The Gandhi-King Community

For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09415777229, 094055338

E-mail- dr.yogendragandhi@gmail.com;dr.yadav.yogendra@gandhifoundation.net

 

 

 

MUSIC AND MAHATMA

 

 

 There is a famous classical saying which has now become a proverb that the man “that hath no music in himself” is either an ascetic or a beast. We are far from being ascetics, and to the extent that we are devoid of music we are near allied to beasts. To know music is to transfer it to life. The prevalent discord of today is an indication of our sad plight. There can be no swaraj where there is no harmony, no music. Where there is discord and everyone striking his own tune, there is bad government or anarchy. Work for swaraj fails to appeal to us because we have no music in us. When we have millions of people singing together in harmony or taking God’s name in unison, making one music, we shall have taken the first step to swaraj. If we cannot achieve this simple thing, how can we win swaraj? We have free music classes in Ahmadabad for the last three years conducted by one who is an expert. And yet we have to be satisfied today with a roll-attendance of 10 and regular attendance of four.

It is poor consolation indeed; but we live in hope and Dr. Hariprasad, who sees a ray of hope when he finds even one poll out of the hundreds in Ahmadabad clean and tidy, might well feel satisfied that we have at least four regular music lovers. Where there is filth and squalor and misery there can be no music. It implies an atmosphere quite the contrary. If we put a broad interpretation on music, i. e., if we mean by it union, concord, mutual help, it may be said that in no department of life can we dispense with it. Music today has been regarded to mean the vocal effort of a singing girl. We fight shy of sending our sisters and daughters to music schools. There seems to be a superstition that their voice is best when it is devoid of sweetness. That explains why Dr. Hariprasad has had to express satisfaction with an attendance of ten students. Music, truly speaking, is an ancient and sacred art. The hymns of Samaveda are a mine of music, and no ayat of the Koran can be recited unmusically. David’s Psalms transport you to raptures and remind you of the hymns from Samaveda. Let us revive this art and patronize the school of music. We see Hindu and Mussalman musicians sitting cheek by jowl and partaking in musical concerts. When shall we see the same fraternal union in other affairs of our life? We shall then have the name of Rama and Rahman simultaneously on our lips. I am glad some of you here are patronizing music. If many more send their children to the music class it will be part of their contribution to national uplift but to go a step further.

If we would see music in millions of our poor homes, we should all wear khadi and spin. The music we have had today was sweet indeed but it is a privilege of the favoured few. The music of the spinning-wheel can be a free gift to all and is therefore sweeter, It is the hope and solace and mainstay of the millions, and for me therefore the truly good music. We shall consider music in a narrow sense to mean the ability to sing and play an instrument well while carrying a tune and marking the correct beats of time but, in its wider sense, that is to say that true music is created only when life is attuned to a single tune and a single time-beat. Music is born only where the strings of the heart are not out of tune. The experiment with music will be regarded as successful one when the crores of people in the entire country will start speaking with the same voice. In my opinion true music is implicit in khadi and the spinning-wheel. So long as that has not been made explicit, the country is going to welcome anarchy or misrule and, it will continue to be in a state of bondage.

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