Lord
Anjaneya – The Master of All Arts- The Great Vainika
Hanuman is known as an immortal
genius who had mastered all arts and sciences and other branches of knowledge.
He is known as the embodiment of all knowledge and the Vedas
themselves. He learned all the vedas and all the Vidya Sthanas from
Surya, the Sun god.
As per His mother Anjana’s
advice, Anjaneya approached Lord Surya and requsested for Lord Surya’s
discipleship. But Lord Surya who is always on his celestial path said;
“Being the creator of day and night, I could not stop at one place and
teach you”.
Anjaneya replied that he
would face his Guru Lord Surya and run along backwards in the same direction of
the Sun and receive the vedic knowledge from him and Lord Surya need
not stop. Upon this agreement, Hanuman took the coaching for twelve years.
The Vidya Sthanas are eighteen
in number. 4 vedas, 6 sastras, 4 upangas and 4 upavedas. One of the upavedas,is
the Gandarva Veda – The Art and Science of Music.
Anjaneya the Sangeetha Exponent
In carnatic sangeetha tradition
there are two classes of sakas (branches), one is known as Narada tradition and
the other is known as Hanumath tradition. It is said that Saint
Tyagaraja was the follower of Narada tradition. He was gifted with the “swararnavam”
palm leafs by Saint Narada. Sri Muthuswamy Dhikshathar is follower of
Hanumath tradition.
The celestrial sages, Sri Narada
and Sri Tumburu, were great players of the fretted veenas. But there was clash
of ego between them leading to bitter rivalry. Both of them would
participate in function and compete in all the competition. At the end of
the duel nobody would be able to say who is superior. Their ego was seeking a
final decision as to who is best. The matter was brought before Lord
Narayana (Sri Vishnu), who with a mischievous smile hugging His face suggested
seeking the remedy for this from Lord Anjaneya who is an exponent in
Sangeetha Sastra. Both agreeing that there could be no better judge than
Lord Anajaneya they approached HIM. A date was fixed for the contest at the
convenience of Lord Anjaneya.
On the day fixed there was a
big assembly of Devatas . Both Sri Narada and Sri Tumburu were seated on either
side of the dais with their fretted veena ready to play and Lord
Anjaneya was seated in the center. Lord Anjaneya announced Sri Tumburu
would play first followed by Sri Narada. The congregations of
Devatas were eager to listen to the sound of the most divineinstrument Veena
from the sages who had mastered the playing on the instrument.
Firstly Sri Tumburu started his
veena vadhan and the Devatas forgot to wink their eyes, all their attention
drawn by the mystical tones emanating from the instrument. Slowly
they could realise that world was coming to a standstill position devoid of
any activity. Even sea waves stopped, oceans started freezing, birds stopped
flying and those flying stopped mid air. Such were the effects of the
music of Sri Tumburu. He was playing the raga Amirthavarshini which is normally
played for bringing rain when effected by drought.
Now Lord Anjaneya signaled Sri
Narada to play the instrument. Sri Narada started playing his fretted veena and
the mesmerising tones emerging from the veena vadhan started moving
around like a sweet fragrance enveloping the atmosphere. So sweet was the
tone that it brought realisation in every thing. Bringing back dynamism, ocean
started melting, waves started tiding, birds started flying with renewed
verve. Sri Narada was playing the raga Punnagavarali. In the recent times Sri Thygaraja
Swamigal had sung the kriti “Ghandamu paiyarul……” in the raga Punnagavarali.
This kriti when sung, will make you feel the fragrance enveloping around
you.
The final judgement by Lord
Anjaneya
Now that the contesters had
finished playing, the attention of the congregation turned towards the His
Lordship – the Judge –
Lord Anjaneya. Since this time
also both had done their best, how Lord Anjaneya is going to judge as to who is
better?
Lord Anjaneya paused for some
time and got up from the seat and took possession of both Sri Narada’s and Sri
Tumburu’s veena vadhan. Returned to his seat and patiently started removing each
of the frets in the instruments. Everybody started wondering as to
what Lord Anjaneya is trying to do. Sri Narada lost his cool and asked Lord not
to monkey around the instrument and to give the judgment. Lord Anjaneya
replied that both of them had played well, but before the judgment could be
given asked them to play the Veena in the present state (ie, veena
instrument without fret). Both Sri Narada and Sri Tumburu said it is impossible
to play the veena without fret.
Hanumath Veena
Lord Anjaneya with a smile in
his face took a small bamboo piece (bamboo in wholesome is cylindrical in
shape) and slides this bamboo piece over the melody strings and by using
his nails as plectrums plucked the melody strings. The melody that flowed
out was no compare to the one that was played by the sages. The melodious tone
along with the drone with a soothing continuity had drowned the audience
Devas in an immense pleasure and joy as that of having the nectar. Lord
continued playing, making both Sri Narada and Sri Tumburu realise the
power of pure music.
The audience were so immersed
in the music, they had not noticed that Lord Narayana Himself had come to the
scene to witness the music of Lord Anjaneya. When Lord Anjaneya concluded
playing, both the sages accepted that their music is no match to that of
Lord Anjaneya.
Sri Anjaneya saw Lord Narayana and he prostrated before Him and
welcomed Him. Lord Narayana told that He was drawn to theplace by the
music produced by the Adi Veena, the one without fret and a forerunner to the
present veena used by both Sri Narada and Sri Tumburu. Lord explained to
the sages that music however good it may be, with ego mixed it becomes lifeless
and music with devotion is life, pure, real, and divine. The music of Sri
Anjaneya was enchanting since it was over brimming with devotion, but that of
the sages were with ego hence devoid of purity. Lord Narayana declared since
Lord Hanuman had reinvented the original form of fretless veena it will
henceforth be called as Hanumath Veena.
In times the Hanumath veena was
known by the name Chitra veena.
Playing veena is yoga, leading
to salvation as Saint Thyagaraja sings in his krithi ” Mokshamugalada..”.
Here the Saint brings out with all lyrical beauty
“vINA vAdana loludau Sivamano
vidha merugaru, thyAgarAja vinutha”
vidha merugaru, thyAgarAja vinutha”
(Meaning) Is salvation
obtainable to those who are not able to perceive the mind of Shiva who derives
indescribable pleasure from listening to the divine music of Vina !
So.. What is the lesson we have
learnt here..Quoting the words of Lord Narayana once again..
“music however good it may be,
with ego mixed, it becomes lifeless and music with devotion is life, pure,
real, and divine.”
So let us all practice Music
without Ego..Music as such practised with wholesome devotion will bring all
prosperity in our life like name, fame, money, disciples etc. These
are the by-products of divine music. Let us not lose focus and start concentrating
on the by-products forgetting TRUE DIVINE MUSIC !
