THESE three words in the invocation push us to a state of deep contemplation to understand the fine meaning -- May the musical note, Sur, become innocent. They invite us to go much beyond the dictionary meaning of the Marathi word Niragas as ‘innocent’. This one small word has multiple facets that carry a deep spiritual meaning -- which calls for a very serious contemplation. This one word also takes us deep into the philosophy of music. It asks us to shed our prejudices and biases so that our mind is clear enough to understand what Niragas means in musical terms.

 

The devotee, a music maestro, is appealing to the Lord that his sur -- musical note -- be gifted with innocence. He is seeking a complete purity of the musical note -- sur -- when he sings. Once that is attained, he will be able to sing better. And what a request -- make my sur fully innocent, fully pure so that I can bend it the way I want, to suit my rendition. Lord, please gift me with a sur that is unaffected by anything. On that absolute innocence, I will make my musical sanskaar, the devotee prays. There, of course, is the basic question: Can there be a fully innocent musical note, sur? And the answer can be both -- ‘yes’, or ‘no’. But all music maestros often sought such an innocent note. In other words, they sought the power, the capability, to produce an innocent note which then they would bend the way they wished -- to produce the effect in their rendition. Gaansaraswati Kishori Amonkar talked of sur as the core of musical expression. The sur needs to be as fully unaffected by anything as possible.

 

And great music stems from marshalling of such notes, innocent, pure, unaffected -- that could be bent in any manner in classic (not classical) forms. The importance of innocence of the musical note is more in Indian classical music than it is in the western music. Indian classical music has a form of a melody in which the notes come in a succession, almost singularly in upward or downward movements. This approach, naturally therefore, seeks a differently cultured single musical note, sur. In western music, the stress is on harmony -- produced by simultaneous use of multiple notes, in which absolute purity and innocence of single notes actually is not asked for. Let alone the technical details, the prayer -- Sur Niragas Ho -- has a very deep spiritual meaning that is tough to fathom.

 

There is one more dimension to this prayer: ‘Lord, please grant me the spiritual condition that is beyond any affectation of my pride or prejudice or hang-ups -- so that I will be able to render the innocent sur in an unmuddled manner. Seen in this light, we can understand the lifetime of riyaaz to prepare self for such a rendition. On the surface, riyaaz may look like a physical preparation of the musician. Deep within, it explains the person’s internal struggle to attain a different level of purity and innocence of expression -- much beyond the confines or voice, stemming from the depth of soul.