The Signature Of Truth

THE WORLD OF HARMONY

Music too is an essentially spiritual art and has always been associated with religious feelings and an inner life. But, here too, we have turned it into something independent and self-sufficient, a mushroom art, such as is operatic music. Most of the artistic productions we come across are of this kind and at best interesting from the point of view of technique. 1 do not say that even operatic music cannot be used as a medium of higher art expressions for whatever the form it can be made to serve a deeper purpose. All depends on the thing itself, on how it is used, on what is behind it. There is nothing that cannot be used for the Divine purpose—just as anything can pretend to be the Divine and yet be of the mushroom species.

Among the great modern musicians there have been several whose consciousness, when they created, came into touch with a higher consciousness. Cesar Franck played on the organ as one inspired; he had an opening into the psychic life and he was conscious of it and to a great extent expresed it. Beethoven, when he composed the Ninth Symphony, had

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the vision of an opening into a higher world and of the descent of a higher world into this earthly plane. Wagner had strong and powerful intimations of the occult world; he had the instinct of occultism and sense of the occult and through it he received his greatest inspirations. But he worked mainly on the vital level and his mind came in constantly to interfere and mechanised his inspiration. His work for the greater part is too mixed, too often obscure and heavy, although powerful. But when he crosses the vital and the mental levels and reaches a higher world, some of the glimpses he had were of an exceptional beauty, as in 'Parsifal', in some parts of "Tristan and Iseult" and most in its last great Act.. . .

There is a domain far above the mind which we could call the world of Harmony and if you can reach there, you will find the root of all harmony that has been manifested in whatever form upon earth. For instance, there is a certain line of music, consisting of a few supreme notes, that behind the productions of two artists who came one after another—one a concerto of Bach, another a concerto of Beethoven. The two are not alike on paper and differ to the outward ear, but in their essence they are the same. One and the same

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vibration of consciousness, one wave of significant harmony touched both these artists. Beethoven caught a larger part, but in him it was more mixed with the inventions and interpolations of his mind; Bach received less, but what he seized of it was purer. The vibration was that of victorious emergence of consciousness, consciousness tearing itself out of the womb of unconsciouSness in a triumphant uprising and birth.

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There is a category of music that comes from the higher vital, which is very catching, somewhat (not to say exactly) vulgar, it is something that twists your nerves. This music is not necessarily unpleasant, but generally it seizes you there, by the nervous centre. So there is a music that has a vital origin. There is a music that has a psychic origin—it is an altogether different thing. And then there is a music that has a spiritual origin: it is so bright, it carries you away, wholly captures you. But if you want to execute exactly this music you must be able to take it through the vital passage. Your music coming from above can be externally quite flat if you do not possess the intensity of vital vibration that gives it its splendour, its strength. 1 knew people who had

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truly a very high inspiration and it became quite flat, because the vital did not stir. I must admit that by their spiritual practices they put completely to sleep their vital—it slept literally, it was not active at all—and the music came straight into the physical, and if one had made the connection with the origin of music, one would have seen that it was something wonderful, but externally it had no force, it was a little melody, very poor, very thin, there was none of the strength of harmony. When you can bring the vital to play then all the strength of vibration is there. If you bring it in there, this higher origin, it becomes the music of a genius.

For music it is very special, it is difficult, it needs an intermediary. It is like all other things, for literature also, for poetry, for painting, for everything that you do. The true value of one's creation depends on the origin of one's inspiration, on the level, the height where you find it. But the value of the execution depends on the vital force which expresses it; to complete the genius both must be there, which is rare. Generally it is the one or the other, more often the vital. And there are other kinds of music that are given—the music of cafe-concert, of cinema; it is of such

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an extraordinary skill, and at the same time is of an exceptional platitude, of an extraordinary vulgarity. But it is of an extraordinary skill; it seizes you by the solar plexus and it is this music that you remember; it grasps you at once and holds you and it is very difficult to free yourself from it, with vital vibrations, but what is behind is frightful.

But imagine this very vital power of expression, with the inspiration coming from on very high—the highest inspiration possible, when the whole heaven opens before us— then that becomes wonderful. There are certain things in Cesar Franck, certain things in Beethoven, certain things in Bach, there are others also who have this inspiration and power. But it is only a moment, it comes as a moment and does not last. You cannot take the entire work of an artist as being on that level. The inspiration comes like a flash; sometimes it lasts sufficiently long, then the work stands together; and when this thing is there, the same effect is produced, that is to say, if you are attentive and concentrated that lifts you up at once, lifts up all your energies, it is as though someone opened out your head and you were hurled into the air to tremendous heights and magnificent lights. It produces

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in a few seconds results that are obtained with so much difficulty and so many years of Yoga. Only, in general, one may fall down afterwards, because the consciousness is not there as the basis. You have the experience and afterwards you do not even know what had happened. But if you are prepared, if you had indeed prepared your consciousness by yoga and then the thing happens in that case it is a definitive thing.

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Very high inspiration comes rarely in European music; rare also is the psychic origin, very rare. Either it comes from very high or it is vital. The expression is almost always, except in a few rare cases, a vital expression—interesting, powerful. Most often, the origin is purely vital. Sometimes it comes from the very top, then it is wonderful. Sometimes it is psychic, particularly in what has been religious music, but this is not very frequent. ..

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Music is means of expressing certain thoughts, feelings, emotions, certain aspirations. There is even a region where all these movements exist and from there, as and when they are brought down, they take a musical

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form. One who is a very good composer, with some inspiration, will produce a very beautiful music, for he is a good musician. A bad musician can have also very good inspiration; he can receive something which is good, but as he possesses no musical capacity, what he produces will be terribly commonplace, ordinary, uninteresting. But if you go beyond, if you reach just the place where there is this origin of music—of the idea and emotion and inspiration—if you reach there, you can taste these things without being obstructed by the forms; the commonplace musical form can be linked with that, because that was the inspiration of the writer of the music. Naturally, there are cases where there is no inspiration, or where the origin is merely a kind of mechanical music. In any case, it is not always interesting. But what I mean is that there is an' inner condition in which the external form is not the most important thing; it is the origin of the music, the inspiration that is behind which is important; it is not purely the sound but that which the sound expresses.

So the expression cannot be better than the inspiration?

There is a music that has no inspiration, it is as though mechanical. There are musicians

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who possess a great virtuosity, that is to say, who have thoroughly mastered the technique and who, for example, can execute, without making any mistake, the quickest and the most difficult things. They can play music, but that expresses nothing; it is like a machine. It means nothing, except that they have great skill. For what is most important is the inspiration, in all that one does; in all human creations the most important tiling is inspiration. Naturally, execution must be on the same level as the inspiration; you must possess a very good technique if you arc to express truly well the highest things. This is not to say that technique is not necessary, it is even indispensable, but it is not the only indispensable thing, it is less important than inspiration.

The essential quality of music depends on where the music comes from, upon its origin.

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