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For simple living, high thinking
THE AREA around the Ernakulam Siva temple reverberated with the sound of cymbals and dolak during the last week. Many came every evening to listen to the musical discourse by Jayakrishna Deekshithar from Tamil Nadu. They were held outside the Gramajanasamooham and Murugan temple there. A scholar in many languages including Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, he expounds the virtues of simple living and high thinking as propagated by many sons of this sacred land like Jayadeva, Namadeva, Thukaram and Meerabai. The discourses started on April 14 ,ended on April 25, culminating with a feast on the last day.
The songs depict the greatness of the One who guides the destinies of saint and sinner alike. Every sinner has a future, the epics say. It is proved time and again when we learn those we revere today, were indeed sinners once. Purandaradasa the sacred Pithamaha of music (leading the other four, the great Thyagaraja, Muthuswami Deekshithar, Shyama Sastry and the poet king Swathi Thirunal) spent thirty years of his early life accumulating worldly riches. It was a chance encounter with a mendicant that changed his life for the better, and he set the tone for future children and elders to learn Carnatic music.
The lives of Meerabai, the princess, Thukaram, the weaver, Namadeva son of a humble tailor and Jayadeva are all beacon lights showing us the path of virtue and ostentation.
Their songs teach us that music is indeed divine (the man who hath no music in himself is capable of treason, as the Bard of Avon declared), lyrics easy to understand take us on to higher echelons in life and living. One need not be a musical scholar to understand the basic philosophy of the life of these blessed ones. There is inherent in every one of us a spark of the divinity, that each of us can aspire to become a Mahatma if we follow the guidelines set by these poets.
Such gatherings bring out the best in human beings. The atmosphere becomes richer with these intonations and people shed animosities towards each other on the basis of caste, creed, colour, gender, religion and realise the importance of living in peace and harmony. Many were young couples, some were retired from service; some were regular visitors to the temple.The exponent comes of an illustrious family of scholars. In this mundane world, but still out of it, he continues this service to humanity in his own humble way. Interspersed with songs (abhangs) penned by these stalwarts, the proponent gives the meaning of the Marathi words, explains their relevance to this time and day.
V.RAMANATHAN
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