MUSIC:the language of God

Ever comprehended as to why an infant stops wailing the moment he is in his mother’s arms? What is it that the mother conveys to him and all his pains are drowned in the sea of oblivion? What magic prevails in those arms that set the small “sun” shining? We all pass it on giving the universal reason- “Oh! That’s the ‘mother’ effect.” True. The mother effect is unfathomable; at least in words. But, if you take a deeper insight, you’ll understand that there is something more than those magical arms; something beyond the physical propinquity; something mightier than love that bonds the two. What could it possibly be? The motherly smile, the voice, the aroma?  Actually, neither of these really.  A new born is too young to reckon with these. Well, then there’s only one answer to it- it’s the sound of her heartbeat- the thump-thump, the rhythm, the cadence, the stillness- that reaches the smaller heart to trigger a communication-  ethereal enough to justify His ubiquity and pacific par human paradigm. Yes. The first ‘music’ of our life! The first harp on the stings of our heart! The first euphony ever learned!  

MUSIC- the word itself induces an aura so intoxicating that one can’t escape the addiction. The feel of it however cannot possibly be expounded in human tongue. To me, the feel of music is somewhat synonymous to the state of being drugged; hypnotized to the extent of drowsing one into a frenzy of peace; of calmness; of vacuum. It is one of those rare experiences of twilight when the reflections from within paint the sky of emotions scarlet. Actually trying to shackle music in the chain of few words would be like trying to count the stars. You may very well find an Oxfordian meaning of music. But that ain’t what defines it. It does not talk of soul, truth, divineness and chastity without which music cannot be apprehended. Some say it’s the speech of Gods; some say it’s the poetry of air. Whatever it might be, music is like a shadow, constantly following you from life to death. The only difference is that some are cognizant enough to befriend the shadow, while some go on unaware. It’s as easy as moving heaven and earth and still failing to find music; or finding it in the simplest of the things!

 

Confused???

I’ll tell.

Try listening to the din of the ocean; and you’ll know of the depth of music…

Ever heard the approaching of the wind? Dominant it is, isn’t it? That’s the strength of music….

The distant rumble of the rails gives way to an unending ache deep within, that’s the tenacity of music….

Doesn’t the sound of the bell that tolls at the church atop a distant hill take us a step closer to Him? It surely does. That’s the divinity of music….

So, it’s a matter of one’s perception. You feel music, you’ll find music. Now doesn’t that rhyme with what we say in context of finding God? I mean, ‘He is omnipresent. You believe, you find’- that’s what we generally say. So it can be somewhat concluded that music is His manifestation. I heard a quote long back, “Music is God’s gift to man; the only art of Heaven given to Earth, the only art we take to Heaven”. Well, that says it all. Since antediluvian times, music has been looked upon as the foremost boon from the Gods. And that’s the reason why one finds music woven so neatly in the kerchief of nature. Be it the gurgling of the river, the chirping of the birds or the thundering of the skies- music thrives in the very entity of the God carved universe.

‘Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends’- said French poet Alphonso de Lamartine. What an absolutely delightful thought! All the music that we listen to is nothing but expression of some heart-felt emotion. The beauty lies in the fact that music connotes this emotion without literal words. That’s how it differs from a poem. Music is what feelings sound like. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the greatest musician of history, once said-‘The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.’ Yes. Silence. Probably the deepest form of music. Silence is the fabric upon which notes are woven.  If music was to have a soul, then it would be silence. Music is that cup which holds the wine of silence. Some find solace in the rhythm of the silence, some fear it .For the latter, it is not actually the fear of silence, rather the fear of solitude; of detachment; of dolor; of anguish. A small piece of music is way mightier than the strongest mortal bonds that deprive one off agony. ‘He who hears music, feels his solitude peopled at once’, asserts Robert Browning.   

  

So music is the one eternal river that meanders along the path from Eden to Earth, ascertaining its existence through eras, drowning the pebbles of compunction and swelling the tides of rapture. One has to just float in order to soak in the music; soak in the life. Lastly, as Lord Byron says-   

‘There's music in the sighing of a reed;
There's music in the gushing of a rill;
There's music in all things, if men had ears,
Their earth is but an echo of the spheres’.
 

So find music, live it and life will be beautiful!

- Tritraya Bose