BOOK OF LIFE   (Volume 4)

Courtesy of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York

To listen please click HERE

 The yogi is in a state of at-one-ment with all creation - so much so that the gentle deer are not afraid of his presence. He is studying a holy scripture that will provide him with spiritual disciplines in order that his life and behaviour will become ever more in-tune with those rarefied spiritual realms that he endeavours to make real in his life - to enter into at-one-ment or, in other words, to lose his sense of separation from the Whole of Life.

This is an improvisation upon a set of Yin Bowls (42) and a set of Yang Bowls (23). These are each laid out in the form of a spiral with the Yin Bowls on my left hand side and the Yang Bowls upon my right hand side. Something of the gentleness and communion with Nature, spiritual and animal, suffuses this subtle improvisation.

 

ARHAT   (Volume 4)

Courtesy of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York

To listen please click HERE

An Arhat is the level beyond an Initiate and beneath the Master level. Here we see depicted an Arhat in a cave having tamed the Dragon of the lower nature and of time. This dragon may be seen to protect the Arhat, perhaps by virtue of the lower nature of any person obscuring the true nature of the Arhat. The Arhat has a halo about his head indicating his level of attainment. When the Kundalini reaches the Crown Chakra, and the Pineal and Pituitary glands resonate in harmony together, then a golden glow is released from the base of the brain and this sublime level of spiritual attainment has been traditionally depicted via the halo – in many traditions. The Adept is removed away from the world where he can become absorbed into uninterrupted communion with the Absolute Self.

Interestingly, in the philosophical approach hinted at here, the dragon has not been destroyed but rather subdued or transcended through an all-inclusive approach. This is the tantric approach (as distinct from the Sutric path) where one does not deny the lower nature but rather works with it in an attempt to transcend, and so discover enlightenment, through transforming weaknesses.

 The music places its focus upon the serene, peaceful, and harmonious qualities expressed in the picture whilst also utilising Singing Bowls attuned to the meditative (and altered) states of consciousness and spiritual vibrations of a being at this highly advanced level of spiritual evolution.

 

MILAREPA THE ONE WHO HEARKENED - at Sunrise Comprehending the Voices of the Devas.

(Volume 4)

 Courtesy of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York

To listen click HERE

Deva is the Indian name for angel. Milarepa is known as Tibet's great yogi. He lived between 1052 and 1112 A.D. He was a disciple of Marpa and he is the great Kargyupta guru. Jetsun Milarepa was the most celebrated of the Tibetan apostles of the Maha-Mudra school, which reached Tibet from India through Nepal and China nearly a century before the advent of Padma Sambhava (who is credited with establishing Buddhism in Tibet). This (Kargyu) school had two pathways and Milarepa was more associated with that of the ascetic or hermit as contrasted with the monastic pathway. 

He is seen here in a traditional pose of a Dzogchen practitioner - whilst Roerich is obviously illustrating Milarepa's ability to hear the beautiful colours of the sunrise. It is said of Milarepa that he could hear colour and see sound. I don't believe that this refers to some sort of synaesthesic condition. Rather do I believe that it is as a result of spiritual practices.  

"I am very fond of the words of the remarkable Tibetan sage, Milarepa, who practised great austerities. When people begged him to have pity on himself and stop leading such a hard life, he said that as all of us are subjected to death, he preferred to die in pursuit of a beautiful goal." (Helena Roerich). Permission to quote courtesy of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York

The music begins with two struck singing bowls and then mysterious-sounding Gong sounds are heard gradually creating a crescendo of sound - imitating the sunrise. Sounds akin to the 'spirit murmur' of composer Alan Hovhaness are then added alongside other sounds representing the shafts of light depicted in this beautiful painting.

 

GUARDIAN OF THE DESERT.   (Volume 4)

Courtesy of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York

To listen please click HERE

During the 1920s Roerich travelled with his family (wife and two sons) for five years through Central Asia. On his travels he came across stone circles and also menhirs. In the endless spaces of Central Asia; in the plains and the deserts, there were magical places, where Roerich came across Megalithic stone monuments. These somewhat tormented Roerich as these monuments of the creative force of the cultures that have been wiped off of the face of the earth. "On the way, we encountered many beautiful places of so-called "deer stone", high menhir-like granite or sandstone blocks, sometimes ornamented. We also saw numbers of unexcavated kurgans, large and carefully constructed. The base of the kurgans was symmetrically surrounded by rows of stones, and on the top, also were stones. Near the kurgan, as if forming a second row, were small stone elevations. Especially interesting were the stone "babas", of exactly the same character as those of the southern Russian steppes.

In one case there was a long row of oblong stones, extending almost a whole mile up to a stone "baba", facing the East. We noticed that the carvings even now are smeared with grease and we heard a legend that one of the images was a powerful brigand, who, after his death, was transformed into a protector of this place. Out Tibetan, Konchok, who was attached to us as an attendant by the Tibetan representatives in Urga, addressed long prayers to the protector of the region, demanding a happy journey for us. In conclusion, he threw a handful of grain at the image.

We especially rejoiced in discovering in the Trans-Himalayan region of Tibet, typical menhirs and cromlechs. You can picture yourself how remarkable it is to see the long rows of stones, or stone circles, which vividly transport you to Carnack and the coast of Bretagne. After their long journey, the prehistoric druids recalled their distant homes. The ancient Bonpo in some way may be connected with these menhirs."    Nicholas Roerich  Permission to quote courtesy of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York

The music is by way of a meditation upon these ancient peoples and their values. Stone lasts a very long time whilst certain values are likewise always present in the human condition. A conch shell trumpet is sounded twice representing the ancient link between the Moon and ritual and ceremonial. Then bowl chords are sounded in an endeavour to put into sound the ordering of these ancient stones.

 

ON THE HEIGHTS (TUMO)   (Volume 4)

Courtesy of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York

To listen please click HERE

This painting illustrates the technique of Tumo. This is a practice whereby the yogi generates inner heat in order to survive very cold conditions. Here we see the isolated yogi surrounded by snow on a cold and windy peak, set amidst a chain of peaks, but the snow around him has melted from his inner, psychic heat. The spiritual vibrations of these remote mountain peaks are most conducive to spiritual practices whilst the yogis engaged in these lofty endeavours assist in creating a focal point for bringing these high spiritual vibrations out into the human realm.

The music begins with very high singing bowls containing very high, eerie overtones. This ocean of sound is accompanied by two deep singing bowls being struck (approximately the interval of a Fourth apart) and a Heart Chakra bowl played all the way through to represent the spiritual power and love that transform the outer (and inner) cold - the intellectual or moral cold.

 

STRONGHOLD OF TIBET   (Volume 4)

Courtesy of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York

To listen please click HERE

During Roerich's travels through India, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Altai in the 1920s he encountered many monasteries. Here in the midst of the Himalayas, miles from anywhere, is a community dedicated and committed to the spiritual life and to following the teachings of wise old sages far removed from the hustle and bustle of earthly cares and concerns. With no earthly distractions this is a true stronghold of spiritual vibrations emanating out into the wider community the results of the spiritual practises of the Buddhist sangha within. Nicholas Roerich believed that the best time for spiritual practice was at dusk and dawn.  

This is an improvisation again upon the collection of Yin and Yang bowls.

 

MORNING PRAYER   (Volume 4)

Courtesy AgniArt, Samara Russia

To listen please click HERE

Here the monk is beginning his day with prayers. Having recently returned from the realm of sleep and the more spiritual dimensions of reality, through this morning ritual he is reaffirming his intention to transform his daily life by remembering from where he comes and to where is is going in his earthly sojourn, even as the light of the (spiritual) sun transforms life on earth.

The music features a Tuned Gong (G#) with a set of singing bowls that produce a repeated pattern with the singing bowls gradually increasing in number and also rising in pitch.

 

 

TIGER'S NEST   (Volume 4)

Courtesy of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York

To listen please click HERE

 I believe this painting to be a depiction of the monastery established at the cave of Guru Rinpoche (Padma Sambhava). We see it on the far side nestled on the mountain's slope. By the side of it we can see within the mountain the head of a Tiger (or it could be seen as an Eagle). This sacred spot is known as the Tiger's Nest.

The music is an improvisation upon a set of Yin Bowls (42) and a set of Yang Bowls (23). An attempt to depict the magical space between the stupas and temple buildings in the foreground and this sacred temple over the way.

 

For more details regarding Volume 4 and a complete listing of all of the tracks - please click HERE

 

 

(C) Copyright by Frank Perry 1996. All rights reserved.

 

© Frank Perry, 1996. All of these articles are copyright. They may individually be copied and shared with others in a spirit of knowledge-sharing and fair play, but they may not be sold, printed or reproduced in quantity or changed in form without the permission of the copyright holder. None of this material may be reproduced in workshops or lectures of any kind unless quotes are credited or properly attributed.  

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