Hazrat Inayat Khan continues his exploration of the mystical role of rhythm. The previous post in the series is here.

The traditions of the Hindus have as a most sacred record the mystical legend of Shri Krishna dancing with the Gopis. The story relates how Krishna, the charming youthful Lord of the Hindus, was moving among the dwellings of the cowherds, and every maiden attracted by his beauty and charm asked him to dance with her. He promised every maiden that asked him to dance with him that he would dance with her on the full moon. On the night of the full moon there assembled sixteen hundred Gopis, and the miracle of Krishna was performed when he appeared as a separate Krishna to each Gopi and all of them danced with their beloved Lord at one and the same time.

There is a tradition in Islam, where music, dancing, and all amusements and light occupations are strictly prohibited, that on one occasion, it being a holiday, the Prophet called his wife Ayesha to look at the dance and listen to the music of some street musicians. In the meantime his great Khalif happened to come by and was shocked at seeing the Prophet who had prohibited such things himself permitting music in front of his house. When he stopped the music of the street players, pointing out to them that it was the house of the Prophet, Muhammad requested that they might continue, saying that it was a holiday and that there is no heart that does not move with the motion of rhythm.

In the traditions of the Sufis, raqs, the sacred dance of spiritual ecstasy which even now is prevalent among the Sufis of the East, is traced to the time when contemplation of the Creator impressed the wonderful reality of his vision so deeply on the heart of  Jalaluddin Rumi that he became entirely absorbed in the whole and single immanence of nature, and took a rhythmic turn which caused the skirt of his garment to form a circle, and the movements of his hands and neck made a circle; and it is the memory of this moment of vision which is celebrated in the dance of dervishes. Even in the lower creation, among beasts and birds, their joy is always expressed in dance; a bird like the peacock, when conscious of his beauty and of the beauty of the forest around him, expresses his joy in dance. Dance arouses passion and emotion in all living creatures.

In the East, and especially in India where the life of the people for centuries has been based on psychological principles, in the royal processions or at durbars an impression of kingly grandeur is made upon the minds of people by the beating of drums; and the same beating of drums takes place at wedding ceremonies and at the services in the temples.

To be continued…