His soulful music expressed
His aspiration,
His realisation
And his oneness
With the Universal Consciousness.

God’s favourite sound
Is the sound of His inner Music.
This inner Music
Is the music of earth’s transformation
And humanity’s life-perfection.

It is quite possible to be both a musician and a Yogi. In Mother India there have been many saints, sages and spiritual Masters who were blessed with divine music. Their musical talent did not interfere with their God-realisation, and even after achieving God-realisation, their musical talents did not leave them.

Yoga means union, inseparable oneness with God. A Yogi is one who has established conscious union with God. He can easily become a musician because in his inseparable oneness with God, he can do anything he wants. But a Yogi has to wait for God’s Will. If it is God’s Will, he will become a musician; or if it is God’s Will, he will become something else. Otherwise, he will just remain with his own lofty realisation and oneness; he will reveal and manifest the highest Peace, Light and Truth the way the Supreme wants him to.

When an individual realises God, he and God are not different beings; they are one, like a tiny drop and the vast ocean. In the same way, sometimes the soul responds to music. The soul thrills to music; it just melts and becomes one.

A Yogi’s qualities and a musician’s qualities can go side by side, provided the Yogi has the capacity and inherent talent for music. Even if the Yogi spends a very short time in the musical world, he can be a very good musician, but it will take infinitely more time for a musician to become a Yogi.

Spiritual Masters who have musical capacity can eventually show the world at large that inner music can be played outwardly and appreciated by the world. Inner music one can hear and one can create while one is meditating. We can hear inner music through aspiration. What is inner music? We have learned from the Indian Vedas that this music is the mother tongue of humanity, the language of the soul. It is through music that the Divine in us gets the opportunity to manifest itself here on earth.

When a musician’s spiritual capacity becomes most powerful, he doesn’t even have to speak. Others will just look at his face and see some illumination.

When a spiritual Master plays his music, through his music he enters into the heart and soul of the audience. At the same time, he is bringing down light from above. He is not just playing on an instrument. He is receiving something from the higher world and then offering it to the world at large. In an hour, thousands of people can feel this higher light as their very own. So music has the opportunity, the capacity, to claim the universe as its very own.

Music and Religion

Music and religion are like the obverse and reverse of the same reality-coin. Music in its purest sense is religion and religion in its purest sense is music. This music-religion, this code of life, this universal language of the soul, can only be offered; it cannot be purchased or sold. Music and religion are for the seekers, for the music-lovers, for the truth-servers. Money-power or earthly name and fame cannot lord it over these two immortal realities, these two earthly and heavenly treasures.

The source of true music and the source of true religion will always remain the same, and that source is a cry, a birthless and deathless cry — an eternal hunger. It is a hunger not for one’s own satisfaction, but for God’s Satisfaction in God’s own way. When music and religion come from this source, only then will the message and beauty of music and the message and beauty of religion be divinely illumining and fulfilling.

The Mogul Emperor Akbar employed the great musician Tansen in his court. One day when Akbar was deeply appreciating Tansen, Tansen said, “I am not a great musician.”

Akbar said, “You are not only a great musician; you are the best musician.”

But Tansen said, “No, my Guru, my teacher, Haridas, is by far the best.”

The Emperor said, “Then bring him to my palace!”

Tansen replied, “No, he will not come. He does not care for name and fame. He plays only for God. God’s Compassion is his sole reward.”

Akbar said, “Then I will have to go to him. Take me to him.”

Tansen agreed, but he told Akbar, “You cannot go as the Emperor. You have to go in the guise of my servant, my slave.”

So Akbar went to Tansen’s teacher as a servant, and Tansen begged his teacher to play for Akbar. Unfortunately, Haridas was not in the mood to play. Then a brilliant idea struck Tansen’s mind. He started playing, deliberately making many mistakes. Haridas could not believe his eyes and ears. How could his best student make such deplorable mistakes? Out of great surprise and shock, he started playing in order to correct his student. In this way the Emperor came to realise that Tansen’s teacher was indeed far superior to Tansen.

When they came back to the palace, Akbar asked Tansen, “How is it that you cannot play as soulfully as your teacher does?”

Tansen replied, “I play for name and fame. I play for you. He plays for God. Here is the difference. If I played for God—for God in you, for God in everyone—only then would my music be supernatural, heavenly, supremely soulful and perfect. But I play for money-power, for name and fame. How do you expect me to play the way my teacher does?”