Let The Music Play

Tags

awareness, music, spirituality, vibration

It has been at least five years, and I remember the feeling like it was yesterday. During one of my morning walks on a fisherman’s trail by the river, I came around a bend and stepped into a clearing that was filled with hundreds of daisies. It was a clear blue-sky kind of day and there was a spring-like warmth in the air accompanied by the soft gurgling of the river as it flowed lightly. I paused, and did something I had never done before, and have rarely done since.

I took off my light jacket, and lay done on the grass, among all of the daises, face pointed towards the heavens, arms stretched out by my side, letting it all flow through me. I will never forget the coolness of the grass, the softness of the flowers, the sunshine smiling at me and the feeling of the sounds of the vibration of the earth’s hum as it held me softly. It was as safe a moment and space, an opening of the heart, that I ever remember experiencing in nature. The music of the earth and the waters, and the stillness of the sky made it feel like all the senses had come awake simultaneously.

After laying in the clearing for a few minutes, it seemed like all the sounds of the birds, the river, the breeze and the earth had merged into the one wordless harmony of celestial music. I am sure that you have had experiences with natural or man-made music that affect your heart in a way that words cannot describe. We all know that the vibrations created by music can affect our moods and emotions, and transport us to places that transcend our ordinary planes of daily experiences, don’t we? Imagine a state or states of existence where we have developed the ability to be constantly attuned to the celestial or divine music that plays continuously within us.

What would our life feel like if we were to primarily live in a state of higher vibration than we currently do? How do we develop the ability to spend most, if not all of our waking, working, resting hours in tune with that music which helps us live and love our best life?

Yes. It may takes practice, even a lot of practice, to live in that state of attunement with divine music. What do we get in return for all that practice? In my experience, once we have laid down in that field where we have felt embraced by the universe and all her elements, we never forget that state of superconscious joy.

If and when higher bliss is experienced within, we cannot then wait to wake up and walk, sing, write, meditate or practice whatever it is that brings us closer to our natural state of higher vibration, can we?

I invite you to practice to listen to the music play. We can surely all hear it and heart it, can’t we?

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly twitter chat, Sunday, Feb 5 at 9am ET / 2pm GMT in #Spiritchat. Bring some of your favorite music to share. I will bring some questions. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Sunrise on the Caribbean… the playing of celestial music…

Invitations of Spring

Tags

invitation, music, reflection, spirituality, spring

It’s 10am Saturday morning and I have been up for at least four hours, absorbing all the energy flowing around and within me, from near and from 7500 miles away. This same routine has been going on for the past few days, and the energy has taken on a special frequency since the Indian ‘Spring’ festival of Basant Panchami was celebrated on January 26. Spring in the middle of winter in the Northern hemisphere, you say?

We are almost five weeks into winter, seven weeks from Spring. If we lean our hearts a little, and let our mind wander a week forward, we will be halfway there. In some ways, the festival is an invitation to the Spring that is imminent. Yes, winter may still have some questions to ask of us, but so what?

The better question to perhaps ask is — What does Spring mean to you and your heart? The calendar is simply a time-keeper, isn’t it? If we orient our energy towards the feeling that Spring engenders within us, will we not instantly evoke Spring, or any of our favorite seasons at our heart’s behest?

Over the past few days, particularly since I received and accepted Spring’s ‘early’ invitation to play, my schedule has been pleasantly ‘disrupted’ by my attendance at an online festival of ‘music and meditation’ every morning. As a result, I can feel that my internal energy has been shifting daily, slowly but steadily towards warmth, renewal and a harmony that is the hallmark of Spring for me.

As I finish writing, the Sun has literally made its way through the heavily overcast skies, the wind has been becalmed by a shift, the reflections of the trees in the pond are becoming sharper by the minute, and the geese are slowly arriving for the day. I am sensing another invitation to sing, to meditate, to raise awareness of what lies in the heart.

It surely feels like an invitation from spring to me. I guess that winter without will have to wait. Have you received any invitations of body, mind and heart lately? If so, what have you done with them?

Kumud

P.S. I invite you to join our weekly twitter chat and gathering, Sunday Jan 29 at 9am ET / 2pm GMT / 730pm India in Spiritchat over tea and cookies. Namaste – AjmaniK

P.P.S The second phase of the ‘Spring festival’ of ‘music and meditation’ hosted by Heartfulness India will run from Feb 1-3 2023 at 7amET / Noon GMT / 530pm India. You are invited to attend the Free live sessions at https://hfn.link/youtube ~ Namaste.

Spring invites us in its own subtle ways… to reflect on body, mind and heart…

On Mystical Music

Tags

harmony, music, mysticism, poetry, spirituality, symphony

Pre-dawn bird symphonies
Eastward the swallow flies
Crescendo of Cicadas
Announces the heat’s rise

	Late afternoon fluttering
	Arrival of Monarch butterflies
	Flying in effortless tandem
	The whispers of dragonflies

Moths resting on wildflowers
Under clear blue summer skies
A hummingbird near evergreens?
Oh, such a sweet surprise!

	The soft breeze twirling purples
	In channels where rainwater lies
	The sunflowers embrace grace
	Closing till the next sunrise

Soft veil of late dusk
Broken by fireflies
The heart comes mystically alight
So what if it took a million tries?

If we still ourselves enough, it seems to be everywhere. The music of the mystical is the intangible rhythm of the universe that helps us attune our heart, again and again, to who we truly are.

Music that is in harmony with our heart can hold us, create time and space for us, and eventually heal us in ways that are beyond the limits of our intellect. No words need to be spoken in order to align our natural vibration with that of the universe. Such is the beauty of mystical resonance that has the ability to raise our energy amplitude to levels we never knew that we were capable of.

May we make time and space to immerse in that universal music. May we have the courage to sing our song, and the patience to hear their songs. May we accept the invitation to be the raindrop that merges in the ocean with love, and experiences the oneness that is a sweet harmony of truth, awareness and joy.

May the mystical music move us to sing our heart’s song, so that we may manifest all of the divinity within us.

Namaste.

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly gathering in #SpiritChat on twitter, Sunday Aug 8 at 9amET / 630pm India. Bring your favorite music to share, as we chat over tea and listen to some butterflies🦋 ~ AjmaniK

The music of wildflowers in the rainwater channels

Our Spiritual Companions

Tags

companions, journey, music, satsang, walking

On most mornings, she doesn’t sleep much past six o’clock in the morning. It means that I am up with her too, so that Mom gets to sleep in for an extra hour or so. It also means that if I didn’t wake up before six o’clock, my morning meditation opportunity is pretty much gone. Why? Because it’s tough to sit and meditate with an eight month old puppy who is solely focused on play when she first wakes up in the morning!

So, one morning, instead of forcing her to settle down so that I could focus, I decided I would play with her first and then sit for my morning meditation. A funny thing happened after the first few days. One morning, she decided to come and nap next to me while I was meditating. A few days later, she decided she was going to curl up in the space in front of me as I sat in lotus. Some days, she would actually come sit in my lap as I was sitting – yes, it was tough to focus on those days. 

It has been a few months of this new morning routine now. You could say that I have found a new spiritual companion who “sleeps” while I meditate. I play with her when she wakes up, and she naps while I meditate. It’s a good harmony. She has taught me that it is sometimes better to bend to the new flow of life and create new accommodations, than to create unnecessary stress by persisting with old routines.

In relieving external stress, I have also found new companions within. Some mornings, the non-stop spiritual music that plays in my home-office during the day, becomes my inner companion. The sound of music is sometimes accompanied by the moonlight that is still in the sky as the sun rises slowly. Some days, the companions are the sparkling brilliant colorations of the sunset from the previous day, as it reflects golden orange off of the clouds, and glistens bright blues off of the thin sheets of ice that are floating on the lake waters.

Some mornings, sound and light transition the heart into nothingness. When you return, you know that you have been with that companion which defies description through words. You come slowly awake, and are grateful that the physical world is mostly as you left it, as evidenced by the puppy who is still fast asleep at your feet. And yet, once you experience the company of sound, light and nothingness, there is a renewed awareness of truth, permanence and joy within you.

Celebrate. You have taken another step on the path with your spiritual companions. 

Kumud

P.S. Join us Sunday, December 6 at 9amET for a chat with our #SpiritChat community on twitter. I will bring some questions, we will play some music and gather for satsang with friends, old and new, and walk a few more steps on our path. Namaste – @AjmaniK

 

 

 

The Heart’s Mystical Music

Tags

freedom, healing, music, spirituality

My very first deep friendship on Twitter was with Wayne Mcevilly. A fascinating gentleman who was as comfortable talking about Sanskrit and chanting SamaVeda shlokas, as he was fluid in playing Bach and Beethoven. It was his direct, honest, authentic as it gets approach to life that kept me around on Twitter when I was barely sure about what I was even doing on the medium. I finally got a hold of his “Bach Preludes and Fugues” on piano, and classical music entered my awareness. Among many phone conversations, I have learnt much from the journey of this musical mystic. (my interview with Wayne)

In his own unique way, Wayne taught me that we are all have a bit of the musical mystic within us. From the very dawn of our awareness in our mother’s wombs, sound is an integral part of our being. When sound find arrangement in pitch, tone, meter and such, it can become music. What are some of your earliest memories of sound or music?

The line between music and noise is often as fine as the tuning of our ears, the state of our mind, and the station of our heart. Indian classical music thus has different classes of musical compositions (called ragas), each of which are best suited to a particular time of the day, or even a particular season. Are there particular genres of music that you tune into, are attuned towards, depending on your mood or the state of your life?

One gift of music that has words attached to it is that we can be influenced by the words as much as we can be moved by the instruments. Some of the earliest mantras and shlokas (Sanskrit collections of syllables, words and hymns) were set to music in the form of meters – the most famous being the eight-step Gayatri. The rhythm of meters enabled for smriti (memorization) , and hence the ancient ‘scriptures’ were preserved through generations. What are some songs, prayers or hymns that were ‘passed on’ to you and have perhaps become an integral part of your life?

Beyond the external sound of music, of nature and the noise of our daily living, there is the incessant internal rhythm within us.

“Within ourselves is this eternal voice speaking of eternal freedom; its music is always going on!” – Vivekananda in ‘Practical Vedanta’

Our spiritual work, if we so choose to do it, is perhaps to take time, make time, to create a space of silence and stillness so that we can hear the musical rhythm that leads us to freedom. It is often in the company of fellow seekers (satsang) that we can find this space where we can do a ‘group sing-along’ (kirtan) in the presence of sound and light, embracing joy and bliss in our harmonious energies that contribute to the orchestra of community.

And who knows, someday, we may even learn, through sustained (inner) musical practice, we may discover anew some music, and even learn to sing some of the most difficult songs of life. And in the singing, we shall laugh and love life deeply again, as the healing spreads through our heart, and radiates to all who connect with us, in new radiant connections.

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Join us for our weekly twitter chat – Sunday Aug 4 at 9amET in #SpiritChat – bring your favorite music to the kirtan and I will bring the tea and questions – Namaste – Kumud

A location, where my heart often tunes into its inner music…

Our Life’s Rhythms

Tags

fathers, music, rhythm, spiritchat, spirituality

At a funeral service for one of my wife’s good friends this week, the priest spoke about the rhythm of our lives… and the importance of being aware of this rhythm and being in harmony with it, so that we may grow in inner peace…

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; – Ecclesiastes 3

This reminder made me reflect upon the rhythm of my own life, and my awareness (or lack) of it on a daily basis. So much of our daily actions seem to be done on auto-pilot. Many of our habits and routines serve us well as they lend structure and stability to our life, which are important for good health. However, certain life events can find us examining, questioning the habits that make up a large part of our life’s rhythms. In music, rhythm refers to a “systematic arrangement of muscial sounds according to duration and periodic stress”.

In life, rhythm refers to any repetitive pattern – the morning meditation, the lunch-time walk, the evening tea, and more. A lot of our rhythmic patterns are informed by our current goals in life, and that which we hold important in the forefront of our consciousness. If we are concerned about some aspect of our health, we may be in a a health-awareness rhythm. Education and career, relationships with family, friends and community – all have their own unique influence on our life’s rhythms. And when our rhythm is off, we know that it is time to seek out those who can help us get our groove back!

One person who was a master-tuner for me and my life’s rhythm was my Dad. A man of few words, he spoke loudly through his dedication to his family and his work. Now that I think about it, he was highly aware of the rhythm of his own life. He knew how to honor silence, to love music, to make time to simply relax with family, and not to ask too many questions. I believe I osmosized a lot his traits, but I am still working on the “don’t ask too may questions” part. I didn’t get the chance to ask him how he mastered that – maybe the secret of that rhythm is in one of the many letters he wrote to me. I need to read them again…

If we are fortunate, we have (had) warm, loving, positive associations with our fathers. And these influences have helped set (a large) part of the tone, the rhythm of our lives. But this isn’t always the case, is it? In fact, in many cases, our relationship with our fathers may be characterized by discord, discontent, disrepair and disharmony. What is one to do in such situations?

Let us not forget. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter…” – maybe it is time we can find a season of healing, of establishing a new rhythm in our heart. We may not be able to do it alone, but with the divine father’s (and mother’s) masterful tuning in our lives, all things are possible…

Namaste,

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Join us as we gather for our weekly conversation in #SpiritChat on twitter – Sunday, June 18th 2017 at 9amET/1pmUTC. The USA observes the “Father’s Day” holiday on this day, and we will do our best to honor those who have played said role in our lives. I will be brewing some special Darjeeling tea and playing some of my Dad’s favorite music from the Punjab. I hope you can join in… Namaste.

Walking in the forest, among familiar terrain, looking at new growth with new eyes, often resets the rhythm of my life… what are some things that help you reset the rhythm of your life?

Art, Music and Levity

Tags

art, levity, music, spiritchat, spirituality

The ability of art and music to transport us into realms of lightness and levity in our heart is well known to many, if not all of us. The use of art and music in religious and spiritual practices is also well established over the millenia. Our deep, enriching experiences with these two mediums may even define many pivotal moments of our personal lives.

It is the personal nature of what we consider to be art – the scope of its breadth and depth – that attracts us to it. The same breadth and depth of attraction also applies to music. The line between “art” and “non-art”, between “music” and “noise”, is very thin, and very subjective. It is perhaps this freedom of subjectivity that has attracted many a famous “objective” person of the sciences to also excel in these mediums – Leonardo da Vinci and Michael Faraday come to mind.

As I reflected on what is it that represent art and music to me, bring me levity, some thoughts from my sitting and walking, came to heart. I share them here with you…

• Life’s music is like the ebb and flow of the rain – and the percussion it creates is the sound of the infinite
• Light rain on leaves – the same leaves that seemingly grew overnight, right before my eyes
• Symphony of birds in the pre-dawn hours, coming to a crescendo, just before sunrise
• Church bells in the distance, in harmony with the morning rain, the bird sounds
• Sound of sunrise – which silences the birds – perhaps they are dumbstruck by its beauty…
• Arrival of geese in the nearby lake, immediately after sunrise – they come in pairs, every few minutes 
• After sunrise, a single bird starts the symphony anew – and one by one – the forest comes alive again
• The whoosh of the wind through the trees flanking me on both sides, as I silently walk the path
• The hopping of a robin – what sound does it make?
• The sound and beauty of a leaf falling into the temporary lagoons created by rain…
• The shaking off of last night’s rain by the leaves, as the drops cascade down several layers of branches 
• The singing of my mothers and grandmothers in their native tongue (Punjabi) in their prayer rooms…

I notice that most of the above examples of art and music are from nature… which is perhaps appropriate because so many artists and musicians through the ages have been inspired by nature. What inspires you to create and appreciate art and music? Does art inspire you more than music – or is it the other way around? In your spiritual practice(s), do you find yourself incorporating more of art or more of music? What role do art and music play in your personal healing? If you were allowed to take the art/music of two favorite artists/musicians to a deserted island, which would you choose? Just thinking about these questions gives me a sense of lightness, of levity – how about you?!

I invite you to share with us, here in the comments, and in the weekly #SpiritChat conversation on twitter – Sunday, May 15th 2016 at 9amET(USA)/1pmUTC. We continue our broad theme of “Lightness and Levity” for the month of May, with Art and Music. Join us 🙂

Kumud @AjmaniK

“Heart” Artwork by my daughter – A.J.A.

The Creativity of the Spirit

Tags

arts, music, painting, spirit, spiritchat, theater, writing

I was inspired to start SpiritChat four weeks ago (last week of July) by a confluence of events and have received tremendous support from the twitter community and beyond. I have always thought of ‘SpiritChat’ as an open forum, where people can come and share openly.

I have learnt (and am still learning) a lot about how to co-ordinate a twitter ‘chat’ by watching a lot of good folks on twitter conduct their own chat events. One of the oldest chats on twitter is blogchat, run by Mack Collier. This weekly chat has made a great impact on me ~ and one of the lessons I have decided to adopt from blogchat is the idea of an ‘open-mike’ chat. 

However, being an engineer, I like to tweak things. So I thought I would get creative and tweak the ‘open-mike’ idea to a ’focused open-mike’ concept.

The focus this week will be on the Creative Arts (Music, Painting, Writing and more). I think the creative arts are great at ‘slowing us down’ to help us ‘speed up’. P.S. This will echo the subject of our very first SpiritChat 🙂

As I said, there will be no ‘formal’ questions ~ just share and enjoy. Here are some pointers for you (just in case) ~ How do the Creative Arts help you in your spiritual growth? Are you a Creative Artist (musician, author, painter, theater artist or more)? Do you have a favorite “creative art’ or favorite creative technique?

Come join us on Sunday 28th August at 11am EDT (USA, UTC-4) or 8:30pm (India) in the #SpiritChat room (web link). You can also send a tweet with the hashtag #SpiritChat from your twitter platform to send the community your message.

Do share ~ for as @cammipham reminded me the other day (in a chat I learn a lot from), ’Sharing is Caring, Dear’.

~ Kumud

P.S. As I write this post, the East coast of USA is bearing the brunt of Hurricane #Irene. I hope and pray for the safety of all those in in it’s path.