VKMurali

“The svara’s main function in Karnatik music is to give us a microcosm of the larger melody. But it cannot do this entirely on its own. It does so through a process of interaction. The svara, acts with other svaras to create smaller melodic units, which in turn define the larger melody. How does a svara, the ‘micro’, express the macro? It does so by representing an aspect of the larger melody, not by its fixity or rootedness, its immobility on a scale, but through its movable nature. Therefore, every svara can move, bounce, slide, glide, shiver or skip. How and to what extent a svara can be expressive depends on the nature of the larger musical identity it is part of and the nature of the other svaras within that macro identity. Svaras in some ways are like cells in a body. The cells (svaras) are determined by the content and function of the tissues (smaller melodic units), yet the larger human being (melody as a whole) is embedded in every cell, within the DNA.”
― T.M. Krishna, A Southern Music: Exploring the Karnatik Tradition

“In its totality, a raga is a combination of musical heritage, technical elements, emotional charge, cognitive understanding and aural identity.”
― T.M. Krishna, A Southern Music: Exploring the Karnatik Tradition

“Arjuna, to expand your mind, use intelligence to draw your mind away from sensuality, so that there is no self-obsession, aggression, arrogance, desire, anger, possessiveness, attraction or repulsion. You are content in solitude, consuming little, expressing little, connected with the world and aware.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, verses 51 to 53 (paraphrased).”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, My Gita

“Arjuna, way back, Brahma created humans through yagna and declared that yagna will satisfy all human needs. Use yagna to satisfy the other and the other will satisfy you. If you take without giving, you are a thief. Those who feed others and eat leftovers are free of all misery. Those who cook for themselves are always unhappy. Humans need food. Food needs rain. Rain needs exchange. Exchange needs action. Exchange began with divinity, that primal spark of humanity. Those who indulge themselves, those who do not repay it backwards, as well as pay it forward, break the chain, are miserable and spread misery.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, verses 10 to 16 (paraphrased).”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, My Gita