Even though we say that Swami Kriyananda composed over 400 pieces of music, Swamiji himself always used to say: “I never wrote a single note! It was all given to me by God.” God usually doesn’t “just give” melodies to people here and there. In order for us to listen to the divine melodies, we have to attract them by uplifting our energies and consciousness so that we may receive them. All that to say that his music has a lot of divine power, a power that we can actually tap into!
I love to leave soft music playing in the room, even when I am not around because, I believe, it helps to make a better environment, and I love to hear something uplifting when I come back home after a long day! Sometimes, I leave the music playing softly in the background all night long as well, since neither me nor my wife have troubles falling asleep while it is playing.
A few years ago, I fell asleep while listening to a piece of music called “Chant of the Angels” or “Life Mantra”. Some of the words of that song go like this: “God is life, God is joy, life is God’s, life is joy.” That night, something magical happened: I remember having a dream in which some friends were performing a play. The setting was some sort of well-lit cave and the whole feeling was quite ancient, but not primitive. I was looking from afar, seeing some of my friends perform the play when, suddenly, one by one they started closing their eyes, and then remained motionless with beautiful smiles adorning their faces. I knew they were listening to something, and I also knew that, if I closed my eyes, I would also be able to listen to it. So I did. Immediately a bright light appeared, which lasted just for a few moments, but in the background I could hear “God is life, God is joy, life is God’s, life is joy” and a great sense of joy came to me.
Almost immediately I woke up, feeling very uplifted. I realized that I had left the music playing in my room all through the night, and that probably it was that music that had given me that beautiful experience.Music has a tremendous power to influence us, to uplift us or to bring us down. Most of the times we don’t even realize this! We usually keep music playing in the background as we do some other chores, which is good. Very few, however, actually bother to listen to what is playing, and when I say listening, I mean listening with 100% concentration. I have often done this: I lay down in bed ready to go to sleep, but before I fall asleep, I plug my earphones and play a melody or song of Swami Kriyananda. During those three or five minutes, I don’t let my mind think of anything, I just listen and feel. The effect of doing this increases the power of the music, and then you can really start to begin to understand what the music is doing to you!
I recommend that you try this: whatever music you listen to, try to, at least once, listen to it with all your concentration and feeling so that you may see if it is actually helping you or not, and if you can sing the uplifting songs, it is even better!