Rabab

In June 2018 I watched a facebook video of a midnight solstice kirtan, and one of the kirtanis was playing a rabab. Having known that Bhai Mardana played the rabab while Guru Nanak Dev Ji sang kirtan, I didn't even know that rababs still existed and were still played. One month later I bought a rabab online, and one year later I found a teacher in July of this year. I started learning with great eagerness, having been told by many that this was a difficult instrument to learn. Yet it pulled on my heartstrings more than the other instruments I had bought, and I thought why not try something challenging first and everything else will seem easier later. It turned out that it wasn't that difficult (most of my challenges came from having simultaneously injured my arm when I was just starting to learn). Certainly compared to a harmonium, one has to take extra time to learn a traditional instrument (tanti saaj), to tune it and to use the skill of movement of body and mind simultaneously; yet I purely enjoy the process of allowing my mind to relax as I get it tuned. There is a mood and anticipation that is set in those minutes. Furthermore, one sets the stage for the shabad, singing the raag and explaining the meaning. Sure this takes an extra few minutes, but we shouldn't lose this. If you watch professional kirtanis they take their time, getting the tabla tuned to "Sa" that the kirtani will use, then closing their eyes and singing a few lines to get us in the mindset of just relaxing and listening to the shabad. Even listening to the tuning of the table is relaxing. Somehow we have moved towards a "quickly do your shabad in a few minutes" mindset, instead of making time to enjoy the process. I've mentioned this before but Kirtan is not a performance, although we are physically sitting on a stage. Its the singing of the soul, its the expression of emotion, its the transformation of our minds to make the realization that God is within and all around, You, You, You.  If there's one thing my teacher passes on, it is that tanti saaj are not difficult, we shouldn't discourage people by saying they are hard... sure one needs dedication, but anything worth it does. 

Here's the first time I played on stage with my rabab. I was so nervous, having practicing so many times to memorize the shabad (I'm only looking down at the keys I'm playing) and despite the fact that I sing with the harmonium on stage every week, this was something different. Normally I don't like watching it back but my teacher encouraged me that it is good for learning and it was certainly true. I hope this is encouraging to anyone who wants to learn something new or to pick up an old instrument... now's the time. We have a few people to teach tabla and harmonium at our Gurdwara, and you can connect with teachers of other instruments from around Canada. The rabab has taught me a lot, but so has the last few months of trying to learn and unlearn other things. As I'm learning to expand my singing range, learn the rabab, re-learn yoga and exercise, to keep up my Gurmukhi and Punjabi, I am realizing I also have had a lot of unlearning to do: unlearning the things that we tell ourselves that build our egos, and to learn that all there is is You. That too is effort to destroy old patterns of thinking, but important work. If you haven't started watching I encourage you to see Nanak Naam's youtube videos on Mool Mantar as they are transformative and help us see beyond this image of "I." 

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMxPMO1p6hw