On his tour around the country the Mahatma espied an eight year old girl. She carried a bucket of water in her right hand and a two year old hitched on her waist protectively hooked by her left. He asked, “How can you carry this pail of water with that burden?” The girl replied, “It is not a burden, he is my brother.”
Caught up in the race to keep pace, we often forget our treasure, our heritage and consider it as a burden. Once the initial effort to break the inertia of proud belonging is made, our inheritance shall make us strong and confident to enjoy challenges life brings. With no past possession, we anxiously pursue worth that may grant us fulfillment.
Heritage is our ready-made fulfillment; it does away with the worry of attaining lasting value, for we have it right now. Look within and find it. Look around with that knowledge and find the world lovelier than before.
Surashri Kesarbai Kerkar — Indian Classical vocalist of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana.
We are truly social creatures now. Man’s dependence on others has reached exponential levels; also his connectedness. The time between one man’s thought and another’s benefit is drastically reduced. Also, time is no longer an absorbent or muffler that might diminish or soften harsh ideas or actions. This “real-time” action disables the possibility of meaningful action on individual level, drastically minimizing his area of influence. While it turns life into a queue or a traffic lane with little leeway for self-directed action (theirs not to question why, theirs but to do and die), greatest sufferers are those who dwell in the realm of creativity, imagination and ideas.
Names are like human beings, often helpful but at times deceptive. Ancient most Indian treatise records two kinds of non-percussive instruments – Veena and Venu. Wheras Venu or flute during its evolution changed little, Veena had a hundred avatars. In the twentieth century, when most of the Veena-s had vanished and remaining ones had carved an exclusive niche with unique names, there are still some instruments that despite some changes, have retained both the ancient essence as well as name. Rudra Veena and Vichitra Veena of the North, with slight modifications in design and embellishment are in vogue as Tanjauri Veena and Gottu Vadyam in South. However, the music system remains unchanged despite distinction in form. In India music like painting, theater and poetry has never been separate from ordinary routine of people. All knowledge is dedication of one’s talent, all talent a medium of sublimating one’s ego. Learning Veena is a constant flattening of one’s ego till gain of wisdom.
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In a world grappling with material, the concept of imperceptibility, invisibility and intangibility has slowly crept in. More and more activities, products and services are getting virtual. The materialization and later commercialization of music wiped out several traditions of musical practice. The nature of nation, society and family has been drastically overhauled with so-called empowerment of the “individual”. The price of such material empowerment has been paid by the individual in currency of emotional, intellectual and psychological balance. Fortunately, human life is governed by several factors. So while, technology and economic order pushes him in one direction, the local socio-cultural factors tend to retard the pull. There are some who ride the crest, while those in trough serve as anchors. It was decided by the supreme body that culture has an intangible side which needs concrete aid and support in order to maintain the essence of human nature – compassion, camaraderie and creativity. Indian music is best represented by the tradition of Veena-playing which involves performance, scholarship, innovation and crafting. For millenniums, it has retained continuity but the challenge of technology driven economy, which leaves little time to individual, is the toughest. It needs determination and concrete policy to keep Indian music in health.
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Consciousness, perception, reason, intelligence are concepts necessary to establish a relationship between man and the world. His senses help him in formulating such a relationship on basis of actions which involve classification; language is a tool developed for this purpose. This tool has limitations and thus representation of reality is neither precise nor permanent. It is not merely the inadequacy of language which gives birth to idea of intangibility; it predates language as essence of consciousness itself. It is that which vitalizes consciousness and propels one to know. On a practical plain, it represents that which is perceptible but defies quantification. One has to ultimately recourse to such terms as… Visit Omenad for full article.
