Book Reviewed: Sonic Liturgy: Ritual and Music in Hindu Tradition by Guy L. Beck

Seeking spiritual communion with God through ritual and music in Hindu worship (Five stars)

Music has cosmological, liturgical and devotional significance in Hindu worship since Vedic times. Mantras, Stotras, Kirtana, Kriti, Bhajans, Bhakti Sangit, Haveli Sangit, Samaj Gayan, and Padavali Kirtan are various musical forms that evolved on certain canonical standards. This book explore the history from the earliest times to the current form of Indian classical music. Hindu traditions offer the most consistent and enduring meaning for the sonic liturgy; the ritual order of sound and music. The author reviews the Indian history of music to illustrate how music became so significant in Hinduism. He discusses The Vedic worship that included fire sacrifices (Yajna) and Sama-Gana, and then outlines the emergence of Gandharva Sangita as the principal music designed for puja and seva that included offerings placed on an altar. Gradually music became more focused on two major Hindu deities; Vishnu (and Krishna) and Siva. These two gods were worshipped in various forms, avatars and names. Bhakti music grew simultaneously and it gave raise to bhajans and kirtans. Classical music styles such as Dhrupad and Dhamar in the form of Haveli Sangita and Samaj Gayan grew strongly especially in Vaishnava system.

A brief summary of this book is as follows: Rig-Veda and Samaveda has a systematic and highly canonized versions for chants and utterances of sacred hymns. Nada-Brahman in the Agamas, Pancharatra and Tantras describe the power of sacred sound, syllable OM (AUM), which is the Supreme Brahman, the Absolute Being. This has the dimension of salvation to the music that gives access to the spiritual reality. This notion with Rasa theory and the structures of raga (melody types) and tala (rhythms) lead to various schools of Indian classical music. This form of music also shares the technical dimension of Vedic sacrifice interpreted by the school of Purva-Mimamsa philosophy.

Verses from Rig-Veda were chanted in three distinct musical tones or accents. These three were expanded to seven notes in Sama-Gana, the singing of Samaveda hymns with pre-set melodies during soma sacrifice. Gandharva Sangita is the counterpart to the sacrificial Sama-Gana; it is the music performed in the court of Lord Indra in heaven. This form of music also used musical instruments such as vina, flute, drums, and cymbals. The oldest surviving texts of this form of music is in Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni and Dattilam by Dattila (ca. 400-200 B.C.E). By sixth century C.E. the bhakti movement became powerful forces in favoring devotion centered Hinduism with song texts called Desi-bhashas. The theistic Vedanta started to make strong impact, and the impersonal nature of Brahman of Upanishads and Vedanta were conceived as supreme personal deity in the form of Siva (Saivism), Vishnu (Vaishnavism) and Shakti (Tantrism.) The radical switch from Sanskrit to vernacular languages created bhakti poetry and temple music traditions, which was sanctioned by religious texts such as Bhagavata Purana. The Tevaram hymns of Saiva saints known as Naynars, and Divya Prabhandam hymns of Vaishnava saints called Alvars became popular. Both these systems were compiled in fifth and sixth centuries C.E. These traditions overlapped with classical music traditions of Carnatic music, and sometime after thirteenth century, this traditions broke into two major groups that became the northern Hindustani music and the southern Carnatic music. Hindustani music that originated from classical Dhrupad and Dhamar became popular in the courts of many kingdoms of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bengal, and Uttara Pradesh. During the late middle ages (1200-1600 C.E), the deity of Krishna emerged as the principal object of Bhakti Sangit and helped to create Krishna Sampradayas, one of the prominent Vaishnava tradition.

By 18th century Dhrupad singing started to decline and replaced by more fluid improvisatory Khayal style of singing. It allowed more display of virtuosity and configured as less religious and more appropriate for court’s entertainment. Instruments like sitar and sarod were invented to mirror the renderings of fast tempos and rapid passages in succession.

I very much enjoyed reading this book and I recommend this to anyone interested in Indian history, particularly the music history of India.

Book Reviewed: Vedic Deities by M.P. Pandit

Are Vedic Gods manifestation of a Supreme Being? An esoteric interpretation

In this book, the author examines the spiritual character of Vedas using Sri Aurobindo’s esoteric interpretation. It is argued that Rig-Vedic gods are not just natural forces worshipped by ancient Indians but they are a manifestation of a universal power and contains the elements of “Supreme Being. Most Western scholars shy away from the idea that Rig-Veda has metaphysical concepts, but Vedic scholars like Aurobindo and Kapali Sastriar, Vedic worship is more than a ritual practice.

The author considers three Vedic deities; Aditi, Surya and Maruts in his discussion, and the associated Vedic practices. He concludes that there is a philosophical doctrine behind a seemingly occult worship. A brief summary of this book is as follows:

Mystical elements are associated with sacrificial performance of Vedic culture. This ritual was believed to please the Vedic gods and bless the performer with strength. It is said that the Vedic altar which is the seat of sacrifice is referred to as the farthest extremity of earth. Paro antah prithvyah (Rig-Veda I.164.35) as the nodes of Truth, Rtsya nabhih (Rig-Veda V. X.13.3). In some places the sacrifice is referred to as an entity with conscious activity, Tatramtsya cetanam yajnam te tanavavahai (Rig-Veda I.170.4) and the gods themselves perform conscious sacrifice, Cetanam Yajnam. Thus sacrifice is deemed as a wheel for generating the power. Everything connected to a sacrifice has a symbolic meaning. Behind the external ceremony, there is an inner sanctum in which the sacrificer offers his material possessions to the higher powers with full devotion and dedication. It is a self-consecration with Agni who witnesses this journey to the inner sanctum. Agni is considered as the inner flame, a leader and the path-finder.

In his discussion about specific Vedic deities, the author observes that Maruts are the aspiring forces of life; they reach the height of pure mind with the swiftness of Vayu, and the strength of the force of Rudra who is their sire. Maruts give the nerve strengths, speed and drive to the inner being of a believer who is performing a sacrifice to attain immortality.

In the Vratya Kanda, the fifteenth section of the Atharva-Veda (Shaunaka Recension), there are 220 prose mantras whose seer is Atharva and the deity is Vratya. From the commentary of Sanskrit scholar Sampurnananda, we learn that Vratya is the Ultimate Being, he is bound by nothing and attached to nothing. He is transcendental and manifestation of the Supreme Godhead. The text describes the birth of the cosmos out of the conscious being (Vratya.) He manifests himself as Prajapathi to create gods, animals, plants and the entire universe.

This book is well organized and the discussions are illuminating. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the esoteric interpretation of Rig-Veda.

Book Reviewed: The Cauliflower: A Novel by Nicola Barker

A provocative view of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Author Nicola Barker has written over 15 books, mainly fictional in nature that includes; Darkmans, The Yips: A Novel, Wide Open: A Novel, and few others. She widely uses strange imagination in her fictional narratives, and some of her books describes eccentric men in odd settings. In this book, she writes about the “odd” behavior of Ramakrishna, a Hindu spiritual leader who inspired Swami Vivekananda and host of modern Vedantins who created the “The Ramakrishna Order’ and the “Vedanta Society” around the globe. Her book mainly focusses on the challenges for his caretaker nephew “Hriday” and Ramakrishna’s benefactor Rani Rashmoni. There are scenarios in this book that are appropriate for a stage work. It is based on innuendos and legends; it is an insipid drama.

The author may have borrowed material from Jeffrey Kripal’s “Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna.” Other scholars are critical of Kripal’s work. Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana have observed that Kripal's book has speculations that are unsupported by facts or documents. It is difficult for Western authors like Ms. Barker to comprehend the concepts of Tantra, Kali Worship and Vedanta. Sigmund Freud's friend Romain Rolland examined the spiritual experiences of Ramakrishna and concluded that the “mystical states” of Ramakrishna as an "'oceanic' sentiment", and the feelings of unity and eternity, which Ramakrishna attributed to the Goddess Kali. Many scholars like Alan Roland, Somnath Bhattacharyya, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Sudhir Kakar, Kelly Aan Raab and J.S. Hawley have argued that the analysis of Ramakrishna’s “oddities” cannot be understood without understanding religious practices of Tantra and Kali Worship (bhakti yoga) rooted in Bengali Hindu tradition. In spite of this debate, the so called “eccentric” nature of Ramakrishna did not influence negatively for Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sri Aurobindo, Leo Tolstoy, Max Müller, Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley, Franz Dvorak or Philip Glass who were influenced by Ramakrishna’s work.

The author’s style of writing is somewhat odd. Was she in a hurry when she wrote this book? The word “salt” appears in bold in several pages, which is confounding. In many consecutive pages, paragraphs start with word “uncle” or a phrase containing “uncle” or a phrase “In the beginning.” In an interview with a British Newspaper, Ms. Barker stated that, “Mystery is everything to me. I don’t like to have everything analyzed, torn apart and put back together again in terms of the construction of fiction.” “I am happy to confound people” Good news for the author, I am not confounded! But I have a question. How did she come to pick a social reformer like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa as the focus for her novel? Why not pick other eccentrics like Jesus? Or is it too blasphemous to suggest.