"Why Carnatic music is spiritual for me." - Survey

[Rsachi]

Dear rasikas,
I request you to humour me by answering the question "Why Carnatic music is spiritual for me".
I have created a simple survey which will take less than 3 minutes to answer. You need to click on the photo above to go to the survey.
Please note this is just for my (hopefully when I publish the results, for everyone's ) understanding of how the special dimension of Carnatic music operates for us.
If you think it is asking too probing a question of you, kindly forgive me. The survey is anonymous.

Obviously, the more rasikas answer, the more interesting will be the results!

Thanks a Lot
Sachi R

[uday_shankar]

Rsachi the link does not work.

[Rsachi]

Really. Sorry.
it works for me on all my devices. Please try again.
Thanks

[kvchellappa]

I want to give my own answer. There is scope for manodharma, and manodharma brings out the feelings of the singer, something which is 'him', the singer, his Self. That strikes a chord in the Self of the listener. Spirituality is this sort of communion. You may get it even with a secular song like 'thunbam nerkaiyil' (say Sanjay singing it, neither the song nor the singer has anything to do with religion, if I am not mistaken, but the experience is spiritual all the same). The experience is at its zenith when you hear MS because to her the meaning of the song is real and like a sculptor carving the content of a Puranic episode in his creation, she actualises the reality of the meaning in her outpouring. It is not just her voice or technical excellence that the listener is so tuned to as that vision of divinity that is pulpable in the experience of listening to her singing. One can experience it in other forms as well, but the whole tradition of CM has been built on this foundation, and maintained by the gurukula system till a generation ago. We now hear a few voices that we should take CM away from the religious bias. We may do it, some have done it, but it will not take it away from spirituality if one sticks to its traditional presentation. A film song in a CM raga may not give you spiritual feeling, where it is shorn of manodharma.

[varsha]

I participated .
Hope I qualify to be the right kind of Spritual
I worked under a boss for over a decade who thought he was one too -
A Spirit-ual with a difference he would guffaw - Always with a glass in hand

[Rsachi]

With more and more people responding to the survey, we will find interesting variances.
Thanks for your interest!

[varsha]

we will find interesting variances.

Indeed . As long as you keep your word about not quoting me :-@
Like the guy in the cartoon showing a man emerging from church : "Great sermon today. For once I felt he did not mean me ! "

[Rsachi]

I do hope the link is working on different browsers (for Uday and others)
We have had a good response so far.

Here is the link once more:

http://bit.ly/why_CM_Spiritual

[Nick H]

I'd be a none-of-the-above-but-a-bit-of-the-last. Before I could usefully answer the question about carnatic music specifically, I'd have to address the much wider subject of why and how music itself is sometimes spiritual for me. Then I might or might not find specific reasons for spirituality in carnatic music, apart from the spirituality of the performers.

[cmlover]

Agree with Nick. What is there so spectacular in CM which is not in other genres of Music?
It can be the opiate for some...
But then it can be one more form of entertainment for many...

[Rsachi]

Dear folks,
I am waiting for a few more responses, and when I hit a number representing 1% of the reachable rasikas population, I shall be able to present to you the analysis of responses!
The results will have their own story to tell.

Please go ahead and send your responses here:
http://bit.ly/why_CM_Spiritual

Thx
Sachi R

[Rsachi]

Dear all,
I did this survey to find out how people interpret their relation to Carnatic music in terms of its spiritual appeal to them. That is for me important because I feel many people use the term "spiritual" rather loosely. Thanks to your kind cooperation, we have some interesting array of responses.

It is noteworthy, and perhaps this was indeed predictable, that the survey was responded to by people who have an abiding interest in Carnatic music. Therefore naturally they are able to understand and categorise their feelings well.

Also, in a way, this is a testament to the quality of this group since the biggest responses came to the following statements:
Listening to Carnatic music makes me meditative.
Carnatic music gives me a unique uplifting feeling.
The composers were great saints.
The songs reflect my feelings of devotion.
Carnatic music is intrinsic to my upbringing.

Here is the survey result:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/y ... directlink


Thank you for your cooperation!!!!

[priyaram78]

Thanks Sri RSachi for this wonderful survey. Bhakthi, devotion seems to be the main basis for listening to carnatic music. Long Live Carnatic Music !

[VK RAMAN]

"86 respondents, 230 responses" what does this mean". Interesting though with 5000+ members only 230 took the survey. That means fly by night one time posters are majority

[Nick H]

That means fly by night one time posters are majority

You can sort the members list by number of posts. There are actually about 50 pages of members with zero posts! The membership list stands at over seven thousand, but my guess is that the day-to-day regulars are probably numbered in dozens, rather than hundreds, and certainly not thousands.

Out of those dozens, there are probably only a handful that have posted regularly over the whole lifetime of the forum.

[uday_shankar]

I am glad I am not alone in responding that:
Carnatic music is only cultural/classical not spirutual.
I enjoy Carnatic music but don't think it is spiritual.

These are not the exact statements I would have liked to make. What I would have actually liked to say is that "I find that any music, including Carnatic music is mostly a sensual, sometimes intellectual (I don't like that part too much) and frequently emotional experience but I would not call it "spiritual".

To me "spiritual" signifies a stark, simple, universal, unencumbered Reality that's equally accesible without the vehicle of any senses or thinking. I find that "meditating" even with a tambura is a distraction.

[Rsachi]

Sirs,
The number of people who answered were 86. They were allowed the option to click on multiple statements and a total of 230 clicks were recorded (each clicked on average three statements).

I tried to cover a whole gamut of potential responses, and coined those 20 statements. Of course it was not perfect but many wrote to me that they could relate to at least a few of those statements.

As Uday says, what's spiritual is an intensely personal, subjective thing. My precise reason for the survey was to parse or granulate the general, blanket, statement that CM is spiritual. If people have thought it over while answering the survey, the purpose has been well served.

[cacm]

GREAT SERVICE AS FOR THE FIRST TIME THERE IS AN OBJECTIVE SURVEY OF WHAT CARNATIC MUSIC MEANS TO VARIOUS PERSONS! THANKS. VKV

[uday_shankar]

Indeed, all praise to Rsachi: "Survey" jana sukhino bhava(n)tu .

[Rsachi]

samasta sanmangaLAni bhavantu !!