People From India

"In my past there is Krishna. In my dreams I dream of recreating a huge college of flutists, a veritable Vrindaban in which students will arrive to learn and study with satchels full of flutes, live in mud huts, eat at a common langar. A modern Vrindaban from which a thousand flutes will ring out each day. For what else is there? When my breath is gone and I can not play anymore what do I leave behind? Some dedicated students! When you leave nothing behind, you cry at the point of death, but I still dream, I dare to dream that through my students my flute will be left behind as the memory of Krishna."

"Music is my love. And because it is my love, music has become my religion."

"When I play music, that is my best yoga, the best meditation, the best prayer."

"Whoever gets involved in this field becomes spiritual because the music itself is purely spiritual. The music is a prayer, a rare kind of prayer. Music is created by the Supreme entity (‘Brahma’) so that we can get an understanding or a view (‘Darshan’) of that entity."

"So, my instrument there is simply bamboo. The sound is straight from nature and it connects me to nature."

"A drop of water when you are thirsty gives such relief. The same drop in a fountain inspires you with its beauty. The same water in a dirty drain is repelling. And the same drop in the river makes you want to swim there and take a bath. And when the same water goes in the sea it thrills you with its power."

"First of all I choose a raga that gives me musical satisfaction. When I choose that raga then I welcome and invite the raga. To do that I have to meditate on the raga to understand its structure. When I get the structure then I can enjoy playing it. When I play a few beautiful notes, the spirit of the raga feels happy and comes and blesses me. Then the real music comes."

"Music helps you understand the deeper musings of the mind. Listening to music can help a person to a better understanding of his inner drives. This, in turn, gives him the confidence to follow the path in life dictated by his heart."

"I learnt kushti (wrestling) and music simultaneously,"

"Listening to that performance changed my life. It changed the course of my musical career. I could listen to my heart's voice clearly because the music had helped me understand my mind's deepest desires. Today, I am happy and feel blessed that I followed the path dictated by my heart."

"I could develop finer and newer blowing techniques because of the power my lungs acquired through the physical exercises my father personally taught me when I was training to become a wrestler,""

"It’s very difficult to make them understand the importance of a Guruji. In India, it’s kind of more than gods and goddesses. We revere our Gurujis more than our parents, more than our family members, more than gods and goddesses. But they’ll never understand. Never understand who a Guru is. There are so many differences. But when I am teaching at Rotterdam in Netherlands (He heads the World Music Department at the Rotterdam Music Conservatory), I tell each and every student-“keep your shoe out, you have to sit down. If you want to learn Indian music, you have to treat me- not like your teacher, not like your Guru, you treat me as a friend and we share our willing."

"Why to bring revolution? They are also human beings. Why don’t we treat ourselves as human beings? I speak Hindi and you speak your native language, but we are all human beings. Why do you treat them as foreigners? They also want to adapt to our tradition- some are visiting temples, they become vegetarians, some have given up spoons and eat using their hands, they try to become Sadhus. Why do you want to treat them as foreigners, they are human beings! If we get influenced by their tradition, it’s okay. If they get influenced by our tradition, it’s okay. Younger generation who try to emulate them will eventually come back to their native tradition!"

"Music has no differences. We played alongside each other; it was not in fusion but in unison. I have enjoyed playing with all the artists. I have collaborated with musicians from the west and fellow Indians, including Ravi Shankar, Allah Rakha (father of Zakir Hussain), George Harrison, Jean Pierre Ramphal, Jethro Tull, John McLaughlin, Jan Gabarek, Yehudi Menuhin and others. I composed for Bollywood. It made me affluent. It was Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma who asked me one day if playing in Bollywood films was all I was going to do in my life. I was not growing as an artist. I needed more. What did I have to show in terms of personal creativity, or growth? He was right."

"My father was a wrestler and though everyone liked music in the family, it was a taboo to even think of a musical career. I used to wrestle to keep him happy. When I was about nine years old, I started learning vocal music from Pandit Rajaram, secretly! At the age of fifteen, I heard the flute for the first time on Allahabad radio. It was as if I was being transported to heaven. The flautist was Pt. Bholanath and that was the major turning point in my life. Soon after, while I was still in my teens I got an offer to work as a staff artist on Cuttack radio in Odisha/ and I accepted. It was then that my father found out that I was a musician. It was a major shock for him."

"Who can you blame, parents or their friends or the children? In India every parent wants their child to earn more money and fame than any of their peers, no one wants their child to be set on a cultural journey and do tremendous things like other artists or musicians or sportsman have done. They think the entertainment sector won’t earn them any job or money. I blame the parents. They should inspire their children to pursue their interest along with the regular studies. I feel really sorry about this."

"Motivate the younger generation to listen to music especially, when they are tired, when they are upset about anything. Music is the best remedy; it remediates you mentally, physically and emotionally."

"Eventually you cannot stop the sun from rising, the water from flowing, the moon from spreading its light and you cannot compromise the seven notes with anything else. Live your life, live the music."

"I almost never go to temples. I don't find the time. I'm not religious in that sense. My religion is my music. Lord Krishna is my God. Whenever I want to pray, whenever I want to meditate and concentrate, I take my flute. I can feel God. The feeling is difficult to explain, but I feel lost when I'm in it."

"When I play, it is not for the audience. I play for that superior Power in between the audience and me. There are different kinds of people in the audience, and it is difficult for me to satisfy everyone. I perform for "that Power." If He is satisfied and happy, I feel blessed."

"Flute is an instrument which gives you more power as you play. It's like the breathing exercises in yoga. I'm able to increase my lung power by playing more. But because of travelling I don't get time to practice"

"Hariji (Hariprasad) and Shivji (Shiv Kumar) are the icons and ambassadors of Indian classical music. We have spent wonderful moments together during the making of the film Silsila"

"We are not mere friends, but more than two brothers. We met more than 50 years ago and we share a very beautiful bond between us. We worked together for films and immensely popular discs like Call of the Valley."

"When flutist Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia plays raagas on his bansuri the notes are not just heard but also felt!"

"The flutist's fan following cuts across all barriers and borders, Myriam."

"I was 16 when I heard him for the first time, and today in India, after 20 long years, I heard him play again. He is still so wonderful!. France is quite bansuri proficient. It's such an expressive instrument that all emotions like mysticism, romanticism, humour, etc can be brought out through this simple bansuri."

"Indigenous musicians in our backyard , who are also world-famous and as successful –people like hariprasad Chaurasia or Bhimsen Joshi. Why? Because they remain as desi as desi ghee. They dress Indian, talk Indian, walk Indian, eat Indian (paan, horror of horrors!), think Indian, feel Indian."

"He was the youngest composer and performer to be hired by |AIR Cuttack...he has developed the art of flute playing through his skilled blowing technique and adaptation of alap and ‘jat’ to the flute. Regularly experimenting with new styles of music, Hariprasad has played with western musicians such as John Mc Laughlin and Jan Garberik and has composed music for films like Silsila where he partnered with the master Santoor player Shivkumar Sharma. A true master in the art of Flute playing, his contribution to Indian classical music can not be undermined."

"Our governance is by a gerontocracy. This cataract of history can only be removed by youth. In this common man's century, only the common man can change the profile of this country."

"In our family, Baba is the speaker; Vikas the amplifier; Prakash, the silencer; Sadhana the brake"

"Every once in a blue moon, is born a person, who has the clarity of vision, and the greatness of deed, to make us all recognize the dizzying heights the human spirit can really achieveŠBaba Amte is one of those people."

"He came to be known as Baba not because he is a saint or any such thing, but because his parents addressed him by that name."

"Usually people avoid seeing leprosy patients. Here Baba is putting them on the stage for all to see"

"Those who do monumental work don't need monuments."

"Those who indulge in history cannot create new history. You cannot legislate national integration unless political work is done constructively and there is a lifestyle for life."

"[A balanced economic system is one which provides] sufficiency for all and superfluity for some. The MNCs have entered the country like nomads. The majority doesn't need Pepsi or Coke, they want water. You can have your skyscrapers and Cokes but before this you must ensure that that tribal girl defecating in the open has the privacy of a toilet."

"The condition of the tribals is worse than those inflicted with leprosy. Purna swaraj can only be possible when the poorest of the poor is uplifted."

"I have to be cautious, but caution also has its own adventure."

"I was tempted by Shankar bhagwan. He too has spondylitis but uses a cobra as a brace."

"Compassion has no utopia, party or ideology."

"Charity destroys, work builds."

"When leprosy patients touched the soil, they transformed it into gold, but the politicians did that and made it into dirt."

"The new leadership in India is taking shape quietly, without any drum beating through the newspapers. … Various centers, the centers of energy and strength in the life of society are gaining tremendous momentum. May be, the surging new generation of today appears to have lost its bearing, to have lost its soul. But it is absolutely certain that one day it will have its own leader and prophet.... I am absolutely confident that the phoenix of a new leadership is rising from the ashes of all its failure. Soon the world will witness the lightning hidden in its beak and the storm hidden in its wings."

"I have never been frightened of anything. Because I fought British tommies to save the honor of an Indian lady, Gandhiji called me abhay sadhak, a fearless seeker of truth. When the sweepers of Warora challenged me to clean gutters, I did so. But that same person who fought goondas and British bandits quivered in fright when he saw the living corpse of TuIshiram, no fingers, no clothes, with maggots all over. That is why I took up leprosy work. Not to help anyone, but to overcome that fear in my life. That it worked out good for others was a by-product. But the fact is I did it to overcome fear."

"Consider the honey-bee. Its treasure is nectar, obtained even from the chilly plant. It is not at the cost of the flower. In fact, its act of extracting honey contributes to the progress of the flowers. You need not learn from Kahlil Gibran, Marx or Gorbachev, not even from Gandhiji. Choose instead to learn your lesson from the honey bees as your silent partners: they will show you how to develop without destroying."

"I believe as a society we have to evolve, through experimentation, a system which combines the principles of individual freedom and common ownership. And this is what we have tried, basically with success, in all our projects, involving leprosy patients, tribal people and the so-called 'disabled' persons."

"I haven't the arrogance to say I can carry the mighty load of His Cross, but I do try to walk in its shadow. He wants to carve your life like a crucifix. Every calamity is a crucifixion, crucifying your ambition, your lust. Each is a tiny lesson, and then the imprint of the crucifixion is on your life. What is your plan of sacrifice today? You and I, petty souls, sacrifice for our children. Christ sacrificed for tomorrow's whole world. Whenever I see slum-dwellers, with their hunger and poverty, that obscene poverty, I feel He is crucified like that. When I come across a person suffering from leprosy, foul smelling, ulcerous, I can see the imprint of His lips, His kiss. What did they not do to sufferers of leprosy in His time, yet the carpenter's son cared for them and touched them. That hand is an emblem for me, that hand which cared for the loneliest and the lost. The Christian is … he who not only lights the darkest corner in the world but also the darkest corner in his own heart."

"Joy is more infectious than leprosy."

"If you give the royalties from your book, I shall give the land."

"I never had money. But that had never stopped me."