Book II / XXIII

Musical Melodies without

We see in our everyday experience that music, instrumental or vocal, plays an important role in religious congregations, whatever the nature, whether of the Yogins, the Hindus, the Christians or the Sikhs. We see the practice of Qawwali among the Muslims, the rich music in the quatrains of Omar Khayyam, and the poetical compositions of Shah Niaz, Khawaji Hafiz, Shamas-i-Tabrez and Maulana Rumi. All the teachings of the Sikh Masters in the voluminous Granth Sahib are arranged on Rag forms – musical compositions.

The fact is that effusions from the depths of one's soul flow in unpremeditated numbers. Poetry is, in fact, the language of the soul, as much as prose is of the intellect. All these outer musical aids have, however, an inebriating effect that lull a person to a state of intoxication but cannot rouse in him Super-consciousness gradually expanding into the efflorescence of Universal Awakening and Cosmic Awareness.

All the wild ecstatic dances in accompaniment with the outer music are of no avail to the mind that is both blind and deaf.

Guru Amar Das, Asa M3

There are several reasons for this ineffectiveness. In the first place the music that one very often hears is not an out-pouring of the soul. It is a cheap commodity and merely a means of livelihood.

A musician makes use of his tunes for the sake of earning a living and makes all sorts of gesticulations, waving himself from side to side. With rattling ripplets at the ankles, one calls himself a devotee of Ramdas and thereby earns a living, another shows himself off with the observance of fasts, vigils and performance of set rituals, and still another sings out hymns and verses with a mind an utter stranger thereto. 

Guru Arjan, Maru M5

With the dog of hunger gnawing at the very vital chords within, one cannot possibly get over his sense of doubt and scepticism, with the result that he remains in darkness, far removed from Reality. 

Secondly, most of the musicians spend all their time and energy in setting right the tunes and strains of their instruments, vocal or otherwise. A searching investigation of some of the Ragis (professional singers) revealed that they live in constant fear of losing their gift of popular tunes and thus always try to show off what they may or may not actually possess. With the attention riveted all the time on the tunes alone they simply sing off the Bani regardless of Its true import and thereby not only lose sight of the inner meaning It conveys but more often than not make such phonetical blunders that the true significance itself is distorted and lost.

The Yogin plays the part with his hands, but the tunes do not ring in true. 

Guru Ram Das, Asa M4

The hearers too cannot understand the verses properly; unless they are well acquainted with it beforehand, they lose it in the strains and turns of the accompanying music. The Saints have, therefore, not attached any special importance to outer music for it fails to develop true concentration and consequently one cannot contact the Reality within, lose the sense of I-ness and get above body consciousness, nor achieve inner peace and ecstasy.

Oh Yogin, with the music of the zither you cannot develop concentration nor reach the Truth, oh Yogin, your zither shall not give you inner peace nor shall it rid you of your egotism. 

Guru Amar Das, Ramkali M3

The time spend in preparing tunes and strains is a dead loss without any yield whatever. If this time were spent in attuning the soul with the inner Word, according to the instructions of the Master, one could gather many untold treasures of Divinity.

How long will you adjust to play the ripplets and the guitar? Why not spend the time in the Word instead of in preparing the tunes? How long will you dance and extend your hands?

Guru Ram Das, Asa M4

It is no good to emotionalize, sing and dance wildly to the accompaniment of music, tire oneself out of breath and then faint away, sinking into oblivion that leads the spirit nowhere. *The outer musical aids no doubt do help temporarily in gathering in the scattered outgoing faculties and wandering wits, but cannot lead one to Higher Consciousness. On the other hand, they take one to a state of forgetfulness both of one's self and of God. Beethoven tells us that music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. We seem to enter into a new mental world of our own which, of course, is superimposed on us by the musicians. But it fails to wean the mind from the inner cravings for the world and all that is worldly. In brief, the teachings of the Masters are crystal-clear on this subject. We may be attracted by and get absorbed in the outer music and all of us fully enjoy it, yet with all that we cannot break loose from the three Gunas and transcend into the beyond. Without the aid of the True Music of the Soul that is going on everywhere and all the time, one remains a constant prey to sorrow and affliction in the realm of mind and matter.

* (This section is adjusted to the First Edition of 1981;
Editor’s Note 2011.)

Engaged in useless pursuits, the musician keeps the people spell-bound in Ragans, He remains within the snares of the three Gunas and goes round in transmigration, as without contact with the All-Pervading Word one remains in suffering and sin. 

Guru Nanak, Ramkali M1

It is only the Word that can take one out of the delusive matter. 

Guru Amar Das, Maru M3

The Saints have, therefore, never recommended any course of discipline, neither of music, nor yogic practices nor anything else. They have always laid stress on the love of Naam or Word, the primal Sound Principle of Godhead.

Some engage in the music of the bells, some in fasts, vigils, beads and the like, some smear their bodies with sandal paste. But I have only the Lord for my devotion. 

Guru Arjan, Ramkali M5

The Muslim devouts also preferred the practice of Kalam-i-qadim, the most ancient inner Call of God, to all kinds of outer musical melodies.

Take the stop-cock of doubt and distrust from your ears, and listen to the Melody that is floating down from above. Oh brave soul, rise above the sensory plane, and hear thou Heaven's Music. What a pity to remain in the prison-house of the body, and not to listen to the Voice of the All-Merciful.

Bhai Gurdas, in his Kabit Sawais, tells us that by Nad-Bad (outer ragas and raginis – tunes and melodies), one cannot have access to the True and unending Melodies.

So long as one enjoys ragas and raginis, he remains far removed from Anhad.

Bhai Gurdas, Kabit 12

The ragas and raginis (musical notes) have just a sensual appeal and one engaged in them remains entangled all his life, trapped unawares like a swift-footed stag or a mighty elephant, both of whom, in their ignorance, fall an easy prey to the wiles of the hunter.

Just as a stag by listening to the music of the drum gets drenched in ignorance, so man without Shabd remains without peace and happiness. 

Bhai Gurdas, Kabit 412

Far beyond Nad-Bad (outer music) lies the Anahat or the unstruck self-supporting Music.

One has to go far beyond the musical tunes for union with the Anhad.

Bhai Gurdas, Kabit 11

It is only by communion with Anhad that one can rise above the physical plane of the three Gunas. This Godly Music helps us in breaking through the bondage of the world, and while remaining in the world we cease to be of the world. Henceforth, like a lotus flower we keep above the muddy water which is our natural habitat, and like a sea-fowl always keep high and dry, unaffected by the natural element in which we live. 

In the Sikh scriptures the Nad-Bad has often been described as Bikh-bani or Bikh-Nad, meaning Bani or Nad with a mortal sting in it, for it injects one with a deadly poison from which one can find no escape.

Through palate and eyes we are all entangled, and we get deadly poison through the ears, without the Shabd we are lost all the time. 

Guru Nanak, Gauri M1

The ears get so attuned with the false music, that the Music of God does not appeal to us. 

Guru Arjan, Suhi M5

It is only by substituting the Nad-Bad with the Divine Melody that we can have any honour in His presence:

Leave off Ragas (outer music) and commune with the Word, then shalt thou be honoured in His Court, oh Nanak! By meditating on Him according to the instructions of the Master, one rids himself of all vanities. 

Guru Ram Das, Bilawal War M4

The worldly-wise keep busy all the time in Nad-Bad which is nothing but sound arising from matter:

Oh Man! How shall I describe all this? It is all but a false rattle from matter. 

Guru Arjan, Gauri M5

The Path of the Masters starts where all these ragas and raginis (music notes and tunes) come to an end and one transcends the plane of the senses, beyond which the unstruck Music ceaselessly plays of Itself. One who is in tune with this Dhun-atmak Shabd (Song of the Soul) may sing as much as he likes and it benefits him to do so.

He who has seen the Reality, his songs are acceptable, and He is honoured in His Court. 

Guru Ram Das, Suhi M4

It is only by contact with the Word that one can escape from the sea of delusive matter; outer musical notes of whatever description are of no avail.

The mind keeps oscillating when sitting in devotion, but by listening to the Master's Word it gets stilled, the True Sound drives away all worldly attachments, the Shabd opens the eye to Reality. 

Guru Amar Das, Majh M3

While engaged in sinful pursuits one sings Ragas (songs) and bears testimony to the truth of what they say, little knowing that without the Word all is a farce. 

Guru Nanak, Asa M1

The inner Music of the soul is the real song. Its tunes are self-existing and self-supporting and need no outer aids of hands, feet or tongue and lead to the source from whence they come, the Minstrel divine.

The sweet symphonies of the Music float without the aid of hands and feet, whoever communes with this Music, he beholds the Truth. 

Guru Nanak, Asa M1

The strains of the Heavenly Music become manifest only to one who is a true devotee of the Master; through a Master-soul many get benefited:

A devotee of the Lord sees and sings of His Glory, he hears the playing of cymbals, bells, zither, guitar and flute, he surrenders his all to Him and gets to the Truth, whoever believes in Him gets on the Path and ends his round of births, he doth escape the fires of hell, oh Nanak! And truly comes to his own.

Guru Arjan, Asa M5

The Yogins and Dervishes, however, make use of the outer music as an aid in developing the transcendental hearing.

The Sufis, in particular, call music a divine or celestial art, not only because of its use in religion and devotion, and because it is in itself a universal religion, but because of its fineness in comparison with all other arts and sciences. Every sacred scripture, holy picture or spoken words produces the impression of its identity and leaves its own image upon the mirror of the soul, but music stands before the soul without producing any impression whatever of either name or form of the objective world, thus preparing the soul to realize the infinite […]

The Sufi, recognizing its importance, calls music Ghiza-i-Ruh, the food of the soul and uses it as a source of spiritual perfection; for music fans the fire of the heart and the flame arising from it illumines the soul. The Yogins and ascetics blow Narsinghas (big-horned instruments) or Shankha (a conch or a big shell), to awaken in them the inner tone. Dervishes play Nai or Algoza (a double flute) for the same purpose. The bless and gongs in the churches and temples are meant to suggest to the thinker the same sacred Sound, and thus lead him towards the inner life. 

Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Mysticism of Sound

Music used as the art of arts and the science of sciences, containing the fountain of all knowledge, is helpful in developing the finer sense of hearing; but if practised for exhibition and show or as a means of earning a living it loses its inherent charm and real utility.

The Saints at times press music into their service as handy aid in collecting an audience, for people are generally attracted more by music than by anything else.

Again, it is out of the abundance of heart that a man speaketh. As the true Saints are imbued with the intoxication of the inner unstruck divine Music (Anahat), the spontaneous songs welling out of the depths of their soul bring about a tremendous impact on the listeners and at times transform their very being, instantaneously leading them to full spiritual efflorescence.

From a study of ancient tradition we see that the first divine messages were given in songs; the Song of Solomon, The Psalms of David and the Gathas of Zoroaster. The Vedas, the Puranas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Zend Avesta, the Kabala and the Sikh Scriptures are all in verse. Kabir, Nanak, Baba Farid, Hazrat Bahu, Surdas, Dharam Das, Sadna and other Saints used mostly verse for disseminating their ideas. The very atmosphere in the gatherings of the Saints is charged with spiritual vibrations and often some of the devout listeners get into Wajd or a state of intoxication at their very sight. The two simple words Hari Bole addressed to a washer man by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the sage of Bengal, turned the very washing ghat into a veritable ring of dancers with the chant of Hari Bole on their lips. This then is the power of real music coming from within the secret chambers of the heart.