The Mantra Music by Desert Rose can be described as Medicine Music. Some linguists including Fritz Staal believes that mantra is the precursor to language as we know it today. These simple rhythmical and musical utterances used in chanting leave us with a profound feeling of connection to nature, the Self and to the Divine. Fritz Staal has studied the Ancient Sanskrit language and mantra extensively. This gives one a sense of wholeness and completion. Modern language and communication can be divisive leaving a lot of room for misunderstanding and interpretation, whereas mantra conveys an energy of healing, it is the communication of energy rather than language as we know it. Most of modern day mental illnesses are a consequence of a feeling of alienation and disconnection. Desert Rose believes in gatherings where people chant collectively and enhance their connection and healing in the process. Music is Medicine, chanting and singing is healing, spiritual practice is life enhancing and mantra is Gods language. One of the oldest languages for chanting is Sanskrit.
Through the practice of mantra or Medicine Music we return to wholeness and well being. It does not matter which Ancient language you choose for chanting whether it it Sanskrit or Sikh chants, the fact is that the executive, judgmental part of the brain is disengaged, and one has a total and integrated brain experience without trying to understand the linear meaning of the language.
There is a science behind the influence of vowels and consonants. This Medicine Music is best left without meaning as we know it today. One simply experiences a shift through chanting them. Through repetition, the brain ceases to register new information, and this has a shutdown effect on thinking, giving one a break from incessant thoughts and feelings generated by those thoughts. It is said the average amount of thoughts generated each day amounts to around 75000 per person. Most of these thoughts are a repetition of the previous day or worrying about the future. This is exhausting and keeps us trapped in the past or future, missing out on the present and its opportunities.
The unique quality of the music of Desert Rose lies in their Universal Mantra. By the very nature of our existence today in a shrinking world, we brush shoulders with all kinds of people from different backgrounds, cultures and religious preference. There is great power when people of difference come together and celebrate the sacred sound of Universal Mantra. Desert Rose creates a space to go beyond all conditioned thinking and to experience Unity in Diversity.
When Guru Nanak was asked who his Guru was, he said it was the Word, the Shabad Guru. A simple translation of “Shabad Guru” is, that Word which takes us from the darkness to the light. The words and sounds of the Shabad Guru are consciousness-changing elements that unlock the bounds that your ego holds over your higher self, that keep you locked in your Earth—thereby freeing your true self to soar in your heavens. When you vibrate the Shabad Guru you overwhelm the inner dialog of your mind to create Shunia, deep inner stillness.
Shabad Guru uses the power of “Naad” (an entrancing rhythmic pattern of universal sounds) and the movement of your tongue over the pressure-points in your upper palate which causes actual change in your blood chemistry. Yogi Bhajan said, ‘As you vibrate, the Universe vibrates with you.’ It is the actual reciting of Gurbani (the words of the Guru) which brings the formless into form; which gives the Shabad Guru a form.