Rhythm!

I woke up to one of the sounds that I liked the most. No! Its not the sound of the alarm. Allowing myself the luxury of not setting it at least for a few days now, I find that my body clock almost wakes me up by 06.00 or so. But then that day I woke up much early to the continuous sound of water falling on something next to my house. Our neighbour has been rebuilding his house after a demolition and I got frustrated and yelled once already at the supervisor operating on heavy machinery / drillers and other noisier things past 11 p.m. in the night. But this one was different - that of a continuous falling of water at regular intervals. Initially I thought that the watchman was using the hose pipe next door. As I opened one window, I realized that it was raining. And raining heavily.

Dazed while seeing it, I went to the other room without waking anyone and sat down relaxed, focusing on the sound. Soon, I could find the rhythm of it and almost got its frequency. And as I closed my eyes, I found that my ears and nose had worked doubly good, perhaps trying to figure out whats going on, backing up for the absence of vision. Now I could hear the rain better and soon spotted the millisecond interval between the sound of rain drops falling on some metal plate. I was then looking for the gap in particular, as it was more difficult to keep my mind to be glued to it.

Soon, I heard the sound of the washing machine that was rhythmically turning this way and that way. "Oh! They start the day early!", I thought of the other neighbour. They kept the washing machine in the room that was closer to the room where I was then and the lack of other sounds made it possible for me to hear it. The machine started slowly, like a man growling for being called late and then got in to a rhythm in the washing cycle. I could clearly identify the rhythm of its drum, churning to the left and then to the right. And within a minute, I spotted the difference. The reverse churning was a bit shorter and I knew that it was due to the heavy load. I was soon lost in something else when I heard that bird. Its tweet was a bit odd and melancholic. Initially I thought it was a sorrow note, perfect in rhythm and symmetrically placed. But my mind perceived that it was a pleasurable one and I felt that it was enjoying the solitude at that hour.

Then I realized the rhythmic thumping sound. I was baffled first and terrified later, knowing that it came from me and was soon however drawn in to it, knowing that it was my own heart beat. And I could find the rhythm in there too. As I looked for the gap, I realized the continuous stream of a low intensity sound like sruti from a tambur filling everywhere. I knew that the day began. Then came two short angry bursts of sound, from a crow, which meant as "Am hungry! Am hungry!", to me. Once again I felt it in rhythm and wondered how on earth it could be this hungry right in the morning. As I was about to get up and start my daily work, I just remembered something that I read. Lord Siva, being such a lover of music has Ganga falling on top of him and wearing two gandharvas [a sect of divine ones who are masters in fine arts / music] on his ear lobes, to hear the melody all along.

Suddenly I felt that we all are a part of those rhythmic waves of sound that always keeps coming from above. That shook me and I had to open up feeling the rush of blood passing to the numb regions of my body, causing a fantastic pricking sensation.

Needless to say, it also followed a rhythm!

 

Thanks SuperWoman09, for your instant appreciation and feedback. This is one of the subjects that I just love to write, based on my limited experience. Thankfully, the reader in me woke up to abridge it so that it could end up this much.

Besides, what you mentioned is just right. We go elsewhere, to find ourselves more.
Lovely sum up. Thanks again. -rgs

 

Nice feedback Cheeniya Sir. Thanks for that. I also knew the Daksha story, but not this lovely connection. And I read earlier that Chamakam is said by those who want specific things to be granted to them. Read a story in Devi Bhagavatham too, about how a prince who lost everything get initiated to recite a Devi Mantra through the sound of a pig. We have a huge collection of such fantastic stories, all of them saying less and inducing us more to think what they actually convey.

The one from whom everything came, the one who has that merciful justice, the one who is none other than love, the one who is reached through love and only that, to him, let whatever we do go to!

Thanks again. -rgs

 

Thanks Jasmine25, for your feedback. I agree to what you say. Each day dawns with the chirping of various birds and finally the crow. Have you ever heard those parrots, in particular, the young ones chirping happily when they fly higher and higher?

Against a blue and vast sky,
Those specks of green shine.
Their sounds do always lie
Deep in the heart of mine.

Thanks for the feedback. -rgs