just a thought- a wonderful thought at That!

[Guest guest]

Hi Carlos :

 

What a beautiful analogy yopu have chosen!

 

you write and quite rightly so ,

 

( Now, what in the world do all this story have to do with Advaita

Vedanta in the context of this list and the recent postings?

Well, somehow, and to my understanding, we mainly deal with thoughts

and concepts, the notes, ragas and talas of our " vedantic music " ...

These thoughts, ideas and concepts may serve many purposes, for some,

an affirmation of knowledge, for others a display of virtuosism, or

clearing one's own doubts through questions and statements, and for

even many others just sharing the experiental understanding that was

gained through many efforts and sadhanas with an

underlying " feeling " of happiness, ease, love and... simplicity.

And yes, there is a place for everyone in the big picture, as there

is a place for every form of musical performance within the world of

music, although we may or may not " resonate " with this or that

performance. )

 

What a beautiful way of Looking at the Big picture ! But for me , to

be quite honest with you , coming from a family of Sitar players (

my mom, my aunt and my cousin all students of Pandit Ravi shankar

and uday shankar ( not brother of Ravi shankar ) i learned to enjoy

listening to this great musical instrument even though i myself do

not know how to play it! So , every time the world famous Ravi

Shankar (who taught and inspired the Beatles) comes to U.S.A with

his young and beautiful daughter Anoushka , i am there at the

concert in the first row applauding, nodding and over all enjoying

thoroughly , lost in the melody of the musical notes of this

Stringed instrument! But , let me tell you this - Anoushka is

nowhere near Ravi shankar , the great sitar mastero , as far as

playing this instrument ! But then , that is where we tend to make

an erroneous comparison ! Yes, no doubt - she is very fortunate to

be born to a great musician father , groomed by him and fully

backed by him all the way ! But should she also fit into his image ?

no , not at all ! Rather , she should develop her own individuality

and branch out on her own and show to the world 'she can be truly an

artist in her own right' It is good to have great genes but Genuises

are more than their extension of their 'Genes' - they are Unique

individuals!

 

The point i am making is too many times , whether while discussing

spirituality or other topics, we all went to follow a pattern ! in

this type of scenario, everyone wants to be a 'follower' not a

leader ! It is either Shankara's Advaita or Ramana's self inquiry

method etc etc ... And then we hear the same familiar arguments ,

the same quotes from the upanishads , the same statements from the

Swamijis of AVG, RK ETC ETC ....

 

Then out THE BLUE a fresh voice comes ( Felipe , my Brazilian

Connection friend where are you ? i miss you) and wants to make an

impression , writes some wonderful posts and disappears into the

oblivion for lack of mass interest or appeal ! Sad, but true!

 

Music and Advaita have HAD a longstanding love affair ! The famous

Carnatic musicians Sri Tyagarsaja and Muthuswamy Dikshitar are

advaitins at heart and Music Composers by profession ! Not to

mention Swati Thirunaal!

 

so my friend , asthe great poet -philosopher Bhatruhari says " " . i

says `poets who are the fountains of rasa have neither obsolescence

nor death " Truly, Music ( IS ALSO RASA SHASTRA) is eternal as

Advaita because both is grounded in 'AWARENESS' !

 

Carlos, keep penning such thoughts. It is a beautiful 'interlude' -

breaks the monotony of high sounding philosophy - sometimes, i go

into deep sleep just reading them! any pun intended is

unintentional! Smile :-)

 

Cheers !

 

 

 

In advaitin , " Mouna " <maunna wrote:

>

> Dear All:

>

> About a year and a half ago I went to see a hindustani sitar

concert.

> The Musicians were highly professional, and the sitar player (young

>