We have arranged this beautiful program of Kathak dancing for you. Now, ‘Kathak’ word, as you know, comes from the word Katha. Katha means the story. It means the story.

May God bless you.

And the story is to be told. This is a very very ancient style of dancing which was practiced in the northern part of India. And then part of it also went to the south, and they used it in a different way. Now Kathak is so ancient and so traditional that it has gone various changes and various aspects have been expressed in this style of dancing. To begin with, it was originally done to express the stories about the Gods and Goddesses, and their different way of dealing with human beings. Then gradually it became subtler and subtler. Then they started performing also the dances about the Parabramha Shakti and all those things.

Later on, when the Muslims came to North India they introduced their delicate style to this style of dancing. One of the Nawabs of Lucknow was very much fond of Kathak dancing, and he himself introduced so many ideas in this....

Indian dancing or any Indian instrument or any Indian music or paintings or any art cannot be learned without proper disciplining yourself....

Our joy has reached a new dimension, and I should say dimensions of it. Just fluttering with beautiful music of your heart.

And, we have to thank Mr. Pawar, his gracious wife, and Pandit Misra Ji, his disciples, and his daughter, son, and all the Sahaja Yogis who have worked it out so well. I mean have no words to thank them. If a mother has to thank, she just weeps. She just doesn’t know how to thank, you see. May God bless them in their venture and to you.

Now, I have to tell one more thing, how Indian music is so much connected with the Kundalini awakening, which perhaps I have never talked to you about. Is that when the Kundalini rises she passes through various centers and sub-plexuses. Now when she is rising, she makes the sound altogether is OM. But when you try to refract all these different into different sounds, it becomes, from the first chakra if you start, SA, RE, GA, MA, PA, DHA, NI. At the Sahasrara it is NI. So there are seven chakras it makes the sound.

Now, when the Kundalini rises she has to pass through all these sub-plexuses. Now as you know, there is the first center has got four subplexuses, so the tala is built on four. Then you have six plexuses, we have a tala on six. Then there is it passes through the ten, so we have a tala in ten. Then there is it passes through twelve, so we have a tala of twelve.

Last of all is Shri Krishna: Shri Krishna’s place where it has got sixteen sub-plexuses, so it passes through sixteen sub-plexuses. So you can imagine how it works out. At the time of Agnya chakra, as you know, is only the two matras are there, so one has to play only on two matras, where you reduce everything to two matras. So far I don’t think Indian music has reached that stage where it just plays with two matras. It will be very difficult, but in the South I think they play sometimes with three matras, is something surprising, which the triguna: what we call the three matras. So that from four it becomes two, and then in the Sahasrara it is three, but at the end of it is thousand petals. And where, when all these start dancing, the thousand petals start dancing with the permutations and combinations of all these sub-plexuses.

So it is so woven into the classical music—the whole awakening of the kundalini—of which perhaps the modern artist may not be aware of. But, it is said everyone knows that Indian music is based on the first sound, that is OM, the Omkara. So, this is how all these talas are based and that’s why you are so overjoyed, though maybe you may not have understood the classical intricacies of the whole thing, but the whole thing was so spontaneous and elevating your Kundalini so well that it gave you the joy ultimately. After all, what you have to have: the joy and not the intellectual analysis of it. So the whole thing, the sub-total of it, was tremendous joy and we have to thank all of them for that.

May God bless you.

Sixteen matras you know of Krishna is divided into two, you see, two halves. First half is the right side and the second half is the left side. So at the left side when it goes is called kaal means lower position, lower beat or say a milder beat. So from the Shukla Paksha to the Krishna Paksha as you call it or you can call it from the right to the left. And he goes playing on the left side there, so this is the two sides of the Vishuddhi chakra very well expressed.

We have ek tala of twelve matras and that is, as you know, is of the Shiva. Shiva has got twelve sub-plexuses and that’s how it is: the twelve matras; and it is very, ek tala is a very solid thing. Like Dhin DHIN. And sometimes they play it so slowly that between the two there’s a big gap and that’s how Shiva’s work is. So it’s all very very symbolic. Gradually you will evolve into it and you will see to it how Indian music is built around the basic primordial music.

May God bless you.