Divya Nama Kirtanas – A Bhajana Tradition
“I dwell not in Vaikunta, norin the hearts of great Yogis; Of the Nava Vidha Bhakthis or the Nine Paths of Devotion to Godhead, perhaps the best understood, widely practiced,…
Sangeetha and Bhakthi
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, the annihilation of…
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
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 collects a stray…
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
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…
On Knowledge
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…