Music and Meditation
Meditation is silence ineffable. In real meditation the thoughts of the mind come to an end, this allows the peace of the soul to come to the fore. We can escape the domain of thoughts by leaving the mind and entering into the heart. It is in the heart where our soul resides. It is also in the heart where we can identify with the vastness and expanse that real meditation offers. The most effective meditation is silent meditation. However next to silent meditation is meditation with spiritual music. Spiritual music can awaken our aspiring heart. It feeds our soul and raises our consciousness.
Music has a profound affect on our state of being. If we listen to powerful, rhythmic music like rock and roll it can energise our body and vital. This type of music will be of no benefit to meditation. For meditation we need music composed and played in a meditative consciousness. This music will not excite us or impress the mind with complex rhythms. Music for meditation will help us to relax and quieten the mind. When we concentrate on the heart of the soulful music, automatically we will be able to meditate with greater intensity and aspiration.
“Let us not try to understand music with our mind.
Let us not even try to feel it with our heart.
Let us simply and spontaneously allow the music-bird to fly in our heart-sky.”
Some beginners to meditation may think that meditation requires us to learn many complex techniques. Some basic instructions are definitely helpful, however the most important thing is our inner aspiration or inner cry for something deeper and more fulfilling within ourselves. Music can bring this to the fore. If we listen to sublime spiritual music instinctively we are lifted from the mundane.
As well as listening to music. Singing soulful songs can also be a form of meditation. When we sing it is not how technically correct we are but the way that we sing. If we can sing with a soulful heart.
Music is meditation
If it is sung soulfully by good singers
Or even sung badly by singers
With soulful hearts.
Singing as a form of meditation is particularly associated with the spiritual traditions of bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion) For example in the sixteenth century the Bengali spiritual master Sri Chaitanya frequently led kirtan parties singing through the streets of Bengal and India. Sri Chaitanya was a devotee of Lord Krishna and through singing simple bhajans such as “Hari Bol” became immersed in the ecstasy of God consciousness. His genuine devotion and spirituality revitalised the great Hindu religion which had become stuck in orthodox rituals devoid of inner aspiration. Other great saints associated with devotional singing include Princess Meera or Mirabai, Sri Ramakrishna and Kabir. Similarly the great Sufi poetry from saints such as Hafiz and Rumi often originated as songs.
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