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Songs to Soothe the Savage Breast

© Deborah Jeter

In this time where school violence has become so prevalent, an educator begins to wonder if there is more that can be done to soothe the "savage" within us. Fine Arts does that very thing better than any other resource. Music and art can awaken in us those kinder, gentler ways with which we are all born. Music can build bridges, mend broken ones and create a communication between diverse personalities and cultures. It is the violent acts of our youth of late that prodded me to think of various types of peaceful interventions. It is the reason I have asked this week's guest writer, Didi Ananda Paramita, who is a missionary in India and a master teacher of Yoga, to lend us some of her knowledge and experience in mantras and chants. At the bottom of the page, there are a list of sites that offer other forms of peace making and attitude altering resources.

Ancient Teachings from India

We see today that there is an increasing tendency to nervousness and violence in the youth which stems from many causes. One of these causes, in my opinion, is related to the amount and kind of activities in which the youngsters and teen-agers are involved.

Life is becoming more and more artificial and superficial, day by day. Therefore, for the betterment and education of humanity, there needs to be a rediscovery of the art of repose and inner peace, which seems to have been lost.

There are two aspects of life:

The first is that man is tuned by his surroundings.

The second is that man can tune himself, in spite of his surroundings.

The latter is the work of the mystic. Through the help of music, the mystic tunes themselves to the sphere where they wish to be, as the yogis do. Therefore, the beginning of music in India was at the time of Shiva (the king of Yogis).

The most important and valuable thing about the music of the ancient people from India, which has greatly benefited humanity, was that they distinguished the different aspects of music. They came to realize that there was a certain way of expressing the tone, rhythm and idea, which brought about a greater emotion or inner inclination towards peace.

This science formed in itself a special psycho-spiritual science that is called kiirtan (an important part of Yoga based on the constant repetition of a special sound - "mantra" - that is sung).

As to the power of the words, a new idea is coming from various places under different names. It is the repetition of a certain word or phrase that is of great help in curing oneself of certain illness, whether physical or psychic. Like the Hindus, who have preserved their old sacred mantras and chants, even if the language (samskrt) is extinct, because of their awareness of the power of those special sounds.