Are Mythologies Relevant Today?
With the advancement of science, many individuals have become disillusioned with religion and mythology. Skeptics, particularly in the West, who now characterize religion and mythology as fiction and falsehood, are…
A Secular Flagellum
By Venkat Ramanan Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela liken evolution, in their book, “The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding”, to a sculptor with wanderlust: the sculptor…
KSHETRA KIRTANAS
P. Sreenivasan Kshetra kirtanas refer to compositions in praise of the deity of a specific town or place. Usually, great composers, when they visit a temple town compose songs in…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…