Music to fill the Spring: Phillip Glass & Ravi Shankar's "Prashanti"
"Prashanti (Peacefulness) An extended orchestral work in two parts:
- Musical depiction of joyful people living in harmony. Slowly, greed, envy, hatred and violence creep into their contented lives.
- 'Out of this chaos a voice sings out in Vedic prayer:
'Hey Nath, hama para kripa kijiye. Door kara andhakar, gyan ka aloka dijiye, hinsa dwesh lobha bamese chhin lijiye, manamey prem shanti bhar dijiye.'
(Oh, Lord. Be benevolent to us. Drive the darkness away. Shed upon us the light of wisdom. Take the jealousy, envy, greed and anger from us, and fill our hearts with love and peace.)
... and a feeling of spiritual awakening, peace and tranquillity descends upon people's minds"
More appropriate words can hardly be uttered in this time of what the I Ching calls "the darkening of the light"...which is just another word for BushWorld. That cold, sleet-soaked newspaper of which Al Gore so preciently proferred as warning.
The lyrics bear repeating...
Oh, Lord. Be benevolent to us.
Drive the darkness away.
Shed upon us the light of wisdom.
Take the jealousy, envy, greed and anger from us,
and fill our hearts with love and peace.
Jealousy. Envy. Greed. Anger. Darkness. Lack of wisdom.
Sound familiar? These are what is driving the current imperial madness. The Bushies were jealous of Clinton's outstanding success, and envied not only their prowess and ability, they envied the financial growth and success. Then greed took over, and before long they had stolen the White House, and, with the help of certain media moguls, demarketed the Internet (now personified by Al Gore), and thus began the decline of the New Way, and the rise of the Old Way. You know the old way. Make money by warring. Wars are good money for pharmaceutical companies, since if you're not in physical need of them...you may still be in psychological need of them. But of course there are many other industries that benefit from fear and killing and tearing things up. Reconstructors for one.
And what about the booty? Oil?
But in the midst of all this, anger is generated. Both abroad and at home. The darkening has reached a critical mass. No light of wisdom seems to shine.
And yet it is there. Beyond the darkness.
And what excites me is that the sunlight will be all the more welcome when it does come. And once again, we will enjoy Sunshine Days. A renaissance of love and light.
And just when it seemed so dark...
So yes...listen to Prashanti, and consider its meaning.
You can even learn it. Hone your Sanskit. It's only a few words, sung at simple intervals.
Now go enjoy yourself!
