Music
The following is a beautiful talk by Baba Mama, Shri Mataji’s beloved brother who brought the creative arts, especially music, to the forefront in the Sahaj family. He encouraged and inspired Sahaja Yogis to greater and greater creative heights. One can say he was the embodiment of music in Sahaja Yoga.
You believe that God is omnipresent, omnipotent and all-pervading. In fact, you believe that He is in every atom. As natural corollary of this belief you must also know that God knows what you want or what your need is. If the first proposition is true, then second proposition has to be true. It would follow, therefore, that those who know that God is omnipotent and all-pervading are bound to accept that God is all-knowledgeable and therefore is aware of all your problems.
In spite of this fact, we always go to God with certain expectations. Expectations can be of various types, but are basically self-centred or are pertaining to people or relations you are attached to, and then you pray to God that He should grant you a particular relief, or a job promotion, or some benefit to you or your near ones, etc. When you go with this frame of mind, then most of the time you are disappointed. Hypothetically speaking, if your expectations are symbolized in A and what you get is, let us say, B; then A minus B is your disappointment. And then you have to attribute this disappointment to someone. The pessimists will attribute it to their bad luck and will always curse themselves for not being worthy of God’s favour. The optimists will straight away blame God Himself, and they say that this God is not good and that we should shift to some other God. In this way you keep on shifting from God to God, but disappointment is always there. This may even make you anti-God and an atheist, ultimately. Now take a case where you do not go to God with any expectations. Therefore, the expectations are zero, and let us say that you get B as the reward. Therefore, B minus zero is B which is always surplus.
You should also distinguish between your expectations and desires and pure desires. Pure desire is always for the benefit of the other, and therefore you are entitled to carry pure desires to the Divinity. I once remember, I was travelling with Shri Mataji from Sydney to Canberra, and it was very hot and the air conditioning of the car was thoroughly inadequate. Shri Mataji was sweating and I was fanning Her with a newspaper, but I somehow felt that the heat was oppressive and that the weather should give some respite to Her. Reading my mind, She asked me a question as to what I was thinking, to which I told Her frankly that I was unable to see Her suffer because of heat. So She told me that I should make a pure desire and the weather would change. So I closed my eyes and made a pure desire that the weather should change. Within five minutes, dark clouds gathered from nowhere and it started raining, and the intensity of heat was thus reduced, and Shri Mataji said, “See, if you make a pure desire, then it will always be fulfilled.”
Coming back to expectations, I may mention here that once you are connected to your Divinity through your Self-realization, you should feel assured that you have been admitted into the Kingdom of God, that you are His subject and therefore He is duty-bound to look after you, irrespective of what you expect of Him.
Baba Mama, 1999
Music of Joy is a unique, multicultural group of musicians in Australia who believe the purpose of music is to create and share joy. Exceptional joy – jubilant, relaxing, profound. Joy that reverberates with audiences, offering elation, bliss, solace.
Much of the group’s repertoire stems from Bhajans – songs of the spirit, songs of praise and adoration. To these ancient songs, Music of Joy has added Indian traditional village songs, music from Pakistan, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, England, Israel, Russia and Africa, as well as a number of home-grown compositions by members of the group.
The experience that can result from sharing this unique world music is thoughtless awareness, a relaxed meditative state which can be understood and developed through the Sahaja Yoga Meditation practised by these musicians. It’s an experience the musicians love to share.
The group is made up of about twenty male and female singers and instrumentalists who come from diverse cultural backgrounds. Core members of the group have been performing together for more than fifteen years. Under the direction of John Smiley, an experienced music teacher and choral instructor, Music of Joy’s repertoire is accompanied by a great mix of Eastern and Western instruments, such as harmonium, guitar, bass, flute, saxophone, clarinet, tabla, dholak, djembe, chimtar, tambourine and didgeridoo. As understood in many musical philosophies, the rhythm section of the group is the heartbeat of the music, without which there is no joy.
Music of Joy has toured extensively locally and overseas. They have performed at numerous festivals and special events around Sydney. Further afield, they have delighted audiences at the Ganesha Festival in Helensburg, the Winter Magic Festival at Katoomba, Canberra’s Floriade and the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland, as well as many cultural events in Newcastle, Wollongong, Goulburn, Ulladulla, Bateman’s Bay, Coffs Harbour and Woolgoolga. In addition, they have performed dozens of joyful concerts in centres throughout New South Wales.
Music of Joy featured in the NSW Art Gallery exhibition, Dancing to the Flute. Their overseas performances include meditation seminars, with audiences ranging from 500 to 8,000 people, in New Zealand, India, Italy, and most recently in the United States, where they received the acclaim of visitors from all around the world.
To hear Music of Joy singing the Bhajan, “Namostute”, click the link below. Enjoy.
[audio:19 – 19 – Australian Bhajans Group _ Namostute.mp3]
On Saturday 30 June 2007, a Sahaja Yoga program will be held at Erina High School Hall, Ernest St, Erina from 2.00 to 5.00 pm. There will be a guided meditation, a dance performance and a selection of world music played by “Music of Joy”.
The Curry Festival will be held at Coffs Harbour on Saturday April 14, 2007. You can get your self-realisation at the Sahaja Yoga Stall during the day. The Sahaja Yoga music group, Music of Joy, will be performing at the opening ceremony at 10:00 am and again at 6:00 pm.