Be a little more compassionate
Than needed.
– Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 26, Agni Press, 2002
Let us not try to understand music
With our mind.
Let us not even try to feel it
With our heart.
Let us simply and spontaneously
Allow the music-bird to fly
In our heart-sky.
While flying, it will unconditionally
Reveal to us
What it has and what it is.
What it has
Is Immortality's message
And what it is
Is Eternity's passage.Sri Chinmoy 1
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God's Music is heard by each individual according to his own capacity of receptivity. God plays the same Music, but it sounds one way to one person and totally different to another. When a professor gives a talk, there will be many students in the same classroom. Each student will understand the professor's talk differently. Because of his inner capacity, the best student in the class will understand much more than the worst student. God's Music is heard, valued, understood and felt in a specific way according to the listener's own capacity of receptivity.
God has created two kinds of music-lovers. One kind will try to study and understand music, most of the time on a mental level. These music-lovers enjoy music in a mental way. Again, there are some seekers who have no musical training, but they seek the music that is deep within. They enjoy music in a psychic way. The music that they hear at times far surpasses the music that others study.
If you can identify yourself with music, at that time you become the source, the composer. Also, when you listen to spiritual music and identify yourself with the singers, if the music is being sung very soulfully, this is nothing short of your own prayer and meditation.
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Question: How can we learn to hear the inner music?
Through constant prayer and meditation we can learn to hear the inner music. We have to pray soulfully to God to grant us light, abundant light, so that when we dive deep within we can hear His Message without being hindered by our doubting mind. The deeper we can dive, the sooner our doubting mind will leave us for good. So it is through prayer that we can listen to the dictates of our soul, dictates that embody music pristine in purity, light and delight.
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Question: What is the best way to become one with soulful music?
The best way to become one with soulful music is to have the firm inner conviction that while you are breathing in, the breath is immediately entering directly into your soul. And with the breath, you have to feel that the Universal Consciousness, divine Reality, divine Truth is also entering. Then, when you breathe out, try to feel that you are breathing out the ignorance that is covering your soul. Feel that the veils of ignorance are being lifted and discarded. If you can consciously imagine and feel this, it is the best way to become one with soulful music.
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Question: What role will music play in bringing about world oneness?
Music will play a most important role in bringing about world oneness, for music embodies the Universal Heart, the oneness-heart. Music transcends the barriers of nations, nationalities and religions. Music embodies universal light and universal truth, and music also embodies the oneness-reality which we see in universal love, universal light, universal awareness and universal wakefulness. Universal wakefulness we see inside all music. Music has to play a most important role in bringing about world oneness, for music is the connecting link between the One and the many and between the many and the One.
It is through music that the universal feeling of oneness can be achieved in the twinkling of an eye.
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Question: I was at a concert and I felt a connection with the violinist.
In this case you established your own inner oneness with the Source in him. On the outer plane he was playing; on the inner plane the soul was playing in and through you. You were entering into that particular musician; he was entering into the Source. From there the music was being played. It happens quite a few times when a seeker in the audience enters into the Source. The seeker who is in the audience can easily establish his oneness with the Source if he feels that he is being utilised by the Source. One is active; the other one is silent. The one that is playing is active and you at that time are silent. You are not merely a silent listener, but a silent participant.
Sri Chinmoy, God the Supreme Musician, Agni Press, 1976↩︎