"Sreyo Bhooyat Sakala Jananam"

The voice of bhakthi
1916-2004
"Let the whole of humanity attain excellence"

She has been the person who awoke me most mornings. Her voice is the first I hear everyday, singing the Suprabhath to Lord Venkatesha, then Adi Sankara's Bhaja Govindam, then chanting the Vishnu Sahasranaamam.

Maybe that's why so many of us - even those who never had the chance to meet her in person, - feel like we know her: that we have a bond with her. She was always there in the background.

Even people like me, who aren't connoiseurs of Carnatic music - who (I admit) sometimes have trouble appreciating it - even ordinary, not-especially-musically-inclined, undiscerning people like me could understand her music without effort.

Her scales were not incomprehensively elaborate. Her musical pitch was never so shrill as to be unattainable. You almost felt you could emulate her. Almost.

Her singing was never presumptuous. She did not try to impress us with technical prowess. Her music was direct-relayed to your heart. It had what Western musicians call 'soul'.

What was it about her? Other singers are impressive in their range and their technical skills. But not very many of them can touch our souls, as she did. What was so special about 'MS'?

While accepting the Magsaysay award in 1974, she told us herself:

"Indian music is orientated solely to the end of divine communion. If I have done something in this respect, it is entirely due to the Grace of the Almighty who has chosen my humble self as a tool. But He is beyond my gratitude. Yet, in a way, I take Him to have come within my reach in the benign personality of the Sage of Kanchi, His Holiness Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Sankaracharya, who is divinity in flesh and blood, now in his 81st year. I offer my obeisance to the Sage from the core of my being, and pray that he bless me to deserve the honor done to me."

I think it was her Bhakthi, which she reposed in Paramacharya. Her guru-bhakthi is what reached so deep within us.

Fare thee well, bhakthi-yogin! May your voice awaken guru-bhakthi within us each passing day!
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Her last rites were performed as her favorite song 'Maitrim Bhajate', composed by the Paramacharya, played. This song, full of meaning, was the one she sang at the General Assembley of the United Nations. Here is an explanation originating from S.K. Harihareswara, adapted from: www.karnatic.com

The story occurs in Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad. Prajapati had three kinds of children, for whom he himself was the first teacher. After their studies under him all these three groups of children approached Prajapati and asked him for a sort of final sermon-like-teaching before they say good-bye!
The Devas said to him: "Please teach us"
He said to them, the single syllable 'da.
'Did you understand?'
"We have understood"
" You said 'dAmyata' (Control yourselves)"
"Om. That is okay", he said, "you have understood!"

Then, the Manushya approached him and asked: "Please teach us, father!"
He told them also the same single syllable 'da',
and asked them too, "Did you understand what I told you?"
The men told, "We have. You told us 'datta', ('be charitable'), isn't it?"
"That is OK", he said, "you have got it!"

Next was the turn of the asuras. When they too approached their father and asked him, "Please teach us",
he told them also the same single syllable 'da'.
"Have you understood it?", he asked them.
They said, "We have. You told us 'dayadhwam' (be merciful ), isn't it?"
"That's OK", he said, "you have grasped it!"

Then, at that instant, a heavenly voice is heard thundering:
"da, da, da; dAmyata, datta, dayadhwam !"
That is why one should learn this triad, triple axioms: self-control('damam'), charity('dAnam') and mercy('dayA')!

And then comes the final refrain of the song:
"shrEyO bhUyAt sakala janAnAnAm" - "Let the whole of humanity attain excellence!"