The world of bhajans

The world of bhajans

Music has accompanied humanity since its appearance on the Earth. It turns a person towards his nature, the primordial spiritual sources of his existence on the planet, to his great, but forgotten past, awakening a spiritual memory within him. It turns to the deepest, innermost layers of the human soul, bypassing the mind, directly through the senses, awakening the most exalted feelings in one's heart. It has always served one purpose - to fill one's soul with elevated feelings of love and joy, to create Peace in the soul of a person, to calm him down, it has taught and still teaches us harmony, kindness, compassion, mercifulness, it helps a person to organize himself. Beside all this, it has served in almost all directions of human activity: it sang love, inspired the feat, helped to heal, educated, awakened patriotism, called for knowledge of oneself, awakened spirituality ... At the same time, melody, and harmony, and rhythm, and The poetic word equally served these tasks.

The first music on the Earth was the music of prayers and mantras, that means, it was priestly. This alone already speaks of the spiritual basis of music. Today, among the great variety and diversity of musical genres, the bhajan genre - spiritual songs - has been preserved, coming from the depths of millennia. This is due to the spiritual culture of India, which has preserved bhajans for modern humanity.

What kind of genre is it, what are its distinctive features and how does it differ, for example, from the song genre?

The very word bha-jan (bha - light, jan - people) means "giving light to people". Can one then say that bhajans give enlightenment?

It depends on what we mean by it. If we mean the relief to a person's soul from everyday routine thoughts and experiences, the blessing of joy and exalted feelings, then, yes.

But after all, good songs awaken love and joy in a person, too ..., then what is the difference?

Note that there are songs which effect is the same as that one of bhajans. However, these must be songs with a very deep, sublime lyrics, and a beautiful sublime melody. Are there many of them?

The textual content of so many songs tells about the fate of a person, more often about suffering, less often about joy, and the listener, empathizing and sympathetic, is filled with light and even exalted feelings. The artistic influence of a song's poetry is enhanced by a song's music: its melody, harmony (chords accompanying the melody), good arrangement. But, if someone thinks that the impact is limited only to the text, he is mistaken. The attraction and influence of outstanding songs is not only in deep, expressive texts, and not only in beautiful melody, but also in the organic combination of them both, when they become a single whole. And when someone remembers the text of a beautiful song, it comes with a melody. The music itself, all its elements: harmony, melody, rhythm, arrangement, with beautiful accompanying melodies of various instruments brings harmony to all the corners of our souls, adjusts it to a positive mood, and, through subtle vibrations of sounds and their combinations, imbues the whole of our being with high energy . And this impact can last long. Do not think that it remains only while music sounds. A person is given the opportunity to preserve it.

How does music affect the subtle strings of the human soul (or its spiritual centers) is a great interesting topic for reflection or conversation, but the fact is that it has a very beneficial effect on a person. But, what kind of music? Deep, beautiful, sublime, it may be not only classical one, but also outstanding works in other genres.

Now let's go back to bhajans.

Bhajans are created by the Indian musical culture, which differs from the European one in several features.

1. At the core of the musical structure of India lie certain 7-step (less often 5-step) frets, - these are sequences of sounds located in certain interval ratios. They are in many respects close to European and on them (the sounds of these modes) chords that support melodies are built (harmonies). But the main difference is that in addition to these modes, in Indian music there are even finer tones and all together it is 22 notes in the octave: 7 basic and 15 additional. Thus, the fret is divided into approximately 4 parts, quarters, while in European music it is split into 2 parts, semitones (in the octave there are 12 sounds). The basic sounds of the freak are called svara, the additional sounds are called shruti. Svaras are used as the main sounds of a melody, and shruti as a developed and complex decoration of svaras, so sometimes they built up very subtle and fast melodies that can not be recorded in the European 12-note system. It is audible by an ear: Indian music is difficult to confuse with any other, but it is impossible to repeat it without special long preparation, the differences between sounds are too thin. Therefore, the main distinguishing feature of Indian music is its subtlety. It affects the highest level of a person, his spiritual part, influences directly his spirit, while the European music is appealig to a man's thin level, to the soul. This subtlety is preserved only when there is sruti in the performance. If these melodies are repeated in the European musical system, they lose their refinement.

2. The second distinction of Indian music is its amazing, unusual rhythmic basis. It has all the basic rhythms of European music: 2, 3, 4-bit (for example: polka, waltz, march), but also more complex 5, 7, 9, 11-bit ones, which can not be compared with anything else. This rhythmic variety also affects the more subtle elements of the inner world. Naturally, all these expressive means of Indian music are present in bhajans.

3. Bhajans are sung in Sanskrit and Hindi. This is also a separate expressive mean, and above all, when we speak of Sanskrit.

But why? Can not the whole range of human feelings be conveyed in other languages? Yes, it can. But there is one important point. The same concept sounds differently in different languages. Which one is the closest to the truth? Every object, concept, thought, or feeling has its own vibration in the subtle world. It corresponds to a certain sound vibration — to a word on the Earth. It is clear that there are more relevant concepts and less relevant ones. Sanskrit is the oldest language, the language of yogis, mahatmas, Vedic teachings, it is the closest to such a harmonious match.

In addition, in Sanskrit there is a very refined and varied terminology used to describe a single phenomenon, which in other languages is represented in just one word. For example: the light of a candle, the light of the sun, the light of God, the light of a saint - in Sanskrit these are different words. In addition, there are more complex, spiritual concepts that have no analogues in other languages (karma, sanskara, moksha, samsara, chakra, etc.), as well as a number of grammatical features that allow to express in Sanskrit each feeling and thought very clearly, figuratively, and briefly and also, surprisingly, many-valued.

The texts of bhajans are polysemantic and simple at the same time. Their meaning raises the consciousness of a person to high spiritual spheres. They sing about divine love and devotion, glorify the name of God, express gratitude to the higher powers. Some bhajans with a plot give examples of how to develop high feelings. In the Vedic spiritual culture - sanatana-dharma - there are many names of Gods, each of which reflects one or another aspect of the higher qualities that a person can master on his spiritual path. Repeating these names while singing bhajans, a person cultivates, develops these feelings within himself, and also purifies his consciousness from the negative (one can say he cleanses his karma).

This process can be illustrated by a simple analogy. When people say rude words to a person, this disharmonizes a person's soul, in other words, upsets him, leads to despondency, despair, fear or, on the contrary, to bitterness, anger, etc. It suffices to recall what happens to a child when his mother scolds him; to a pupil, when he is scolded by a teacher at school; to a subordinate, when his boss swears at him. Note, that people who behave rudely are, to put it mildly, not very cultured. Not speaking about more tough situations in life. It ia all negative, which can get permanently stuck in one's mind and pollute it.

And on the contrary - words of gratitude, love, benevolent support, cause positive thoughts and feelings. And if they are strong, they will displace the negative in one's soul. Let us recall the examples from one's life, the opposite ones to ones given above.

Now imagine that you are not addressed directly, but you just listen to the highest words, thoughts, names of God accompanied by beautiful music — it will surely affect you positively. And, if we sing them by ourselves, that is, consciously cultivate in ourselves, with full concentration on what we do, their influence will be many times stronger and more beneficial. And it does not matter that these words sound in Sanskrit - we know their meaning, so their impact, as we have discussed above, will be much stronger.

And now, finally, let us imagine that all these distinctive qualities of bhajans affect a person when he sings them from within his heart or listens attentively. It becomes clear why bhajans shed light on a person's soul.

We will add that the texts of many bhajans were created in time immemorial by Great Souls, yogis, saints, Masters. At a later time, they were created by outstanding representatives of the spiritual school of "bhakti", which is based on cultivating the highest aspect of spiritual love within oneself. Here are a few names: Kabirdas, Surdas, Tulsidas, Mirabay, Ramakrishna ...

In India, singing bhajans is accompanied by playing folk musical instruments. They are very diverse in their sound and differ remarkably from the European ones.

Here are some of them.

SITAR - a string instrument with a long neck and arched fret. The sound of the sitar is meditative, slightly itchy, it can slide in several intervals.

DVAKARA - a keyboard instrument, which sound and appearance is similar to a harmonium, with a hand-held windbag. Keys are as on a pianoforte.

VINA is a string instrument, similar to a sitar, with an additional resonator on the neck.

SANTUR - Indian cymbals.

BANSURI — a transverse flute.

TANPURA — a string instrument with a neck without fret, gives a background or, as it is called, a bourdon bass, the sound of a tanpura is similar to one of a sitar.

TABLA (DAIRA) - small drums.

MRIDANGA - a drum of an elongated form.

PUNGI - a kind of clarinet with a hollow resonator ball and two tubes, melodic and burdon.

String instruments like sitar and vina make it possible to extract 22 sounds in an octave in accordance with a certain harmony. Dvaraka creates harmonic chord accompaniment.

The traditional (classical) performance of bhajans with good accompaniment sounds quite unusual, cosmically, blows the listener's consciousness into unearthly spiritual spheres. It is worth noting the sattwic character of the vast majority of bhajans, that is contemplative, gracious, joyful, and optimistic.

Bhajans are a very free genre of performance. For a long time they have been sung during holidays, at work, on the road, in a group or alone, during spiritual practices... They are sung and accompanied by musical instruments or sung without them. The main thing is to sing bhajans from within the heart, with a deep feeling.

Currently, bhajans are performed in many countries with European musical culture, that is, in a 12-ton (halftone) scale. Of course, the melody of bhajans loses its peculiarity, juiciness, oriental color with such a performance. Without Indian musical scale, melodies are quite simple. But even in this simplicity they are not ordinary, and do not resemble the European ones.

This does not mean that bhajans, arranged and performed in the European musical tradition, will certainly be worse or weaker than the Indian ones. Indian music is refined in a melodic and rhythmic sense, it is homophonic or one-voiced, but still it has in its arsenal instruments with extraordinary (for European perception) sounds. However, the European one uses a richer harmony (a more diverse set of chords), polyphony and counterpoints in arrangements, it uses a larger sound range, from bass to the highest sounds, a larger range of loudness that is actively used for nuances. In addition, European music has large orchestras of different compositions, with a wide palette of sound, from a powerful, to barely audible, with a huge timbre variety. There is an organ and a piano with the widest sound and dynamic range and large pattern possibilities (one person can perform complex multi-voiced works).

Therefore, together all the expressive means and possibilities (both compositional and instrumental) used in European music also have a very strong and profound beneficial effect. Naturally, all this depends on the talent and skill of a composer, an arranger and a performer. In our musical culture there are a lot of genius and talented works of all genres, and they enlighten the finest facets of the human soul.

The Creator gives all the people of the planet the widest opportunities to purify and enlighten their souls through music. They are different, but it is important to use them with all the depth and completeness.

In India, there are now many records of bhajans made by talented performers, with magnificent arrangements, using modern electronic musical instruments and finest sound recording equipment. They use elements of European musical expressive means, the reverse process is also seen in European culture. There is a mutual enrichment of cultures, and due to it wonderful works are created.

They produce a very deep musical impression. It is difficult to attribute them to any contemporary genre of music, they are themselves a separate genre - bhajans. It's definitely not pop music, but it's not a classic, although close to it, it's more like a chamber song of sublime content, a musical prayer, a psalm. Examples of bhajans by Western performers are still largely based on the melody of popular and improvisational music.

We add that music not only reflects, but also shapes the character and mentality of the people. And if Indian music forms contemplation and subtlety, then European music forms subtlety and effectiveness. Synthesis of these two cultures will form new evolutionary qualities of mankind. Bhajans in our time can play a role of a bridge for the creation of this synthesis, especially since this genre is accessible to many.

Bhajans help us to awaken the feeling of divine love, immersing ourselves into subtle musical and poetic images. The high classical music has the same effect.

It seems that bhajans, more and more spreading, will find an increasing number of their admirers. After all, singing bhajans is inextricably connected with the spiritual path of man, his spiritual growth. They help to transfer the consciousness of a person here on the Earth to higher spheres and to fill it with joy. It means that new bhajans will be created in the native languages of their creators, and we can safely say that they will be beautiful.

Let us everyone open the door to the beautiful world of bhajans, a world of heartfelt love and joy.