Busy every moment, he kept pace with the most energetic young
student.
A SANKIRTAN (group chanting), accompanied by the harmonium and
hand-played Indian drums, was in progress on the second floor. Sri
Yukteswar listened appreciatively; his musical sense was acutely
perfect.
"They are off key!" Master left the cooks and joined the artists.
The melody was heard again, this time correctly rendered.
In India, music as well as painting and the drama is considered a
divine art. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva-the Eternal Trinity-were the
first musicians. The Divine Dancer Shiva is scripturally represented
as having worked out the infinite modes of rhythm in His cosmic
dance of universal creation, preservation, and dissolution, while
Brahma accentuated the time-beat with the clanging cymbals, and
Vishnu sounded the holy MRIDANGA or drum. Krishna, an incarnation
of Vishnu, is always shown in Hindu art with a flute, on which
he plays the enrapturing song that recalls to their true home the
human souls wandering in MAYA-delusion. Saraswati, goddess of wisdom,
is symbolized as performing on the VINA, mother of all stringed
instruments. The SAMA VEDA of India contains the world's earliest
writings on musical science.
The foundation stone of Hindu music is the RAGAS or fixed melodic
scales. The six basic RAGAS branch out into 126 derivative RAGINIS
(wives) and PUTRAS (sons). Each RAGA has a minimum of five notes:
a leading note (VADI or king), a secondary note (SAMAVADI or prime
minister), helping notes (ANUVADI, attendants), and a dissonant
note (VIVADI, the enemy).
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