Jainism Abroad

Author(s): Pratap J Tolia
Publisher: Vardhaman Bharati International Foundation

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PRESS ABROAD: An American Press Review:
"MUSICIAN BRINGS MESSAGE TO THE FESTIVAL"
Musicians were considered holy when Pratap Toliya was growing up in India during the 1930s.
"We believe musicians are messengers of GOD" says Toliya, a Sitarist, Singer and former College President will spend part of a brief visit at this weekend's Ethnic Cultural festival in Danbury.
The development of popular music in the Indian cinema and the proliferation of radios and tape recorders have diminished the stature of musicians in India. But for the 53-year-old Toliya, music is still a kind of religious calling.
It is a way of knowing one's spirit; the essence that Toliya believes transcends the body and is born again. Music, like meditation can silence the small worries and preoccupations that keep us from being in tune with our selves, he believes.
"We call it the song way of the spirit", says Toliya, a very thin, energetic man with glossy black hair and a moustache.
He also believes music can heal the sick. Working with physicians, Toliya has run experiments in hospitals to measure the tranquilizing effects of music he has written to help heal patients. Toliya says it is most effective for psychiatric patients and for people with digestive problems.
Among Toliya's earliest memories are of concerts in his home, given by musicians hired by his parents. Although the family was not wealthy; Toliya says-rather they played and then accepted what was offered.
"We offer whatever we can, out of love. We treat them as holy people" he says.
Like the musicians he heard in his childhood, Toliya never sets as a price for his performances. He lives on whatever is donated.
This is his third trip to the United States: he is staying with the family of Hans Maru in Brook-field before going to New York to speak at a World Conference on Hinduism. Then he will travel to several cities nationwide to lecture on music, vegetarianism and spirituality.
In all, he has produced 24 record albums and 55 cassette tapes of classical Indian Music, folk melodies and music for meditation. He sings in six languages.
The spiritual power of music is just part of Toliya's philosophy. He also believes in Non-Violence including "non-violent food" and eats no meat.
He uses leather only of animals that have died naturally. And he wears only homespun cotton clothing, as Mahatma Gandhi did, because he believes the exploitation of workers in textile mills is a kind of violence, too.
Toliya is a follower of Gandhi's philosophy, and when he was a boy, he met the Indian Independence Leader. Toliya was 13 or 14 then, and his Scout group went to work at Gandhi's camp.
"My impression was Gandhiji was full of joyous mood, jolly mood. I never saw worry on his face even though he was undergoing a tremendous movement for India", Toliya says.
He meditates each morning and evening and uses breathing exercises to focus his concentration before performing music. He breathes deeply, humming as he exhales, to calm himself.
"We forget all thoughts, all worldly desires and attachments. We become one with sound and the self", he says:
Like Gandhi and others who follow eastern religious, Toliya tries to remain detached from the material world. He says he enjoys material things without trying to cling to them.