)
Mute(avyaktha)
Manifest(vyaktha)
Nasal(anunasika)
Raised(vikrishta)
Hoarse(kaakaswara)
Smooth(slakshna)
Highpitched(sirasigatha)
Equipoised(sama)
Slipping (sthanavivarjitha)
Delicate (sukumara)
Not in tune(viswara)
Poignant(madhura)
Dry(virasa)
Disjointed(vislishta)
Out of beat(visamaahatha)
Disarrayed(vyakula)
Out of tempo(taalaheena)
Sabda(voice)and its qualities(Bharathamuni)
Excellance defects
Audible,teleaudible(sraavaka)
Phlegmatic(kapila)
Compact(Ghana)
Unsteady(avyavasthitha)
Creamy(snigdha)
Bitten(sandastha)
poignant(madhura)
Crowlike(kaaki)
Attentive,involved creative imagination or meditation (avadhaanavaan)
Baggythroated(thumbaki)
Spanning all the 3 registers(thristhaanasobhitha)
The excellances are the aesthetic subsets which increase the rasa experience and the defects decrease rasa.
There are 22 excellances in the performance of a singer which makes him/her the best among singers since he/she gives the most aananda(rasa or aesthetic experience)to the listeners whether informed or uninformed.
The aesthetic subsets of the best singer
1.attractive voice and good tonal quality
2.adept in initiating and finishing a raga
3.wellversed in singing raga,raagaanga,bhaashaanga,kriyaanga and upaanga
4.expert in singing prabhandha
5.knows different forms of aalaapana(aalaapthy)
6.commands natural access to shakes and graces(gamaka)arising from all the three registers
7.selfcontrolled voice
8.aware of musical time(thaala)
9.attentive(shradha)
10.indefatiguable
11.knows shudha and chaayalaga compositions
12.expert in all intonations
13.commands movements of different sthaayaas
14.who is free of all blemishes
15.whois given to regular saadhana or exercises
16.mindful of tempo(laya)
17.versatile personality
18who is retentive
19. holds praana while singing with great passion
20.who is capable of arresting the attention of the audience
21/who belongs to a good tradition of guruparampara
22.who excels in the exposition of the raga
A mrishta,madhura,trishaanaka ,sukhavaahaka prachura,komala ,and strong voice,sraavaka and karuna,snigda,Ghana ,slakshna or continuous like a vertical flow of oil (without discontinuity)and creating enjoyment and interest and love(rakthimaan)in listeners faultless and bright(chavimaan)is a Godgiven gift to a singer and this suswara is considered the most important quality of a good singer by Vishnu himself,as he tells Naarada (8)
The aesthetic subset for a good listener are
1.pure with unruffled senses(sudha,indriyanigraha)
2.expert in discussing the pros and cons(oohaapohavishaarada)
3.faultless(tyakthadosha)
4.lover of music(anuraagi or better to call raagaanuraagi)
5.Capable of rasaanubhava or aesthetic experience(bhaavaanukarane alankritha)
6.impartial
7.attentive(saavadhaana)
8.good speaker(vaagmi)
9.logical(nyaayavaadi)
10.aware of wrong and right(trutithaathrutithaabhigna)
11.humble(vinaya)
12.prideless(agarva)
13aesthetically sensible(rasabhaavagna)
14.proficient in music and dance(tauryatritaabhigna)
15.One who refutes false stand boldly(asadvaadanishedha)
16 expert(chathura)
17.with no envy(amaatsaryachith)
18intensely sensitive heart(Amanda rasanishyandhi hridaya)
The artist’s creative urge and the listener’s appreciative urge should thus match perfectly and only then the communication is perfect and the aesthetic experience total.It has to follow a behavioural analysis of a artist as well as a involved listener (both are essentially artistic but combine a scientific turn of mind as evaluation and analysis concerened)The conceptual framework for analysis of aesthetic behaviour(9) (behaviour analysis)involves the nature and form of aesthetic behaviour,nature of aesthetic response ,nature of aesthetic stimulus,the artist and the listener as a person .And such study is very very rare since devoted and involved listeners are also becoming a rare commodity. .My attempt to study my musical consciousness as a listener and the effect of two of the greatest singers of my times(M.S.subbulakshmy and K.J.Jesudas)on me and on society happened quite naturally and as my musical life panorama,yet it is scientific, since anyone can assess by hearing the music of the singers mentioned whether I am right,and they can also by assessing my aesthetic musical personality and behaviour see whether I have the qualities of a good listener mentioned.Thus the research on aesthetic of music becomes a behavioural analysis also. Apart from the listener and the musician there is the third factor ,the music and its intricacies itself.This part I am not entering into in the present context,since it is too exhaustive to cover here.And,as an uninformed listener,and an advaithin interested in spirituality and brahma experience ,,since rasa and Brahma experience are twins and are alike ,I would like to concentrate on the naadalayayogi and the yogic experience of samadhi akin to rasaanubhava.Rasa is chamathkaar(transcendental emotional experience of bliss or pleasure and hence is aloukika(not of this world)according to Indian aesthetics but experienced by the people on earth(loukika).The raga has a form ,a form of a divine beauty (raagdevatha)associated with a rithu(season)and the scheme of the musical notes and the lyrics and the music give the expression of an experience related to it.The musical notes as such have no independent existence unless it conveys the embodied form ,personified to evoke a rasa.This Raagdevathadhyaana is exactly like the devathaadhyaana of the thanthric or of the dhyaana of prakrithy by the poets .Rasa is parellel to the theory of Sankara in this way.That is it does not exist in its pure form (like pure satwa,pure rajas,pure thamas)but as a mixture of the thriguna in this world.This is accepted by all arts and sciences of India including Ayurveda.The predominence of one of the guna gives a name of that guna.If sathwa predominates we call saathwik and if rajas predominates rajasic and like that.Brahmaananda with satwodreka(increase and predominance of satwa)is the ultimate aim of a spiritualist.Rasa or aesthetic bliss being akin to it is sathwik in character.The satwa guna is predominant in Vishnu . and as mentioned in Bharathamuni’s Natyasasthra Kaisiki is taken from Saamaveda (music)and In Bhagavad Gita also Krishna says among the veda’s I am saamaveda,denoting his preference for the satwika musical spirituality of the saama singers.That gives prasaada(bliss)and niraamaya(health forever)for the bhaktha(singer and listener both being devotees of God)and Thanmayatha in God who is Love incarnate.
The fact that raaga has a roop(form) the beauty of which one can see or perceive(darshana vision)and enjoy with your own eye(internal/external)has given rise to the science of soundarya(beauty with proportionate anga or parts ) and lavanya (charming personality) or maadhurya(.animated sweet personality)This beauty has a lustrous shine like that of a pure pearl of high quality according to Roop Goswamy and produce rasa experience in the perceiver(10)The rasa come from the bhaava (emotional state)in a sensitive person’s mind (sahridaya)for which aesthetic propensity(vaasana)is essential with previous impressions(sanskarra)which may be of this birth or of previous births is the Indian concept.Therefore,the ability to be a good singer and a good listener and partake in rasa experience is a divine gift carried over due to previous births and its relations.
Right from the Nadabindhu Upanishad and times of the veda the role of the sound and manthra and music in yoga and in awakening the kundalini power in the human body had been discussed in detail(ch 8,9 and 10 Without a stumble A book on spirituality of music .Dr suvarna Nalapat. 2003.)(11)(12)
According to Indian aesthetics and yoga psychology the body of all beings including that of the singer and listener is following the same rule of the cosmos and this golden rule makes it possible for us to become one with the divine experience and since music is the nearest which follows the golden rule of aesthetics it is natural for us to become one with God through the music.Hence ,the structure of the chakra(sreechakra,sudarsanachakra,sangheethachakra)and its form and property and the meditation on it has been an ageold practice to attain rasa experience of God. The personal and impersonal,the jeevathma and paramathma,the bhaktha and bhagavaan become one creating an advaitha
Sreechakra,sangheethachakra upaasana and naadalayayoga for healthy living
The proportions of the cosmic Raasichakra and of the solar system with its living and nonliving things is the same.This aesthetic proportion is the golden rule(suvarna niyama)which we see in zodiac(astronomy)the upaasaka body(here the singer)and the scales of the melakartha raga which is the base for all music and naadalayayoga.Hence the ancient upaasakaas of the devi (and of music)knew how to heal using music.The healing of raagadwesha by raga is mentioned in ayurvedic and yogic texts .The proportions of suvarnaniyama (golden rule)should be understood and invoked within and without and in the raagaas ,using the scale.An adept upaasaka only can do this properly.But how is the test to find out the real upaasaka?You cannot test the ability of an upaasaka in yoga,unless you yourself are a yogi.This is more difficult procedure than a laboratory test and research which everyone can do ,collect data and make a paper and publish,But naadalayayoga is real life practice ,the laboratory is your own body-mind complex,and you yourself are the investigator and it needs years and years of saadhana.A Guru may help you in some stages of the investigation as a guide in the research process.
,I would like to point out the dhyana of devi parasakthy as sreechakra and as sangheethadevi in ones own body.(The similarities and differences can be noted.)Sreechakra is the beautiful mathematical sign language and its word language is the Sreesooktha.(where the devi is meditated as a woman with golden colour,as sun,moon and energy or agni.without form that is both as a cosmic and biological personality and as formless energy state).The meditation process is same for such devatha as well as to the ragadevatha upaasana.
When one does upaasana on each of the raagadevatha of the raagha each raagadevatha is meditated before singing.First a true upaasaka should have the courage to start the upaasana and the selfconfidence that I can do it.Because ,once you finish the 72 raagaas you become merged with the devi and there is a total thanmayeebhava with the devi.Only a son becomes one with the divine mother sakthy.Only a mother can forgive the faults of the son committed during the upaasana.The reason why many singers say that certain raga should not be sung, ,is because they are not true upaasakaas and they do not have the ability to sing as a true upaasaka of the devi,and ofcourse,just like a watchful mother observes every step of a son,the devi is always with the upaasaka maintaining his/her footsteps in life.Even if the son falters,she puts him to straight path and thus she is the true Guru of every saadhaka. And she is a rigourous teacher too ,putting you to severe tests which the upaasaka knows is for his/her ultimate victory .
The body of the singer has shadangaas(6 parts)and in each are chakraas starting from moolaadhaaram to aagna.The 7th is the sahasraara where all the chakraas are existing .The power or sakthi in these sites are awakened by music if sung in the proper way.
How does a sreechakra upaasaka meditate on paraasakthy in one’s own body?The following table gives the names of devatha and the site of the body .(13)
Head
Brahmi
neck
maheswari
thigh
koumari
heart
paraa
thoughts
shyamala
back
vaishnavi
ahamkaara
vaaraahi
arms
mahendri
hands
chamunda
chest
mahalakshmi
sides
nakuli
Nabhi
vijaya
Feet
sarvamangala
The srichakra is the swaroopa of sakthy and it was seen as Thripurasundari by Sankara,Thirumoolar,and Naarayanaguru.The sree is a suffix common to sreechakra ,sreeyanthra,sreeraaga,sreesooktha etc and it denotes light of knowledge,beauty,wealth,boons,the origin,heavenly,the best,and the first to be worshipped,the sweetest ,the deepest and the feminine aspect of Godhead etc.If one draws the figure on a flat surface it is sreechakra.If architecturally arranged (as square below,round or circle middle and triangle above it is sreeeyanthra.Such aavarana are 9 in number(navasakthy)and in each aavarana meditate a hamsadevatha of the devi as adhidevatha.When you start to meditate a devatha you have to start from the paada(foot)of deity and never from the other organs.(paadaadikesam first )Bhoopuram is the paadam and from there slowly ascend in the following way and finally see the omkaaradevi in the top of head(sahasrara)and keep her permanently in the aagnachakra as the thilaka(kumkum)It is the symbol of creativity.
Foot(paada)
Bhoopuram 3 paripoornarekha
Sarvamangalamangalya(Lakshman did only this to seetha)
Thigh
Shodasadalapadmam(16 petalled lotus)
naabhi
Ashtadalapadma(8 petals)
Heart
14 thrikona
neck
bahirdasaaram
Thilakam in forehead
anthardasaaram
forehead
ashtakonam
head
thrikonam
brahmarandhram
bindustaanam
The first 5(from foot to neck)are the outside(puram)of the chakra.The last 4 from the thilakam to brahmarandhram are the akam or inside,the most intimate internal relationship.When we start melakartharaaga kanakangi we are at the padam and when we reach rasikapriya we are at the brahmarandhra stage ,one with the deity.It shows the ability or prowess of a true upaasaka to traverse all the nine aavaranaas of the sreechakra .
Sangheethachakra in raagachikitsa.
Music is the sarvothamakala in which raga is sung in suswara(sweet voice)so that it gives pleasure to the mind(manoranjaka).If the raga is not sung in this way it is not manoranjaka.To put it in other words If there is manoranjakam,one can deduce that the raga is properly sung.Sangheethachakra is a variant of sreechakra where Bharathy is meditated.Medha,santhy,sadguna,wealth,sarvavignasanthy,mangalam,keerthy,etc are inherent in the house of a true upaasaka .Their sankalpa become truth and there is good and prosperity not only to them but also to the entire world.Their thoughts and deeds will not harm others .On the contrary they will give more prosperity to the entire world.Their needs are taken care of by divine intervention.They wont have hatred or envy or dissatisfaction in life and they are always contended.This is because saraswathyhansam is always present in the devotees mind and house .The house where they sit naturally becomes a kalaakshethra or temple of arts and knowledge.They have very good sleep at night.No bad dreams.very good and beautiful dreams come to them.The devi as rajamathangi and rajarajeswary keeps them always healthy.
By meditating the moolamanthra as gayathri ,the upaasaka see her vision and till the last breath they go on breathing music.It is not just living in music but breathing music and music only.The condition is called vidhyasukhasidhi(the ultimate bliss of vidya).The people who attained this state become abhaya and amritha by the predictive darsana which appear in the inner eye.They develop a attractive power and gurukataksham is within their house .Upaasaka gets brahmagnaana .Proficiency in 64 arts especially jyothisha,sangheetha,natya,vaagchathurya and kavithwa are in their houses.Those who meditate on sangheethachakra do not have a next life or janma.Even if they are born,they will be born only as a gnani or artist with rajayoga. Before sunrise ,the upasaka takes bath and meditates on sangheethachakrapooja.If we do 8 mandala(1 mandala is 48 days here)which is 364 days we get the bala and athibala (strength)of a perfect mahayogi..Thirugnaanasambhandar ,Tyagaraja,Mahavaidyanathan sivan etc belong to this group,just to mention a few.Muthuswamideekshithar was very adept in both sreechakra and sangheethachakra araadhana and composed all 72 melakartharaagaas.
Pulippani sidhar has described only 8 aavaranaas for sangheethachakra(not 9 as in sreechakra).The bhoopuram and shodasadalapadma are the same as sreechakra.The others are slightly different as follows
Peetham bhoopuram feet
Shodasadalapadma thigh
Sapthadalapadma nabhi (7 dala instead of 8)
Shadkona (hridaya)
12 triangles neck
downturned triangle forehead
upturned triangle head
The seed of life (uyir)where naadadevi Bharathy sits.She has to be visualized and permanently worn in the thilaka.
Sangheethachakra has its tatwa as roopa and aroopa.(form and formless).With form (saakaaram)she is meditated as naadakaali Bhaarathy ,santhadevi,saraswathy.The formless is not seen to our naked eyes but is the naadathanu Bharathy ,with anantham names ,seen even in an atom,as maaya the one who gives ultimate wisdom of naada as niraakaara,santha and soumya.It is not easy to see this subtle sookshmathanu of the devi for ordinary people.If one who has not done proper upaasana approaches her she doesn’t allow him/her to come near .Because she is asulabha(not easy to get) and reveals all her beauty to only great upaasakas like kaalidasa,thirugnaanasambhandhar,Sankara and the like.But,anyone can be a potential upaasaka if God so wills and if one tries.The different avaranaas of the sreechakra are given in soundaryalahari vyakhyana ( 14)Here the aavarana and the devathas of the sangheethachakra are given.
1.chakrapeetham as bhoopuram is sarvakalaaprapthachakram.chakreswary is vidyamalahari.beejaswaram is nishadam.manovrithy is nirvaanam.Makes the mind of upasaka spotlessly clean.Such mind alone can concentrate on any system of knowledge.There are two devi in between the lines of bhoopura .one is kalavidhi or kamakshi which gives the vidhi for learning arts.she is the mother who satisfies all desires of man and gives poetry,and music through her breastmilk as to Thirugnaanasambhandar..the second is kalavathy or durga and it is this devatha who is propitiated from water (saadhana in jhalamadhya for mahakaali durga )and it is she who gave kalidasa his prowess in poetry.In souparnika ,Kottayam Raja got this experience.Musicians do morning sadhana immersed in water to propitiate her.
Second avarana is sarvakarshanachakram with chakreswary vidyasakthy and bheejaswaram dhaivatham.Manovrithi saswatham .(Attractive power is forever.) The 14 attractive (akarshana)devtas in 14 triangles in this avarana are as follows.
1.kalaakarshini.sreevidya.natya,naataka,sangheetha,kavya,kavitha,alankara,other 64 arts.2.avadhaanakarshini.who gives the avadhanam to do several things at a time.
3.kaamaakarshini.kaama is all desires,not sex alone.she sits on the right shoulder of sadhaka.4.budhy akarshini.one who is needed for aquiring knowledge,wisdom,memorizing what is learned and using it in the proper time ,teaching and creativity.The devi is gayathri.
5.sabdaakarshini.The sruthignaanam to distinguish and enjoy even the subtlest sruthy,of singers,birds,natural objects etc.devi is chandika.
6.sparsaakarshini.the one who bestows the touch of gnana above that of the senses.She touches the heart by knowledge ,not by her hand or body.The devatha is gayathri.
7.roopaakarshini.structure /construction /or form is there for every object,for arts and knowledge.especially for language ,music,literature,etc.We call it a pattern,a bhaani,style etc.The lakshana and raagabhaava ,the thaalagathi,sahityastyle,meanings are also the structural aspects.These forms or beautiful structures are kept in memory by devivajreswary.
8.rasaakarshini is dakshayani giving nine rasa.
9.chithaakarshini .The vidya of sadhaka has to give sidhi,knowledge should give phalasidhi,and vijayam.The success or vijayam comes to sadhaka as rajarajeswary.
10.dhairyakarshini.The vidya should not remain within 4 walls.It should come out.For this sadhaka should have courage and .selfknowledge(which Anjaneyar lacked)of one’s own sakthy.The devi is rajamathanghi.
11.dhanaakarshini .who gives wealth as annapoorneswary dhanalakshmy.
12.dhyanakarshini.dharana,dhyana,samadhi and parabrahma experience is given by saradha as Brahmi.
13.chaithanya akarshini .Chaithanya is pragna.The pragna and prathibha in arts,research,etc.Breathing arts and sciences ,not just loving them or living in them.Devi sreelalitha.
14.naadaakarshini.Naada originated from Bindu or anu.The naadaprapancha from Brahmam is recreated (punarsrishty)by sruthy and darsana as naadaanubhavam of the yogi .Omkaaranaadaakarshini Mahaakaali is the devatha for this.
Avaranam 3.sapthadalakamalam.sarvavidyaparipoornachakram.chakreswary vidyanaadadevi.Beejaswaram panchamam.Here vedavidyabudhi is given by Vaani and the things for daytoday living is given by mahalakshmi.The manovrithy is naadormayam.There are 7 vedadevis.They remove kaama,krodha,moha,lobha,mada,matsarya,papa from mind and gives peace,love,wisdom,dharma,maithry,mrityunjaya,punya etc in their place.
Vedavidyabudhi means dharmasathravihitha life,and nityanityavivekam.Sapthaswra in 7 dala gives this.Brahmi,maheswari,koumari,vaishnavi,vaaraahi,mahendri,chamundi are vedadevis.Seven vedadevis are vaniparam.Wife,husband,relatives,house,daytoday equipments,vehicles etc are mahalaxmiparam.As and when the time for jeevanmukthy comes,the desires for samsaara should cease.
4.shadkonam.sarvabhayakarachakram.chakreswary vidyavivekini.bheejaswaram madhyamaswaram.vagdevi is there forever as the Guru and friend .Guru is none other than saraswathy who sits within the saadhaka.The knowledge comes as revelations .In shadchakra,vaagdevi sits as 12 sarvakalaaroopinis.
They are
1.sarvakalasanjeevani for healing .
2.sarvakalatharanghini who produce gnaana waves always in the oceanlike chith of sadhaka.
3.sarvakalaranjani who makes gnaana sweet (madhura)
4.sarvakalaanidhi.the one who gives all treasures of knowledge of arts
5.sarvakalaroopanghi one who sits as the most beautiful and aesthetic within one’s mind’s eyes
6.sarvakalaajwaalamukhi one which makes the artistic ability of sadhaka known to the world
7.sarvakalaarasaruchiramani.the one who attracts rasika by rasa experience
8.sarvakalaabharani.The one who sits on the jihua of the saadhaka and becomes her/his nityabhooshani.(daily ornament)There is no other bhooshana needed for such upaasaka.
9.sarvakalavardhani who increases arts
10.sarvakalaavinodini one who gives enjoyment by arts
11.sarvakalaahithabhaashini.one who speaks with arts so that whatever she speaks will be for the common good.
12.sarvakalavagheeswary .The one who gives vagsidhy so that every word one utters become fruitful.She is amma who is vaatsalyamayi to all devotees.
Avaranam 5 is sarvakalaaprasaadachakram.chakreswary is vidyaroopadevi.12 thrikona.bheejaswaram ghandharam.Even while sleeping only saarada is seen as sookshmatatwa.Manovrithy is always gurusmaranam.Sadhaka hear the thoughts of devi within mind as swami,swami swami,as the reenkara of bees.Guru should have this naadabhakthy and aathmabalam and devi tests this .The guruthwa of people who have saraswathy as Guru is more than other people.There are 12 naadadevatha in 12 thrikona.They are naadakaali,naadakalaavathy,naadaranjani,naadajyothy,naadamanohari,naadaswaroopi,naadasruthysthutha,naadaomkaari,naadavallabhi,naadamahankusa,naadajayanthy,naadabramaraambha.
Avaranam 6 thrikaalagnaanachakram chakreswary is vidyayogini.Downturned thrikonam with bheejaswara rishabha.The 3 yoginis here are swaragnaanayogini,maargagnaanayogini,and sookshmagnaanayogini(of these sookshmagnaana is the uyirnaadi of gnaana).
7th aavaranam sarvavignanivarthichakram.chakreswary is vidyavigneswary.downturned thrikona with bheejaksharam shadjam.manovrithy nivaaranam.dukhanivrithy 8 nivrithydevi as removing vighna.
Vighnakameswari,vighnavisweswary,vighnajayamalini,vighnavasanthy,vighnavinodini,vighnaparipalini,vighnasarveswary,vighnavallabhi
8th avaranam is sarvakalyanagnaanachakram.chakreswary mahavidyabharathy.Chidroopam bindhu .In a downturned triangle.Maayanaadaroopini who cannot be seen with naked eyes gives all mangala for sadhaka.If the karma of a sadhaka creates damage to others she lovingly objects them and convert them for good of the world.Bheejaksharaswaram is susruthynilayam.(one which resembles a welltuned thamburusruthy)which gives bliss.manovrithy is Sudarsanagnaanam.(sudarsana is the sreechakra in the hands of Vishnu ,so beautiful to see and giving protection from all unwanted things ) For the navaavarana krithy of deekshithar and its relation toDevi upaasana see ref 15 and 16
One who meditates on this should have omkaaradhyana,gayathrimanthra and upaasana of soundaryalahari with true meanings.Sangheethachakramoolamanthra given below has to be sung (meditated)43 times for 43 triangles.
Om hrim klim srim thum
Nityaanandathe niraadhaare
Nishkalaaye nama:
Vidhyaadhaare visaalakshi
Veenaadhaare nama:
Om Bhaarathye nama:
Hrim raajamathanghi devyie nama:
Sreem saraswathyei nama:
Klim thrisakthy aikyaroope mookambike nama:
Thum sangheethasarade nama:
One has to assess the level of the upaasaka from the words,deeds and spiritual progress and not from the worldly possessions or riches..If there is no cleanliness(shudhi)in body,mind and intellect one cannot do sreechakra upaasana.And those without shudhi cannot understand the worth of sreechakra upaasaka either.Sreechakra upaasaka are like children .They are mahayogins and may be either vyakthayogin or gupthayogin.Their leela are not intelligible to those who are with them (relatives,colleagues etc).When two such upaasakaas meet and transfer their energy through mutual understanding the energy is dissipated for the common good of the entire world.Each become the Guru of the other.This is a very rare phenomenon in the world .Therefore when one see such phenomena due to lack of knowledge the sidhas are not properly assessed or recognized.by the world.
In the case of routine musical upaasana such prolonged and difficult sadhana are not needed and it is enjoyed by everyone including women and people who have no accesss to higher learning..Vaasana to sing, bhakthi and rakthi through loving surrender and compassion in God and Guru makes this possible and makes everyone alike ,without differences of birth,caste,creed,or sex differences and Krishna was the embodiment of such universal love.He never said that women or low caste people cannot achieve the ultimate ,on the contrary he proved with his life it is the women,lowborn and the poor who reach him and become one with him easily.That was the practical advaitha of his life.If Krishna was not attainable to the lowborn gopis who were ignorant of scriptures but were the most loving and involved souls with all satwik bhaavaas creating Brahmarasa ecstacy within their minds,if he was not accessibl e to kuchela the poor Brahmin and to Pandavas the forest wanderers who have lost all their property,(if he had been accessible to kings and rich people and men devotees alone)he could not have been a proponent of advaitha.and could not have lasted so long in the psyche of the Indian for such a long period.He would not have been the sweetest singer and friend to thousands of people for generations either.As Kabeer said,do not ask the caste or creed of a devotee of Hari,because he has none.The most beautiful aesthetic experience a human being can get is this advaitha through music.
Following Carl Bergstroem-Nielsen's (17)discussion of Colin Lee's book The Architecture of Aesthetic Music Therapy in the unmoderated discussion forum of the Voices, and his article in the March issue of the same journal,(18) I had given the perspective of Indian aesthetics on music. For the international readers who are interested in the subject.(19)
The fact that Lee thinks the structure of music deserves more attention in music therapy work and research caught my attention in Carl Bergstroem-Nielsen's initial discussion. And also how music inspires a person (the personal) from my own musical life panorama. The fact that the personal experience come from the impersonal (the worldly experiences come from the spiritual) is a theme common to all cultures of the world, of which India is probably the one which has given much thought processes. Indian philosophy has dealt with it in detail and Indian aesthetics has stemmed from Indian philosophy but with its own identity and beauty and originality. Music is spiritual in India, and the spirituality of music inspires the living organisms and awakens the dormant spirituality in them, and this awakening is called inspiration by the modern thinkers. And it is these experiences of inspiration that we call our personal experiences, or in music therapy language, our musical life panorama. But if the music had no structure, if it were not beautiful in itself, if it had not touched our hearts by its beauty and emotional content, we would never have had those inspiring moments. The more complex and beautiful and fascinating the music is, the more deeper, richer and subtler it becomes and only then it becomes soulstirring and such music is very very rare and precious. It is not the common music which each and every one of us can make and sing, but it is the one each and every one of us listen to in rapturous attention, forgetting ourselves in absolute wonder. This is what Lee's patient was trying to articulate when he said that he could not handle that complicated music but it had inspired him. The duty of a musician is to make such deep, aesthetic, universal and spiritual music. Only then he can inspire the universe, and give peace to all. The society is benefited by that kind of aesthetic music. When such music and the aesthetic sense of such music, comes into the therapy room with the therapist, along with love for humanity and respect for "life" (and hence for the client) he gives a chance for responding to the music in an aesthetic way, to borrow Merethe Vadstein Welle's words.
One point that I wish to point out is that Pei-Ju—Tu's and Wolf's patients were old and demented or having psychiatric problems who could not deal with such complicated or complex music. And that was the precise reason for their liking of the simpler music. I too have such patients with me and I use the most common and the least complicated music, and sometimes even nursery rhymes to elicit the necessary emotions in them. But, then we are talking about the "relative" aesthetics of a mentally challenged or demented individual and not of the aesthetics of music at all. A music therapist should have a perfect aesthetic sense so that he can be flexible in every situation depending upon the type of patient and his/her sensibility..
More the aesthetic sense and the flexibility, more the psychological knowledge and musical effects on emotions, the therapist becomes more equipped with the impersonal to bring about the personal change in humanity and in his clients.In Indian music the ecstasy of a musical experience (which may be called an inspiration in simpler language) is equivalent to yogic experience of Brahma (God) one gets in the deep meditation (samaadhi). Hence it is described as naadalayayoga a type of immersing in ecstasy of God through the yoga of music/or sound.
According to Indian aesthetics, genuine art is not made but is a spontaneous flow from the heart filled with rasa. The great artist is also the great art critic. The artform includes diction, versification, and music is determined by inspiration and the laya is important since it determines the meaning of the utterance.
What is Rasa?
Rasa is the source of inspiration for an artist and a listener.
The wordmeaning is the essence or more simply, the taste. The first and foremost artist/poet/composer/singer in Indian aesthetics is God who sings the music of the spheres and the Upanishads describes God as Rasa itself. God is both the rasa (the experience of supreme bliss or ananda) and the one who experiences the rasa (the rasika).That is why Jayadeva in his Gitagovinda calls Krishna as Krishnabhogin(the black serpent,and the great enjoyer krishna with two meanings to increase the rasa of poetics.(20) To get the artistic aesthetic experience (rasaanubhava) the artist has to be unselfish, disinterested in ordinary life dualities, objective, capable of contemplating life experiences without being affected by them. The artist embodies the emotions of life recollected in a state of tranquility. Thus art communicates not the emotions but emotions of an emotion. There is peace and delight in the process which is universalized (impersonal) individual (personal) experience. Pain, pleasure and pathological consequences of stress and anxiety occur due to struggles in life for personal gains of pleasure, power, possessions etc and such personal stresses and strains cause diseases (which the Indian science and art calls samsaara or diseases due to ones own actions). Artistic aesthetics should not awaken such personalized excitement or depression which were the actual causes of the diseased state. It should give peace of mind, tranquility and enjoyment in life as a divine blessing, it should take the patient beyond the dualities of life and hence music as an artform takes the impersonal divine blissful rasa as more important and giving such music is the best method for therapy. Spiritual delight or ecstasy (experience of Brahma) and artistic delight or ecstasy (experience of rasa) are thus considered as equivalent in Indian aesthetics and philosophy. They are called twins. Spiritual bliss is jagrathsushupthy (awakened dreamless deep sleep) while aesthetic musical bliss is jagrath swapna (awakened, dreamy sleep) a waking dream or a vision as Keats put it. The artistic imagination of a musician (prathibha) is a kind of vision (drishty or perception or darshana) which see the world in a different way and thereby transforms it. By his art the artist creates a new golden world, while ordinary people see only a brazen dry world of duality around and get stressed. The artist gives concrete shape to his world through words and rhythms, and melody. It is in an inspired state of impersonal ecstasy that an artist chooses the words, the order of the words and rhythm and the melody. Rather, it is not the artist, but the inspired state which chooses for him the words and the melody. Thus the artist is between the heard and the unheard, the seen and the unseen, allowing the ecstatic state (Brahma or God) to choose the art for him. When such art flows out from the impersonal in the artist, the listener proceeds from the heard to the unheard, from the seen to the unseen, in a reverse order and recover the artist's experience. This is done through a sensitive response to the suggestive power of the heard sounds /the words/the melody. The artist and the listener have to achieve an identity (thanmayeebhava) and hear with the inner and outer ear, feel, think and respond together. Then the bliss of rasa is perfect. Suggestion (dhwani) is a link between words (the heard -or the sruthy) and the seen (visualized/perceived-darsan).
In the uttered/heard music there are three elements: (1) expression, (2) suppression, (3) impressions. Comprehension means comprehending not only the grossly expressed meaning, but also of the hidden or suppressed subtle meanings in the text and the overall impressions from every possible meanings thus suggested. More than denotation, the connotative, suggestive meanings, and the rhythmic repetitive flow of words help us to get the experience. Dhwani (suggestions) functions as both denotative and connotative meanings and the right response help us to make a hermeneutical leap. The beautiful words /thoughts/melodies coming out of a heart filled with ecstatic bliss clothes itself with beautiful coverings (aavarana) without any conscious effort from the part of the poet/musician. And the listener without any efforts visualize and enjoys the beauty of it. Dwani (suggestions) is the soul of art and is related to meaning. Meaning is classified under denotation, indirect indication by metaphor, sphota or meaning of the utterance as a whole and only through suggestion can great art be expressed. The creative and analytical music therapy of the modern music therapists utilizes some of these aspects of ancient Indian aesthetics.
How is Rasa Created? The Personal Experience
Rasanishpathy (creation of rasa) is by combination of three factors. Bharathamuni one of earliest writers on Indian aesthetics calls them as vibhava, anubhaava and vyabhichaaribhaava(21 and 22).
Vibhaava: These are secondary factors which might excite our feelings and hence are personal. Characters or dialogues in a drama, words in a music, etc., may elicit old memories in our life associated with a particular type of music. This is what now the western music therapists call eliciting the musical life panorama of a patient to get a diagnostic as well as therapeutic response from patients. This is important for a music therapist since he/she should know the musical background of the person to be treated, and also it elicits a positive response of interest from the patient which itself has healing properties. The settings, like seasons, gardens, fragrance, moonlight, seeing near and dear ones, hearing their voices etc can also elicit the same response so that vibhaava is only a secondary element .The MLP of different individuals differ.
Anubhaava: The effects of the emotion that develop the main sentiment are called anubhaava. The main sentiment or emotion we want to evoke is love. The emotion of love is sometimes expressed by some people as anxiety, anger, depression, etc. (possessiveness included) and when such emotions become extreme stress and strains of life increases and diseases occur. If on the other hand, love is expressed as loving concern and compassion for the entire creation, tranquility and peace are experienced by the individual and by the people around such individual, and this impersonal love for humanity touches everyone's heart. Music of ancient India considered this as the healing power and created music of such nature. The divinity in the impersonally aesthetic universal love and of music was appreciated by all Indian aesthetics and philosophies. The bliss is against a background of peace (shaanthi), absence of mental agitation, disturbances and stress or anxiety. What actually happens is that apart from secretion of the endorphins from the neurons, and the alteration of the beta to alpha and theta waves during such peaceful, melodious music, the human brain is also having a gate control mechanism of all pains caused by samsara, through the divine intervention of music. This cognitive value of art as a controller of pain and pleasure is recognized not only by Bharathamuni but also by later aestheticians like Abhinavaguptha. Others like Bhaamaha considered Rasa as an ornament (alamkara) to music. Dandin thought lucidity, sweetness, richness and grandeur gives good art its properties. But it was Anandavardhana's dwani (suggestion) which gave perfection to Indian aesthetics. Rasa can be expressed only through suggestions. It can never be explained or spoken by direct speech. Just like the experience of God, which is beyond words. Which is impersonally personal and universal, music also is impersonally personal and divine. It is this nature of good music which heals. The music therapist has to select and create such good music and act as an intermediary in the will of God, in right earnest. The barriers to realization of rasa experience are the selfish, personal and dual feelings of the daily life and to get over them, and realize the transcendal /spiritual bliss the artist/musician develops a rare type of cognition similar to yogic wisdom and realization in samadhi. The nearest to it in western language may be the sublime state
Nine rasa in Indian aesthetics
Rasa
Dominant State
Temperamental signs
1.Shantha
Tranquil, peacefulImpersonal love of a yogin/of God
Physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual health.
2.Erotic sringara
Personalized passionate love 2 types. 1 in separation. 2.in union.
Paralysis of faculties of cognition/sensations
3.Comic hasya
Mirth, laughter
Perspiration
4.Pathetic karuna
Sorrow
Hairs stand out, body trembles.
5.Furious(not in music)
Anger
Change of voice, mental disturbances
6.Heroic
veera
Energy
Trembling of body, hands, etc.
7.Terrible(not in music)
Terror
Change of colour
8.Odious(sometimes with vipralambha)
Disgust
Weeping, anxiety
9.Marvelous adbhudha
Astonishment
Fainting
In healing music the impersonal, tranquil state of physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual health is the goal. And it is this rasa which is ideal for music therapy. The sentiment of love in separation from the God (divine partner) with an optimistic yearning for reunion with Him, is used. The serenity, the sweetness, the satisfaction, the delightful, ecstatic graceful movements and words and rhythms of melodious Indian music has a structure best suited for this purpose. In some special occasions It also uses the heroic sentiments with energy as its base, and presence of mind, perseverance, diplomacy, discipline, strength, reputation for truth and righteousness, patience, charitable disposition and heroism. This is for energizing the system. The other rasas are used on stage performances by dramatic personnel and dancers but not by musicians. Because music is always for healing and peace and love. Anaesthetics is for easing the pains. Aesthetics is for experiencing the bliss. Seemingly opposing words. But they are two sides of the same coin for a music therapist. With the aesthetics of musical bliss, music therapist numbs or blocks the pains and eases the pains.
Indian aestheticians Bharatha,Abhinavaguptha (author of Abhinavabharathy),Bhamaha(author of kavyalankara)and Anandavardhana (author of Dwanyaaloka)and kunthaka (author of vakrokthyjivitha) has given definitions for Rasa in their own style and these definitions are given in detail in Indian aesthetics ,An introduction by V.S.Sethuraman(ed)(22).The sthaayibhaava of rathi(sringar) in a musical performance or a drama is transformed into an aloukika state .The sahridaya identify(thanmayeebhava) with the singer or character in the drama through hridayasamvada but the identification is not complete and a certain aesthetic distance is kept for the enjoyment of rasa.If there are no two,the enjoyer,the enjoyed (like a male and a female in marital bliss)and the enjoyment as separate entities the rasa experience cannot happen.Whereas in the bhakthy of saints like chaithanya and Sankara the oneness with God is total and there is no dwaitha.In the case of both Chaithanya and sankara ,though there is total thanmayeebhava,one has a logical predominence and the other has a rasa and bhava predominence.But we must also remember that sankara though he has a logical predominence has time and again said that it is not logic but the swaanubhoothy or rasa experience of Brahma which is more important in advaitha.This is true of musical rasa also.(Rasa Brahmaananda sahodara)The science of notations and the science of aesthetics and its jargon belong to the logical left brain part of musicians and aestheticians and cannot be avoided to have good music.But ultimately it is the experience of both the singer and the listener which they communicate and enjoy which is the crux of rasa.If this does not happen,there is technically perfect music still ,but it has failed in its ultimate aim,the hridayasamvaada and the rasa experience.which the artist and the listener share and enjoy.,Being communicated through the divine love .
References.
1.Natyasasthra Bharathamuni .Kerala sahitya academi.translator.K.P.Narayanapisharody.vol.1987 chap 22 pge 62-73.
2 The psychology of music.K.P.Krishnarao.Asian educational services New Delhi 1984. pge 1-to 4.
3 Aesthetics of music and information theory .J.L.Broeckx pge 1-21 chap 1 Essays in musicology .R.C.Mehta.Indian musicological society publication.
.
4Without a stumble A book on the spirituality of music.Dr Suvarna Nalapat.2003.Nalapat books pg141
5.Musical as a value predicate . (ch 3)Philosophy of music. Rithwik sanyal 1987. Somaiyya publications
6Appreciation response to music Arvind Mangrulkar pge 29.Psychology of music R.C Mehta
7 Musicoaesthetic predicates( ch 5)Philosophy of music.Ritwik sanyal..140-174 Somaiyya publication
.
8 Music in Brihadharmapuraana.V.Raghavan.M.A.PhD,1938.pge 37-39 dialogue of Vishnu to Narada.
9 A conceptual framework for the analysis of aesthetic behaviour ch 3. pge 23 Shyamala Vanarase Psychology of music R.C.Mehta Indian musicological society publication.
10.Raga and rasa Narendrarai N.Shukla pg 31-34
11.Ch 8,9,10 without a stumble.(ref 4) Pge 178-214.
12.Music and sound in yoga .Vimala Musalagaonkar Psychology of yoga ed R.C.Mehta. ch 7. pge 44
13 Padmasindhu. Dr Suvarna Nalapat.Mathrubhoomi publications. Part 3.Commentary to Soundaryalahary of Adisankara.1996.
14 Brahmasindhu 2006 Commentary on Brahmasoothra Dr Suvarna Nalapat pge 407-411.
15.The journal of music academyISSN 0970-3101,vol LXIX 1998 T.S.Parthasarathy pge 99-108
16.Bergstroem-Nielsen, Carl (2006). The Importance of Aesthetics as a Dimension in Music Therapy Activity. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, from http://www.voices.no/mainissues/mi40006000202.html
17. Ref 16 and 18 were articles in moderated discussions following the unmoderated discussion on Voices a world forum of music therapy. titled "What do you think of aesthetics ??" (http://pub45.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=3862196689&cpv=1
18 .Nalapat, Suvarna (2006). Indian aesthetics in Music therapy -The personal and impersonal. [Contribution to Moderated Discussions] Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. http://www.voices.no/discussions/discm58_01.html
19 jayadeva ‘s Gitagovinda.Love song of the Dark God.Barbara Stoler Miller.Motilal Banarasidas publishers.reprint ed 2007.
20 Psychological studies in Rasa Rakesaguptha. Granthayan Aligarh,reprint 1997.
21Acoustic perspectives on Raga-rasa theory suvarnalathaRao.Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers 2000
22.Indian aesthetics an introduction.ed /V.S .SethuramanMacmillan India ltd 1992.
Dr Suvarna Nalapat
The English word language comes from Latin lingua and from the Sanskrit root linga which means the sign ,the toungue and the male generative organ.It denotes any means of expression/revelation or communication of thoughts and feelings.Therefore ,the Sanskrit word for language is Bhaasha ,from the root Bha ,to shine,to express or reveal.Bha is always related to light,so that it is something with a form (roopa)and hence perceivable(darshana)and enjoyable.The heard(sruthy-veda and music)is thus not separate from the darshana or light(the visualized.)What is visualized in the mind of the Rishi(Pashyanthy)comes out as the heard(language,music)so that the listener also get the same images or visions of the rishi.The bhaasha or language are of three classes
.1.The sound(dwani,shruthi,naada)
2.The sign(mudra)
3.The word.(Vaak or varna)
The sound originate from instinct and develop into art of music and consists of inarticulate sounds(termed notes in music)which proceed through vocal chords.The sign originate both from instinct and reason and consists of gestures of the body.The word is based on reason,consists of spoken and written words which require palate,toungue ,teeth,lips and nose .Thus ,in India ,in ancient Tamil speaking territories the development of isai(music),iyal(literature)and naatakam(drama) in the thinking,reasoning,feeling,enjoying and communicating brains of our ancestors happened simultaneously..Natyasasthra of Bharathamuni gives a beautiful description of how it developed as the vrithy(Bharathy,saathwathy,kaisiki and Aarabhaty )from the dance and wars of Vishnu.Since it originated from the lawfull gathi(niyathagathivishesha)of Vishnu they are called Nyaaya.Bharathamuni (1)says he is using this natyaveda for his poetic works also.He received Bharathy from Rigveda,sathwathy from yajurveda,kaisiki from saamaveda and Aarabhaty from Atharvaveda.The rasa for sathwathy are veera,adbhudha and roudra.(no sringara or karuna )Aarabhaty also has rasa like krodha,vega and characters of kapata,vanchana,dambha,anritha etc.(since it is in war).Bharathy is prose .Hence all the three are not used by the Indian classical music.And according to Bharatha these were created out of Vishnu in male form.But kaisiki was created in vishnu’s activity as a woman(mohini)and it is in this we find women participating with beautiful dresses ,dance,music,drama and feelings of eros and agape.In the saivist traditions also this developed from the face of Girija while the others developed from the faces of Shiva. The king of the rasa is sringaara and it is predominantly seen in kaisiki and is the main ingredient of the Indian aesthetics and aesthetical theories. There are four anga for kaisiki related to the different rasa..
1.Narma.
Aasthaapithasringaaram
Visudhakaranam nivrithaveerarasam
Hasyaparavachanabahulam
Narmathrividam vijaaneeyaath
The prominent rasa is sringara and is pure dance without veerarasa,but with sense of humour.This is of three types.Vipralambasringara or love in separation can turn to anger,to criticize,and also to attract.These are the three types of narma in sringara.
2.narmaspunja.
Nvasamgamasambhogo
Rathysamudayaveshavakyasamyuktha
Gneyo narmaspunjo
Hyavasaanabhayaathmakaschaiva
There is fully developed and expressed emotion of eros,and the dresses and bhava of the hero and heroine is attuned to that emotion and there is the first unin with pleasure and then followed by fear of being known to others or of separation.
3.Narmasphotam
vividhaanaam bhaavaanaam
lavairlavair bhooshithobhahuvisheshai
asamagrakshiptharaso
narmasphotasthu vigneya
All the different bhavas are present in different proportions ,but the rasapoorthy or final union does not happen.
4.Narmagarbha
vignaanaroopasobhaa
dhanaadhirbhi naayako gunairyathra
praschannam vyavaharathe
kaaryavasaannarmagarbhosow.
The hero is uthamapurusha excellant in knowledge,beauty,wealth and all the qualities,but he is hiding these qualities due to some reason from the beloved and the rasa is uthamasringara itself .The love in disguise is narmagarbha.
In short,sense of humour,eros or sringara ,are in kaisiki,veera and adbhudha in sathwathy,roudra and bhayanaka in aarabhaty and karuna and bheebatsa in bharathy.
Since music is predominantly kaisiki and partially sathwathy(veera and adbhutha)and partially bharathy(karuna)but never aarabhaty we can assess the rasa or aesthetics associated with classical music from this description.
From sound language arise prose and poetry.In vocal music this consists of the melodic prose part (raga alaapana )and in vocal conversation the natural musical tones peculiar to certain languages.Poetry of sound language is either artistic or artificial.This include melody,harmony expressing external emotions,harmony expressing internal emotions.The sign language also has prose and poetry in it.The prose part of sign language is gestures in conversation,lipreading,manual alphabet,signals used in railway,road,military and naval departments etc.The poetry part is the artistic mudra or gestures used in Indian dance,and artificial are the ones used in physical drill,in organized games and also in European dance.
The word language has a prose part of noisy day to day conversation ,and novels and other critical prose in literature(Scott and kadambari given as examples).It has a poetry part or kaavya (kaalidaasa and Shakespeare given as examples)(2)
From the abovesaid facts ,it is clear that to communicate the aesthetics of the art of classical music certain prerequisites are needed.The aesthetics of the music and information theory(3) or communication theory (which term I prefer)since music is not mere information gathering but communication between the artist and the rasika for enjoyment of rasa.The information value of any symbol,sign and its meaning can be either as aesthetic information or communication(artistic)or as scientific nonaesthetic information.The criteria for aesthetic communication of music are
1.the originality of the music
2.the optimal extent to which people are attracted to the performer and the performance determined by the crowd and by the time (in years)he or she can sustain the attractive effect on the society.(whether momentary or longstanding)
3.whether the people are enthralled by it.
4.What types of rasika are attracted.whether all the types of rasika ar e among his/her followers.Lifelong fans who admire,critics(samaalochak)who evaluate ,criticize,grades and appreciates the performance as well as the performer,and think for the singer and improve the singing.Daarsanika(visionaries)concerned with defining the notion of musical experience,his(listener’s) or her position in it,and the identity as an eternal listener to an eternal singer (metaphysically to God).The daarsanika understand and experience the ecstacy at a yogic level.It stimulates the others including the singer.(4 and 5)
The function of the message or communication from music are different in different individuals
1.Transmitting a new mental image (innovative)
2.integrating the new mental images with already existing ones
3.systematizing the mental images
4.characterizing them so that they obtain a very high degree of specificity for the listener.
For this innovation,integration,systematization and characterization to happen ,the singer has to have a sustaining effect on society and the listeners should have listened to him/her for a long period and thought about and enjoyed his/her music and studied it analytically.That is,saadhana and experience are required for the total aesthetic experience to bloom not only from the side of the singer but also from the listener.That determines the originality,sustained enthrallment and saadhana from the rasika as well and henc e the rasika is not a passive listener but a very active participant totally involved in the singing activity and hence psychologically and physiologically becomes a potential singer or a mute artist(6)Listening to the tonal swara variations ,the rhythmic laya and the form of a particular singer’s music the rasika develop a type of mystical rapport with the singer and towards God and that is how Indian music is spiritual than earthly.It goes from the personal to the impersonal level.and vice versa.
The rasa experience depends upon three factors.The listener,the singer and the inherent properties of the music itself.There are a few excellencies and defects (qualities and faults)described for the voice of a singer ,for the singing style and for the singer as a person in Indian music.(7) which are important for getting the optimum aesthetic bliss.
Geethidosha according to Naaradeeyasiksha
Excellance Defects
Unisonant(suraktha)
Shaky(sankita)
Complete(poorna)
Scared(bheetha)
Embellishment(alankritha)
Agitated(udhrishta)
Happy(prasanna)
Mute(avyaktha)
Manifest(vyaktha)
Nasal(anunasika)
Raised(vikrishta)
Hoarse(kaakaswara)
Smooth(slakshna)
Highpitched(sirasigatha)
Equipoised(sama)
Slipping (sthanavivarjitha)
Delicate (sukumara)
Not in tune(viswara)
Poignant(madhura)
Dry(virasa)
Disjointed(vislishta)
Out of beat(visamaahatha)
Disarrayed(vyakula)
Out of tempo(taalaheena)
Sabda(voice)and its qualities(Bharathamuni)
Excellance defects
Audible,teleaudible(sraavaka)
Phlegmatic(kapila)
Compact(Ghana)
Unsteady(avyavasthitha)
Creamy(snigdha)
Bitten(sandastha)
poignant(madhura)
Crowlike(kaaki)
Attentive,involved creative imagination or meditation (avadhaanavaan)
Baggythroated(thumbaki)
Spanning all the 3 registers(thristhaanasobhitha)
The excellances are the aesthetic subsets which increase the rasa experience and the defects decrease rasa.
There are 22 excellances in the performance of a singer which makes him/her the best among singers since he/she gives the most aananda(rasa or aesthetic experience)to the listeners whether informed or uninformed.
The aesthetic subsets of the best singer
1.attractive voice and good tonal quality
2.adept in initiating and finishing a raga
3.wellversed in singing raga,raagaanga,bhaashaanga,kriyaanga and upaanga
4.expert in singing prabhandha
5.knows different forms of aalaapana(aalaapthy)
6.commands natural access to shakes and graces(gamaka)arising from all the three registers
7.selfcontrolled voice
8.aware of musical time(thaala)
9.attentive(shradha)
10.indefatiguable
11.knows shudha and chaayalaga compositions
12.expert in all intonations
13.commands movements of different sthaayaas
14.who is free of all blemishes
15.whois given to regular saadhana or exercises
16.mindful of tempo(laya)
17.versatile personality
18who is retentive
19. holds praana while singing with great passion
20.who is capable of arresting the attention of the audience
21/who belongs to a good tradition of guruparampara
22.who excels in the exposition of the raga
A mrishta,madhura,trishaanaka ,sukhavaahaka prachura,komala ,and strong voice,sraavaka and karuna,snigda,Ghana ,slakshna or continuous like a vertical flow of oil (without discontinuity)and creating enjoyment and interest and love(rakthimaan)in listeners faultless and bright(chavimaan)is a Godgiven gift to a singer and this suswara is considered the most important quality of a good singer by Vishnu himself,as he tells Naarada (8)
The aesthetic subset for a good listener are
1.pure with unruffled senses(sudha,indriyanigraha)
2.expert in discussing the pros and cons(oohaapohavishaarada)
3.faultless(tyakthadosha)
4.lover of music(anuraagi or better to call raagaanuraagi)
5.Capable of rasaanubhava or aesthetic experience(bhaavaanukarane alankritha)
6.impartial
7.attentive(saavadhaana)
8.good speaker(vaagmi)
9.logical(nyaayavaadi)
10.aware of wrong and right(trutithaathrutithaabhigna)
11.humble(vinaya)
12.prideless(agarva)
13aesthetically sensible(rasabhaavagna)
14.proficient in music and dance(tauryatritaabhigna)
15.One who refutes false stand boldly(asadvaadanishedha)
16 expert(chathura)
17.with no envy(amaatsaryachith)
18intensely sensitive heart(Amanda rasanishyandhi hridaya)
The artist’s creative urge and the listener’s appreciative urge should thus match perfectly and only then the communication is perfect and the aesthetic experience total.It has to follow a behavioural analysis of a artist as well as a involved listener (both are essentially artistic but combine a scientific turn of mind as evaluation and analysis concerened)The conceptual framework for analysis of aesthetic behaviour(9) (behaviour analysis)involves the nature and form of aesthetic behaviour,nature of aesthetic response ,nature of aesthetic stimulus,the artist and the listener as a person .And such study is very very rare since devoted and involved listeners are also becoming a rare commodity. .My attempt to study my musical consciousness as a listener and the effect of two of the greatest singers of my times(M.S.subbulakshmy and K.J.Jesudas)on me and on society happened quite naturally and as my musical life panorama,yet it is scientific, since anyone can assess by hearing the music of the singers mentioned whether I am right,and they can also by assessing my aesthetic musical personality and behaviour see whether I have the qualities of a good listener mentioned.Thus the research on aesthetic of music becomes a behavioural analysis also. Apart from the listener and the musician there is the third factor ,the music and its intricacies itself.This part I am not entering into in the present context,since it is too exhaustive to cover here.And,as an uninformed listener,and an advaithin interested in spirituality and brahma experience ,,since rasa and Brahma experience are twins and are alike ,I would like to concentrate on the naadalayayogi and the yogic experience of samadhi akin to rasaanubhava.Rasa is chamathkaar(transcendental emotional experience of bliss or pleasure and hence is aloukika(not of this world)according to Indian aesthetics but experienced by the people on earth(loukika).The raga has a form ,a form of a divine beauty (raagdevatha)associated with a rithu(season)and the scheme of the musical notes and the lyrics and the music give the expression of an experience related to it.The musical notes as such have no independent existence unless it conveys the embodied form ,personified to evoke a rasa.This Raagdevathadhyaana is exactly like the devathaadhyaana of the thanthric or of the dhyaana of prakrithy by the poets .Rasa is parellel to the theory of Sankara in this way.That is it does not exist in its pure form (like pure satwa,pure rajas,pure thamas)but as a mixture of the thriguna in this world.This is accepted by all arts and sciences of India including Ayurveda.The predominence of one of the guna gives a name of that guna.If sathwa predominates we call saathwik and if rajas predominates rajasic and like that.Brahmaananda with satwodreka(increase and predominance of satwa)is the ultimate aim of a spiritualist.Rasa or aesthetic bliss being akin to it is sathwik in character.The satwa guna is predominant in Vishnu . and as mentioned in Bharathamuni’s Natyasasthra Kaisiki is taken from Saamaveda (music)and In Bhagavad Gita also Krishna says among the veda’s I am saamaveda,denoting his preference for the satwika musical spirituality of the saama singers.That gives prasaada(bliss)and niraamaya(health forever)for the bhaktha(singer and listener both being devotees of God)and Thanmayatha in God who is Love incarnate.
The fact that raaga has a roop(form) the beauty of which one can see or perceive(darshana vision)and enjoy with your own eye(internal/external)has given rise to the science of soundarya(beauty with proportionate anga or parts ) and lavanya (charming personality) or maadhurya(.animated sweet personality)This beauty has a lustrous shine like that of a pure pearl of high quality according to Roop Goswamy and produce rasa experience in the perceiver(10)The rasa come from the bhaava (emotional state)in a sensitive person’s mind (sahridaya)for which aesthetic propensity(vaasana)is essential with previous impressions(sanskarra)which may be of this birth or of previous births is the Indian concept.Therefore,the ability to be a good singer and a good listener and partake in rasa experience is a divine gift carried over due to previous births and its relations.
Right from the Nadabindhu Upanishad and times of the veda the role of the sound and manthra and music in yoga and in awakening the kundalini power in the human body had been discussed in detail(ch 8,9 and 10 Without a stumble A book on spirituality of music .Dr suvarna Nalapat. 2003.)(11)(12)
According to Indian aesthetics and yoga psychology the body of all beings including that of the singer and listener is following the same rule of the cosmos and this golden rule makes it possible for us to become one with the divine experience and since music is the nearest which follows the golden rule of aesthetics it is natural for us to become one with God through the music.Hence ,the structure of the chakra(sreechakra,sudarsanachakra,sangheethachakra)and its form and property and the meditation on it has been an ageold practice to attain rasa experience of God. The personal and impersonal,the jeevathma and paramathma,the bhaktha and bhagavaan become one creating an advaitha
Sreechakra,sangheethachakra upaasana and naadalayayoga for healthy living
The proportions of the cosmic Raasichakra and of the solar system with its living and nonliving things is the same.This aesthetic proportion is the golden rule(suvarna niyama)which we see in zodiac(astronomy)the upaasaka body(here the singer)and the scales of the melakartha raga which is the base for all music and naadalayayoga.Hence the ancient upaasakaas of the devi (and of music)knew how to heal using music.The healing of raagadwesha by raga is mentioned in ayurvedic and yogic texts .The proportions of suvarnaniyama (golden rule)should be understood and invoked within and without and in the raagaas ,using the scale.An adept upaasaka only can do this properly.But how is the test to find out the real upaasaka?You cannot test the ability of an upaasaka in yoga,unless you yourself are a yogi.This is more difficult procedure than a laboratory test and research which everyone can do ,collect data and make a paper and publish,But naadalayayoga is real life practice ,the laboratory is your own body-mind complex,and you yourself are the investigator and it needs years and years of saadhana.A Guru may help you in some stages of the investigation as a guide in the research process.
,I would like to point out the dhyana of devi parasakthy as sreechakra and as sangheethadevi in ones own body.(The similarities and differences can be noted.)Sreechakra is the beautiful mathematical sign language and its word language is the Sreesooktha.(where the devi is meditated as a woman with golden colour,as sun,moon and energy or agni.without form that is both as a cosmic and biological personality and as formless energy state).The meditation process is same for such devatha as well as to the ragadevatha upaasana.
When one does upaasana on each of the raagadevatha of the raagha each raagadevatha is meditated before singing.First a true upaasaka should have the courage to start the upaasana and the selfconfidence that I can do it.Because ,once you finish the 72 raagaas you become merged with the devi and there is a total thanmayeebhava with the devi.Only a son becomes one with the divine mother sakthy.Only a mother can forgive the faults of the son committed during the upaasana.The reason why many singers say that certain raga should not be sung, ,is because they are not true upaasakaas and they do not have the ability to sing as a true upaasaka of the devi,and ofcourse,just like a watchful mother observes every step of a son,the devi is always with the upaasaka maintaining his/her footsteps in life.Even if the son falters,she puts him to straight path and thus she is the true Guru of every saadhaka. And she is a rigourous teacher too ,putting you to severe tests which the upaasaka knows is for his/her ultimate victory .
The body of the singer has shadangaas(6 parts)and in each are chakraas starting from moolaadhaaram to aagna.The 7th is the sahasraara where all the chakraas are existing .The power or sakthi in these sites are awakened by music if sung in the proper way.
How does a sreechakra upaasaka meditate on paraasakthy in one’s own body?The following table gives the names of devatha and the site of the body .(13)
Head
Brahmi
neck
maheswari
thigh
koumari
heart
paraa
thoughts
shyamala
back
vaishnavi
ahamkaara
vaaraahi
arms
mahendri
hands
chamunda
chest
mahalakshmi
sides
nakuli
Nabhi
vijaya
Feet
sarvamangala
The srichakra is the swaroopa of sakthy and it was seen as Thripurasundari by Sankara,Thirumoolar,and Naarayanaguru.The sree is a suffix common to sreechakra ,sreeyanthra,sreeraaga,sreesooktha etc and it denotes light of knowledge,beauty,wealth,boons,the origin,heavenly,the best,and the first to be worshipped,the sweetest ,the deepest and the feminine aspect of Godhead etc.If one draws the figure on a flat surface it is sreechakra.If architecturally arranged (as square below,round or circle middle and triangle above it is sreeeyanthra.Such aavarana are 9 in number(navasakthy)and in each aavarana meditate a hamsadevatha of the devi as adhidevatha.When you start to meditate a devatha you have to start from the paada(foot)of deity and never from the other organs.(paadaadikesam first )Bhoopuram is the paadam and from there slowly ascend in the following way and finally see the omkaaradevi in the top of head(sahasrara)and keep her permanently in the aagnachakra as the thilaka(kumkum)It is the symbol of creativity.
Foot(paada)
Bhoopuram 3 paripoornarekha
Sarvamangalamangalya(Lakshman did only this to seetha)
Thigh
Shodasadalapadmam(16 petalled lotus)
naabhi
Ashtadalapadma(8 petals)
Heart
14 thrikona
neck
bahirdasaaram
Thilakam in forehead
anthardasaaram
forehead
ashtakonam
head
thrikonam
brahmarandhram
bindustaanam
The first 5(from foot to neck)are the outside(puram)of the chakra.The last 4 from the thilakam to brahmarandhram are the akam or inside,the most intimate internal relationship.When we start melakartharaaga kanakangi we are at the padam and when we reach rasikapriya we are at the brahmarandhra stage ,one with the deity.It shows the ability or prowess of a true upaasaka to traverse all the nine aavaranaas of the sreechakra .
Sangheethachakra in raagachikitsa.
Music is the sarvothamakala in which raga is sung in suswara(sweet voice)so that it gives pleasure to the mind(manoranjaka).If the raga is not sung in this way it is not manoranjaka.To put it in other words If there is manoranjakam,one can deduce that the raga is properly sung.Sangheethachakra is a variant of sreechakra where Bharathy is meditated.Medha,santhy,sadguna,wealth,sarvavignasanthy,mangalam,keerthy,etc are inherent in the house of a true upaasaka .Their sankalpa become truth and there is good and prosperity not only to them but also to the entire world.Their thoughts and deeds will not harm others .On the contrary they will give more prosperity to the entire world.Their needs are taken care of by divine intervention.They wont have hatred or envy or dissatisfaction in life and they are always contended.This is because saraswathyhansam is always present in the devotees mind and house .The house where they sit naturally becomes a kalaakshethra or temple of arts and knowledge.They have very good sleep at night.No bad dreams.very good and beautiful dreams come to them.The devi as rajamathangi and rajarajeswary keeps them always healthy.
By meditating the moolamanthra as gayathri ,the upaasaka see her vision and till the last breath they go on breathing music.It is not just living in music but breathing music and music only.The condition is called vidhyasukhasidhi(the ultimate bliss of vidya).The people who attained this state become abhaya and amritha by the predictive darsana which appear in the inner eye.They develop a attractive power and gurukataksham is within their house .Upaasaka gets brahmagnaana .Proficiency in 64 arts especially jyothisha,sangheetha,natya,vaagchathurya and kavithwa are in their houses.Those who meditate on sangheethachakra do not have a next life or janma.Even if they are born,they will be born only as a gnani or artist with rajayoga. Before sunrise ,the upasaka takes bath and meditates on sangheethachakrapooja.If we do 8 mandala(1 mandala is 48 days here)which is 364 days we get the bala and athibala (strength)of a perfect mahayogi..Thirugnaanasambhandar ,Tyagaraja,Mahavaidyanathan sivan etc belong to this group,just to mention a few.Muthuswamideekshithar was very adept in both sreechakra and sangheethachakra araadhana and composed all 72 melakartharaagaas.
Pulippani sidhar has described only 8 aavaranaas for sangheethachakra(not 9 as in sreechakra).The bhoopuram and shodasadalapadma are the same as sreechakra.The others are slightly different as follows
Peetham bhoopuram feet
Shodasadalapadma thigh
Sapthadalapadma nabhi (7 dala instead of 8)
Shadkona (hridaya)
12 triangles neck
downturned triangle forehead
upturned triangle head
The seed of life (uyir)where naadadevi Bharathy sits.She has to be visualized and permanently worn in the thilaka.
Sangheethachakra has its tatwa as roopa and aroopa.(form and formless).With form (saakaaram)she is meditated as naadakaali Bhaarathy ,santhadevi,saraswathy.The formless is not seen to our naked eyes but is the naadathanu Bharathy ,with anantham names ,seen even in an atom,as maaya the one who gives ultimate wisdom of naada as niraakaara,santha and soumya.It is not easy to see this subtle sookshmathanu of the devi for ordinary people.If one who has not done proper upaasana approaches her she doesn’t allow him/her to come near .Because she is asulabha(not easy to get) and reveals all her beauty to only great upaasakas like kaalidasa,thirugnaanasambhandhar,Sankara and the like.But,anyone can be a potential upaasaka if God so wills and if one tries.The different avaranaas of the sreechakra are given in soundaryalahari vyakhyana ( 14)Here the aavarana and the devathas of the sangheethachakra are given.
1.chakrapeetham as bhoopuram is sarvakalaaprapthachakram.chakreswary is vidyamalahari.beejaswaram is nishadam.manovrithy is nirvaanam.Makes the mind of upasaka spotlessly clean.Such mind alone can concentrate on any system of knowledge.There are two devi in between the lines of bhoopura .one is kalavidhi or kamakshi which gives the vidhi for learning arts.she is the mother who satisfies all desires of man and gives poetry,and music through her breastmilk as to Thirugnaanasambhandar..the second is kalavathy or durga and it is this devatha who is propitiated from water (saadhana in jhalamadhya for mahakaali durga )and it is she who gave kalidasa his prowess in poetry.In souparnika ,Kottayam Raja got this experience.Musicians do morning sadhana immersed in water to propitiate her.
Second avarana is sarvakarshanachakram with chakreswary vidyasakthy and bheejaswaram dhaivatham.Manovrithi saswatham .(Attractive power is forever.) The 14 attractive (akarshana)devtas in 14 triangles in this avarana are as follows.
1.kalaakarshini.sreevidya.natya,naataka,sangheetha,kavya,kavitha,alankara,other 64 arts.2.avadhaanakarshini.who gives the avadhanam to do several things at a time.
3.kaamaakarshini.kaama is all desires,not sex alone.she sits on the right shoulder of sadhaka.4.budhy akarshini.one who is needed for aquiring knowledge,wisdom,memorizing what is learned and using it in the proper time ,teaching and creativity.The devi is gayathri.
5.sabdaakarshini.The sruthignaanam to distinguish and enjoy even the subtlest sruthy,of singers,birds,natural objects etc.devi is chandika.
6.sparsaakarshini.the one who bestows the touch of gnana above that of the senses.She touches the heart by knowledge ,not by her hand or body.The devatha is gayathri.
7.roopaakarshini.structure /construction /or form is there for every object,for arts and knowledge.especially for language ,music,literature,etc.We call it a pattern,a bhaani,style etc.The lakshana and raagabhaava ,the thaalagathi,sahityastyle,meanings are also the structural aspects.These forms or beautiful structures are kept in memory by devivajreswary.
8.rasaakarshini is dakshayani giving nine rasa.
9.chithaakarshini .The vidya of sadhaka has to give sidhi,knowledge should give phalasidhi,and vijayam.The success or vijayam comes to sadhaka as rajarajeswary.
10.dhairyakarshini.The vidya should not remain within 4 walls.It should come out.For this sadhaka should have courage and .selfknowledge(which Anjaneyar lacked)of one’s own sakthy.The devi is rajamathanghi.
11.dhanaakarshini .who gives wealth as annapoorneswary dhanalakshmy.
12.dhyanakarshini.dharana,dhyana,samadhi and parabrahma experience is given by saradha as Brahmi.
13.chaithanya akarshini .Chaithanya is pragna.The pragna and prathibha in arts,research,etc.Breathing arts and sciences ,not just loving them or living in them.Devi sreelalitha.
14.naadaakarshini.Naada originated from Bindu or anu.The naadaprapancha from Brahmam is recreated (punarsrishty)by sruthy and darsana as naadaanubhavam of the yogi .Omkaaranaadaakarshini Mahaakaali is the devatha for this.
Avaranam 3.sapthadalakamalam.sarvavidyaparipoornachakram.chakreswary vidyanaadadevi.Beejaswaram panchamam.Here vedavidyabudhi is given by Vaani and the things for daytoday living is given by mahalakshmi.The manovrithy is naadormayam.There are 7 vedadevis.They remove kaama,krodha,moha,lobha,mada,matsarya,papa from mind and gives peace,love,wisdom,dharma,maithry,mrityunjaya,punya etc in their place.
Vedavidyabudhi means dharmasathravihitha life,and nityanityavivekam.Sapthaswra in 7 dala gives this.Brahmi,maheswari,koumari,vaishnavi,vaaraahi,mahendri,chamundi are vedadevis.Seven vedadevis are vaniparam.Wife,husband,relatives,house,daytoday equipments,vehicles etc are mahalaxmiparam.As and when the time for jeevanmukthy comes,the desires for samsaara should cease.
4.shadkonam.sarvabhayakarachakram.chakreswary vidyavivekini.bheejaswaram madhyamaswaram.vagdevi is there forever as the Guru and friend .Guru is none other than saraswathy who sits within the saadhaka.The knowledge comes as revelations .In shadchakra,vaagdevi sits as 12 sarvakalaaroopinis.
They are
1.sarvakalasanjeevani for healing .
2.sarvakalatharanghini who produce gnaana waves always in the oceanlike chith of sadhaka.
3.sarvakalaranjani who makes gnaana sweet (madhura)
4.sarvakalaanidhi.the one who gives all treasures of knowledge of arts
5.sarvakalaroopanghi one who sits as the most beautiful and aesthetic within one’s mind’s eyes
6.sarvakalaajwaalamukhi one which makes the artistic ability of sadhaka known to the world
7.sarvakalaarasaruchiramani.the one who attracts rasika by rasa experience
8.sarvakalaabharani.The one who sits on the jihua of the saadhaka and becomes her/his nityabhooshani.(daily ornament)There is no other bhooshana needed for such upaasaka.
9.sarvakalavardhani who increases arts
10.sarvakalaavinodini one who gives enjoyment by arts
11.sarvakalaahithabhaashini.one who speaks with arts so that whatever she speaks will be for the common good.
12.sarvakalavagheeswary .The one who gives vagsidhy so that every word one utters become fruitful.She is amma who is vaatsalyamayi to all devotees.
Avaranam 5 is sarvakalaaprasaadachakram.chakreswary is vidyaroopadevi.12 thrikona.bheejaswaram ghandharam.Even while sleeping only saarada is seen as sookshmatatwa.Manovrithy is always gurusmaranam.Sadhaka hear the thoughts of devi within mind as swami,swami swami,as the reenkara of bees.Guru should have this naadabhakthy and aathmabalam and devi tests this .The guruthwa of people who have saraswathy as Guru is more than other people.There are 12 naadadevatha in 12 thrikona.They are naadakaali,naadakalaavathy,naadaranjani,naadajyothy,naadamanohari,naadaswaroopi,naadasruthysthutha,naadaomkaari,naadavallabhi,naadamahankusa,naadajayanthy,naadabramaraambha.
Avaranam 6 thrikaalagnaanachakram chakreswary is vidyayogini.Downturned thrikonam with bheejaswara rishabha.The 3 yoginis here are swaragnaanayogini,maargagnaanayogini,and sookshmagnaanayogini(of these sookshmagnaana is the uyirnaadi of gnaana).
7th aavaranam sarvavignanivarthichakram.chakreswary is vidyavigneswary.downturned thrikona with bheejaksharam shadjam.manovrithy nivaaranam.dukhanivrithy 8 nivrithydevi as removing vighna.
Vighnakameswari,vighnavisweswary,vighnajayamalini,vighnavasanthy,vighnavinodini,vighnaparipalini,vighnasarveswary,vighnavallabhi
8th avaranam is sarvakalyanagnaanachakram.chakreswary mahavidyabharathy.Chidroopam bindhu .In a downturned triangle.Maayanaadaroopini who cannot be seen with naked eyes gives all mangala for sadhaka.If the karma of a sadhaka creates damage to others she lovingly objects them and convert them for good of the world.Bheejaksharaswaram is susruthynilayam.(one which resembles a welltuned thamburusruthy)which gives bliss.manovrithy is Sudarsanagnaanam.(sudarsana is the sreechakra in the hands of Vishnu ,so beautiful to see and giving protection from all unwanted things ) For the navaavarana krithy of deekshithar and its relation toDevi upaasana see ref 15 and 16
One who meditates on this should have omkaaradhyana,gayathrimanthra and upaasana of soundaryalahari with true meanings.Sangheethachakramoolamanthra given below has to be sung (meditated)43 times for 43 triangles.
Om hrim klim srim thum
Nityaanandathe niraadhaare
Nishkalaaye nama:
Vidhyaadhaare visaalakshi
Veenaadhaare nama:
Om Bhaarathye nama:
Hrim raajamathanghi devyie nama:
Sreem saraswathyei nama:
Klim thrisakthy aikyaroope mookambike nama:
Thum sangheethasarade nama:
One has to assess the level of the upaasaka from the words,deeds and spiritual progress and not from the worldly possessions or riches..If there is no cleanliness(shudhi)in body,mind and intellect one cannot do sreechakra upaasana.And those without shudhi cannot understand the worth of sreechakra upaasaka either.Sreechakra upaasaka are like children .They are mahayogins and may be either vyakthayogin or gupthayogin.Their leela are not intelligible to those who are with them (relatives,colleagues etc).When two such upaasakaas meet and transfer their energy through mutual understanding the energy is dissipated for the common good of the entire world.Each become the Guru of the other.This is a very rare phenomenon in the world .Therefore when one see such phenomena due to lack of knowledge the sidhas are not properly assessed or recognized.by the world.
In the case of routine musical upaasana such prolonged and difficult sadhana are not needed and it is enjoyed by everyone including women and people who have no accesss to higher learning..Vaasana to sing, bhakthi and rakthi through loving surrender and compassion in God and Guru makes this possible and makes everyone alike ,without differences of birth,caste,creed,or sex differences and Krishna was the embodiment of such universal love.He never said that women or low caste people cannot achieve the ultimate ,on the contrary he proved with his life it is the women,lowborn and the poor who reach him and become one with him easily.That was the practical advaitha of his life.If Krishna was not attainable to the lowborn gopis who were ignorant of scriptures but were the most loving and involved souls with all satwik bhaavaas creating Brahmarasa ecstacy within their minds,if he was not accessibl e to kuchela the poor Brahmin and to Pandavas the forest wanderers who have lost all their property,(if he had been accessible to kings and rich people and men devotees alone)he could not have been a proponent of advaitha.and could not have lasted so long in the psyche of the Indian for such a long period.He would not have been the sweetest singer and friend to thousands of people for generations either.As Kabeer said,do not ask the caste or creed of a devotee of Hari,because he has none.The most beautiful aesthetic experience a human being can get is this advaitha through music.
Following Carl Bergstroem-Nielsen's (17)discussion of Colin Lee's book The Architecture of Aesthetic Music Therapy in the unmoderated discussion forum of the Voices, and his article in the March issue of the same journal,(18) I had given the perspective of Indian aesthetics on music. For the international readers who are interested in the subject.(19)
The fact that Lee thinks the structure of music deserves more attention in music therapy work and research caught my attention in Carl Bergstroem-Nielsen's initial discussion. And also how music inspires a person (the personal) from my own musical life panorama. The fact that the personal experience come from the impersonal (the worldly experiences come from the spiritual) is a theme common to all cultures of the world, of which India is probably the one which has given much thought processes. Indian philosophy has dealt with it in detail and Indian aesthetics has stemmed from Indian philosophy but with its own identity and beauty and originality. Music is spiritual in India, and the spirituality of music inspires the living organisms and awakens the dormant spirituality in them, and this awakening is called inspiration by the modern thinkers. And it is these experiences of inspiration that we call our personal experiences, or in music therapy language, our musical life panorama. But if the music had no structure, if it were not beautiful in itself, if it had not touched our hearts by its beauty and emotional content, we would never have had those inspiring moments. The more complex and beautiful and fascinating the music is, the more deeper, richer and subtler it becomes and only then it becomes soulstirring and such music is very very rare and precious. It is not the common music which each and every one of us can make and sing, but it is the one each and every one of us listen to in rapturous attention, forgetting ourselves in absolute wonder. This is what Lee's patient was trying to articulate when he said that he could not handle that complicated music but it had inspired him. The duty of a musician is to make such deep, aesthetic, universal and spiritual music. Only then he can inspire the universe, and give peace to all. The society is benefited by that kind of aesthetic music. When such music and the aesthetic sense of such music, comes into the therapy room with the therapist, along with love for humanity and respect for "life" (and hence for the client) he gives a chance for responding to the music in an aesthetic way, to borrow Merethe Vadstein Welle's words.
One point that I wish to point out is that Pei-Ju—Tu's and Wolf's patients were old and demented or having psychiatric problems who could not deal with such complicated or complex music. And that was the precise reason for their liking of the simpler music. I too have such patients with me and I use the most common and the least complicated music, and sometimes even nursery rhymes to elicit the necessary emotions in them. But, then we are talking about the "relative" aesthetics of a mentally challenged or demented individual and not of the aesthetics of music at all. A music therapist should have a perfect aesthetic sense so that he can be flexible in every situation depending upon the type of patient and his/her sensibility..
More the aesthetic sense and the flexibility, more the psychological knowledge and musical effects on emotions, the therapist becomes more equipped with the impersonal to bring about the personal change in humanity and in his clients.In Indian music the ecstasy of a musical experience (which may be called an inspiration in simpler language) is equivalent to yogic experience of Brahma (God) one gets in the deep meditation (samaadhi). Hence it is described as naadalayayoga a type of immersing in ecstasy of God through the yoga of music/or sound.
According to Indian aesthetics, genuine art is not made but is a spontaneous flow from the heart filled with rasa. The great artist is also the great art critic. The artform includes diction, versification, and music is determined by inspiration and the laya is important since it determines the meaning of the utterance.
What is Rasa?
Rasa is the source of inspiration for an artist and a listener.
The wordmeaning is the essence or more simply, the taste. The first and foremost artist/poet/composer/singer in Indian aesthetics is God who sings the music of the spheres and the Upanishads describes God as Rasa itself. God is both the rasa (the experience of supreme bliss or ananda) and the one who experiences the rasa (the rasika).That is why Jayadeva in his Gitagovinda calls Krishna as Krishnabhogin(the black serpent,and the great enjoyer krishna with two meanings to increase the rasa of poetics.(20) To get the artistic aesthetic experience (rasaanubhava) the artist has to be unselfish, disinterested in ordinary life dualities, objective, capable of contemplating life experiences without being affected by them. The artist embodies the emotions of life recollected in a state of tranquility. Thus art communicates not the emotions but emotions of an emotion. There is peace and delight in the process which is universalized (impersonal) individual (personal) experience. Pain, pleasure and pathological consequences of stress and anxiety occur due to struggles in life for personal gains of pleasure, power, possessions etc and such personal stresses and strains cause diseases (which the Indian science and art calls samsaara or diseases due to ones own actions). Artistic aesthetics should not awaken such personalized excitement or depression which were the actual causes of the diseased state. It should give peace of mind, tranquility and enjoyment in life as a divine blessing, it should take the patient beyond the dualities of life and hence music as an artform takes the impersonal divine blissful rasa as more important and giving such music is the best method for therapy. Spiritual delight or ecstasy (experience of Brahma) and artistic delight or ecstasy (experience of rasa) are thus considered as equivalent in Indian aesthetics and philosophy. They are called twins. Spiritual bliss is jagrathsushupthy (awakened dreamless deep sleep) while aesthetic musical bliss is jagrath swapna (awakened, dreamy sleep) a waking dream or a vision as Keats put it. The artistic imagination of a musician (prathibha) is a kind of vision (drishty or perception or darshana) which see the world in a different way and thereby transforms it. By his art the artist creates a new golden world, while ordinary people see only a brazen dry world of duality around and get stressed. The artist gives concrete shape to his world through words and rhythms, and melody. It is in an inspired state of impersonal ecstasy that an artist chooses the words, the order of the words and rhythm and the melody. Rather, it is not the artist, but the inspired state which chooses for him the words and the melody. Thus the artist is between the heard and the unheard, the seen and the unseen, allowing the ecstatic state (Brahma or God) to choose the art for him. When such art flows out from the impersonal in the artist, the listener proceeds from the heard to the unheard, from the seen to the unseen, in a reverse order and recover the artist's experience. This is done through a sensitive response to the suggestive power of the heard sounds /the words/the melody. The artist and the listener have to achieve an identity (thanmayeebhava) and hear with the inner and outer ear, feel, think and respond together. Then the bliss of rasa is perfect. Suggestion (dhwani) is a link between words (the heard -or the sruthy) and the seen (visualized/perceived-darsan).
In the uttered/heard music there are three elements: (1) expression, (2) suppression, (3) impressions. Comprehension means comprehending not only the grossly expressed meaning, but also of the hidden or suppressed subtle meanings in the text and the overall impressions from every possible meanings thus suggested. More than denotation, the connotative, suggestive meanings, and the rhythmic repetitive flow of words help us to get the experience. Dhwani (suggestions) functions as both denotative and connotative meanings and the right response help us to make a hermeneutical leap. The beautiful words /thoughts/melodies coming out of a heart filled with ecstatic bliss clothes itself with beautiful coverings (aavarana) without any conscious effort from the part of the poet/musician. And the listener without any efforts visualize and enjoys the beauty of it. Dwani (suggestions) is the soul of art and is related to meaning. Meaning is classified under denotation, indirect indication by metaphor, sphota or meaning of the utterance as a whole and only through suggestion can great art be expressed. The creative and analytical music therapy of the modern music therapists utilizes some of these aspects of ancient Indian aesthetics.
How is Rasa Created? The Personal Experience
Rasanishpathy (creation of rasa) is by combination of three factors. Bharathamuni one of earliest writers on Indian aesthetics calls them as vibhava, anubhaava and vyabhichaaribhaava(21 and 22).
Vibhaava: These are secondary factors which might excite our feelings and hence are personal. Characters or dialogues in a drama, words in a music, etc., may elicit old memories in our life associated with a particular type of music. This is what now the western music therapists call eliciting the musical life panorama of a patient to get a diagnostic as well as therapeutic response from patients. This is important for a music therapist since he/she should know the musical background of the person to be treated, and also it elicits a positive response of interest from the patient which itself has healing properties. The settings, like seasons, gardens, fragrance, moonlight, seeing near and dear ones, hearing their voices etc can also elicit the same response so that vibhaava is only a secondary element .The MLP of different individuals differ.
Anubhaava: The effects of the emotion that develop the main sentiment are called anubhaava. The main sentiment or emotion we want to evoke is love. The emotion of love is sometimes expressed by some people as anxiety, anger, depression, etc. (possessiveness included) and when such emotions become extreme stress and strains of life increases and diseases occur. If on the other hand, love is expressed as loving concern and compassion for the entire creation, tranquility and peace are experienced by the individual and by the people around such individual, and this impersonal love for humanity touches everyone's heart. Music of ancient India considered this as the healing power and created music of such nature. The divinity in the impersonally aesthetic universal love and of music was appreciated by all Indian aesthetics and philosophies. The bliss is against a background of peace (shaanthi), absence of mental agitation, disturbances and stress or anxiety. What actually happens is that apart from secretion of the endorphins from the neurons, and the alteration of the beta to alpha and theta waves during such peaceful, melodious music, the human brain is also having a gate control mechanism of all pains caused by samsara, through the divine intervention of music. This cognitive value of art as a controller of pain and pleasure is recognized not only by Bharathamuni but also by later aestheticians like Abhinavaguptha. Others like Bhaamaha considered Rasa as an ornament (alamkara) to music. Dandin thought lucidity, sweetness, richness and grandeur gives good art its properties. But it was Anandavardhana's dwani (suggestion) which gave perfection to Indian aesthetics. Rasa can be expressed only through suggestions. It can never be explained or spoken by direct speech. Just like the experience of God, which is beyond words. Which is impersonally personal and universal, music also is impersonally personal and divine. It is this nature of good music which heals. The music therapist has to select and create such good music and act as an intermediary in the will of God, in right earnest. The barriers to realization of rasa experience are the selfish, personal and dual feelings of the daily life and to get over them, and realize the transcendal /spiritual bliss the artist/musician develops a rare type of cognition similar to yogic wisdom and realization in samadhi. The nearest to it in western language may be the sublime state
Nine rasa in Indian aesthetics
Rasa
Dominant State
Temperamental signs
1.Shantha
Tranquil, peacefulImpersonal love of a yogin/of God
Physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual health.
2.Erotic sringara
Personalized passionate love 2 types. 1 in separation. 2.in union.
Paralysis of faculties of cognition/sensations
3.Comic hasya
Mirth, laughter
Perspiration
4.Pathetic karuna
Sorrow
Hairs stand out, body trembles.
5.Furious(not in music)
Anger
Change of voice, mental disturbances
6.Heroic
veera
Energy
Trembling of body, hands, etc.
7.Terrible(not in music)
Terror
Change of colour
8.Odious(sometimes with vipralambha)
Disgust
Weeping, anxiety
9.Marvelous adbhudha
Astonishment
Fainting
In healing music the impersonal, tranquil state of physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual health is the goal. And it is this rasa which is ideal for music therapy. The sentiment of love in separation from the God (divine partner) with an optimistic yearning for reunion with Him, is used. The serenity, the sweetness, the satisfaction, the delightful, ecstatic graceful movements and words and rhythms of melodious Indian music has a structure best suited for this purpose. In some special occasions It also uses the heroic sentiments with energy as its base, and presence of mind, perseverance, diplomacy, discipline, strength, reputation for truth and righteousness, patience, charitable disposition and heroism. This is for energizing the system. The other rasas are used on stage performances by dramatic personnel and dancers but not by musicians. Because music is always for healing and peace and love. Anaesthetics is for easing the pains. Aesthetics is for experiencing the bliss. Seemingly opposing words. But they are two sides of the same coin for a music therapist. With the aesthetics of musical bliss, music therapist numbs or blocks the pains and eases the pains.
Indian aestheticians Bharatha,Abhinavaguptha (author of Abhinavabharathy),Bhamaha(author of kavyalankara)and Anandavardhana (author of Dwanyaaloka)and kunthaka (author of vakrokthyjivitha) has given definitions for Rasa in their own style and these definitions are given in detail in Indian aesthetics ,An introduction by V.S.Sethuraman(ed)(22).The sthaayibhaava of rathi(sringar) in a musical performance or a drama is transformed into an aloukika state .The sahridaya identify(thanmayeebhava) with the singer or character in the drama through hridayasamvada but the identification is not complete and a certain aesthetic distance is kept for the enjoyment of rasa.If there are no two,the enjoyer,the enjoyed (like a male and a female in marital bliss)and the enjoyment as separate entities the rasa experience cannot happen.Whereas in the bhakthy of saints like chaithanya and Sankara the oneness with God is total and there is no dwaitha.In the case of both Chaithanya and sankara ,though there is total thanmayeebhava,one has a logical predominence and the other has a rasa and bhava predominence.But we must also remember that sankara though he has a logical predominence has time and again said that it is not logic but the swaanubhoothy or rasa experience of Brahma which is more important in advaitha.This is true of musical rasa also.(Rasa Brahmaananda sahodara)The science of notations and the science of aesthetics and its jargon belong to the logical left brain part of musicians and aestheticians and cannot be avoided to have good music.But ultimately it is the experience of both the singer and the listener which they communicate and enjoy which is the crux of rasa.If this does not happen,there is technically perfect music still ,but it has failed in its ultimate aim,the hridayasamvaada and the rasa experience.which the artist and the listener share and enjoy.,Being communicated through the divine love .
References.
1.Natyasasthra Bharathamuni .Kerala sahitya academi.translator.K.P.Narayanapisharody.vol.1987 chap 22 pge 62-73.
2 The psychology of music.K.P.Krishnarao.Asian educational services New Delhi 1984. pge 1-to 4.
3 Aesthetics of music and information theory .J.L.Broeckx pge 1-21 chap 1 Essays in musicology .R.C.Mehta.Indian musicological society publication.
.
4Without a stumble A book on the spirituality of music.Dr Suvarna Nalapat.2003.Nalapat books pg141
5.Musical as a value predicate . (ch 3)Philosophy of music. Rithwik sanyal 1987. Somaiyya publications
6Appreciation response to music Arvind Mangrulkar pge 29.Psychology of music R.C Mehta
7 Musicoaesthetic predicates( ch 5)Philosophy of music.Ritwik sanyal..140-174 Somaiyya publication
.
8 Music in Brihadharmapuraana.V.Raghavan.M.A.PhD,1938.pge 37-39 dialogue of Vishnu to Narada.
9 A conceptual framework for the analysis of aesthetic behaviour ch 3. pge 23 Shyamala Vanarase Psychology of music R.C.Mehta Indian musicological society publication.
10.Raga and rasa Narendrarai N.Shukla pg 31-34
11.Ch 8,9,10 without a stumble.(ref 4) Pge 178-214.
12.Music and sound in yoga .Vimala Musalagaonkar Psychology of yoga ed R.C.Mehta. ch 7. pge 44
13 Padmasindhu. Dr Suvarna Nalapat.Mathrubhoomi publications. Part 3.Commentary to Soundaryalahary of Adisankara.1996.
14 Brahmasindhu 2006 Commentary on Brahmasoothra Dr Suvarna Nalapat pge 407-411.
15.The journal of music academyISSN 0970-3101,vol LXIX 1998 T.S.Parthasarathy pge 99-108
16.Bergstroem-Nielsen, Carl (2006). The Importance of Aesthetics as a Dimension in Music Therapy Activity. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, from http://www.voices.no/mainissues/mi40006000202.html
17. Ref 16 and 18 were articles in moderated discussions following the unmoderated discussion on Voices a world forum of music therapy. titled "What do you think of aesthetics ??" (http://pub45.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=3862196689&cpv=1
18 .Nalapat, Suvarna (2006). Indian aesthetics in Music therapy -The personal and impersonal. [Contribution to Moderated Discussions] Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. http://www.voices.no/discussions/discm58_01.html
19 jayadeva ‘s Gitagovinda.Love song of the Dark God.Barbara Stoler Miller.Motilal Banarasidas publishers.reprint ed 2007.
20 Psychological studies in Rasa Rakesaguptha. Granthayan Aligarh,reprint 1997.
21Acoustic perspectives on Raga-rasa theory suvarnalathaRao.Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers 2000
22.Indian aesthetics an introduction.ed /V.S .SethuramanMacmillan India ltd 1992.
Naadalayasindhu
Preface to Naadalayasindhu
GURUKULAM AS I ENVISAGE
To become an educationist and to plan for the coming generations of people a way of life and education is no easy task to be done by people who never have thought about the problems of the society and of education and its goals.For this activity one may have to learn many arts and sciences ,should have a loving mind and a sharp extraordinarily receptive intellect and a love for nature and nurture.And one should have lead a life of purity as a model for the students to emulate.But ,these things are of the past,some people argue.And others think that a gurukula is the function of celibate nuns and sphincters or of swamins and sanyasins.I do not think that this is a correct view.In ancient India every gurukula had a guru and a gurupathni,and the guru lead an excemplary life of studies and austerities and a domestic life so that the students learnt even the way of a good householder.The religious institutions make a jail for the students and expect them to be sanyasins and even a small mistake is not tolerated .A Gurukula style of education which I envisage for the 21st century teachers and students is not one run by a sanyasi but by a normal human being living a householder’s life ,fulfilling all duties of the householder and achieving excellance in learning,and in duties .A place where the good citizens of the world and of the nation are created ,useful to society ,nation and world and above all to themselves ,to their family and to the institutions they work for.
Bharath is the cradle of civilizations and in this ancient land of rishis and sages Guru is equivalent to God.Guru and shishya makes a meaningful whole in generating vidya and upholding the traditions.Before they start a learning process they chant together.
Sahanou yasa:sahanou Brahmavarchasam(let us aquire fame and divine energy together).In the generation of Guruparampara for creation of knowledge ,Guru is the poorvaroopa,shishya is the uthararoopa and their sandhi is vidya and their offspring is prediction (pravachana).Medicine being a predictive science the teachers and students have to chant together “let me be filled with intellect(medha)and by that nectar of intelligence let us develop dhaarana(understanding).My body and mind are healthy.My words are sweet as honey.Let all the ears hear that sweet voice of love.God is hidden in the cells of intelligence .Let my knowledge be preserved for posterity and propagated by the coming generations (of shishyaas).”
Then the Guru continues to pray alone:”Let there be more and more students in my care.Let them come even from distant places .Let them be happy ,intelligent,disciplined and thirsty of knowledge.”
Whenever an educational institution is trying to draw more students to it,apart from the curriculum and the syllabus,a feeling of oneness between the teachers and students and a bond of love between them is essential.The student ,after leaving the institution nostalgically remembers the people who have given them love and a feeling of security.A good educational institution should be a home away from home,and good teachers should be giving parental(motherly/fatherly)affection ,love and care and advice (councelling)and should not be policemen and women making life difficult for them.Children are always good.The only thing that they need is proper love and care,not to turn to bad things and company.They are not criminals who needs constant vigil from the teachers.This is what happens in very strict gurukulaas run by religious institutions which I have seen in some of the professional institutions also.
We have to revive the old gurukula system of India where the guru is a father/mother figure and the student is the son/daughter and in such a situation only one can give security and a feeling of belonging to the students and by sharing their happiness and sorrows the teacher becomes part of his/her training programme and of life.
Only by creating such an atmosphere in the campus we can make it a happy place to live in and study and work.The happiness(aananda)or bliss is always associated with sath,chith (truth and energy of intelligence).Happy environment is the best for intellectual and physical work.Each and every faculty member should be able to understand this and create such an atmosphere in the college campus and each and every student should be able to respond to it by their natural instinct.For this the gurukula should have good and happy teachers,intelligent and free individuals leading a dutiful and pure domestic life.
FINDING A SOLUTION TO THE INEQUALITY OF ACCESS TO DISEASE PREVENTION ,THERAPY,AND INFORMATION TO RURAL POPULATION OF ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD COUNTRIES ,THROUGH A HEALTH VILLAGE SCHEME.
(Application sent from Amrita institute of medical scinces .Ref call for application ,strategic,social ,economic and behavioural research Jan 2003)
Statement and description of the problem and its priority.
India is a country rich in culture and its traditional ways of healthcare including ayurveda,yoga and music therapy.These are the ways of life topromote health and are preventive measures as well as curative.The villages in India at present lack proper healthcare and this is mainly due to lack of willing doctors to work in the villages,due to lack of proper watersupply ,lack of nutritious food and the environmental pollution and lack of awareness.The economically backward rural population do not get access to proper prevention ,therapy and information about diseases and healthrelated topics.The changing economic sociopolitical and civil structures and use of new drugs ,insecticides,pesticides and other chemicals also have contributed to spread of various types of diseases in rural population ,in tropical underdeveloped and developing countries.A better identification of such problems at a regional level and providing solutions to the problems for future needs is essential.The current proposal is such an innovative one for providing a solution to theproblems in a rural environment of kerala which belongs to the developing nation(India).Since this is for giving solutions to the problems of rural India ,the research is of national importance as perceived from the people’s perspective.
Background
To identify the problems faced by the nation(society)and to give a solution for that,one individual has to devote the entire lifetime in service of society and in touch with the rural common man.The principal investigator has done that and after years of contact with the common rural man ,has come up with a solution for the problems of rural India.But before accepting this solution at a national level (or for that matter at a global level)one has to prove that it will work out well at local ,regional levels.Hence implementation at a regional level is mandatory.Therefore the research becomes important from the point of view of the nation and the world.
Objectives and philosophy behind the proposal
Health according to the definition of the WHO is not merely the lack of physical disease.The mental ,spiritual,intellectual health also has to be taken into consideration .A multidisciplinery approach including ayurveda,yoga,classical music ,Indian philosophy will be implemented in the study period in selected villages so that there will be 100%participation from the public and their preferences and choices of therapy will given prime importance to have overall development of mental ,intellectual,spiritual and physical health.This will be in tune with the traditional sciences and customs of the Indian subcontinent.The aim of the adoption of the health village is to improve overall physical,mental,intellectual,spiritual development and improvement of the community in which holistic approach to health including alternative medicine will be tried.
The aim of the project is to improve the villages of India and to develop them in all fields and to make a model for the whole country to follow as a health village ,healthy not only physically but also mentally ,intellectually,spiritually.The gestalt field theory of educational psychology is defining human beings as dynamic systems within dynamic systems growing by the environment in the field in which they live,and stimulating the growth and development of the field they live in.
India’s amendment under Act 6 New Paragraph D,reads:
Ultimately higher education should aim at the creation of a new society ,nonviolent and nonexplorative,consisting of highly cultivated ,motivated and integrated individuals,inspired by love for humanity and guided by wisdom.(UNESCO World conference.Paris 5-9.October 1998)
In the Peramble:society currently undergoing a profound crisis of values ,can transcend mere economic considerations and incorporate deeper dimensions of morality and spirituality .Higher education is to ensure that.The values and ideals of a culture of peace prevail and that the intellectual community should be mobilized to that end.
This book,naadalayasindhu, was originally devised as a basic textbook and guidebook for students of music therapy in India, has this broad goal to achieve.. When I first started to talk about music therapy and its advantages to my colleagues,and to the public,I felt that I am a single tree ,trying to dance and make music and rhythm in a quiet forest where the other trees didn’t mind whether there is music or not.I had been used to a silence within which is akin to nothingness,death,or as an absolute existence of God which is bliss incarnate.That silence was a Bardo,and as a British saying,an angel’s time of passing by,the Ma of Japan,or the space between events .The silence between two lovers,between Radha and Krishna,the most intimate emotion unfathomable and sweetest,the Pralaya or deluge or timeless existence in the Present ..That silent phase had slowed down the pace of my music and emphasized the word (literature)in me,but those words even came from the silence ,highlighting the quiet intensity of the singer’s voice.Silence begins within the inner space before the first musical sound begins ,ends within the space after the last musical sound has finished resonating.The Indian sciences call the silence as Anahatha naada.Thanthra calls it the Para,Pasyanthi,and Madhyama stage before Vaikhari(heard sound).The visions,scenes ,dreams,Jungian archetypes in music and their healing properties has been much discussed in the west recently.The listener and the singer have two different personalities and different roles and just like that the therapist and the patient have two personalities.and two roles.Yet as human beings they are equal in many respects (Kimmo Lehtonen Healing metaphors on music.& 6th European music therapy conference in Finland July 19 2004.)That is like the Bhaktha and the Bhagavan in Bhakthisampradaya ,the jeeva and the Paramathma in vedantha.
Rika Ikuno (Voices vol 1 no:1 April 20 .2001 )says how in Japan the term Ongaku Rhyoho (music therapy)is used and how it is used for Fukushi(social care and welfare extending to every member of society regardless of economic status)and how this created an upsurge among the youth and old alike .When such a movement is created through musical awareness ,public,political and civil support is gained and educationists are attracted ,and music appreciation and culture enhanced and preservation of national heritage and values results along with welfare activities.In my music therapy programme which I call Raagachikitsa,this is exactly what had happened over the years,and now I find many trees around me reawakened and making their own dance to the breeze.The forest is no more silent .
Fukushi is social work ,social welfare,policy for handicapped,elderly etc.It is for alleviaton of povertyand misery around,using music as a tool for human growth,healthy and natural social change for total transformation of community and nation.It is for reducing the exploitation of society by undesirable elements,to search for an ethnic identity in modern society so that the diversities of religion,creeds,castes,political parties and sexes will be replaced by a national feeling(Indianness)and that of humanity.
Since Indian culture and valuesystems and concepts and the music systems are entirely different from the west ,it is not advisable to give Mozart or Beethoven to the common man for therapy.The Indian music (North Indian and South Indian)should be used and Raagachikitsa aims at such a programme.At the same time the Indian student of music therapy should know the developments happening in the west and in the medical research and hence literature survey ,sometimes quoting whole articles have become necessary.(as a textbook for music therapists and musicologists,and students of music therapy and for doctors).
If viewed in this sense as a transformative research ,music is not only a spiritual activity but also a sociopolitical activity.The world go round by love ,energy,materials and wisdom.The research scientist is therefore bound to provide a written document showing what he/she did,why he/she did it,how she/he did it,and what he/she learned from it and how it is useful to society and the world.For me life is the sum of all the research processes I have done and more than the sum of it ,enriching my experience and thought process.Whether it is astronomy,music,history,anthropology,poetry,veda and vedantha,Gita,Upanishad,medicine,literature,philosophy or sociology and psychology and yoga,I try to compare with the east and the west ,accept the good points from each of the branch of knowledge I come across.Each is a river enrichingmy mind’s fields with greenery and each confluence in the Blue ocean of my consciousness,which I call my Krishna.In my eternal waiting in silence for my Krishna,who is Love incarnate,my consciousness as a blue lotus of the valley blossomes,and my thoughts grow from an ugly duckling to a swan .My long and fruitful delay in merging with the golden blue ocean of Krishna is an experience sung and immortalized by Meera ,Tyagaraja and many other Bhakthy poets and seers of India..when I writ e this book,I have presented the recipes from all these branches of sciences and arts,which I have collected and experimented and tasted like a honeybee.But ultimately like the honey in the beehive,the rasa of the different sciences and arts have become one in a sweet advaitharasa,the rasa of musical experience.
The potential users of my observations,and my experiences can repeat the experiences in their life and surroundings,and evaluate their own experiences in comparison to mine.This book is both science and art.Logic,clarity and precision are needed for science.Originality,freshness of experience and sincerity of purpose with compassion are needed for artistic works.Raagachikitsa preserves or tries to preserve both,and introduces art into medical science,and medical science into the art of music for social change,and for creating employment opportunities for thousands of music students,and for healing the needy,and developing the younger generations of citizens,for world peace and preserving the heritage of India for the entire humanity.A pinch of salt(science)to humanities,and a pinch of sweet (music)to science makes samarasa(equalization of taste).
Human experiences (musical experiences called the MLP or musical life panorama ),creative thinking and language of love and peace act as positive communications to individuals and society.According to Claude Levistrauss if you know the consciousness of a musician ,you know everthing in the universe.In RSA lecture series(12April 2000,Paul Robertson)music is said to be the most intimate journey into another person’s personal world.When a panIndian collaborative research project for healing and alleviation of pain society through medium of music was planned ,I experienced this to be true.
Communication in Sanskrit is samvedana.,Vedana is pain.music takes away the pains through samvedana and is an anesthetic,but it is the most aesthetic of arts. It communicates at a transcendental level and superconscious states of aesthetics which we call the layayogam or naadalayayogam.The pun of samvedana/vedana and aesthetics/anesthetics is interesting.For this tohappen at least two people are needed,one singer and one listener(in music).One bhagwan and one bhaktha(in bhakthy sampradaya),one man and one woman (radhakrishna,sivasakthy).Veda calls this a mithuna.It could be a guru and shishya or a parent and child or anytwo people who love each other.Language and music has to convey an idea ,a message,an experience or an emotion.It has to touch a listener /several listeners/readers to attain the fruits of research.
Who is touched,by whom and by which(whose)music ?Is that a child or adult?literate or illiterate?expert or layman?intelligent or nonintelligent?healthy or unhealthy?scolar or not/?speaking the same language or not?All these questions and answers are important in music therapy.There are individual variations for selection of raga and music.
Creativity is like a flower ,natural to a plant.Every human being is creative.Only the degree os creativity differs.Flower is beautiful and natural to plant and bears fruits and seed for next generation.Even a poisonous plant has a beautiful flower.The outcome determines whether it was dangerous to society or not. Both the values and qualities I want to communicate to the society as a listener and the values and ideologies of the singer/musician are therefore important in the context of music therapy as far as I am concerned.Therefore,when I take Subbalaxmi and Jesudas as sheetangers this also is taken into consideration.
The sustained Jesudas effect he had made on Indian society for 44 years an d the MLP of mine are given in the book Without a stumble (Nalapat books 2003).MLP works with the emotional meanings of experiences ,events and memories that are connected with music in one’s biography and it can be used in in verbal form (talk about music)and in active form (conducting improvisations together).Mlp gives opportunity to pay proper regard to both aspects of how to combine psychotherapeutic and sociotherapeutic work.Life Panorama is a word which comes from the biographical work in integrative therapy.From the present we look back on the whole wide panorama of our life development ,back into the past and forward into the anticipated future,in order to understand ourselves in our identity,in our life in its entirety.In the course of that process we look at individual stages of life ,but always pay regard to the social context and the time we grew up.
MLP emphasizes experience with various kinds of music that have taken an emotional significance during our life.The effect of musi c is always dependent on context and mood.It is linked with emotional events and periods in our lives and releases the memory the feelingsthat were linked with specific situations and events in our lives at that time.Recollection of emotions in tranquility ,with the aid of musi c has an important role in music therapy.If a client remembers his/her musical life panorama,it inevitably brings her/his story to life.This helps us to recreate the awareness of musical healing experiences which had been forgotten to various life situations.In integrative music therapy it has an active improvising component also.The process is a theragnosis(therapeutics and diagnosis together)for the music therapist in an informal way.
Music as Naadabrahman is the key to my spiritualityListening(sruthy as veda synonym)memory(smrithy)cognition(bodha)science(sasthra)arts(kalaa)concentration(sradha,yoga)laya/samadhi(absolute bliss of ecstacy)darsana(perception)naada,naama and manthra(sound,name,chanting)prakaasha,roopa(light and form),varna and dwani(colour/pronounced letters )are studied with comparative eastern and western concepts ,scientifically/aesthetically,synthesizing ancient and modern thoughts and its natural powers(sakthy)merging in the shiva concept naturally.The balancing of sivasakthy,Radhakrishna,Brahmaprakrithy,yin yan or seemingly opposite ideologies for a peaceful and happy coexistence,in a physically,mentally,intellectually and spiritually healthy environment is my Mahaadwaitha of existence.
Though primarily devised as a textbook for music therapy students ,this is an interdisciplinary comparative study of both modern and ancient concepts of astronomy,yoga,psychology,medicine,music,philosophy and cultural heritage of humanity and is for the total human development and national integration and global peace through Indian philosophy and music.Because of this,it will be useful not only to music therapists and musicologists ,but also to every individual on earth who cares for a peaceful coexistence on earth and who values Love as God.
SYNOPSIS
The book is conceived in three parts.
PART 1. Has an introductory piece and is divided into 9 sections.The content in this part is the music and musical terms in the veda and 12 major Upanishads with comparisons of modern views wherever possible.Some of the original features of this part are,
1.The dwani and varna concept of Sankaracharya in his own words compared to the modern Doppler effect,redshift etc,and the modern theories of acoustics.
2.The suvarnaniyama or golden rule of beauty of the Thripurasundari as the sreechakra.
3.The historical/ethnomusicological and linguistic importance of some important musical/upanishadic terms explained.
4.The bliss of the saama singer Brighu in Thaithareeya Upanishad is analysed to find the protoraagam thaanam pallavi style during the vedic/upanishadic times.
5.Yoga and ayurveda in upanishadic times related to protomusic and protomusic therapy.
6.Linguistic/graphic mathematical representations of numbers and notations.
Interdisciplinery approach of mathematics,medicine,ethnomusicology,valuebased living and philosophy and aesthetics.
6.Musical instruments in India from the day of the Kathaupanishad and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.The concept of the sathathanthri yazh and its relation to the Madhava-Neelakantha series(Gregory series).The khandameru(Pascal’s triangle)drawn with the swaraas and to measure the aananda(bliss)of the music.
7.Importance of numbers 7,72 and 22.(saptharshimandala,melakartha number and sruthi number)in music ,cosmology,geometry and mathematics and in timespace calculations of the ancients(in India and other parts of world).The Mudumala inscription of saptharshi explained musically .
8.Peculiarities of human ear in hearing Can we touch sound waves?
9.Dalbhya the rishi and his prayer to Sirius A and B.The analysis of the prayer for rain and fertility of earth gives panchama,madhyama,dhaivatha,rrushabha and the concept of utpalabhatta and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad are compared to the falling gold coin effect.
10.Musical derivation of the vedic names themselves.
11.Definition of the word Gandharva according to Sankaracharya (visishtavignaana,sarvagna)and of Apsara as Medha,and Saraswathy as aDaiveemedha.
This gives the Gandharvaveda the wisdom,intellect and artistic experience (both left and right brain development).
12.The aesthetic rasa experience as compared toBrahma experience.The neuronal pathways and plexuses which carry the experience as kundalini of the naadalayayogin.
Angiras is the one who taught Madhuvidya to Aswins .Krishna also was a disciple of Angirasaghotra(gurukula).The Mithuna Aswins with heads of Vaaji(horse)stands for rejuvenation,medical and astronomical lore,voyages,wealths,vedic scholarship etc.and they are good musicians too.This mythical/scientific/artistic /interdisciplinary music therapists of the veda thus become important to any ethnomusicologist /Indologist concerned with protection of heritage of India.
CHAPTER 2
Explains the Archetypal/Historical/living singer effect in Indian Psyche
Archetype is a Jungian psychological concept
Two incarnations of Vishnu (Rama and Krishna )are taken as archetypes for analysis.The historical personalities of Meera and Tyagaraja and living singers yesudas and M.S.Subbalaxmi were taken up.(Rama-Tyagaraja-Yesudas effect and Krishna-Meera-Subbalaxmi effect)..
The number 72 is further elaborated upon .
Vedanthin,yogin,medical personnel,astronomers,cosmologists,mathematicians and musicians accept this as the basic number of their disciplines.It is the basic number of channels of honey(madhunaadi)in biological(body)and cosmic(universe)structures.
In section 1 melakartharaaga research,concept of vivadhi,the need of the hour for the expert senior musicians to understand the importance of the 72 melakartharaaga and to sing them for posterity and preservation of the art and science of music explained
The pattern analysis of Tyagaraja and the kutchery of Yesudas(melakartha raga)is used to study the Guru mind of Tyagaraja(apart from the Bhaktha mind)The vyuha concept of Raaga,how theNorth Indian Thath ragas were derived from the central raagaas of the melakartha,How the complex vivadhi raagaas are more beautiful than the simpler samvaadi raagaas and by not singing them how the musicians are destroying their own art are explained .
Section 2 deals with the geodesics of music.Khandameruprasthara given in chapter1 section 6 is explained in detail for the students of music therapy.Euler’s concepts compared with Indian concepts of beauty(soundarya)and bliss(aananda)The 16 sruthimandala and seven swaramandala with 22 sruthi forming electromagnetic spacetime field –cosmic/biological-and the LCM giving sweetness and softness and thereby beauty and bliss to Thripurasundari and music is shown.
Section 3 is the comparison of the Indian concepts with western concepts in history.For the western reference I have chosen the reprint of Spring 1992 issue of Fidelio magazine ,Lyndon H La Rouche Jr .
My MLP and Psi phenomenon and Esp are given .The difference between the creative and Analytical music therapy and how both has to be used for meeting the needs of the society is given in detail.The medical ethics,the gestalt psychology,how to improve the efficiency of profession and life situations by using music therapy etc are also given
Chapter 3 is an evaluation report of an awareness programme and workshop conducted at Pankajakasthury Ayurveda medical college at Thiruvananthapuram.Three project plans submitted by the participants with their literature survey is given (full text)for reference of music therapy research students who wants to conduct research on similar lines.
Part 2 Raagachikitsa an appraisal of eastern and western concepts ,literature survey,an innovative method for Indian context curriculum planning,a protocol for clinical settings,as an interdisciplinary wholistic approach is presented.
Introduction:Music is the biological .anthropological,neurological heritage of entire humanity.The 3 types of research on Music therapy,the concept of a gurukula system,are given.
Biologically cardiac rate,respiratory rate,and cosmically the yuga and the solar lunar eclipses and saros cycles are all following the same basic number 72 and thus the melakartha number is basic as Venkatamakhi claims it to be
Rasanubhava is based on 3 factors,the raga itself,the singer and the listener.goals of raagachikitsa are enumerated
My method is active qualitative transformative/innovative combining features of databased and evidencebased quantitative research proven statistically.
Chapter 1deals with Mathanga,the author of Brihaddesi,and Mathangi ,his daughter and Goddess saraswathy .The Ayurvedic concepts,swarodhara and manthrodhara as equivalent processes,comparison of Raaga and Vaastu styles of India ,types of listeners(rasika),The prasthaanathrayam of srividya ,yoga in India and in Jewish kabbala,the 9 covers in Deekshithar kamalaambha krithi,and the kundalini model in Swathi Thirunaal navarathri krithi ,meditation of sreechakra as one’s own self are some of the original features of this chapter.
Ch 2 is a literature surveyfor music therapy students.The importance of music being used as a toolof improving society,views of AAMT,New york uty researchers,Beth Abraham family,of health sciences,and importance of brain research are stressed.The Mozart effect in the west is much talked about.But what I callthe Tyagaraja-yesudas,Meera-subbalaxmi effect is not equivalent to that and it is a original concept of Psychological archetypes/historical legends and living musical legends of our times.A detailed educational programme accepted by a western uty is then given for comparison with the programme I have devised for Indian context. Various definitions of music therapy in the west also given for the sake of music therapy students.
Ch 3 .Music and great minds.The eastern and western philosophers view of love of music,the science and spirituality in India,as experienced by an observer/enquirer/researcher,the concept of ESP and realm of parapsychology are introduced and the value of hypnosis in certain healing techniques stressed.Positive and negative ESP scores in the tabular form is to help the students to assess themselves and their associates and patients and to understand the psyche better. ESP is not an unwanted element but is essential for any intelligent being since it is a part of precognition and memory.The practical application of it for self and improvement of society is stressed .The neuroethics of Kennedy is therefore given in entirety.Three journal references upon which the present researcher has based some of the observed data interpretations are also given.(susan Greenfield,Stige.B,Mary priestly and Gary Ansdell)Wittgenstein’s philosophy of intransitive understanding in music,the language and name games,and his concepts of aestetics are mentioned for comparison with eastern concepts.In ch 4,the updates of the international guidelines of biomedical research ethicsand further explanation of Priestly and Ansdell’s perspectives are dealt with.
Ch 6 deals with music therapy in ayurveda.The concept of one raga for one disease as given in the Ragmala is quoted but the author do not agree with that concept .Concepts of thridosha ,swara and its swabhava,the voice,visualization of music,brain research,cymatics,vibrations in energy cycles,the relation of mayan cosmology,Indian cosmology,human body and melakartha scheme of raga is mentioned and explained.Among the many melakartha charts available the Mukund melakartha chart is accepted since it is comprehensive and simple simultaneously.After discussing Bach,Reimanian concepts,Mozart and visualization of music,possibilities of research with Indian musicians suggested.Aamum and prasadam,niraamayam etc in ayurveda discussed and panchabhootha in Chinese system compared.Gate control and electrical theory of pain,proportions of beauty ,relation of beauty and love and bliss and Thripurasundari of the Indian psyche is discussed,since samatwa or balancing or equalizing of male and female principles and the guna and dhathu in healing art is important.
Ch 7 Knowing the transcendental self.
Indians transcended the world by their mystical experiences for which they used varying methods of yoga,and the most important and natural and easy one being naadalayayoga.This chapter deals with the westernphilosopher’s view of transcending the world for comparison of our methods for the Indian music therapy student whomay not be wellversed with the western ideas.The useful information from the net sources are given for the students since this is a guidebook for students of music therapy which is a comparatively infant science in Modern India.This chapter has nothing original in it except a trial t ocompare the west and the east.
Ch 8.The layayoga for supersensible body as the name indicates describes the principles of kundalini yoga .
Ch 9.This is an innovative project which I had given for an institute of human values in healthcare project.A Malayalam version of it as abstract appeared in a leading Malayalam daily(Madhyamam)and this was submitted with a project for health village scheme and sadbhavana lectures to be included in MBBS Curriculum ,with music therapy as a subject,for the Amritha deemed university.The project is given here since it aims at a national health policy and national integration through valuebased education ,and introducing music(art)into medicine(science)and vice versa,and assimilating the best of the eastern arts with the western medical science.
Ch 10 gives the pilot project done at Amritha institute of medical sciences and research center .It is a statistically studied project for recommending music therapy for educational,therapeutic purposes.The CD released with the 72 melakartharaagas conceived and written by me and composed and sung by Dr Bhuvaneswary is an original innovative research work.Because there are only very few attempts done to sing melakartharaagaas and in kerala this is first of its kind.
The other attempts made earlier are,
Muthuswamideekshithar in Sanskrit.
Mahavaidyanathan shivan in Sanskrit sung by M.S.Subbalaxmi
Kanthaganamutham by koteeswarayyar in Tamil sung by his grandson S.Rajam
Written,composed and sung by Balamurallekrishna in Telugu.
CH 11 AND 12 Deals with mental health and music therapy and the frequently asked questions about music therapy and are meant for students only.
Ch 13 Gender issues –a sociopolitical appraisal deals with the problems faced by a woman whether Meera in ancient times or Suvarna in modern times .A woman /probably a man too, has to be on her own and should not imitate any other person,if she wants to develop her full potential as an individual.The freedom of expression and free will and the ideology that one follows cannot be imitations.The very fact that one has to make one’s own model is a challenge in life and those who take up this challenge find the life rewarding in the end though the journey may not be smooth in the beginning.
Chapter 14 Upanishadam deals with the practical advaitha of Indian psyche where the entire nature is worshipped as Brahma or God and the science behind it.The value of music and nature ,of satwik food etc are important as well as the compassionate heart to see God/divine nature in all our fellowbeings,animals,birds and plants and natural resources and keep them pure and unpolluted for healthy existence on earth.
Ch 15 .The activities in music therapy gives a few projects donme at different centers and which can be repeated in India using our classical music in a hospital environment for data collection and further documentation and research.
It also gives the elements of the nature of music made use of in raagachikitsa project of ours.And the common belief that music therapy is just listening to music is not true.There are several other activities associated and some of them are given .
Ch 16 gives a few charts from medscape for measuring and recording pain .The gatecontrol theory of pain is discussed for the student’s benefit.
Ch 17 is the content of a lecture demonstration done at Amritha institute for an international seminar on sinonasal diseases.in October 2004.The lecture demonstration was done by Dr Suvarna and Dr Bhuvaneswary
Ch 18 is a few useful informations given as appendix as well as the bibliography of the pilot project at Amritha institute.
A common belief that those who know music knows music therapy also is not correct.Amusician like any other professional has stress and the selfhealing by music comes only to a few.Therefore,the matter has to be dealt with care.Music therapy for musicians is a topic dealt with all over the world among music therapists.Here I have just mentioned the prospects of it for further research.
The importance of music therapy course,research in hospitals and the career options are stressed since it will not only reduce the pain of society but also improve employment facilities for music students,musicologists and medical personnel who take up an additional music therapy training.
The author - Dr Suvarna Nalapat,Retd Prof and HOD Pathology (Amrita institute of medical sciences)has been focusing on music and cognition right from her early childhood and studying the impact of music on the mind and the body working in both educational and medical settings.,For her ,music therapy(raagachikitsa)is the keyword for physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health,and gives peace to individuals,communities and nations and to the entire humanity
GURUKULAM AS I ENVISAGE
To become an educationist and to plan for the coming generations of people a way of life and education is no easy task to be done by people who never have thought about the problems of the society and of education and its goals.For this activity one may have to learn many arts and sciences ,should have a loving mind and a sharp extraordinarily receptive intellect and a love for nature and nurture.And one should have lead a life of purity as a model for the students to emulate.But ,these things are of the past,some people argue.And others think that a gurukula is the function of celibate nuns and sphincters or of swamins and sanyasins.I do not think that this is a correct view.In ancient India every gurukula had a guru and a gurupathni,and the guru lead an excemplary life of studies and austerities and a domestic life so that the students learnt even the way of a good householder.The religious institutions make a jail for the students and expect them to be sanyasins and even a small mistake is not tolerated .A Gurukula style of education which I envisage for the 21st century teachers and students is not one run by a sanyasi but by a normal human being living a householder’s life ,fulfilling all duties of the householder and achieving excellance in learning,and in duties .A place where the good citizens of the world and of the nation are created ,useful to society ,nation and world and above all to themselves ,to their family and to the institutions they work for.
Bharath is the cradle of civilizations and in this ancient land of rishis and sages Guru is equivalent to God.Guru and shishya makes a meaningful whole in generating vidya and upholding the traditions.Before they start a learning process they chant together.
Sahanou yasa:sahanou Brahmavarchasam(let us aquire fame and divine energy together).In the generation of Guruparampara for creation of knowledge ,Guru is the poorvaroopa,shishya is the uthararoopa and their sandhi is vidya and their offspring is prediction (pravachana).Medicine being a predictive science the teachers and students have to chant together “let me be filled with intellect(medha)and by that nectar of intelligence let us develop dhaarana(understanding).My body and mind are healthy.My words are sweet as honey.Let all the ears hear that sweet voice of love.God is hidden in the cells of intelligence .Let my knowledge be preserved for posterity and propagated by the coming generations (of shishyaas).”
Then the Guru continues to pray alone:”Let there be more and more students in my care.Let them come even from distant places .Let them be happy ,intelligent,disciplined and thirsty of knowledge.”
Whenever an educational institution is trying to draw more students to it,apart from the curriculum and the syllabus,a feeling of oneness between the teachers and students and a bond of love between them is essential.The student ,after leaving the institution nostalgically remembers the people who have given them love and a feeling of security.A good educational institution should be a home away from home,and good teachers should be giving parental(motherly/fatherly)affection ,love and care and advice (councelling)and should not be policemen and women making life difficult for them.Children are always good.The only thing that they need is proper love and care,not to turn to bad things and company.They are not criminals who needs constant vigil from the teachers.This is what happens in very strict gurukulaas run by religious institutions which I have seen in some of the professional institutions also.
We have to revive the old gurukula system of India where the guru is a father/mother figure and the student is the son/daughter and in such a situation only one can give security and a feeling of belonging to the students and by sharing their happiness and sorrows the teacher becomes part of his/her training programme and of life.
Only by creating such an atmosphere in the campus we can make it a happy place to live in and study and work.The happiness(aananda)or bliss is always associated with sath,chith (truth and energy of intelligence).Happy environment is the best for intellectual and physical work.Each and every faculty member should be able to understand this and create such an atmosphere in the college campus and each and every student should be able to respond to it by their natural instinct.For this the gurukula should have good and happy teachers,intelligent and free individuals leading a dutiful and pure domestic life.
FINDING A SOLUTION TO THE INEQUALITY OF ACCESS TO DISEASE PREVENTION ,THERAPY,AND INFORMATION TO RURAL POPULATION OF ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD COUNTRIES ,THROUGH A HEALTH VILLAGE SCHEME.
(Application sent from Amrita institute of medical scinces .Ref call for application ,strategic,social ,economic and behavioural research Jan 2003)
Statement and description of the problem and its priority.
India is a country rich in culture and its traditional ways of healthcare including ayurveda,yoga and music therapy.These are the ways of life topromote health and are preventive measures as well as curative.The villages in India at present lack proper healthcare and this is mainly due to lack of willing doctors to work in the villages,due to lack of proper watersupply ,lack of nutritious food and the environmental pollution and lack of awareness.The economically backward rural population do not get access to proper prevention ,therapy and information about diseases and healthrelated topics.The changing economic sociopolitical and civil structures and use of new drugs ,insecticides,pesticides and other chemicals also have contributed to spread of various types of diseases in rural population ,in tropical underdeveloped and developing countries.A better identification of such problems at a regional level and providing solutions to the problems for future needs is essential.The current proposal is such an innovative one for providing a solution to theproblems in a rural environment of kerala which belongs to the developing nation(India).Since this is for giving solutions to the problems of rural India ,the research is of national importance as perceived from the people’s perspective.
Background
To identify the problems faced by the nation(society)and to give a solution for that,one individual has to devote the entire lifetime in service of society and in touch with the rural common man.The principal investigator has done that and after years of contact with the common rural man ,has come up with a solution for the problems of rural India.But before accepting this solution at a national level (or for that matter at a global level)one has to prove that it will work out well at local ,regional levels.Hence implementation at a regional level is mandatory.Therefore the research becomes important from the point of view of the nation and the world.
Objectives and philosophy behind the proposal
Health according to the definition of the WHO is not merely the lack of physical disease.The mental ,spiritual,intellectual health also has to be taken into consideration .A multidisciplinery approach including ayurveda,yoga,classical music ,Indian philosophy will be implemented in the study period in selected villages so that there will be 100%participation from the public and their preferences and choices of therapy will given prime importance to have overall development of mental ,intellectual,spiritual and physical health.This will be in tune with the traditional sciences and customs of the Indian subcontinent.The aim of the adoption of the health village is to improve overall physical,mental,intellectual,spiritual development and improvement of the community in which holistic approach to health including alternative medicine will be tried.
The aim of the project is to improve the villages of India and to develop them in all fields and to make a model for the whole country to follow as a health village ,healthy not only physically but also mentally ,intellectually,spiritually.The gestalt field theory of educational psychology is defining human beings as dynamic systems within dynamic systems growing by the environment in the field in which they live,and stimulating the growth and development of the field they live in.
India’s amendment under Act 6 New Paragraph D,reads:
Ultimately higher education should aim at the creation of a new society ,nonviolent and nonexplorative,consisting of highly cultivated ,motivated and integrated individuals,inspired by love for humanity and guided by wisdom.(UNESCO World conference.Paris 5-9.October 1998)
In the Peramble:society currently undergoing a profound crisis of values ,can transcend mere economic considerations and incorporate deeper dimensions of morality and spirituality .Higher education is to ensure that.The values and ideals of a culture of peace prevail and that the intellectual community should be mobilized to that end.
This book,naadalayasindhu, was originally devised as a basic textbook and guidebook for students of music therapy in India, has this broad goal to achieve.. When I first started to talk about music therapy and its advantages to my colleagues,and to the public,I felt that I am a single tree ,trying to dance and make music and rhythm in a quiet forest where the other trees didn’t mind whether there is music or not.I had been used to a silence within which is akin to nothingness,death,or as an absolute existence of God which is bliss incarnate.That silence was a Bardo,and as a British saying,an angel’s time of passing by,the Ma of Japan,or the space between events .The silence between two lovers,between Radha and Krishna,the most intimate emotion unfathomable and sweetest,the Pralaya or deluge or timeless existence in the Present ..That silent phase had slowed down the pace of my music and emphasized the word (literature)in me,but those words even came from the silence ,highlighting the quiet intensity of the singer’s voice.Silence begins within the inner space before the first musical sound begins ,ends within the space after the last musical sound has finished resonating.The Indian sciences call the silence as Anahatha naada.Thanthra calls it the Para,Pasyanthi,and Madhyama stage before Vaikhari(heard sound).The visions,scenes ,dreams,Jungian archetypes in music and their healing properties has been much discussed in the west recently.The listener and the singer have two different personalities and different roles and just like that the therapist and the patient have two personalities.and two roles.Yet as human beings they are equal in many respects (Kimmo Lehtonen Healing metaphors on music.& 6th European music therapy conference in Finland July 19 2004.)That is like the Bhaktha and the Bhagavan in Bhakthisampradaya ,the jeeva and the Paramathma in vedantha.
Rika Ikuno (Voices vol 1 no:1 April 20 .2001 )says how in Japan the term Ongaku Rhyoho (music therapy)is used and how it is used for Fukushi(social care and welfare extending to every member of society regardless of economic status)and how this created an upsurge among the youth and old alike .When such a movement is created through musical awareness ,public,political and civil support is gained and educationists are attracted ,and music appreciation and culture enhanced and preservation of national heritage and values results along with welfare activities.In my music therapy programme which I call Raagachikitsa,this is exactly what had happened over the years,and now I find many trees around me reawakened and making their own dance to the breeze.The forest is no more silent .
Fukushi is social work ,social welfare,policy for handicapped,elderly etc.It is for alleviaton of povertyand misery around,using music as a tool for human growth,healthy and natural social change for total transformation of community and nation.It is for reducing the exploitation of society by undesirable elements,to search for an ethnic identity in modern society so that the diversities of religion,creeds,castes,political parties and sexes will be replaced by a national feeling(Indianness)and that of humanity.
Since Indian culture and valuesystems and concepts and the music systems are entirely different from the west ,it is not advisable to give Mozart or Beethoven to the common man for therapy.The Indian music (North Indian and South Indian)should be used and Raagachikitsa aims at such a programme.At the same time the Indian student of music therapy should know the developments happening in the west and in the medical research and hence literature survey ,sometimes quoting whole articles have become necessary.(as a textbook for music therapists and musicologists,and students of music therapy and for doctors).
If viewed in this sense as a transformative research ,music is not only a spiritual activity but also a sociopolitical activity.The world go round by love ,energy,materials and wisdom.The research scientist is therefore bound to provide a written document showing what he/she did,why he/she did it,how she/he did it,and what he/she learned from it and how it is useful to society and the world.For me life is the sum of all the research processes I have done and more than the sum of it ,enriching my experience and thought process.Whether it is astronomy,music,history,anthropology,poetry,veda and vedantha,Gita,Upanishad,medicine,literature,philosophy or sociology and psychology and yoga,I try to compare with the east and the west ,accept the good points from each of the branch of knowledge I come across.Each is a river enrichingmy mind’s fields with greenery and each confluence in the Blue ocean of my consciousness,which I call my Krishna.In my eternal waiting in silence for my Krishna,who is Love incarnate,my consciousness as a blue lotus of the valley blossomes,and my thoughts grow from an ugly duckling to a swan .My long and fruitful delay in merging with the golden blue ocean of Krishna is an experience sung and immortalized by Meera ,Tyagaraja and many other Bhakthy poets and seers of India..when I writ e this book,I have presented the recipes from all these branches of sciences and arts,which I have collected and experimented and tasted like a honeybee.But ultimately like the honey in the beehive,the rasa of the different sciences and arts have become one in a sweet advaitharasa,the rasa of musical experience.
The potential users of my observations,and my experiences can repeat the experiences in their life and surroundings,and evaluate their own experiences in comparison to mine.This book is both science and art.Logic,clarity and precision are needed for science.Originality,freshness of experience and sincerity of purpose with compassion are needed for artistic works.Raagachikitsa preserves or tries to preserve both,and introduces art into medical science,and medical science into the art of music for social change,and for creating employment opportunities for thousands of music students,and for healing the needy,and developing the younger generations of citizens,for world peace and preserving the heritage of India for the entire humanity.A pinch of salt(science)to humanities,and a pinch of sweet (music)to science makes samarasa(equalization of taste).
Human experiences (musical experiences called the MLP or musical life panorama ),creative thinking and language of love and peace act as positive communications to individuals and society.According to Claude Levistrauss if you know the consciousness of a musician ,you know everthing in the universe.In RSA lecture series(12April 2000,Paul Robertson)music is said to be the most intimate journey into another person’s personal world.When a panIndian collaborative research project for healing and alleviation of pain society through medium of music was planned ,I experienced this to be true.
Communication in Sanskrit is samvedana.,Vedana is pain.music takes away the pains through samvedana and is an anesthetic,but it is the most aesthetic of arts. It communicates at a transcendental level and superconscious states of aesthetics which we call the layayogam or naadalayayogam.The pun of samvedana/vedana and aesthetics/anesthetics is interesting.For this tohappen at least two people are needed,one singer and one listener(in music).One bhagwan and one bhaktha(in bhakthy sampradaya),one man and one woman (radhakrishna,sivasakthy).Veda calls this a mithuna.It could be a guru and shishya or a parent and child or anytwo people who love each other.Language and music has to convey an idea ,a message,an experience or an emotion.It has to touch a listener /several listeners/readers to attain the fruits of research.
Who is touched,by whom and by which(whose)music ?Is that a child or adult?literate or illiterate?expert or layman?intelligent or nonintelligent?healthy or unhealthy?scolar or not/?speaking the same language or not?All these questions and answers are important in music therapy.There are individual variations for selection of raga and music.
Creativity is like a flower ,natural to a plant.Every human being is creative.Only the degree os creativity differs.Flower is beautiful and natural to plant and bears fruits and seed for next generation.Even a poisonous plant has a beautiful flower.The outcome determines whether it was dangerous to society or not. Both the values and qualities I want to communicate to the society as a listener and the values and ideologies of the singer/musician are therefore important in the context of music therapy as far as I am concerned.Therefore,when I take Subbalaxmi and Jesudas as sheetangers this also is taken into consideration.
The sustained Jesudas effect he had made on Indian society for 44 years an d the MLP of mine are given in the book Without a stumble (Nalapat books 2003).MLP works with the emotional meanings of experiences ,events and memories that are connected with music in one’s biography and it can be used in in verbal form (talk about music)and in active form (conducting improvisations together).Mlp gives opportunity to pay proper regard to both aspects of how to combine psychotherapeutic and sociotherapeutic work.Life Panorama is a word which comes from the biographical work in integrative therapy.From the present we look back on the whole wide panorama of our life development ,back into the past and forward into the anticipated future,in order to understand ourselves in our identity,in our life in its entirety.In the course of that process we look at individual stages of life ,but always pay regard to the social context and the time we grew up.
MLP emphasizes experience with various kinds of music that have taken an emotional significance during our life.The effect of musi c is always dependent on context and mood.It is linked with emotional events and periods in our lives and releases the memory the feelingsthat were linked with specific situations and events in our lives at that time.Recollection of emotions in tranquility ,with the aid of musi c has an important role in music therapy.If a client remembers his/her musical life panorama,it inevitably brings her/his story to life.This helps us to recreate the awareness of musical healing experiences which had been forgotten to various life situations.In integrative music therapy it has an active improvising component also.The process is a theragnosis(therapeutics and diagnosis together)for the music therapist in an informal way.
Music as Naadabrahman is the key to my spiritualityListening(sruthy as veda synonym)memory(smrithy)cognition(bodha)science(sasthra)arts(kalaa)concentration(sradha,yoga)laya/samadhi(absolute bliss of ecstacy)darsana(perception)naada,naama and manthra(sound,name,chanting)prakaasha,roopa(light and form),varna and dwani(colour/pronounced letters )are studied with comparative eastern and western concepts ,scientifically/aesthetically,synthesizing ancient and modern thoughts and its natural powers(sakthy)merging in the shiva concept naturally.The balancing of sivasakthy,Radhakrishna,Brahmaprakrithy,yin yan or seemingly opposite ideologies for a peaceful and happy coexistence,in a physically,mentally,intellectually and spiritually healthy environment is my Mahaadwaitha of existence.
Though primarily devised as a textbook for music therapy students ,this is an interdisciplinary comparative study of both modern and ancient concepts of astronomy,yoga,psychology,medicine,music,philosophy and cultural heritage of humanity and is for the total human development and national integration and global peace through Indian philosophy and music.Because of this,it will be useful not only to music therapists and musicologists ,but also to every individual on earth who cares for a peaceful coexistence on earth and who values Love as God.
SYNOPSIS
The book is conceived in three parts.
PART 1. Has an introductory piece and is divided into 9 sections.The content in this part is the music and musical terms in the veda and 12 major Upanishads with comparisons of modern views wherever possible.Some of the original features of this part are,
1.The dwani and varna concept of Sankaracharya in his own words compared to the modern Doppler effect,redshift etc,and the modern theories of acoustics.
2.The suvarnaniyama or golden rule of beauty of the Thripurasundari as the sreechakra.
3.The historical/ethnomusicological and linguistic importance of some important musical/upanishadic terms explained.
4.The bliss of the saama singer Brighu in Thaithareeya Upanishad is analysed to find the protoraagam thaanam pallavi style during the vedic/upanishadic times.
5.Yoga and ayurveda in upanishadic times related to protomusic and protomusic therapy.
6.Linguistic/graphic mathematical representations of numbers and notations.
Interdisciplinery approach of mathematics,medicine,ethnomusicology,valuebased living and philosophy and aesthetics.
6.Musical instruments in India from the day of the Kathaupanishad and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.The concept of the sathathanthri yazh and its relation to the Madhava-Neelakantha series(Gregory series).The khandameru(Pascal’s triangle)drawn with the swaraas and to measure the aananda(bliss)of the music.
7.Importance of numbers 7,72 and 22.(saptharshimandala,melakartha number and sruthi number)in music ,cosmology,geometry and mathematics and in timespace calculations of the ancients(in India and other parts of world).The Mudumala inscription of saptharshi explained musically .
8.Peculiarities of human ear in hearing Can we touch sound waves?
9.Dalbhya the rishi and his prayer to Sirius A and B.The analysis of the prayer for rain and fertility of earth gives panchama,madhyama,dhaivatha,rrushabha and the concept of utpalabhatta and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad are compared to the falling gold coin effect.
10.Musical derivation of the vedic names themselves.
11.Definition of the word Gandharva according to Sankaracharya (visishtavignaana,sarvagna)and of Apsara as Medha,and Saraswathy as aDaiveemedha.
This gives the Gandharvaveda the wisdom,intellect and artistic experience (both left and right brain development).
12.The aesthetic rasa experience as compared toBrahma experience.The neuronal pathways and plexuses which carry the experience as kundalini of the naadalayayogin.
Angiras is the one who taught Madhuvidya to Aswins .Krishna also was a disciple of Angirasaghotra(gurukula).The Mithuna Aswins with heads of Vaaji(horse)stands for rejuvenation,medical and astronomical lore,voyages,wealths,vedic scholarship etc.and they are good musicians too.This mythical/scientific/artistic /interdisciplinary music therapists of the veda thus become important to any ethnomusicologist /Indologist concerned with protection of heritage of India.
CHAPTER 2
Explains the Archetypal/Historical/living singer effect in Indian Psyche
Archetype is a Jungian psychological concept
Two incarnations of Vishnu (Rama and Krishna )are taken as archetypes for analysis.The historical personalities of Meera and Tyagaraja and living singers yesudas and M.S.Subbalaxmi were taken up.(Rama-Tyagaraja-Yesudas effect and Krishna-Meera-Subbalaxmi effect)..
The number 72 is further elaborated upon .
Vedanthin,yogin,medical personnel,astronomers,cosmologists,mathematicians and musicians accept this as the basic number of their disciplines.It is the basic number of channels of honey(madhunaadi)in biological(body)and cosmic(universe)structures.
In section 1 melakartharaaga research,concept of vivadhi,the need of the hour for the expert senior musicians to understand the importance of the 72 melakartharaaga and to sing them for posterity and preservation of the art and science of music explained
The pattern analysis of Tyagaraja and the kutchery of Yesudas(melakartha raga)is used to study the Guru mind of Tyagaraja(apart from the Bhaktha mind)The vyuha concept of Raaga,how theNorth Indian Thath ragas were derived from the central raagaas of the melakartha,How the complex vivadhi raagaas are more beautiful than the simpler samvaadi raagaas and by not singing them how the musicians are destroying their own art are explained .
Section 2 deals with the geodesics of music.Khandameruprasthara given in chapter1 section 6 is explained in detail for the students of music therapy.Euler’s concepts compared with Indian concepts of beauty(soundarya)and bliss(aananda)The 16 sruthimandala and seven swaramandala with 22 sruthi forming electromagnetic spacetime field –cosmic/biological-and the LCM giving sweetness and softness and thereby beauty and bliss to Thripurasundari and music is shown.
Section 3 is the comparison of the Indian concepts with western concepts in history.For the western reference I have chosen the reprint of Spring 1992 issue of Fidelio magazine ,Lyndon H La Rouche Jr .
My MLP and Psi phenomenon and Esp are given .The difference between the creative and Analytical music therapy and how both has to be used for meeting the needs of the society is given in detail.The medical ethics,the gestalt psychology,how to improve the efficiency of profession and life situations by using music therapy etc are also given
Chapter 3 is an evaluation report of an awareness programme and workshop conducted at Pankajakasthury Ayurveda medical college at Thiruvananthapuram.Three project plans submitted by the participants with their literature survey is given (full text)for reference of music therapy research students who wants to conduct research on similar lines.
Part 2 Raagachikitsa an appraisal of eastern and western concepts ,literature survey,an innovative method for Indian context curriculum planning,a protocol for clinical settings,as an interdisciplinary wholistic approach is presented.
Introduction:Music is the biological .anthropological,neurological heritage of entire humanity.The 3 types of research on Music therapy,the concept of a gurukula system,are given.
Biologically cardiac rate,respiratory rate,and cosmically the yuga and the solar lunar eclipses and saros cycles are all following the same basic number 72 and thus the melakartha number is basic as Venkatamakhi claims it to be
Rasanubhava is based on 3 factors,the raga itself,the singer and the listener.goals of raagachikitsa are enumerated
My method is active qualitative transformative/innovative combining features of databased and evidencebased quantitative research proven statistically.
Chapter 1deals with Mathanga,the author of Brihaddesi,and Mathangi ,his daughter and Goddess saraswathy .The Ayurvedic concepts,swarodhara and manthrodhara as equivalent processes,comparison of Raaga and Vaastu styles of India ,types of listeners(rasika),The prasthaanathrayam of srividya ,yoga in India and in Jewish kabbala,the 9 covers in Deekshithar kamalaambha krithi,and the kundalini model in Swathi Thirunaal navarathri krithi ,meditation of sreechakra as one’s own self are some of the original features of this chapter.
Ch 2 is a literature surveyfor music therapy students.The importance of music being used as a toolof improving society,views of AAMT,New york uty researchers,Beth Abraham family,of health sciences,and importance of brain research are stressed.The Mozart effect in the west is much talked about.But what I callthe Tyagaraja-yesudas,Meera-subbalaxmi effect is not equivalent to that and it is a original concept of Psychological archetypes/historical legends and living musical legends of our times.A detailed educational programme accepted by a western uty is then given for comparison with the programme I have devised for Indian context. Various definitions of music therapy in the west also given for the sake of music therapy students.
Ch 3 .Music and great minds.The eastern and western philosophers view of love of music,the science and spirituality in India,as experienced by an observer/enquirer/researcher,the concept of ESP and realm of parapsychology are introduced and the value of hypnosis in certain healing techniques stressed.Positive and negative ESP scores in the tabular form is to help the students to assess themselves and their associates and patients and to understand the psyche better. ESP is not an unwanted element but is essential for any intelligent being since it is a part of precognition and memory.The practical application of it for self and improvement of society is stressed .The neuroethics of Kennedy is therefore given in entirety.Three journal references upon which the present researcher has based some of the observed data interpretations are also given.(susan Greenfield,Stige.B,Mary priestly and Gary Ansdell)Wittgenstein’s philosophy of intransitive understanding in music,the language and name games,and his concepts of aestetics are mentioned for comparison with eastern concepts.In ch 4,the updates of the international guidelines of biomedical research ethicsand further explanation of Priestly and Ansdell’s perspectives are dealt with.
Ch 6 deals with music therapy in ayurveda.The concept of one raga for one disease as given in the Ragmala is quoted but the author do not agree with that concept .Concepts of thridosha ,swara and its swabhava,the voice,visualization of music,brain research,cymatics,vibrations in energy cycles,the relation of mayan cosmology,Indian cosmology,human body and melakartha scheme of raga is mentioned and explained.Among the many melakartha charts available the Mukund melakartha chart is accepted since it is comprehensive and simple simultaneously.After discussing Bach,Reimanian concepts,Mozart and visualization of music,possibilities of research with Indian musicians suggested.Aamum and prasadam,niraamayam etc in ayurveda discussed and panchabhootha in Chinese system compared.Gate control and electrical theory of pain,proportions of beauty ,relation of beauty and love and bliss and Thripurasundari of the Indian psyche is discussed,since samatwa or balancing or equalizing of male and female principles and the guna and dhathu in healing art is important.
Ch 7 Knowing the transcendental self.
Indians transcended the world by their mystical experiences for which they used varying methods of yoga,and the most important and natural and easy one being naadalayayoga.This chapter deals with the westernphilosopher’s view of transcending the world for comparison of our methods for the Indian music therapy student whomay not be wellversed with the western ideas.The useful information from the net sources are given for the students since this is a guidebook for students of music therapy which is a comparatively infant science in Modern India.This chapter has nothing original in it except a trial t ocompare the west and the east.
Ch 8.The layayoga for supersensible body as the name indicates describes the principles of kundalini yoga .
Ch 9.This is an innovative project which I had given for an institute of human values in healthcare project.A Malayalam version of it as abstract appeared in a leading Malayalam daily(Madhyamam)and this was submitted with a project for health village scheme and sadbhavana lectures to be included in MBBS Curriculum ,with music therapy as a subject,for the Amritha deemed university.The project is given here since it aims at a national health policy and national integration through valuebased education ,and introducing music(art)into medicine(science)and vice versa,and assimilating the best of the eastern arts with the western medical science.
Ch 10 gives the pilot project done at Amritha institute of medical sciences and research center .It is a statistically studied project for recommending music therapy for educational,therapeutic purposes.The CD released with the 72 melakartharaagas conceived and written by me and composed and sung by Dr Bhuvaneswary is an original innovative research work.Because there are only very few attempts done to sing melakartharaagaas and in kerala this is first of its kind.
The other attempts made earlier are,
Muthuswamideekshithar in Sanskrit.
Mahavaidyanathan shivan in Sanskrit sung by M.S.Subbalaxmi
Kanthaganamutham by koteeswarayyar in Tamil sung by his grandson S.Rajam
Written,composed and sung by Balamurallekrishna in Telugu.
CH 11 AND 12 Deals with mental health and music therapy and the frequently asked questions about music therapy and are meant for students only.
Ch 13 Gender issues –a sociopolitical appraisal deals with the problems faced by a woman whether Meera in ancient times or Suvarna in modern times .A woman /probably a man too, has to be on her own and should not imitate any other person,if she wants to develop her full potential as an individual.The freedom of expression and free will and the ideology that one follows cannot be imitations.The very fact that one has to make one’s own model is a challenge in life and those who take up this challenge find the life rewarding in the end though the journey may not be smooth in the beginning.
Chapter 14 Upanishadam deals with the practical advaitha of Indian psyche where the entire nature is worshipped as Brahma or God and the science behind it.The value of music and nature ,of satwik food etc are important as well as the compassionate heart to see God/divine nature in all our fellowbeings,animals,birds and plants and natural resources and keep them pure and unpolluted for healthy existence on earth.
Ch 15 .The activities in music therapy gives a few projects donme at different centers and which can be repeated in India using our classical music in a hospital environment for data collection and further documentation and research.
It also gives the elements of the nature of music made use of in raagachikitsa project of ours.And the common belief that music therapy is just listening to music is not true.There are several other activities associated and some of them are given .
Ch 16 gives a few charts from medscape for measuring and recording pain .The gatecontrol theory of pain is discussed for the student’s benefit.
Ch 17 is the content of a lecture demonstration done at Amritha institute for an international seminar on sinonasal diseases.in October 2004.The lecture demonstration was done by Dr Suvarna and Dr Bhuvaneswary
Ch 18 is a few useful informations given as appendix as well as the bibliography of the pilot project at Amritha institute.
A common belief that those who know music knows music therapy also is not correct.Amusician like any other professional has stress and the selfhealing by music comes only to a few.Therefore,the matter has to be dealt with care.Music therapy for musicians is a topic dealt with all over the world among music therapists.Here I have just mentioned the prospects of it for further research.
The importance of music therapy course,research in hospitals and the career options are stressed since it will not only reduce the pain of society but also improve employment facilities for music students,musicologists and medical personnel who take up an additional music therapy training.
The author - Dr Suvarna Nalapat,Retd Prof and HOD Pathology (Amrita institute of medical sciences)has been focusing on music and cognition right from her early childhood and studying the impact of music on the mind and the body working in both educational and medical settings.,For her ,music therapy(raagachikitsa)is the keyword for physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health,and gives peace to individuals,communities and nations and to the entire humanity
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