Tuesday, December 31, 2013

come

Come
Kill me
Let the whole world know
that is not love, peace, bliss
it is death
by a thousand cuts.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Abhang vani by Bhimsen

My heart felt regards to the person who uploaded this on youtube.




Monday, August 06, 2012

Kumar Gandharva - Raag yaman

It went straight from ears to soul! Fab!

Sunday, August 05, 2012

Dadra- Jamuna kinare mora gaon

Very nice rendition by Smt. Pratibha Atre of Jamuna kinare mora gaon. We have also heard a brilliant rendition of this dadra by Bhuvnesh Komkalli(kumar gandharva's son).

Friday, July 20, 2012

Avaghachi sansar

When a culture/tradition/nation produces such 21 yr olds what can you call it ... a pathological case of  ego-inflation ? :-) :-)

Sung wonderfully by madhuvanti dandekar. I have the feeling that in chorus, this will sound even better.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Ravi Shankar- Tilak Kamod

For reasons best understood after careful listening of this video, Shri Ravi Shankar will remain one of the most "emotive" musicians of our time.

Tilak Kamod.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Raag Kedar

Pilu and kedar are so hard to dislike in any mood. Both in drut and vilambit they have this colorful playfulness attached to them. I love the rendition by Ustad Bade gulam ali khan of Albeli naar. We have also heard our friend Sriram parasuram, But I think this one by Rajan Sajan Mishra is as good as the one by BGAK if not better. So enjoy this gem by the demigods of Kashi.


PS: a version of this by Sriram Parasuram was also posted by me some years ago on this blog.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Yaman- Bhimsen Joshi

We have heard this million times from million people. But this one is priceless.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Lava

Attachment
Detachment
attachment to attachment
attachment to detachment
he knows it all.

  

Friday, November 04, 2011

Paimona Bideh

Beautiful sarod with Zeb n Hania's soulful vocals.

Paimana bideh ki khumaar astam;
Bring me the glass so I may lose myself;

Man aashiq-e chashm-e mast-e-yarastam;
I am in love with my beloved's intoxicating eyes;


Find the complete lyrics here.




Thursday, October 27, 2011

Naam Sankirtan: OS Arun

Hearing to OS Arunji can be defined in just one phrase: "Uplifting Relaxation"
He deserves Padma Vibhushan. Dont you agree ?




Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Name


Of late I have been deeply intrigued by jewish scriptures. Jewish traditions of kabalah etc. What I find very striking is, that in its most sacred transcendental form, God in judaism is called "the name", in Hebrew its called "hashem". Infact so scared is this name that, traditionally in Judaism, the name is not even pronounced but read as Adonai, "my Lord" during prayers. Its not meant to be said openly lest it gets defiled.  

Since then I have trying to correlate it with Vedic tradition and perhaps the closest we get to is Pranava (ukar akar makar yati).But still, even though divinity is referred to as "the word" it is never mentioned in the nominal sense. So while God/brahman is codified as sound/syllable/word. There is no direct mention of god/divinity being referred to as "Name". Infact even in the later classical sanskrit tradition, we have many shasranaams but God is never called Name, only other flowery adjectives are used. So god's name is important but god is never referred to as "Name".

However little later during bhakti age, we find repeated references of this sort i.e. god being referred to as naam. Kabir Nanak Dadu etc. do it quite often. And in the modern thinkers also we see Name being given a special emphasis by JK/UG etc. Even eckhart etc. 

What are your thoughts on this, i.e. "God" being referred to as "Name". Or I am just thinking too wildly ?

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Pashto Music: Javed Akhtar Zalim Music

I dont know why but the northwest part of Pakistan fascinates me a lot. Not only it is perhaps the "probable" entry point of Aryans(or now a days Aryan languages) in India but it is also a unique and fascinating area for culture-vultures like us. Whether it is the slik route or the kalash people or the Uzbecks/kirgs/Tajiks, the whole region to me is sort of a place where central asian meets greek meets indo-european. Enough now, and lets hear a folk beautiful song in Pashto/urdu. Pashto is the language of Pathans(Pakhtuns/Pashtun). Notice the beautiful folk instruments, IMHO little sound effects and some polish can make it a numero uno chart topper.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Vedic Shakas patha recital

A beautiful beautiful video of different forms of vedic recitals(Shakhas literally branches) from all parts of India(TN,KL,UK,UP,RJ,KN,BI). It contains portions of all 4 vedas and some brahmanas (Shatapatha and Gargi IIRC). Samveda portions are really exhilarating. I only wish there was more ghanapatha but then I have some good ghanapatha recordings with me. One thing which struck me was the White Yajurveda in Tamil nadu. Thus far, I had the impression that Shukla yajur is only in north India but anyway it was nice to hear that too. Transported me back to my grandfathers reciting the Shruti. Enjoy.


Vedic recitation of various recensions of the Vedas from Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies on Vimeo.


If the embedded video doesnt work try here

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Saraswati Stuti - Veena Sahasrabuddhe



Beautiful saraswasti stuti sung by veena madame.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Man Mast hua phir kya bolen and leher leher

I had heard a fascinating rendition of this bhajan in fast tempo in Shanti Kunj some 15 yrs ago, since then I have been trying to find that version.... never been able to.

Here is one version by Tipannya, nice and  fast but still not quite the one I was looking for. Furthermore another composition by Kabir , "leher leher" might interest you.

Man mast hua






leher leher


Sunday, June 26, 2011

Kabir on Guru

Kabir on guru(or sad gurus) , Channulal's voice.  "quick and dirty" lyrics and translation.

so guru satya kahawein
Regard such a guru to be a true one
koi nainan alakh lakhawein
who makes the eyes see the trasncental (alakh=a-lakshan)
dolat dige na bolat phisle, as upadesh dikhwaein 
whose teaching stays steady, in speech and action
jap tap jog kriya te nyara, sahaj samadhi sikhwaein 
 who teaches sahaj samadhi, which is beyond japa tapa and kriya
so guru satya kahawein 
Regard such a guru to be true(one)
kaya kasht bhooli nahi dewaein
One who doesnt prescribe mortification, or any physical discomfort. 
nahi sansar chudawain 
neither asks you to renounce the world
yeh man jaaye jahan tahan tahan
wherever the mind wanders
paramata darsawein
he makes you see the param-atma(beyond self/transcendental)
karma karien nishkarm rahein , kuch aise yukti batawein
One who teaches the art of inaction in action 
sada vilaas bhog mein jog jagawein 
in pleasure, enjoyment one who kindles yoga
bheetar bahar ek hi dekhein , dooja dristhi na aawein 
Who grants a non dual perception
kahe kabir koi sadguru aisa
aawagaman chudawein 
kabir says, such a sadhguru can deliver one from the cycle of rebirth

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

No return

If you have ever walked
 you would know
If you have ever desired
 you would know
that to begin
is to cross the point of no return.

And there-after,
you will perish with it, without out it
and curse the day, you had first dreamt of starting.

There is no way forward
and there is no way at all
once you have crossed the point of no return

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Suffer

He is still suffering
He is still thinking
First he had thought,
that thinking is suffering
Now he knows,
suffering is thinking. 

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Gyaneshwari/Dnyaeshwari

It has been said umpteen times by me that if we were to find someone who matched Shankara in terms of intellect, impact and clarity of expression it would be Gyaneshwar( Dnyaneshwar) . Yes Abhinavgupta and Ramanuja were great too and perhaps in lot of ways greater but I think you got what I am got trying to put accross.

We have in the past delved into Gyaneshwar's greatness here and especially his lesser known work i.e. Amritanubhav. I remember reading it verse by verse to Nari, who was totally blown by it!(yaad aaya Nari?)
 I hope one day, I delve more deeply into Dnyaneswari and read it cover to cover.

There are also some peculiar similarities which both of them(Shankara and Gyanoba), share i.e. early flowering, early demise, castigation by the orthodox brahmins, great transcendental as well as devotional works and of-course a GREAT fan-club, which survives down to the present day. Here is a small excerpt from Dnyaneshwari.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Shri Vidyabhusana - 2

Another beautiful Bhajan by Vidyabhushanaji

Shri Vidyabhusana

After a long time, I have heard something like this! Incredible. Shri Vidyabhushana is just amazing!


And of-course also sample this, http://youtu.be/kFx-bYE9rgQ

A question: Why is sundarkand called sundarkand ?