Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji before Nandi Bhrungi Raga Sagara concert – December 20, 2014 – Hyderabad
Sri Maha Ganapataye Namah
Sri Saraswatyai Namah
Sri Pada Vallabha Narasimha Saraswaty
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namah
It’s been long since volunteers, lovers of music and people who enjoy listening to this kind of healing music got together again as a group, as a family. We are all devotees of Lord Datta, we are people who’ve joined the Datta family. Today it is Nandi Bhrungi Raga Sagara. What is the meaning of Nandi Bhrungi? Among the Shiva Ganas (Shiva’s attendants), they (Nandi and Bhrungi) are the ones produce the important Nada (divine sounds). Everyone knows how Shiva is… He is the immovable (sthanu) form, He is the form of the Bindu (the all-encompassing point in its unmanifested state), He is in the form of a Linga. He is not worshiped as one with a usual form. He is of the form of Bindu. No one was able to move such a Lord. If such a Lord Shiva had to be moved, all Gods had to be there.
Mother Sarawati held the Veena. Similarly, the great Lord Vishnu picked up the flute, Nandi and Bhrungi picked up the percussion instruments which produce rhythm. We can call what they picked up as Shiva’s instrument. Each one picked up an instrument with the intent to somehow move the immovable Shiva, who is of the form of Bindu. When the ensemble got together with the intent that His grace flow to the worlds, to infuse with life every immovable form in the worlds, and started to play, Lord Shiva danced. He too joined them in the form of Lord Nataraja.
The meaning here is that, some of our nerves become dormant and inactive. There are many ailments, and diseases that affect our body. When those ailments aggravate, some nerves become dormant and inoperative. They stop functioning. That in turn exacerbates the disease. In such a situation, providing treatment not only to the active nerves, but also to the inactive nerves is a science that has come to us from time immemorial. Don’t think that this is a new science. You should not think that this is something Swamiji discovered. You can say that it has come into extensive propagation again.
Back then, you know what happened when the Veena was being played. When Narada and Tumbura quarreled (each considering himself superior), Lord Hanuman’s singing melted even a hard rock. Their Veena got stuck in that stone. They then asked Nandi and Bhrungi to sing. But, when they sang, the Veena could not be retrieved. It was only when Lord Hanuman sang again that the stone melted again and they could retrieve their Veena. It was a wonderful process. That is why today, the Lord is sitting here in form of Maruti, He is seated here in this hall. Maruti is here. Lord Anjaneya is also seated here. He loves Nada because this Nada produces a lot of Rama sounds and Krishna sounds. These are treatment sounds, not ordinary music. We are using music as the primary ingredient. But, the treatment is different. For the sake of preservation, we have to increase the amount of one ingredient. Through that, we have to give this medicine. There has to be one basis ingredient. The quantity of that basis ingredient will be greater. The medicine which is subtle is administered through that ingredient.
We all misunderstand it thinking that, that basis ingredient is the one that’s healing us. We should try to understand the subtleness in it. The healthy nerve sitting next to the dormant, inactive nerve has a few tempos, a few sounds, a few Pranas. To give those Pranas, the healthy nerve is vibrated and vibrated and vibrated to activate the inactive nerve. That is why sometimes, Swamiji keeps hitting the same note over and over. That is treatment. When we are only playing for the sake of music, that note need not be hit so often. We may find it strange that it is. But, we will realize it with time. When the healthy nerve vibrates a lot, the one next to it, will become activated and start vibrating.
If one person sleeps and snores, the one next to him who was not sleepy feels sleepy. Everyone knows this is psychological. Some people who have to drive long distances will ask you to sit in the front seat only if you don’t fall asleep. If you accidentally fall asleep, there’s the danger that the driver may fall asleep too. That is why, the person sitting next to the driver should be careful to not fall asleep. The head of the house is the one that usually sits there. The children can then sit in the rear sit and fall asleep if necessary. Like that, some things are psychologically transmitted. Similarly, when we give the right sounds, the healthy nerve vibrates a lot. When it vibrates, the nerves next to it also start vibrating. When they vibrate, Swamiji lets go of the healthy nerve and moves his treatment to the newly vibrating nerve. He knows which ones started vibrating. A raga (melody) is associated with a treatment, there are a certain number of sounds associated with it.
There are 1,500 sounds in this (synthesizer) instrument. This synthesizer is only used as a medium. To serve milk or coffee, a container, a cup is used as medium. The cup is not the most important thing there. Those who think the cup is primary, may throw away the coffee and take the cup, I don’t know but even those who take away the cup first drink the coffee. Like that, this synthesizer is like that container. What is the use of taking this? It is only when there are things in it that it is useful. Only when we know how to use it, is it useful. A lot of great musicians come running after Mangalam (concluding piece) saying, “Swamiji, we have to see”. I tell Jaitra to show them the instrument. They come and say, “We have this instrument too, we have a much better one than this. But, how come it does not make such sounds?” The sounds are produced, but the sounds produced depend on how the musicians do it, it is a big process for even a single sound. (For example), recording a bird’s sound in advance, sampling the sound again, mixing it with the sound in this instrument, mixing it with another sound, it is a big process. The original sound is small, we mix and mix and mix and mix and finally get a great result.
Nowadays, we see the contents of a large tape in a tiny device called the pen drive. Before we had the tiny pen drive, we used so many tapes, a cart load of tapes. Now, we listen to what’s on the pen drive, we put it our pockets and go. There is so much modern technology coming our way. We use the same modern technology, place the old process in it for the benefit of people. No doubt it is entertaining. It is nice to listen to. It works both ways – it sounds nice to listen to, but on other hand, these sounds provide a lot of benefit when one is asleep. It’s most effective when we sleep just as the medicines we consume work better when we sleep. That is why, when we have a lot of pain, the doctors first give us pain medication. And then, they give us the real medicine. That (real medicine) works when we are asleep. This sounds acts in a similar manner. Millions of people in various countries play Swamiji’s CD. Play the music at a low volume in your bedroom and sleep. There is no need to actively listen to it, go to sleep. The music will keep playing, it’ll work with your nervous and Nadi (subtle energy channels) system. That is the process.
When the active nerve starts vibrating, the dormant nerve gets a little life. Then, we leave the active one and move to the dormant one and again switch back to the active nerve and so on. The dormant nerve gets some sensation. If you listen to the music continuously, it’ll have life again. So, when it lives again, the ailments we inflict ourselves with will start abating. This is the divine secret. This is the secret of the Nada. Because you still don’t understand, you must just experience. It is not about appreciating, it is only the experience. It is not about applauding because it sounds good. Because one song is over, out of happiness, we can offer respects to a Nadi through our applause, but this is not at all about applauding. This is a nectar. Swamiji is handing you nectar out of Datta’s grace.
This is based on extensive research over 18-19 years. There was intense and continuous research on this, you will not understand if I tell you. I even lost my hearing doing this research. This is such research. There may be some harsh sounds in this. Some people cannot handle it. But, there is no other go. When you have to give medicine to children they will not consume it because it is bitter. Therefore, the medicine is sugar coated. When it is sugar coated, children eat up the medicine. Put the medicine in your mouth for sometime, you will know that it’s so bitter, we cannot tolerate it. But it’ll go inside and do its job. God gave us a stomach that does not tell us the taste, we don’t even understand. We only know the taste until it reaches our throat. It’s not important to just hear with your ears, it must act on the nerves inside. If there are too many sounds, keep some cotton in your ears. You will miss the soothing sounds. You will not know when there are soothing sounds and when there are harsh sounds.
Why am I having to say so much? They heard Swamiji’s music many times. I am not going to say much more, therefore, let us experience now. It is not about appreciating. It is not about saying, “It’s good”, “It’s good”. We are experiencing. Even after saying, “The food is ready, everything is ready, the menu is really good”, we will know the taste only when we eat. If we just look at the picture, we will not understand. Now, let us eat. Let us experience.
Compiled by Archana Penukonda