By Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
In this Weekly Wisdom, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar shares beautiful insights on how music can heal. Find out.
Music, if it’s taken as an entertainment, has less energy, less healing power. But music, when sung at Satsang with full heart and devotion, in a meditative state or among or by meditators, has much more power.
Connecting the healing power of Satsang and contemporary classic music
You might have heard many concerts, but when you sit and join the Satsang, don’t you feel it’s very different?
In entertainment, music has a different value. It only entertains the intellect. But the music at Satsang affects the whole body because here the energy overtakes our whole consciousness. It affects every cell of our body. It energizes and enriches us.
When you sit in Satsang and listen to music, it’s uplifting.
How to get more faith and devotion
Now, don’t try to get more faith and more devotion. No, no, no! Whatever you have is more than enough.
If you think you don’t have and try to have, you’ve created a big problem. You should know you have maximum amounts of faith and devotion, and that’s it. No more thinking and doubting one’s own devotion or faith. It’s there!
Whatever devotion is true is there. Nobody can take it. It may appear to have gone for some time but it really doesn’t go. It comes right back. Doubts are temporary. That’s why doubts are called clouds. They just come and go. Clouds are temporary, but the sky is permanent.
How to combine compassion with joy
Why do you want to make a cocktail of compassion and joy? You don’t need to mix your soup and dessert. You have soup at a different time, and then dessert at a different time.
I have no objection if you want to do it. It’s like adding tabasco sauce to your pudding.
You can’t be compassionate with people who are happy. Your compassion can only flow with people who are suffering and miserable. And you can’t be happy with miserable people. If someone is miserable, you can’t go “Aha, I’m so happy.” You can’t go to a hospital and say, “I’m on the top of the world.” It would make those people who are crying more miserable.
Or if you went to a funeral procession and said you’re happy and joyful, “Today is the happiest day of my life,” you may have to cover yourself with a lot of shields.
Compassion flows where there’s suffering. And joy is when there are achievements, when there’s fulfillment. Where there’s happiness, joy is natural. Now how to combine joy and sorrow, life offers you that anyway. There are many such confusing situations in your life, where you don’t know whether to cry or laugh. Many such events happen. So you don’t even have to make an effort to combine it at that time.
Be 100%. When you’re happy, be happy at that moment. When you’re expressing compassion over a miserable situation, be with compassion. Don’t try to bring smiles to people’s faces there. It will come on its own and take its time.
The role of music in our lives
I would say yes, music is a necessity. Music is harmony among the sounds. When different sounds are brought into some rhythm, into some harmony, it becomes music. Otherwise, you call it noise. In life also, when your body, mind, breath, everything, joins in a rhythm, life becomes musical. Life becomes harmonious.
Music is a right-brain activity, which is needed in life. Without music, your development can’t be 100%. That’s why, as a child, the first thing you started doing was singing. A child even speaks musically.
Logic comes later. Thinking comes later. Music comes first in a child.
So does the entire creation. The whole creation is singing because in the whole creation there’s a certain rhythm.
When your mind is caught up in a web of thoughts and worries all the time, music brings it relief. Music helps children to study better also. It helps in memory. It helps in logic and thinking abilities. It soothes your heart and brings you peace. It enriches different emotions.
Music can create emotion. That’s why the film industry always uses music. Here’s one of the film directors sitting here. He knows that. If you want to create a feeling of fear, use scary music. The music creates that fear. Music can create suspense, compassion, or love.
Nine different moods of the mind all have different tunes or different rhythms. Only those tunes create those particular emotions within you. The ancient classical music and dance all had these nine different bhavas. Nine different moods, tastes, or modes of mind. And each of those modes has a particular tune. A musician is very proficient if they can do all of these.
Funny, angry, worried, loving, caring, compassionate, suspicion, suspense. All these different modes. They were all quantified and categorized in music.
Whether you want it or not, music is there in your life. I don’t think there’s anyone who says they don’t like music. Even on the days when you’re very calm and quiet, you start humming. Even when you’re in the shower, you start humming. Music is such a part of human life, as it is for many other animals also.
But it’s said in one of the Vedas, Gandharva Veda, that different animals respond to different tunes. It’s very interesting. Thousands of years ago, people knew and quantified the whole knowledge of music. They say there are 63 major tunes and one among them has 2,000 sub tunes. Like that, each one of them has many offspring. Certain tunes are good for taming elephants. Certain tunes are snake charmers. Like this, different tones are attributed to different animals, also.
There’s a lot of knowledge there. But in Satsang, don’t worry about whether you’re a good singer or a bad singer. Just join the chorus. Everyone sings together. There’s no need to analyze your own singing. It should be natural.
The existence of angels
Angels are just energy. Don’t try to look for an angel with wings flying somewhere or sitting in the corner of your home. Wings simply indicate they’re mobile. They move. Energies are what we call angels. Subtle energy is all over the place. See, how many angels are sitting here?
Within you, when there are positive qualities, these are your angels. When positive qualities are expressed through you, you’re an angel. When negative qualities are expressed through you, you’re a demon.
So sing and dance, and spend time in knowledge. Angels will hover around you, then. The more we’re soft in our heart, the more we’re in tune with the truth, the holistic nature, we’re in tune with the divinity deep within. Angels will come and serve us.
Angels are the positive energies in creation. They’re subtle but true. So don’t try to see them. If they appear here and there, it’s fine. Tell them “Hi.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check out Beyond Breath - A FREE Breath and Meditation Online Session With a Live Instructor. You’ll start to learn about SKY Breath Meditation. It has helped millions of people around the world.
