|
Music as a way to God
|
My experience: HOW DOES MUSIC BRING ME CLOSER TO GOD?
by GuruPriya
 |
Singing for God is a prayer. When I Iay my hands on the harmonium to start to sing kirtan (devotional songs), it is like using a mala to perform japa (the repetition of God's name). Most of the time I do not know which bhajan (one devotional song) will arise to be sung, just as a particular mantra might appear while turning the beads of my mala, according to the uniqueness of each moment. And sometimes, I HAVE TO play the bhajan which is turning in my mind for a few hours, probably because it has to find an "outer" expression to meet its "true function": to be transmitted (empowered?).Playing and singing is always a matter of forgetting myself totally. It means simply making myself completely available: giving and receiving, giving and receiving, giving and receiving... until both melt in one movement.Sometimes playing does indeed start with a true invocation of God, an invitation to please appear in form and give Darshan (seen Presence), or it may simply be a call for help, courage, compassion, wisdom or blessings, for others' and/or one's own life. Or, in a more "impersonal" way, to please shower the whole environment by the power of a wish, like the wish for all to realize "the true nature of existence ", which is for example amplified by the power of the Gayatri Mantra. Or at other times, it is simply the expression of a deep inner gratitude, which has to be expressed in this way, for no known reason, with the reverence of a puja (ritual of worship). Furthermore, using my voice to make a link with "the heartbeat of the universe" is one of the sweetest ways to bring me back to my center, there where all is clear and naturally unobstructed. There where no one remains "in between".The more the Name of God is being repeated and repeated, the more I get intoxicated by its nectar. It is like a communion. Especially when it is shared by many and when there is, at one point, only One voice in the whole assembly. When no individuality remains, there God is singing; and there the "Magic Dance" starts, and the One body finds naturally its own harmony, moves like a wave, and the whole goes with the One flow.
Singing together in this way is indeed a powerful display of our inherent Oneness.
GuruPriya, 13.03.2001.
Music as a way to God
by Premo
|
My heart is warm when I think about music, or rather 'not think' while music is happening.My heart jumped when Maharajji suddenly spoke about music as the most effective and direct way to enlightenment.It is my experience that, while we are singing and playing, our hearts easily burst open, in fact it is difficult not to be open and receptive. Even when someone thinks 'I don't want to sing' or 'I cannot sing' or 'what is this', the music seeps in and softens us in the most wonderful way.The repeating of the mantras, meaning sound words which are repeated in a certain frequency and vibration.In my experience it's a vibration beyond the words, in the sound of the syllables and vowels, the sound created by our bodies, the oneness and single pointedness of our intention, the Oneness we experience together, the surrender to the sound.There's no way I can exactly say how it works, the vibration and the single pointedness create a space in which many things can happen. My heart is on fire when I am singing, we are all on fire, the fire is building, moving, changing all the time from moment to moment. Together we can experience this great love that moves in our hearts, while singing or listening to the sounds. Many people come to me and tell about their experiences while singing, or when I give a song to the universe. It's wonderful to hear about these experiences, because they tell that we are One, our roots have not been forgotten. They tell that when we forget our so-called person, all worldly things vanish and God is free to enter.Here comes a story:Bhakti and Indra, an American couple, came for the first time to Rishikesh in 2001. They had been in India before but not in Rishikesh.We met and Bhakti told me the most amazing story.She had heard the Bhakti tape, one of her friends gave it to her and said that this music would touch her deeply. It makes sense since her name also is Bhakti. Bhakti means 'devotion'.For more than a year Bhakti tried to find out where this music came from and who is this Premo.She didn't succeed and traveled to India with her husband Indra.They traveled many places in India, met many people, visited the holy places.....They ended up in Rishikesh in Dharma Drum where they listened to ShantiMayi and joined the Shanga in the singing.When she heard the song ShantiMayi asked me to sing, she was stunned, her heart blew wide open, she told me later, with tears in her eyes. Here was the woman of the tape singing for her beloved Master ShantiMayi, singing with the Sangha, how is it possible.It's a wonderful story about how the music blows like the wind, it's there and then it's gone. It's always now when music is happening, it is so beautiful.
Such ecstasy it is for me, endlessly deepening, like a free fall in the great void. Melting and merging with the nature of sound. When our ears become like the elephant God Ganesha's, open for every vibration, remembering all the sounds that have ever been. O God I thank you for giving us this way, this tool to connect with you. To feel we are One.
In the world of science it is said that all is sound, our form is created by waves, sound, then it's easy to understand why music is so natural for all beings. All creatures create sound, inward and outward, they sing, communicate by sound, communicate with God, move with it, surrender to it.
~ Premo ~
© (1999-2006)