Description

The Upanishadic sages of Vedic India in their intense search for eternal in the ephemeral and infinity in life’s finitudes, first discovered ‘Unity’: Oneness immanent in the manifold diversity of the world.  This, the ‘Advaita’, explored and celebrated initially by saint and savant down the ages in different treatises of varied disciplines, subsequently became the keynote of Indian thought, feeling and civilization, reiterated by poets, artists and artisans through millennia. Recognized as one of the principal ideas of latter day Hinduism, Advaita Philosophy postulates the identity of the self with the Creator and Creation. As a religious philosophy it found conclusive articulation in the life and works of the great saint Shri Adi Shankara in the Ninth Century, validated consequently by other seers in other era. The journey of Advaita in Indian Music can be traced from the Upanishads where it was first expressed in Mantras and Suktas, to the songs of the Saint-poets of Medieval India who broadcast it to the common people of the country. The present production is a part of the outcome of the research on the theme of Advaita. Mantras, Shlokas and Songs are carefully selected with respect to their inner purport and musicality, chanted according to Vedic tradition and composed on classical raags.

Description based on album inlay notes.