Interviewer: Can we turn now to the subject of music? Do you see music as something related to spirituality?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, I do feel that music has a special role in the spiritual life. Next to spirituality is music. Again, if I have to be sincere, as spirituality encompasses music, so do the higher types of music, soulful music, encompass spirituality. It is through music that the universal feeling of oneness can be achieved in the twinkling of an eye. Thousands and thousands of people come to listen to one person who will play for an hour or so. Now, what is he doing? Through his music he is entering into the heart and soul of the audience. For an hour he is showing his capacity; that is to say, he is bringing down some Light from above. Music is not just playing on an instrument. No, music is receptivity to something higher, something from the higher world. First the musician receives it and then he offers it to the world at large. In an hour, thousands of people can feel it as their very own. So music has the opportunity, the capacity, to claim the universe as its very own.
From:Sri Chinmoy,Sri Chinmoy speaks, part 4, Agni Press, 1976
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