An aesthetic celebration of the eternal spirit of Bhagwan Sri Satya Sai Baba through the music of Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao. Voices - Kalaimamanigal Radha & Jayalakshmi. Instrumentals - Eminent musicians of India. Lyrics - Pt. C.Pandey & Sri Satya Sai Trust

12 MP3 Songs in this album (43:58) !
Related styles: World: World Traditions, Spiritual: Inspirational, Mood: Intellectual

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BABA

âThe end goal of education is character. The end goal of knowledge is unconditional love. The end goal of wisdom is freedom. The end goal of culture is perfection.â â Bhagwan Sri Satya Sai Baba

Few have influenced the spirit of modern India as Bhagwan Sri Satya Sai Baba. Babaâs thoughts, words, sentiments and actions permeate the lives of human beings everywhere regardless of origin or faith. Babaâs vision of a better world is exemplified in the exceptional schools, universities, hospitals, housing and drinking-water supply projects built by his charities to serve and enhance societies in hundreds of countries.

A life of truth, righteousness, peace, love and non-violence is a life dedicated to Baba.

THE MUSIC

BHAKTI : DEVOTION celebrates the eternal spirit of Baba through music. The inimitable sisters Kalaimamanigal Radha & Jayalakshmi join some of the most eminent musicians of India to sing twelve songs espousing Babaâs values composed and conducted by Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao.

Through the past seven decades, legendary flautist, innovative composer, pioneering choreographer and erudite musicologist Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao has shaped and indelibly influenced the essential form and derivatives of culture known to the world as classically Indian. Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao's is a rare brilliance on the cultural firmament in India and abroad. Marked by characteristic excellence, his work has always carried an exuberance of spirit. In BHAKTI : DEVOTION Panditji leads a stellar cast of renowned singers and musicians to celebrate the aesthetic joy inherent in spirituality.

ART & SPIRITUALITY

In the interview below, Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao elaborates on the confluence of art and spirituality.

Question: What is spirituality?

Answer: It is perhaps an inwardly soulful vivacity, well defined as an immaterial, eternal, pure state of mind devoid of all physical tensions, illusions, or wants. It is what makes the mortal an immortal.

Q: Are you spiritual?

A: Just to say "yes, i am" is sheer hypocrisy.
All achievements, attainments or professional skills of a human being - I think - are ultimately aimed at making him/her a " spiritual" person: a true human being guided by a spirit that can conquer his / her self. That spirit embodies my ideals. As I seek it through my thoughts, it transforms my actions. In the serene, unconscious manner of a prayer with tangible consequences, my spirituality allows me successively increasing amounts of self-fulfillment. Complete self-fulfillment is a state of true independence. Liberation is another moniker for that state of being. As we seek what we know is an infinite expanse of ideals, we regulate our processes accordingly; and eventually liberate ourselves. I think liberation is the process of fully coming to terms with ones
elf, free from non-idealistic bondage.

Every human is endowed with a fund of divinity, the complete potential of our ideals. Artistes seek it as a matter of skill; those less prone to expression seek it through prayer. When we strive to realize that innermost being and its consequent divinity, we seek to be spiritual. "Spirituality" is a process of such realization. If I am engaged in this process, I am spiritual. I wish to be spiritual in every action of mine and earnestly attempt to seek its blessings.

Q: How does your spirituality influence your expressions?

A: My spirituality guides me when I create. It offers me inspiration. It makes me humble. It provides me with an anchor. It puts my muse in perspective. It is the essence of any innovation I attempt. When my creations rise above what is mundane and appear to be genuine, everlasting, they implicitly suggest a lingering, pervasive aesthetic. That aesthetic is significantly intertwined with my spirituality. Because what I seek through my spirituality is intrinsically unique to my being, my aesthetic is original too. Technically perfect pieces of art begin to enlighten beyond their compass if they were founded on the basis of spirituality. Entertaining is no longer an audience driven exercise - with spirituality, the performer begins to express a soul.

Q: Can there be such an entity as a non-spiritual artiste?

A: The world is populated with human beings of all kinds. Simple expression sometimes becomes high art. Much vacuous expression is passed off as art. Intentions drive human beings to the extremes of their potential: evil masquerades under guises of acceptable expression. There is much tacit approval of non-art, rooted as it is in a confusion of metaphor or medium. A lot of this comes from non-spiritual expressionists. They exist, and they practice, and they foist their mindsets on unsuspecting audiences. They are a necessary barometer of free societies: for every action, the unavoidable reaction. Yet, in my opinion, true art has always had its roots in introspection. Art is a journey from the realms of the self to the non-self. The moment one undertakes the responsibility of making that trip, he / she invariably operates in the realm of spirituality. To be an artiste, therefore, is to be spiritual. Art is the language of the spirit. A non-spiritual artiste, thus, is a rare species.

Q: Is the artist's nature the same as his spirit?

A: Through constant 'sadhana', by virtue of an innate discipline in consequent expression, an artiste could attain a level of maturity that allows him / her to realize all his / her visions and his / her dreams, consistently, at the level of complete perfection. In that stratosphere, over time's passage, he /she could conceivably express his / her imagination through the process of conquering self-defining traits, so that his / her spirit is allowed free reign. What he / she expresses then is the spirit in its full glory. Shorn of what is fleeting, devoid of the artiste, completely representing his / her art. The spirit is the art, then, the spirit is the artiste. There is a resplendent symmetry in the artiste's nature, his / her medium, and what it carries outward. Perhaps this is utopian, maybe it is an ideal as unattainable as the spirit itself. Perhaps that state of being is what characterizes saints who practice artforms - Thyagaraja is a case in point. In such states of consciousness physical existence is not a desire. Art outlives the artiste.

Q: Is God an artiste?

A: Can you ever believe that nature - our nature, beautiful, colorful, multivariate - , throbbing with a multitude of energies, seething with a billion forms extending well into the reaches of time and space, that this nature could ever be the work of a non-artiste?
I believe God is the net essence of all knowledge, truth, energy and purity. He / She is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. That essence is achieved through several lifetimes of inculcating and honing of an ephemeral spirituality. The quest of a typical human lifetime is to harness its skills, knowledge, capacity and deeds to move toward a sense of godliness. In that framework, we human beings are all engaged in the process of making art. An art that meshes with the grand order of natural process - the ultimate work of art. In that order worlds exist in majestic splendor to sustain life, and just as majestically self-destruct, so that newer worlds of fresher truths take their natural place. If that is not art, what is. If that is not the artiste's dream, what is.

Q: What has been the role of God in your art?

A: To me God represents exquisite energy: immaterial, immortal, eternal energy. As I create, I seek recourse to that perennial energy. I can seek to perfect my expressions that way. Work becomes a form of worship. I am able to sustain my spirits for interminable lengths of time. My creations take on a completeness of meaning. I seek symmetries with pieces of nature. Can my interpretation of a Raga induce its natural mood in the ears and minds of my connoisseurs? I work within a divine frame of reference. I develop an aesthetic which is uniquely mine. I am more mature as an artiste because I rigorously compare my creations with my concept of that which is perfect and unshackled by existence.

"Najayate Mriyate Va Kadachit, Na Ayam Bhootva Bhavitava Na bhoovyaha. Ajo Nitya shasvato Ayam Purano Nahanyate. Hanyamane Sharire."

"It never dies. It neither existed, nor is existing, nor will it. It is always permanent. It is the oldest one. Without death. It is only the body that dies." - Bhagavad Geeta.

I believe that such a spirit and God are synonymous with the brilliant, infinite energy I seek in my artistic endeavors. With such an ideal to partake from, I am encouraged to strive, to take risks, to expand horizons, to contemplate, to find a microcosm of God in my creations.

Q: Is belief in God essential to the task of artistic expression?

A: Creativity is what it is because it is very necessarily unique. Artistic expression is implicitly creative. The power and subtlety of a human being's feeling - despair, triumph, love, wonder, hope - is the basis of creative works the world over. As an artiste's expression matures, his insights render him into a kind of isolation. He is more of an artiste if he follows the dictates of his spirit; and what that invariably means is that he is forced to hone an extremely personal expression. Almost subconsciously, maturity leads one into pure and uncharted territory. Out there, in such new vistas, yardsticks of truth and frames of reference are hard to come by. Some seek it in mentors, others attempt to find a historical basis; me, I try to eliminate self-definitive traits, allowing my soul to surface in the fullest of freedom. In any event, there is a consuming need to be close to a transcendent entity, a God. An exquisite ocean of perpetual resonance that is all relationships rolled into one: father, mother, teacher, friend. I need that absolute entity; I believe in it, and it is essential to my expression. It bestows an elegant articulation in the midst of much that is abstract.

Q: Can religion and art coexist?

A: The answer to that lies in society's interpretation of religion. Often religion is confused with points of view. Often it is not religion that is at issue, but one's interpretation of it. When the line between religion and subjective opinion is violated, indeed destroyed so that one becomes the other, expression pays a price. Somehow, abstraction is viewed at odds; an artist is viewed as a villain, bent on mischief; and his society then assumes the nature of a victim. The truth of the matter however is that under such circumstances artistic expression and religion are both victims. There is hardly any discordance between them, if you think about it. For example, many Hindu Gods and Goddesses are portrayed as originators of art-forms. Indeed, almost every musical instrument can be traced to a God or a Goddess. To me artistic expression transports the artiste and his audience from the self to the non-self, from the mundane to the subliminal, from the existential to the spiritual - which is often what religion is all about. In a society that treats religion as a medium to foster values - rather than as an arbitrator of taste - the practice of artforms becomes a catalyst for mutual growth. People communicate better, there is much communality, and a sense of refinement pervades human interaction. Not only can art and religion coexist then, they are critical companions serving a noble cause.

Q: Should art be used as such, i.e. to serve causes?

A: Not until the artiste is at complete peace with his creation. Often serving causes can become the cart that leads the horse, rather than vice versa. The true task of the artiste is still the process of creation, not its dissemination or appreciation. If his spirit expresses emotions that mesh with his society's, his creation will find a degree of resonance with causes dear to his society. If his spirit is restless, in a state of flux, in an evolution, he is better off staying away from reaching out to his environment. It makes little sense to embody conflicts - however honest they might be - and yet harness them to serve a larger, unrelated cause affecting many. An artiste can never hope to exercise any power over his society in a conscious way - his power is intrinsically without intention; it happens, it cannot be controlled. Therefore, art can serve society in very constructive ways if the artiste enjoys a natural, unaffected connection to his environment. His art then becomes a rallying point for his society to converge around.

Q: Is art sensual?

A: As the air around us is made up of so many facets - pure and polluted, dense and rare, - so is art. Some express to appeal to the senses, some allow our senses their freedom to respond, and a few do neither, letting their art find a place and meaning in our nature. Artistic expression isn't sensual per se - the sensory experience or the lack of it lies with the beholder. Clearly, one who is sensitive in the ways of responding to life around him will respond with more sensitivity to another's expression, especially an expression that is crafted with skill and represents the artiste's spirit and point of view. For many who have their own axes to grind, however, the ability to respond in sensitive ways is diminished. To them, artistic expression would appear to be more of a distortion of their own perceptions than an independent entity with subtleties of its own. Often, worthwhile expression of considerable innovation takes an inordinate amount of time to register any impact on people because of this: it is viewed in a context that is inappropriate to its appreciation, a context that is framed by what was, what holds, or who rules. The appreciation due the work is jaundiced by bounds on the senses imposed by mores of the times. Art suffers then because it is sensual. I would rather that art be spiritual more than sensual in any form. The spirit embodies permanency, a degree of fundamental, everlasting truth, while the senses live and change and die with the appreciator. Conversely, a work of art - music, painting, dance, whatever - is more likely to elicit immediate reactions and opinions if it appeals to the senses in very direct ways. That is the paradox of human nature - we seek what fulfills our immediate needs, while letting go of what nurtures our spirit. Art, any art, however, is married to the spirit. The senses arouse, the spirit procreates. Art and spirituality are to each other what water is to this earth.


BHAKTI : DEVOTION

Voices - Kalaimamanigal Radha & Jayalakshmi

Instrumentals - Preeminent musicians of India

Lyrics - Pt. Chandrashekhar Pandey & Sri Satya Sai Central Trust

Conceived, composed and conducted by Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao

Special thanks to Pt. Govind Prasad Jaipurwalle & The Gramaphone Company of India Ltd.

English interpretations of original songs in Hindi & Sanskrit by Sailaja & Sanjay Rao. The interpretations appear in a 12-page booklet in the CD version of the album

Excerpts from the interview above with Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao appear by kind courtesy of Amrita Shankar

Special thanks to Smt. Lakshmi V. Rao, Dr. & Mrs. V. Elchuri, Dr. & Mrs. Kasarabada, Drs. T. & J. Shankar, Viki, Tanmai, Rahul, Dimpy, Swati, Akash, Mihir, Prashant, Vaishali & Amrita

Sound Executive Dr. Vijay Vardhan Elchuri Executive Producer Sanjay Kumar

© (p) 2011 by Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao

With love and devotion for Baba - Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao

From The Red & Green Company