Sunday, November 25, 2001		Books

Sound of music
Review by Kavita Chauhan

The Spirituality of Music
by Selina Thielemann. APH Publishing, New Delhi. Pages 218. Rs 600.

THE melodious presence evoked by a singer or a player of a musical instrument is music. In the present book the author seeks deeper cosmic principles inherent in it. Music is more than a harmoniously structured arrangement of notes. Classical and devotional music is not an abstract concept which exists outside the reality of being, yet music represents principles whose dynamics makes the universe function.

Music, an outpouring of spiritual inspiration, is surrounded by a veneer of mystery ever since it entered human consciousness. Accepting its mystique, its intrinsic qualities, man has made music his primary vehicle of his emotional expression to the outside world. This mirrors the soul and reflects the inexplicable emotional essence of human existence.

Music, in its core, is a spiritual experience which remains out of the reach of most sense organs: music is neither visible nor touchable, not can it be tasted or smelt. Yet the phenomenon of music is not immaterial, and it can be felt by the only sense which is alert at all times: music can be heard.

The one who has not experienced the thriving energy the behind physical phenomenon, who has not tasted the sweetness of the inexplicable, he will hear the sound, but not the music. Yet he will be affected by the emotional impact even if he is not aware of it. Music possesses the capacity to arouse different sentiments depending on its inherent qualities and the emotional state of the listener.

The music maker not only presents his skill before the listener but also dedicates it to him; he renders it as an offering of deep love, of devotion, and of commitment. It is this intrinsic spirit of sharing that music bears at its heart, rather than the aesthetic perfection which makes the listener truly blissful.

Music integrates both spiritual and material qualities and as a result appears both as transcendental and a rational entity. The desire to express one’s feelings arises from the ultimate experience of the supreme reality that calls for a medium of spiritual bliss. Because man is linked to the material world through the medium of the human body, he tends to manifest his spiritual experience in physical terms. The instrument of expression that translates the spiritual into a rational one is the musical sound with a spiritual sensor and a physical emitter both activated by emotion.

Music is not merely a string of sounds, a phenomenon that springs in the musician’s mind and reveals itself in a multi-coloured harmonious arrangement of notes and heard by the listener who absorbs the emerging tune. It is its emotional content that establishes a mystical bond between the singer or the instrumentalist and the listener, thereby creating a sphere of reciprocal giving and taking between two dialectic poles.

The secret of the appeal lies in the oneness of music — spiritual oneness which allows music to cross the limits of physical sound and waft into the universe, just as oneness itself represents the infinity. Sound is finite in time and space, but music is not: music springs as an inspiration before the first note is uttered, and it lasts as memory long after the last note has ended. Music is a delicate blend of sound and imagination.

Music presented at a performance is finite, it comes and goes with the sound. But music as such, which is not bound by the immediate surroundings of performance, is endless in its scope. It is then a symbol of beauty, of love, and of harmony. It is an infinite truth assuming various hues and nuances only to reveal itself as a fundamental emotion a merging point where all currents join in an ocean of joy. Music is thus more than merely a pleasurable sensation created by s sound waves.

Music possesses the capacity to touch the human heart with an intensity no other physically evident phenomenon can achieve. Beauty of form stirs the aesthetic sense of man and gives him satisfaction, but music being directed at the emotional consciousness, exceeds the aesthetic delight intensifying the feeling of imagination. Music becomes music through its devotional quality and it is this which makes it highly pleasing.

Devoid of devotion, even perfectly arranged notes would be meaningless and hollow, and harmony would turn into discord. In Indian terminology, the intrinsic link between music and devotion becomes most obvious: bhakti, "devotion", is drawn from the same stem bhaj — which produces another term, bhajan, denoting devotional music. Devotion and music thus stand together by a common verb and this is more than a mere linguistic stratagem.

For the author, love is the fundamental truth at the heart of any spiritual relationship and it is love that enables communication between the human and divine the levels in the first place. Through music one realises the unrealisable because the quest of music is the quest of love, and in love nothing is impossible; the unrealistic becomes realistic; for love has the power to transcend which cannot be transcended.

A musical creation, like any creation in the cosmic play of becoming and being, cannot be brought forth by a single individual, but arises from two creative forces. Music is an energy, from which emanates all being, all life, and all existence. This transcendental reality is the source of all form, the nameless root of all names, the soundless essence of all music.

It can be concluded that music, for the author, is a way of sadhana, an object of darsana, and that which leads to moksha. She is not merely concerned with the origins of sound and its transformation into organised music. To her, music emanates from the heart — from the heart of man in response to the all pervading love, the ultimate manifestation of sweetness.