Remembering Smt. Rajeshwari Padmanabhan

The Yajnavalkya Smriti mentions:

“Veena vadhana tathvangna sruti, jathi, visartha talanjaaprayasena moksha margam niyachathi”
(”The one who is well versed in veena, one who has the knowledge of srutis and one who is adept in tala, attains salvation without doubt.”)

Well it is exactly one year since Smt. Rajeshwari Padmanabhan, the veena maestro and my Guru, passed away. It had been a day filled with listening to her veena pieces. While the day went by, I felt a celebration of music.

Yes, I would like to remember her as a great maestro, a warm motherly figure and someone whose talent was not commercialized. She was a musician of par excellence.

Nostalgic memories of her classes rushed back to my thoughts. While playing one of the pieces – Vinayaka in Hamsadvani, a surge of emotions overwhelmed me and I found myself crying for a while. Then composing myself, I decided that her life should be celebrated in her remembrance. I found this short video of her taking classes by Raghunath Manet on youtube.

Heartsong

Remembered the amazing Mattie Stephanek today. What a child. What a darling. So much of wisdom, so much of love, so much of compassion. I need to learn from him. He is and will always remain my special inspiration. My angel Mattie Stephanek.......

“...A heartsong is something deep inside each of us. It’s our sense of why we are here and how we can keep going. It is like a purpose. It may be to live as a mommy or a daddy, or a firefighter or a deliver person, or a child with a disability who teaches others about patience and love and acceptance. Heartsongs are usually easy to hear when we are young, but we sometimes get too busy or hurt or angry to listen to them as we get older. And, just like any gift that isn’t cared for or used well, it is possible to forget how to listen to the message of each song, But even if we completely lose our heartsong, we can share someone else’s song until we are able to reawaken or recreate our own. ...” - Mattie Stephanek

DANCING NOTES

Another beautiful Ghazal by the one and only Hariharan Ji……..

And then to listen to this beautiful rendition of “Krishna nee begane baro” of this great vocalist, Hariharan, you can literally see the notes dancing.

MUSIC - FOOD FOR THE SOUL

I was listening to a Ghazal by Hariharan -‘JHOOM LE’ a beautiful ghazal from the Ghazal Album Kaash. Hariharan’s soulful music never fails to amaze me. I am not so familiar with Ghazals , but this one surely makes me feel the peace and tranquility.

Musical notes dance if we can watch them. Some go to watch a dance to watch the movements in the dance. I consider the notes – swaras of music themselves performing a dance. They twist and turn and slide and glide.

Swaras themselves are so expressive that each note has its own bhava, its own distinctive character and grace. It also depends on the performer, who will be able to bring out the best of the notes. Be it a vocalist or instrumentalist. If we can watch the fluid movements of these notes, we will truly understand the meaning of dance itself!

What wonder to be mesmerized by music and her greatest gift, her musicians! What astounding creators they are! They create such emotions in a person. Good music fills you up completely but at the same time leaves you with a longing for more.

Music – Food for the Soul……

DANCE

Many people have many explanations about what dance is. The most remarkable explanation that I have ever heard was from my Teacher, Prem Rawat. These are not his exact words but this is what he meant.

True dance takes place when the heart is filled with such joy that it cannot contain itself and the body starts to move to the rhythm of the joy.

When the heart dances out of joy, the body starts to move and Real Dance happens. Otherwise everything else is just another form of exercise or movement of the limbs and body.

We would have found ourselves at some time in our lives, to have got up to dance when we felt real heartfelt joy. I have done that sometimes when I listened to some exceptionally beautiful music which invoked a joy and jubilation in my heart that all I could do was dance to its rhythm.

Moving on…......

Can I move on? That is the real challenge I am faced with in my life at every step of the way. At times this whole thing seems like a game. We are challenged after a couple of steps along the way in our journey of life. That too after we have settled and come to terms with almost most of the situations in our lives.

Many a times, I have this question, of what this whole thing is about! We are born, grow up the usual way and as most children do. Some children have more challenges than the others. Somehow we end up as what we are at the present stage in life after many falls, rises, challenges, hurts, happiness, joys etc.

Most of the time, we are so caught up with all the happenings around us that we get lost in acting or reacting relating to those situations.

Do we take time to pause and question, what this is all about? I don’t seem to be doing that when I am in the midst of all the melodramatic activities in my life. Only when I have passed them, do I pause and analyze, question and try to understand what it is all about. – And that too only sometimes!

We are always placed in a position of opposites in our lives. I get disappointed when I think that it is all about everything being black or white. Now I have come to understand that it is also about the grey areas, pale grey areas, white areas and not so white areas in the whole picture. It is also about the blues, greens, oranges, yellows, reds, the pinks, the mauves and all the different hues on the palette of color.

This art, this life, this being is just not about right and wrong. . I have come to understand along the way that this journey is about falling down, learning, waking up and walking forward. This journey is also about forgiving, forgetting and understanding. And this journey is about adjusting, letting go and accommodating. If I fail to understand this simple formula I will never be able to come to terms with life and will be stuck in the same hole again and again. I have learned that I need to let go and move on.

Finally it is all about moving on ………..

Why oh Why?

Teoh Boon Hock the political secretary of Seri Kembangan assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah, was taken in for questioning by the MACC at its 14th floor office in Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam.MACC said he was freed but his body was later found sprawled on the roof of a five-storey building next door.

‘Why would someone who is slated to get married tomorrow take his own life?’ This the question posed by Lim Kit Siang – the opposition DAP leader. Many questions are being asked, but will it bring him back to life. How will his family and his bride to be going to be consoled. Will they be able to come to terms with such a tragedy?

Why oh why?

What words,

What reasons to describe this death?

We have never met each other,

Nor have our paths ever crossed,

But my heart is in anguish.

Why oh why?

Am I tormented and restless?

Wrenched in pain and sorrow,

Thinking about the cruelty brought upon you,

Where is mercy and compassion?

Why oh why?

Another death, another tragedy!

One so young full of life and hope,

Promises to be fulfilled, journeys to be taken,

Why was it robbed from you so soon?

Why oh why?

Why this injustice, why this violence,

How many more Kugans have to follow,

How many more Teohs need to be lost?

How many more victims to endure?

Why oh why?

Who is responsible? Who has the answers?

When will the nation awaken?

When will it rise against these injustices?

Why this cruel fate?

Why oh why?

How long will this go on and who will be next?

Another flower, another leaf,

Plucked from the tree of life prematurely,

Taken away, so callously.

Why oh why?