By Wes Annac, The Culture of Awareness

We’ve learned a lot from Sri Chinmoy about music’s spiritual value so far, and one of the things we’ve learned is that we can become a musical conduit for the expression of our spirituality if we remember to center our music on spirit.

Music is arguably the best way to express our spirituality and our philosophy on life, and people of all kinds of faith have used it to spread their message and the things they’ve learned along their journey back into full consciousness.

It might not be as direct as meditation, but we’ve learned that it provides a potent path back into a higher consciousness. Any spiritual practice will uplift us as long as we stay consistent with it, and while some spiritual teachers shun consistency, I think it’s helpful to our creative and spiritual practices.

We’ll get the most out of music (and anything else) if we stay dedicated to it, and if we calmly and patiently stick with it despite any obstacles, Source will be there for us to take care of the rest.

We’ll still have to work hard and stay consistent, but as long as we can do that, the higher consciousness we want to reach will enhance our music and help us with any trouble we have along the way.

Self-expression is great in any form, and connecting with our Christ consciousness will give us more freedom to flow. No matter how we creatively express ourselves, staying dedicated and remembering that it’s meant to be a spiritual practice will allow us the freedom we require to really enjoy it.

According to Sri Chinmoy, music ‘feeds our inner life’.

“Soulful and spiritual music really helps us; it feeds our inner life. Music has tremendous power. With fire we can burn ourselves, or we can cook and do many other good things. It is the same with music.” (1)

Any discerning spiritual seeker can tell the difference between spiritually alive and spiritually dead music by the way it makes them feel.

“Divine music immediately elevates our consciousness, whereas undivine music immediately lowers our consciousness and tries to destroy our sincere inner cry for a better spiritual life. The spiritual person will immediately be affected by this music.

“So music can change our consciousness provided it is the music that comes from the heart and enters into the heart. The music that touches the very depth of our heart can elevate our consciousness.” (2)

Our restless senses and doubtful mind present a problem if we want enlightenment, and this is where music (and other things like writing) help us greatly.

“Our senses are restless. Therefore, our mind suffers. Our mind is doubtful. Therefore, our senses suffer.

“The mind has no capacity to bind or discipline the senses. Here music comes to the mind’s rescue. With the help of music, the mind binds and disciplines the senses and makes them into perfect instruments so they can be inundated with peace, light and bliss from above.” (3)

The senses can’t insert faith into a doubtful mind, and this too is where music saves the day.

“Again, when the mind is doubtful, when the mind drinks deep of doubt-poison, the senses have no capacity to inject faith into the mind. Here also music comes to the rescue. The senses take help from music to transform and illumine themselves.” (4)

Even with music, we can end up being doubtful. This is why I mentioned the importance of dedication to sustaining the musical flow, and if we doubt our abilities, we’ll make the process harder than it needs to be and we might wonder why we can’t seem to flow like we really want to.

Sometimes, we don’t realize that it’s because we started to doubt the whole process in the first place. At the first sign of doubt, our creative abilities will seem to deplete, further increasing our doubt in ourselves and the power of music to help us elevate our consciousness.

Music requires discipline, and in this case, it requires the disciplined ability to believe in ourselves and the power of sound to help us access the spirit while we uplift others. As long as we don’t let the mind’s doubtful nature bring us down, we’ll get the most out of music and we’ll be glad we stuck with it so we could feel what resulted.

Sri Chinmoy tells us more about how the calmed senses and the musical mind allow us to connect with spirit through the heart, which, as he also tells us, is the ultimate portal to a higher consciousness.

“When the senses are calm and quiet, the doubtful mind is totally transformed and it becomes inseparably one with the heart, which is all receptivity. At that time our Inner Pilot—the Supreme Musician—can manifest Himself blessingfully, powerfully and measurelessly.

“As He is manifesting Himself in and through us, the divine music becomes part and parcel of our existence and we grow into perfect Perfection. In and through us the Supreme Musician creates a new world. We become the divine music, and a new vision of God’s transcendental Reality operates in and through us.” (5)

There’s a reason so many conscious musicians feel like they can use their music to change the world, and we really can make some profound changes if we unlock our music and flowingly express it, regardless of the doubt we feel in our mind.

While we want our music to uplift people, we don’t want to sacrifice our joy or passion by trying to live up to society’s expectations. We have to focus on raising our own consciousness with music before we can use it to uplift others, and we’ll know when we’ve become sufficiently inspired to start playing publicly.

Those of us who are just starting to embrace music will want to let it be somewhat of a personal practice, and with dedication, we’ll eventually be comfortable using it to uplift others. We’ll have drastically uplifted ourselves by that time, and because of this, our comfort level will have risen sufficiently.

We can play music during meditation, Sri Chinmoy tells us, provided we’re musically attuned enough to get something out of it.

“Can spiritual music be played during meditation?

“Certainly, although it depends on the one who meditates. There are many seekers on earth who meditate extremely well, but who have not developed their musical sense. Their ears have not been trained, so we cannot expect them to change their nature overnight.

“They either lack the capacity of appreciation or they have some austere feeling about music.” (6)

Most people, he tells us, don’t tend to open up to the music of the soul.

“Psychic music is not very widely appreciated, and very few people appreciate the soul’s music. They feel it is like a stranger that is entering into their consciousness. But it is actually their eternal tenant, their soul, that is deep within them waiting to come to the fore.” (7)

Playing spiritually inspired music while we’re deep in meditation will produce a significant effect, he tells us.

“If divine music is played during deep meditation, it enhances the meditation. It will immediately help in elevating the consciousness. If you are fond of music, then playing soulful songs or chants during your meditations at home will definitely help you.” (8)

I’ve heard that chanting will help our meditation tremendously, and I can imagine playing reggae or some other form of deeply spiritual music will help us enjoy the good vibes in an even more intense way than we already can.

Silence is helpful by itself when it comes to exploring our inner realms, but music that contains an inherently spiritual essence will increase the meditation’s quality because sound is an important aspect of our spiritual evolution.

We’ll realize when we’re back in a higher state of consciousness that light and sound are primarily responsible for the creation of our reality and every reality that currently lies beyond our conscious perception, and the sooner we embrace music, the sooner we’ll come to this crucial realization.

We’ll continue to talk about music’s spiritual value in part 4, and as always, there’s still a lot to say about it. I could probably write a few more articles about it without Sri Chinmoy’s input, because it continues to fascinate and inspire me.

Like some of you, I’ve been inspired by the conscious musicians of the past and present who’ve used music to uplift the world, and I think it’s one of the best ways we can assist in the planetary awakening.

I’m not alone, and that’s why there are so many skilled musicians on the forefront of the conscious awakening who are doing what they can to raise awareness.

We’re raising the light quotient with everything we do to uplift the world, and we’ll be rewarded for our efforts by the supremely pure vibration our music and meditation will help us access.

For now, let’s stay active and continue to raise awareness in any way we can, because our collective evolution depends partly on our spiritually inspired work. We have every reason to embrace our unfolding mission, so let’s stay active, enthusiastic and willing to contribute.

Footnotes:

1. Srichinmoy.org: “Music: God’s Universal Language’ at – http://www.srichinmoy.org/resources/library/music_and_spirituality/music_gods_language
2. Loc. cit.
3. Loc. cit.
4. Loc. cit.
5. Loc. cit.
6. Loc. cit.
7. Loc. cit.
8. Loc. cit.

Share freely.

I’m a twenty-one year old writer, blogger, musician and channel for the creative expression of the inner universe, and I created The Culture of Awareness daily news site.

The Culture of Awareness features daily spiritual and alternative news, articles I’ve written, and more. Its purpose is to awaken and uplift by providing material about the fall of the planetary elite and a new paradigm of unity and spirituality.

I’ve contributed to a few different spiritual websites including The Master Shift, Waking Times, Golden Age of Gaia, Wake Up World and Expanded Consciousness. I can also be found on Facebook ( and ) and , and I write a paid weekly newsletter that you can subscribe to for $11.11 a month .