by Swami Kriyananda
Philosophy can be dry. Dressed in melody, however, it becomes alive, fresh, near. So Swami Kriyananda called his music “Philosophy on Song”. Here, then, is just a little course of such musical philosophy: seven songs, seven messages.
Musical Lesson 1
On Proud Intellectual Knowledge
“The boatman regrets to say his fare Never reached the opposite bank. All that ponderous learning inside his head gave him weight, you see, and he sank!”
This song is based on a story Yogananda loved to tell about a Vedic scholar in India who, while crossing the river Ganges by boat, confronted the boatman with a pedantic question and was shocked about the boatman’s ignorance of the four Vedas. Here the story is told using the names of Western philosophers.
Listen to: “The Philosopher and the Boatman'”
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Musical Lesson 2
Christianity and “Churchianity”
He [Jesus] said, “My child, don’t feel so sad. For twenty years I, too, have tried to enter that very church, with no more luck than you!”
Jesus is attracted to love, not to a church. God watches the heart. The lyrics also say: “But, keep a level head, boys and preach the lighter news. Don’t disappoint the gentle folk: our church needs better pews!” Its philosophy, then, also confronts the lack of moral courage in any religious organization which opportunistically tries to please its congregation, concurring with people’s errors, at the cost of truth. If we do so, the Divine is far.
Listen to: “Jim Brown”
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Musical Lesson 3
About Our Small Mental Boxes
Well, so I used to think, but now I must confess, at judging fools I wasn’t any great success. Truth somehow lived without me, though I called it mine: what box could hold the world?—it’s just preposterous!
As human beings we tend to have small mental boxes concerning family, religion, nationality, social rule, thinking others to be wrong, or even to be fools. Our job is to expand such mental boxes, and to break them, to “hold the world.” For otherwise “truth lives without me.”
Listen to: “More Boxes? No, Thank you!”
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Musical Lesson 4
Where To Find Freedom
And if you’re seeking freedom, seek it on the mountains, God’s sunlight on your shoulders, the wind in your hair. For there’s no one can hold you, boss about, or mold you. Once your heart is free, you’ll be king everywhere!
Freedom is not found through a revolution, riches, power, possessions. It is found within, in a free heart.
Listen to: “If You’re Seeking Freedom”
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Musical Lesson 5
Follow Your Own Life-Direction!
Walk like a man, even though you walk alone. Why court approval, once the road is known? Let come who will, but if they all turn home, the goal still awaits you: Go on alone!
We tend to walk with the masses. Instead courageously follow your own direction in life.
Listen to: “Go On Alone”
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Musical Lesson 6
Affirm Light In the Darkness
Nightingale! Nightingale! Sing of joy through the night. Teach my heart to impart ev’rywhere your delight. Sing of moonrays on the rain. Sing that love’s not in vain. Ev’ry grief, ev’ry wrong. Has its ending in song.
The nightingale teaches us to sing also during the night of life. In the cold rain we might yet find delight in the moonrays. Realize that every grief will end and turn into “song”.
Listen to: “Song of the Nightingale”
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Musical Lesson 7
All People Are Our Brothers
Then brothers, why endeavor to set ourselves apart? The fences we’ve been building squeeze tight upon our hearts! Come sing the truth that all men are brothers! Come sing the truth that all men are brothers!
People seem so vastly different from each other. Yet deep inside we are one, we are brothers and sisters. All “fences” need to be torn down, all separation overcome.
Listen to: “Brothers”