ILaiyaraaja – The Seraphic Musician

What is Meditation?

Is it closing our eyes and chanting something repeatedly?

Is it focussing on an object with our eyes open?

Is it staring at the light?

Is it just focussing on our breath?

Well, it is all these and something much more. The fact of the matter is – Meditation or the state of Meditation can only be experienced and can hardly be explained, however great the person’s vocabulary is.

Suffice to say that people experience inner calm and tranquility and at the same time feeling energetic. Potential Energy and Kinetic Energy, in action at the same time.

There is something beyond Meditation and this is called the Samadhi state. Not many can experience this state and not many have experienced this state. Transcending the duality of the matter and the mind, the body and the mind, the existence and non-existence, it is an experience of oneness and the ultimate bliss. Some rishis in the past and some saints in the present ( more recent, though this is subjective!) have experienced this state. As far as I know, RamaNa Maharishi experienced it, going by the writings about him and the kind of experience I get when I visit his Ashram.

There was one more person, who I feel must have definitely experienced this. And that is, AruNagirinathar.

How do I know?

Not an easy question to answer and just like how one cannot define a Meditative state, this too cannot be explained. But having read many of his verses under different works, it is just my feeling and at times, I go by what I feel because of my percipience.

Let me quote just one of his verses- though there are many- to tell you all why I feel what I feel:

 

ஆனா அமுதே! அயில் வேல் அரசே!

ஞானாகரனே! நவிலத் தகுமோ

யானாகிய என்னை விழுங்கி வெறும்

தானாய் நிலை நின்றது தற்பரமே?

Raja4376 · Aana amude

In short, he says – Oh the one who is holding the Vel! The one who is the nectar!! Explain that state where I forget the ‘I’ and be one with You.

This is verse no.28 in that work called ‘Kandar Anuboodhi’.

Does he stop with this?

See this now:

குறியைக் குறியாது குறித்து அறியும்

நெறியைத் தனி வேலை நிகழ்த்திடலும்

செறிவற்று உலகோடு உரை சிந்தையும் அற்று

அறிவற்று அறியாமையும் அற்றதுவே!

Raja4376 · KuRiyai KuRiyadu

I forgot my relations, my mind, my speech, my knowledge and my ignorance the moment He taught me the right way to meditate and this is pure bliss.

This is verse no.42.

If you are insightful, you will make the connection between the two. If I were to describe it, I would just stop with saying ‘Esoteric’.

AruNagiri experienced that bliss, that eternal light.

We mortals too, can experience something close to it, depending on how wise we are. Take the song ‘AruNa KiraNa Deepam’ from ‘Guru’ (1997). Whenever I listen to it, I experience something different; something unique; something divine; something esoteric.

The composition based on KeeravaNi (or Harmonic minor) and is set in Mishram. These details are not as important as the way these are applied. For a change, let me take up each aspect and then go on to the main subject.

Laya: I said it is set in Mishram ( 7 beat- cycle). But the prelude goes plainly in 4, with the brass flute and the horns even playing 1 2 3 4 after a while. The percussion which appear much later (0.58) play in 4. It is only when the chorus starts (1.23) that it shifts to Mishram.

The percussion sounds 1, 4 and 6 (ta, ta, dhi) in the 7-beat cycle. After two cycles, the strings join in and play 1 2 3 4 5 6/1 2 3 4/ 1 2 3 4( ta ka dhi mi ta ka/ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi).

The Pallavi in the voice of Yesudas too follows the same pattern – Aruna ( 1 2 3 ) KiraNa ( 1 2 3 ) Deepam ( 1 2 3 4) Paaba ( 1 2 3 4). Let it be understood that Mishram in ‘mel kaalam’(faster mode) is 7x2.

The first interlude follows the same pattern, though the percussion takes a break. The group of violins that appears in between sounds ta ki ta/ta ki ta/ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi, so obviously that one forgets if these are melodious instruments or percussive instruments ( melodious percussive, probably). The most beautiful part occurs towards the end of the interlude when an instrument plays a sustained melody subtly for 2 cycles.

Meditative?

The percussion appears only in the second part of the first interlude. It takes a break again for a while when the chorus renders the wordings and appears again albeit subtly and gradually after that.

It is the bells that sound the taaLam in the first segment of the second interlude.

KeeravaNi/Harmonic minor :

The western contours are felt almost throughout with a host of instruments, but the Indian counterpart (though this may not be an ideal term) is felt in the Pallavi, in the middle part of the first interlude. The ‘akaaram’ of Yesudas in the CharaNams, speaks for itself .

Orchestration:

There is a kind of an eerie beginning with a single instrument sounding like a clock and a host of instruments sounding suddenly with a bang. But it is that silence (0.29- 0.33) which makes a difference. After all, isn’t silence musical and meditative?

The strings sound soft and soothing while the brass flute moves with a flourish. The oboe which takes over is bewitching and when juxtaposed with the flute, the experience is exhilarating. The strings then move with a purpose after the chorus and this could be because of the backing of the rhythm in Mishram.

The brass flute after the first few phrases are rendered by Yesudas, is alluring and at the same time graceful. When Chitra renders the lines, the subtle strings and double bass, back her voice while the horns sound with assiduity when the chorus sings ‘Brahmma Naadam..’, which itself is like a crescendo.

The tantalising melody of the oboe is complemented by the supple strings. The oboe and flute vivify the atmosphere before the leitmotif appears.

The lines in the CharaNams are backed by the very subtle strings, in line with the mood.

If the bells sound with a sense of uncanniness, the flute moves with finesse sketching something in the process. Like a karma yogi, the two sets of strings move in a linear way with the oboe just nodding its head. It is that flute which plays along with the chorus, bending, meandering, and straddling the octaves, which leads us to something.

Is it a diffused glow?

Is it the eternal light?

Is it that state of Samadhi?

AruNagiri and AruNa Kirana Deepam will probably give an answer.