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Music and Morality
By Ram S. Sriram I hope our past discussions on music, dance, and other arts have been exciting and fascinating to you. This month I want to share two stories from Hindu mythology. Mythology contains interesting and fictional stories about Gods, people, their beliefs, and traditions. The Ramayana and the…
NADOPASANA FOR SALVATION
By Dr. R. Krishnaswami Nadopasana is bhakthi, worship, and devotion through music. As the article on Thyagaraja’s musical plays points to, Sri Thyagaraja Swami used his compositions to energize our inner spiritual forces or Nadopasana to attain moksha or salvation in this life. There are several references to Nadopasana in…
Nava Rasas and Proverbs in his compositions
P. Sreenivasan Emotions: To justify his being hailed as one of the foremost poets of his time, Thyagaraja Swami has brilliantly captured all rasas in his compositions. Many people think that studying Swami's kritis means only listening to long faced and serious aphorisms and homilies. Few know that he has…
On Knowledge
R. Krishnaswami About knowledge, Thyagaraja Swami says that it is not worth acquiring knowledge which does not improve the quality of man. A very well read man who has not benefited from his erudition and knowledge is an ass that carries a load of books. Humility and vinaya is essential…
On Prayer
Dr. R. Krishnaswami Aldoux Huxley classified prayer into petition, intercession, meditation, and contemplation. Of these, petition, he said, was the lowest form of prayer; intercession the next best; mediation still higher and contemplation, the ideal. This closely follows Sri Thyagaraja Swami's views on prayer. In the kriti, "Mari Mari Ninne"…
Rituals and Religion
P. Sreenivasan and R. Krishnaswami Frequently one hears the largely justified accusation that religion has failed to make man, moral or compassionate and that, it has divided man from man. All religions give us some code of ethics; of love of fellow human beings and all creatures. Religion cannot be…
Sangeetha and Bhakthi – Swami’s Last Days
P. Sreenivasan Sangeetha and bhakthi should be acquired and practiced with humility. Genuine humility brings with it detachment, suppression or conquest of the baser instincts of Man and, ultimately annihilation of the ego to bring enlightenment. Mere scholarship without humility and music without devotion is according to Thyagaraja Swami, akin…
Spiritual Legacy and Message of Thyagaraja
By Dr. R. Krishnaswamy and P. Sreenivasan Sri Thyagaraja Swami emphasizes again and again, the need for high values and consistency in living up to those values. One is reminded of the saying that if men are measured in miles, there will be no difference between man and man. Only…
The Music of Hindostan
By Fox Strangways THYAGAYYAR OR THYAGARAJA OF TANJORE Thyagayyar or Thyagaraja of Tanjore (early 19th century) more is known. He was revered by his contemporaries as a perfectly sincere and selfless man; he was an ascetic in the original sense of the word, one who ‘prepared’ his heart for the…
The Musical Genius
By Dr. R. Krishnaswami and P. Sreenivasan Sri Thyagaraja Swami's contribution to music or sangitopasana and the esoteric nadopasana is unique. No other composer has sung about the grammar and mystic significance of sangita in such terms as Swami has. Arranged in the order of their subject matter, the songs…