The Place of Music in our Spiritual Practice

My earlier blog post described how I use music in the light of Mother’s guidance of educating the vital being by training the senses. This blog post will be more about Mother’s views on music and its spiritual effect in our life.

Whether you are a practicing musician or only listen to music, music can be relevant to your spiritual practice. As Mother says, 

“Music too is an essentially spiritual art and has always been associated with religious feeling and an inner life.”^[1]

Sri Aurobindo expresses the same idea when he says,

“Music and art and poetry have striven from the beginning to express the vision of the deepest and greatest things and not the things of the surface only, and it will be so as long as there are poetry and art and music.”^[2]

And thus the time we spend with music can be used to enrich our consciousness and help in our self-development. And for Mother, this is the main purpose of music:

“The role of music lies in helping the consciousness to uplift itself towards the spiritual heights. All that lowers the consciousness, encourages desires and excites the passions, runs counter to the true goal of music and ought to be avoided.”^[3]

Hence, from the standpoint of our sadhana, it is important what music we choose to listen to. It should be that which elevates and inspires us. Mother’s description of the origin of different types of music is relevant in this context. 

“There are different levels. There is a whole category of music that comes from the higher vital, which is very catching, somewhat (not to put it exactly) vulgar, it is something that twists your nerves. This music is not necessarily unpleasant, but generally it seizes you there in the nervous centres. So, there is one type of music which has a vital origin. There is music which has a psychic origin — it is altogether different. And then there is music which has a spiritual origin: it is very bright, and it carries you away, captures you entirely.”^[4]

In this context, Indian classical music based on the raga system can be very helpful for us to learn and listen to because it is a music which Mother describes as having a psychic inspiration.

“Indian music, when there are good musicians, has almost always a psychic origin; for example, the ragas have a psychic origin, they come from the psychic.”^[5] 

Hence, an interest in listening to or learning to sing or play ragas can be spiritually beneficial for us.

Similarly, Mother has mentioned Western classical music as helpful to develop this psychic connection.

“In Europe there were musicians who were truly musicians, and they too had the thing: Bach had it, he used to do the same sort of thing, Mozart had it, his music was purely musical, he had no intention of expressing any other thing, it was music for music’s sake. But this manner of taking a certain number of notes in a certain relation (they are like almost infinite variations), personally I find it wonderful to put you in repose, and you enter deep within yourself. And then, if you are ready, it gives you the psychic consciousness: something that makes you withdraw from the external consciousness, which makes you enter elsewhere, enter within.”^[6]  

And once we choose the music which we find inspiring, another important thing is how we listen to it. Mother has often mentioned the correct way of listening to music.

Student: “Mother, when one hears music, how should one truly hear it?” 

Mother: “For this — if one can be completely silent, you see, silent and attentive, simply as though one were an instrument which has to record it — one does not move and is only something that is listening — if one can be absolutely silent, absolutely still and like that, then the thing enters. And it is only later, some time later, that you can become aware of the effect, either of what it meant or the impression it had on you. But the best way of listening is this. It is to be like a still mirror and very concentrated, very silent. In fact, we see people who truly love music... I have seen musicians listening to music, musicians, composers or players who truly love music, I have seen them listening to music... they sit completely still, you know, they are like that, they do not move at all. Everything, everything is like that. And if one can stop thinking, then it is very good, then one profits fully.... It is one of the methods of inner opening and one of the most powerful.”^[7]

Another aspect about music in our sadhana is that the more developed our consciousness is through spiritual practice, the better we can receive and retain musical inspirations.

“There are certain passages of Cesar Franck, certain passages of Beethoven, certain passages of Bach, there are pieces by others also which have this inspiration and power. But it is only a moment, it comes as a moment, it does not last. You cannot take the entire work of an artist as being on that level. Inspiration comes like a flash; sometimes it lasts sufficiently long, when the work is sustained; and when that is there, the same effect is produced, that is, if you are attentive and concentrated, suddenly that lifts you up, lifts up all your energies, it is as though someone opened out your head and you were flung into the air to tremendous heights and magnificent lights. It produces in a few seconds results that are obtained with so much difficulty through so many years of yoga. Only, in general, one may fall down afterwards, because the consciousness is not there as the basis; one has the experience and afterwards does not even know what has happened. But if you are prepared, if you have indeed prepared your consciousness by yoga and then the thing happens, it is almost definitive.”^[8]

Mother has spoken a lot about music on different occasions, and we can see from the above references the importance which she gives to music and how relevant it can be for us in our sadhana. I have benefited greatly from Mother’s guidance on how to use music for uplift and inspiration. Thus, whether one is learning to play music or is just listening to it, it can be a very useful tool to help in the spiritual growth and development.

Here are some examples of music that I have found personally uplifting -

• Rag Ramkali by the The Dagar brothers
• Rag Bhimpalasi by Pt. Bhimsen Joshi
• Violin Concerto A minor by Antonio Vivaldi
• The Art of the Fugue by J.S. Bach

What pieces of music do you find personally uplifting? Share in the blog.

- Paul Sawh (Canada)

Keywords: Music, Integral Yoga, Spiritual Art, Silent Listening

^[1] CMW (Complete Works of the Mother) Vol. 3, p.110

^[2] SACW (Sri Aurobindo Collected Works) Vol. 27.184

^[3] CMW 12.240

^[4] CMW 5.74

^[5] CMW 5.76

^[6] CMW 5.76

^[7] CMW 6.381

^[8] CMW 5.75