Sasthanga namaskaram to Gurumayi ji, Baba, and Bade Baba.
Hello, everyone! I am so excited to be here with you in the Siddha Yoga Universal Hall. May is Baba’s Month. The title for the Siddha Yoga Audio Satsang in Celebration of Baba Muktananda’s Birthday is “Sound, Self, Serenity,” and I am here today with my mridangam to create lots of sounds.
When I was very young—even younger than now—my grandfather told me that the mridangam is a daiva vadyam, a “divine instrument.” When Lord Shiva performed his primordial dance of creation, the lord’s bull played the mridangam. I love the mridangam because I can hear the pranava nada, the “primordial sound,” AUM, in its three syllables. Let me show you.
Thom. [He plays music on his drum.] Dhi. [He plays music on his drum.] And the unique sound called chapu, which can be produced only by a mridangam. [He plays music on his drum.]
Thom. [He plays music on his drum.]
Dhi. [He plays music on his drum.]
And the unique sound called chapu, which can be produced only by a mridangam. [He plays music on his drum.]
Today, my dream of playing for Gurumayi ji, whom I love so much, is coming true, and I am so happy and grateful. I will be presenting a composition in adi talam, a popular eight-beat pattern. This composition has four parts to it. I begin by exploring the tala and its many patterns...
My prayer is that the sounds of the mridangam fill us with happiness and peace.