Music touches the heart.. grammar the intellect.
शिशुर्वेत्ति पशुर्वेत्ति वेत्ति गानरसं फणी।
साहित्यरसमाधुर्यं शङ्करो वेत्ति वा न वा॥
śiśurvetti paśurvetti vetti gānarasaṁ phaṇī|
sāhityarasamādhuryaṁ śaṅkaro vetti vā na vā||
The ultimate sweetness of music is understood and enjoyed even by an infant, even by an animal, even by a snake
Indeed we do not really know whether the erudite scholar can really enjoy the nectar like sweetness of literature..
This stanza indicates the spontaneous fountain of ambrosia emanating from music.. and touches our spirits and emotions more than the intellect..
The intellect gets attracted more to the play of words, usages, grammar et al.. It is the exculsive stuff of the scholar..
There are two planes or levels of enjoying the meirts of literature and fine art..
The emotional and the intellectual..
This applies in greater significance to performing acts.. like dance, songs, dramas, and so on..
In delivery of such art foms, the audio and video impacts are more pronounced than the laws of grammar and prosody, and vrittam and Chandas..
True, a good output or rendition without following such rules may not survive and is not likely to make any sustained impact..
But the results of output are enjoyed by the rasika more on the basis of the treat it gives to his mind and sensse organs and there can be very positive responses even from target audience which do not understand the meaning or purpose of the creation at all...The Rasa part is underlined here..
The Shishu, the Pashu, and the Snake respond to great music or visual outputs which are sublime.. even when they do not know the literature, languge, the lyric or text..
In fact this sloka is to underline the sublimity of the rasam..
and the erudite theorist, in his anxiety
to make the best of grammatic and literary rules,
and the rules of proper lifestyle and so on
might not be often in a state of mind where he can enjoy the output in all its pristine purity
in contrast to the ones who just enjoy them for the sheer beauty and aesthtics of it..
We are often captivated by literary or musical outputs even without knowing their meaning or purport..
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever..
The enjoyment is not confined to the trained eyes, earns and senses..
The capacity to enjoy comes instinctively..
vetthi vaa na vaa.. वेत्ति वा न वा
whether Shankara knows or not is a sort of dig at the grammarian and philosophy buff ..
and indeed a poser as to whether the study in deep for grammatical rules and structure by the erudite persons often stands in the way of enjoying the creation in an innocent way.
The sloka is found in many places in part or full.. It is found in Subhashita Ratnabhadakaram..
Some ascribe it to Kumarila, the arch Rival of Shankaraa and poorva mimamsa exponent ..
Some relate part of ths sloka to Sage Bharatha..
But suffice to say this sloka finds eminent mention in the art circles
And if Sahityam and Sangeetham merge into a symphony.. then we need not search for heaven elsewhere.
Just think of a Thiruppugazh or an Ashtapadi..
शिशुर्वेत्ति पशुर्वेत्ति वेत्ति गानरसं फणी।
साहित्यरसमाधुर्यं शङ्करो वेत्ति वा न वा॥
śiśurvetti paśurvetti vetti gānarasaṁ phaṇī|
sāhityarasamādhuryaṁ śaṅkaro vetti vā na vā||
The ultimate sweetness of music is understood and enjoyed even by an infant, even by an animal, even by a snake
Indeed we do not really know whether the erudite scholar can really enjoy the nectar like sweetness of literature..
This stanza indicates the spontaneous fountain of ambrosia emanating from music.. and touches our spirits and emotions more than the intellect..
The intellect gets attracted more to the play of words, usages, grammar et al.. It is the exculsive stuff of the scholar..
There are two planes or levels of enjoying the meirts of literature and fine art..
The emotional and the intellectual..
This applies in greater significance to performing acts.. like dance, songs, dramas, and so on..
In delivery of such art foms, the audio and video impacts are more pronounced than the laws of grammar and prosody, and vrittam and Chandas..
True, a good output or rendition without following such rules may not survive and is not likely to make any sustained impact..
But the results of output are enjoyed by the rasika more on the basis of the treat it gives to his mind and sensse organs and there can be very positive responses even from target audience which do not understand the meaning or purpose of the creation at all...The Rasa part is underlined here..
The Shishu, the Pashu, and the Snake respond to great music or visual outputs which are sublime.. even when they do not know the literature, languge, the lyric or text..
In fact this sloka is to underline the sublimity of the rasam..
and the erudite theorist, in his anxiety
to make the best of grammatic and literary rules,
and the rules of proper lifestyle and so on
might not be often in a state of mind where he can enjoy the output in all its pristine purity
in contrast to the ones who just enjoy them for the sheer beauty and aesthtics of it..
We are often captivated by literary or musical outputs even without knowing their meaning or purport..
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever..
The enjoyment is not confined to the trained eyes, earns and senses..
The capacity to enjoy comes instinctively..
vetthi vaa na vaa.. वेत्ति वा न वा
whether Shankara knows or not is a sort of dig at the grammarian and philosophy buff ..
and indeed a poser as to whether the study in deep for grammatical rules and structure by the erudite persons often stands in the way of enjoying the creation in an innocent way.
The sloka is found in many places in part or full.. It is found in Subhashita Ratnabhadakaram..
Some ascribe it to Kumarila, the arch Rival of Shankaraa and poorva mimamsa exponent ..
Some relate part of ths sloka to Sage Bharatha..
But suffice to say this sloka finds eminent mention in the art circles
And if Sahityam and Sangeetham merge into a symphony.. then we need not search for heaven elsewhere.
Just think of a Thiruppugazh or an Ashtapadi..
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