Sursari – Reconnecting with Ganga
- bey0ndM@gz!ne
- May 13, 2022
- Default, People-Perspective
- 0 Comments
Ganga is one of the largest and holiest rivers in India. It has been from time immemorial, a source of spiritual wisdom and knowledge for humankind. With the Kumbh Melas and Ganga Aartis, it still remains in the hearts and minds of not just Indians but also seekers from across the world who head to places like Rishikesh, Varanasi, Gangotri, Ayodhya and etc. My own attachment with Ganga began when I was young and I went on a trip to Hemkunt Sahib with my family. We made a stop in Rishikesh and I still remember going to the Rope Bridges – Ram Jhula and Laxman Jhula. I looked down at its beautiful flow and gave food to the fishes. Little did I know that many years down the line I would end up writing a song for this amazing river.
I grew up in a town called Tarn Taran in Punjab, India. I never had any formal music training while I was in school. My parents and siblings were into Punjabi folk music, Gurbani, Qawaali, Bollywood songs, rock and roll, and pop music.
My grandfather was Dr Gurbax Singh Sandhu a revered communist leader and doctor from the region. My mother Parsin Kaur was a teacher and my father Dr Kamaljit Singh Sandhu was a veterinary doctor. Both had government jobs. I was groomed to be a medical doctor. I was the first one in my region to be selected for the best medical college in India called AIIMS in 1999. Unfortunately, I lost my mother in my first year of medical school. The following years were very difficult and grief made me turn inwards and search for spiritual meaning. Books of philosophers Yogananda and Osho became my good friends. In one of his books, Osho talked about Ustad Asad Ali Khan and his Rudra veena play as being the most profound experiences of Indian classical music.
To my great luck, a few years later in 2005 while I was doing my internship at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, I was taken to a concert by Ustad Asad Ali Khan by a German friend, Nisha Anders. That was my first time seeing and listening to Rudra Veena. Ustadji was a frail man in salwar kameez. His instrument was bigger than him as he mounted it on himself while sitting in Vajra asana. He explained a little bit about the instrument and Dhrupad music tradition. He mentioned it to be connected with Shiva and that he was the 13th generation of Beenkars (players of Rudra veena). He played an evening Raga called Yaman Kalyan. In Dhrupad, the recital is for 1 hour and needs a lot of attention and silence from the listeners. It had 3 parts of Alaap – Slow initial phase, Jod – faster rhythmic vocals and Jhala – accompanied by Percussions. Tanpura is always playing in the background throughout the concert.
Ustadji took his time to finetune tanpura and Rudra veena. As the concert started the sound of the rudra veena had a profound impact on the entire being. Halfway through the concert, I had a fever and for the rest half, it disappeared leaving an everlasting impact on my consciousness. It was the first time the fog of despair had lifted and I could clearly see the world of light which unites us all.
After the concert finished I went to see Ustadji with Nisha and talked to him about my experience. He said like I was a doctor, he too, was a doctor but his treatment was with Rudra Veena and the teachings of Dhrupad. He went on to explain about Dhrupad and Khandarbani – the name of the musical tradition with which his family was associated for centuries.
According to oral traditions Shiva, the great yogi discovered Dhrupad and he developed Veena, by observing birds and their sounds. He meditated and understood the rhythms and vibrations which run the world and created Dhrupad to help humanity understand and live in harmony with nature. A student of Dhrupad was to undertake a lifelong study of these rhythms and be in samadhi with them. I had asked Ustadji to teach me Dhrupad, to which he agreed on the condition that I will follow Guru Shishya Parampara, I was also asked to do a test of voice and listening to see if I was fit to learn, I agreed to the conditions. In the test, Ustadji would sing Sa and Pa – 2 notes of Indian classical music with a digital Tanpura, and I would have to repeat the same notes after him. After an hour of practice, he accepted me as his disciple, I was to pay a small monthly fee and come twice a week to learn from him at his residence in Delhi.
The Dhrupad vocal training had a profound impact on my psychological state of mind. After a few sessions, Ustadji said that Dhrupad was not for those with an obsession with death it was the celebration of life. One has to be in control of their body and has to fully utilise the life force to understand the rhythms and ragas of the natural world. This helped me gain a new perspective and go beyond my grief-stricken consciousness and flow into the golden future filled with songs from nature. While my training was continuing I decided to help an orphan child Pankaj, who was 8-years-old and was working in a friend’s house, by putting him in an Ashram in Rishikesh. He would study there and I would take care of him during his holidays. I sent the Ashram a message and my request was accepted.
The day I was leaving for Rishikesh, Ustadji asked me to sit and meditate on the flow of the river Ganga. He said that I will hear all the notes of Dhrupad that I was studying and it will accelerate my learning chart. A simple statement with a profound impact. The following days in Rishikesh were a magical experience as I spent hours listening and practising my vocals with the Ganga. I could hear the tanpura, which I had been practising with, in the river as well as many other musical notes and melodies. When I returned back to Delhi to continue my training, Ustadji said my ears had been properly tuned. I had also been working with Sooryayog Foundation in Kerala and learning Ayurveda and Naturopathy with great masters in the field in Kerala. So I would travel for work and to learn in Kerala and come back and continue my study with Ustadji.
Ustadji, who had a habit of smoking Capstan cigarettes, and in 2010, was diagnosed with lung cancer. I saw him getting frailer, as he lost the strength to his sickness day by day. His caretakers were concerned that he wasn’t sleeping enough and playing music all night, but I could see the divine passion and melodies travelling in him. I tried talking to him about changing his lifestyle, but he didn’t relent. Ustadji passed away on June 14, 2011, at AIIMS, I was in Kerala at the time. It was an end to a great era of Dhrupad music in India. I diligently kept up with my practice of Dhrupad Vocals and continued exploring other music forms. Learning Dhrupad brought me closer to Sikh Music and culture. I also discovered that Dhrupad was at the base of Guru Granth Sahib and its Raga systems. That made reading and singing the Guru Granth Sahib a lot more enjoyable for me. One day while studying the Guru Granth Sahib I came across a word- Sursari. It was used by the 3rd Guru of the Sikhs Guru Amar Das in his Bani. It appears on page 855 of Guru Granth Sahib.
mehlaa 3.
Third Mehl:
Har parabh sachaa sohilaa gurmukh naam govind.
True is the Praise of the Lord God; the Gurmukh chants the Name of the Lord of the Universe.
An-din naam salaahnaa har japi-aa man aanand.
Praising the Naam night and day, and meditating on the Lord, the mind becomes blissful.
Vadbhaagee har paa-i-aa pooran parmaanand.
By great good fortune, I have found the Lord, the perfect embodiment of supreme bliss.
Jan naanak naam sahaali-aa bahurh na man tan bhang. ||2||
Servant Nanak praises the Naam; his mind and body shall never again be shattered. ||2||
pa-orhee.
Pauree:
Ko-ee nindak hovai satguroo kaa fir saran gur aavai.
If someone slanders the True Guru, and then comes seeking the Guru’s Protection,
pichhlay gunah satgur bakhas la-ay satsangat naal ralaavai.
the True Guru forgives him for his past sins, and unites him with the Saints’ Congregation.
ji-o meehi vuthai galee-aa naali-aa tobhi-aa kaa jal jaa-ay pavai vich sursari sursari milat pavitar paavan ho-ay jaavai.
When the rain falls, the water in the streams, rivers and ponds flows into the Ganges; flowing into the Ganges, it is made sacred and pure.
ayh vadi-aa-ee satgur nirvair vich jit mili-ai tisnaa bhukh utrai har saaNt tarh aavai.
Such is the glorious greatness of the True Guru, who has no vengeance; meeting with Him, thirst and hunger are quenched, and instantly, one attains celestial peace.
naanak ih achraj daykhhu mayray har sachay saah kaa je satguroo no mannai so sabhnaaN bhaavai. ||13||1|| suDh.
O Nanak, behold this wonder of the Lord, my True King! Everyone is pleased with one who obeys and believes in the True Guru. ||13||1|| Sudh||
As I looked for its meaning, ‘Sursari’ turned out to be the old name of the River Ganga. While looking at Sikh Gurbani’s dictionary, I understood it meant Suran di Sari – A cloth full of musical notes. Sursari describes Ganga as a river full of divine musical notes. Sursari is totally different from the word Ganga which signifies purity and gives a whole different depth and idea to connect with the river. The word is not used commonly in our modern Punjabi languages or in any other Indian languages as far as I know. Most importantly, the Sursari word was directly matching with my Dhrupad training under Ustad Asad Ali Khan. With him, I had learnt Ganga was full of musical notes, and was needed to complete one’s music training. Here in the Guru Granth Sahib was a word which perfectly described this property of Ganga – Sursari. For years I had been striving to do something for River Ganga to maintain its pristine state and purity. People were fasting to death to keep it pollution-free. I have been given a different way. It is in celebration of the word Sursari. I got to fulfil this opportunity as I wrote a song called Tu meri Sursari.
I started writing this song while I was working with an Italian Bharatnatyam Dancer, Federica and her husband Modern Dancer, Esteban. We were creating a dance piece called CHI, Celebrating Intercultural Harmony. We performed it only once at the Saint Paul Festival of Dance in 2018. The couple had strong love for India and for my work. I was inspired by their dance to look at rivers as dancing beings with Birth- Youth- Adulthood- Old age- Death and reincarnation.
Lyrics
Tu meri Sursari
Tu meri Sursari
Tun Ja sagar mein yun milaya
Tun gaven mein Suna
Mein gavan tun suney
Eh hai teri meri prem kahani
You are my Ganga the river of magical musical notes
May You go and meet the ocean like this
You sing and I listen
I sing and you listen
This is our love story
While I performed this song solo on guitars at concerts, I had the opportunity to make an amazing recording with Beyond Music Foundation in 2020. I recorded the song with Raushan Orzabeya (Kyl Kobyz) and Andreia Jao (English vocals, Drums and Mixing).
Looking back I feel it has been a life well-lived, working in harmony with nature and our great musical culture and heritage. We shouldn’t give up on our past in our quest to reach the stars. This Mother Earth – Mata Dharat is our only home. All digital realities also are part of it. She needs her rivers, She needs her Sursari.
