Masti: Music Of Masti And Meditation  

By Bindu Chawla  

Masti: Music Of Masti And Meditation  

Ever since the 'rationalist' movements gained currency the material goals of existence have tended to dominate our consciousness.

Over the last century, it is in the realm of art that a contrarian movement developed - towards spirituality, a movement that has been sought to be described by one word: 'Abstract'.

One of the first to define the abstract was W Kandinsky, who explained it as non-materialism in art, the exploration of the spiritual entity of things, when art, stripped of its theatricality, and its "bait of entertainment" reached a pure core. The dictionary splits the word abstract into the Latin 'abs', meaning 'away from', and 'tractum', meaning 'to draw'. Clearly, it means to draw away from the external to the internal entity of things.

But what is this abstract entity? My father and guru, Pandit Amarnath ji - whose guru, the legendary Ustad Amir Khan Saheb pioneered the first abstract style in the khayal form of Hindustani music, the Indore style - described spirituality as "the unconditional decisions of the mind", when antar-dhyana or concentration within helped the mind to reach absolute truths which were not anchored to or conditioned by the external conditions of life.

In music he translated this antar-dhyana into antar-mukhi gaanaa or a singing whose face was turned inwards, giving way to antar-darshan, to a continuous unfolding of an inner vision when the khayal was sung.

At this stage the musician became a witness to his own singing, where, as Pandit ji often said, koi meri aankh se dekhta hai - "somebody is seeing through my eyes", and koi mere suron se gaa raha hai , that is, "somebody is singing through my swaras , my notes".

This happened when your own personality did not intrude upon the laya or uninterrupted communion being experienced with the Oversoul. When ragas were sung in this state of masti or self-intoxication, they became prasad or sacrament showered by the inner entity deity in laya . Panditji's countless bandishes or lyrics for the khayal too have come from these "self-charged" states of prayer, as he was wont to call them, the haal of the Sufis.

No wonder the first step, in the learning of the Indore style, is the cultivation of an indrawn voice, shorn of the external glamour of the note, which is not anchored to the bait of - let alone theatricality - not even of sensuality or any kind of romanticism in the cultivation of the singing voice. It is marked by austerity, in constant pursuit of the radiance of the mystic.

The next step is the style itself, whose vocalisms do not take the help of poetry to develop themselves, which is how the khayal form developed. Now, the style becomes raga-based, which is a very important progression, as shabda or word has always come after naada or sound.

Then, the style weaves its permutations and combinations of the bare or pure notes with phrases of silence to connect anahada naada or unheard sound with heard sound. It is the aural picture of meditation. Even in the development of the taan or fast portions of the music, Panditji took his students from the rational orders of note sequences to the discovery of the secret logic of irrational orders, which is a hallmark of the abstract approach. Panditji would describe taan beautifully as "no, not arithmetic, but geometry in music".

Like all gurus, the Indore masters also say - let meditation happen by itself. Unconditionally. Only, prepare yourself for it. The steps in naada yoga will help to remove the obstructions to the final stage of meditation. For when the soul is clear, it is, anyway, in perennial, undying, and eternal meditation. That is its real nature.

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See also: Masti , Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul

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