The Making of Sunil's Music

VI. Music as Sadhana

“The creative genius was a tool. It was not the experience itself.”

— Mrityunjay Sathyanarayanan

Art for Sadhana’s Sake

The most important frame for understanding Sunil’s work is not aesthetic but spiritual. Mrityunjay returns to this repeatedly:

“An important point to hold when speaking about Sunil Da’s music: it was not art for art’s sake. It was art for the sake of sadhana. That is an important point to hold when speaking about Sunil Da’s music.”

— Mrityunjay Sathyanarayanan

The composition letters Sunil wrote to the Mother were not reports from a student to a teacher but exchanges between two composers — and something more:

“There are letters where he writes things like, ‘I have extended this measure to this length’ or ‘I have used a bass saxophone here’ — the kind of detail you might share with a fellow composer. And the Mother would respond with equal precision: this works, that is good. It was a strange and beautiful relationship — musical, compositional, integral.”

— Mrityunjay Sathyanarayanan

The Tool and the Artist

Sunil’s creative genius, in Mrityunjay’s framing, was something he wielded rather than something he inhabited. The distinction carries weight:

“For Sunil Da, the creative genius was a tool. It was not the experience itself. That is what separates him as a sadhak rather than merely a composer. He clearly had natural talent and creative brilliance, but for him those faculties were instruments to be used consciously — not ends in themselves. That reveals something about his development as a human being that goes well beyond musicianship.”

— Mrityunjay Sathyanarayanan

What the Music Does

The Mother stated, quite plainly, that the purpose of music is to raise consciousness. Sunil’s music was built entirely within that understanding. Mrityunjay reflects on what this means for a composer now:

“As a sadhak I have to speak about music as a vehicle — and that shifts the entire responsibility of the conversation. What Sunil Da’s music has awakened in me is this: even to appreciate it fully, I need to know first what sounds mean to me. It can be as simple as sitting at a piano, playing a single C, and finding it a profound event.”

— Mrityunjay Sathyanarayanan

The Mother’s Words

Two of the Mother’s communications about Sunil’s music stand as bookends to his career. The first came early, after the opening of the new style: her encouragement was direct and unconditional. The second came regarding the Savitri settings, when uncertainty arose about whether they should continue:

“The Mother’s message — that the Savitri music was between him and her — was her way of making absolutely clear that he was to continue.”

— Steve

And after Sunil’s death in 1998, the Mother’s formulation — reported by those who worked with Sunil — remains the most complete account of where the music came from:

“The Mother said that his music comes from the world of harmony. That is evident in the sounds themselves.”

— Mrityunjay Sathyanarayanan