The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan

MUSIC
The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan

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The Connection Between Dance and Music

1

Indian Music, which is called sangita, is divided into three
sections, gayan - singing, vadan - playing, and nirtan - dancing; for
the vibration takes three forms of expression: in the voice in
singing, in sound in playing, and in movements in dancing. Singing,
however, is considered to be the principal part in sangita.

Sangita in these three sections forms part of Hindu worship, and even
the paradise of the Hindus contains players, singers and dancers.
Musicians and dancers are used to playing, singing and dancing in the
temples of India. It may be surprising that a dancer should be dancing
in the temple, but travellers in the East will know that in the Hindu
temples musicians and dancers dance and play in praise of God.
According to our view, all things may seem to us high or low,
praiseworthy, or not. So-called religious people who condemn all
enjoyable occupations have always called dancing sin. The whole world
is the manifestation of God, and we may see God in all. The musician
praises God in his music; the painter and sculptor see the praise of
God in their paintings and statues, and the dancers too may devote
their dancing to the praise of God.

2

The word dance has been much debased because the dance has been taken
up mainly by entertainers who have made of it an amusement, and we see
that, when a thing is made into an amusement, it always degenerates.

The voice that comes from the lungs and the abdomen cannot express
itself fully without the bones of the head, the lips, the teeth, the
tongue, the palate. So we see that this body is an instrument of
sound. When the tree swings in the wind, each leaf gives a sound. The
breeze alone cannot produce the full sound. The leaves of the tree
rustle and become the instrument for the air. This shows us that the
whole framework of this world is the instrument of sound.

If, while speaking to you, I remained as still as a statue, my words
would have much less effect than when accompanied by gesture. If a
person says: 'Go away from here!', and does not move, his words will
not have much expression. if he moves his arm, they will have more
expression.

In India the pupil is taught to sing with gestures; these take the
place of notation and guide him. A person might think: 'Notation would
be a much surer method', but Indian music is so complicated that no
notation can render it exactly. Then, too, the intervals are all
filled up, and the movements of the hand and arm can express and guide
more easily than any written signs.

The third part of music, dancing, is not the made-up dance, but the
expression through movement. Mahadeva, the greatest Avatar, himself
danced. If you sing or play to a dervish he may begin to move his head
and to move his hands.

A great Indian poet, when speaking of what a singer should be, says:
'He must have a good voice. He must know the Ragas, and be able to
sing them. He must be a master of graceful movements. He must be calm,
unaffected by the audience. He must impress the audience'.

Our life is so full of occupations that we have little time to
observe animals. If we did, we should see that most of their language
is movement. They speak little with one another, mostly they express
through their motions. If you call a dog, the dog will at once begin
to wag its tail; it will move its whole body to show its joy and
affection. If you speak roughly to the dog, its whole body shows that
it feels sorry. If the cat is pleased or becomes angry, it shows its
feelings at once by its movements.

We waste much energy in useless speech. Among the old races we see
that a motion of the hands, an inclination of the head, takes the
place of words for many things.

As soon as a person comes into the room we see by his movements, by
his manner of walking, what he is, how much refinement he has. If we
compare the horse whose price is five thousand guineas with the horse
whose price is fifty guineas, we see what a difference there is in
their movements. The horse of five thousand guineas has not been
taught to move as he moves, but in every movement he is graceful. We
see also that the beauty given to the peacock has inspired its
graceful movements.

3

Dance is a very wonderful thing, and is in itself a great proof of
mysticism. We have each of us in us the nature of the bird, and the
nature of the animal. The nature of the bird is to fly, the nature of
the animal is to jump. The tiger will jump from here to the top of the
wall. If we cannot do this, it is because by eating, drinking,
sleeping, we have lost the power to do it. If a man sits in an
armchair, and to get up he pulls himself up by the arms, and then by
eating, drinking and sleeping has become so heavy, he is not what he
should be. That government is proper which knows what each of the
governed is doing. Our mind governs the body; our mind should have
every muscle, each atom of the body, under its command. When we move
upward, all must come up; when we turn to the right, all must turn to
the right; when we turn to the left, all must turn to the left.