Birthday of an Indian Singer Jagjit Singh

Jagjit Singh (1941-2011) wasn’t just a singer; he was an institution, a revolutionary who breathed new life into the ancient art of ghazal and brought its delicate poetry to the masses. Often referred to as the “Ghazal King,” Singh’s mellifluous voice and soulful renditions transformed this once elitist genre into a beloved form of music enjoyed by millions across India and beyond.

Born in a small town in Rajasthan, Singh’s musical journey began early. He trained under renowned classical maestros, imbibing the nuances of Khayal, Thumri, and Dhrupad. However, it was his chance encounter with ghazal that truly ignited his passion. Struck by the evocative verses and the subtle interplay of rhythm and melody, Singh dedicated himself to mastering this art form.

Singh’s influence wasn’t limited to ghazal. He experimented with various genres, collaborating with diverse artists and even venturing into film music. But it was his ghazals that truly left an indelible mark. He collaborated with his wife, Chitra Singh, creating a musical partnership that became synonymous with ghazal itself.

Over a five-decade career, Singh released over 60 albums, earning numerous accolades and awards. He received the Padma Shri in 1984, the Padma Bhushan in 2003, and was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2011. But his greatest reward was the love and adulation of his fans, who found solace and joy in his music.

Today, Jagjit Singh’s legacy lives on. His music continues to inspire generations of musicians and captivate audiences worldwide. He is remembered not just as a singer, but as a torchbearer who kept the flame of ghazal burning brightly, ensuring its place as a cherished part of India’s musical heritage.

Man has been trained to cut humanity into so many pieces on any excuse: religion, country, language, color. But the basic root is in teaching human beings that love is a limited phenomenon, and secondly, that love has varieties.

I am trying to say to you that love has no varieties. It may have different expressions — certainly the love between husband and wife will have a different expression than the love between the couple and their children. It will have a different expression, but the expression does not change the quality. It is the same love. And its center is not the other — that’s how we have been taught, that the center of love is the other: you love somebody. The emphasis has to be completely changed. It is not a question of loving somebody, it is a question of being a loving human being. Love should not have an address; it should be simply a radiation of your being. Whoever comes in contact with you, will find the immensely nourishing energy of love.

You are saying, “I feel so much love for you.” I would like you to feel the same love for the whole existence — for the trees and for the birds and for the oceans and for the stars. Your love should not be confined. You can love me as much as you want, but that does not mean that I should become the only object of your love. Then it is not nourishing. On the contrary, it starts becoming a poisoning force. Love is a nourishing force if it spreads all around just the way the sun rises, and it showers its light, its rays, to all the trees without any discrimination. Not thinking that “this is just a poor marigold, just a little bit less will do. This is a beautiful rose, a little more. This is a lotus, shower as much as you can.” No, the sunlight showers over the whole planet without any discrimination. Your love should become subjective, not objective. It should become a radiation, from the center of your being to all directions. Then it is nourishing and then it has a certain quality which can only be called divine.

Our so-called love only creates jealousy, only creates conflict, only creates two people living in intimate enmity, judging, looking, watching. Just look on the road and you can decide without asking anybody whether the couples who are walking together are husband and wives, or just boyfriends and girlfriends. I have never seen a husband and wife together smiling. What kind of love is this? Yes, they are both detecting each other…. The husband cannot look around if a beautiful woman passes by. Just looking at that beautiful woman can create so much harassment that it is not worth it. What kind of society have you created? Is it human? It is absolutely human that if a beautiful woman passes by, the husband should tell his wife, “Look, a beautiful woman!” Beauty should not be made a question of jealousy or comparison. You can say that the rose flower is beautiful and your husband or your wife will not object to it, because you can’t have any relationship with it.

Just the other day I was listening to a song of one of the most beautiful singers of India. The meaning of the song is, “I was just passing by here and I thought just to say hello to you, although I know if my wife comes to know about it, this hello is going to be very dangerous. Because her insistence is, `You should not see anybody else except me. Your whole love is monopolized by me.'” And the singer says — his name is Jagjit Singh — “That is her insistence. But my hobby is that wherever there is beauty, I should at least be respectful to it.”

We have created an idea of love as a possession. And all kinds of possessions ultimately turn into poisons. One should live a life non-possessive, available, open, respectful. There is so much beauty around you and so many different ways the beauty is expressing itself; to confine you is to destroy you. And remember: anyone who confines you, you are not going to be loving to that person. Husbands don’t love their wives, wives don’t love their husbands. How can a wife love a husband who has confined her infinite capacity of radiating love, who has forced her to accept that he is the only one that all her love should be directed to? This is insulting and this is against nature, against existence.

But religions have been doing everything to destroy the individuality of man. It seems to be that without destroying man, they cannot exist. Either man can exist in his dignity or your so-called churches and popes and priests can exist, with great power. Just the other day… I could not believe it, but I have to believe because it is a fact. Anando brought me the news that the Catholic church has decided that there will not be any other kind of music in the churches than that which is absolutely devoted to the church. Even in weddings — and it has been going on for centuries; it is not something new. Even the classical music and the geniuses of the past are no longer allowed in the church. In a church wedding the music should be only what is approved by the church, and its function should be religious — no other music.

Why are these people afraid of people becoming light, rejoicing, enjoying? They have a certain investment in your misery. The more miserable you are, the better, because only the miserable people go to the churches. Only the miserable people are in the bondage of the past. Only the miserable people are under the domination of the dead. A man who is alive can be alive only if he is allowed total expression of his individuality. Who are these people to decide? On what authority do these people go on deciding things for millions of people? A very strange strategy has been used. First they invented God, then they invented his son Jesus Christ, and now they have imposed themselves as his representatives. Only they have the direct line to God.

A few months ago the Catholic church has prohibited that anybody should confess to God directly. He has to confess to the priest, everything through the right channel. Then the priest will inform Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ will persuade God the Father — “Let this poor man be freed from his sin.” But directly you cannot confess to God. And not a single Catholic in the whole world revolted against the idea. At least man should be given the freedom to be in direct relationship with existence. But the business point is clear: unless you confess to the priest, the priest cannot punish you. And what is the punishment? Five dollars, ten dollars… and I don’t understand how these dollars reach to Jesus Christ. And then he gives the bribe to God the Father: “Just forgive this man, he is a good man. Just look, he has sent ten dollars.” Those ten dollars disappear in the pocket of the priest. They have nothing to do with Jesus Christ or with God.

I have heard that one rabbi and one bishop were very friendly. The friendship had arisen because both were golf lovers, and they decided that on the next Sunday they were going to the golf club.

The rabbi waited and waited outside, but it was getting late so he entered the church. The bishop was in the confession booth — it is a small room, partitioned. On one side sits the bishop with a small window; on the other side stands the confessor. The strategy is that the confessor should not be made embarrassed; his face should not be seen, so that he can confess wholeheartedly because unless he confesses wholeheartedly he is not going to be contributing dollars wholeheartedly either.

The rabbi entered the booth and said to the bishop, “We are going to be late.”

The bishop said, “I am doing everything as quickly as possible, but there is still a queue.”

The rabbi said, “I don’t know what this confession is, just let me see what you are doing. And then you can get ready while I function in your place, because nobody can see from the other side.”

The bishop said, “It is very simple; you just watch.”

One man came and he said, “I have committed a rape.”

The bishop said, “Don’t be worried. Just contribute ten dollars to the charity box and I will pray for you.”

The rabbi said, “It is very simple. Now you go and get ready.” He sat in the bishop’s chair. Another man came and he said, “I have committed two rapes this week.”

The rabbi said, “My son, don’t be worried. Thirty dollars.”

The man said, “Thirty dollars? Has the rate increased? Just in front of me, for one rape you asked ten dollars.”

The rabbi said, “Don’t be worried. You just put thirty dollars in the box — ten dollars are in advance.”

These are the people who have destroyed everything that is beautiful in man. But they are exploiting and they will cling to their exploitation to the very last. Otherwise, there is no reason for all these organized religions to exist. Each individual should have a direct contact with the universe, its beauty, its tremendous glory — which creates without any effort a gratitude, a prayer, perhaps a song, a dance. If we can remove all these organized religions from the world, organized nations from the world, and allow each individual his dignity and respect, there will be immense love, immense respect, immense understanding. We can change this ugly world which has been created by the past, into a beautiful garden where everyone can rise to his potential height, can shower his flowers and can release his fragrance. I stand for the individual.

All organizations have proved criminal. There is no need of any organization either in the name of politics or in the name of religion or in any other name. And the world will be an ocean of love, an ocean of beauty. But this needs, Deva Bhasha, a tremendous courage to revolt and assert your individuality, whatever the consequences. It is long enough that we have been exploited, sucked, destroyed. And the end result is this miserable world — where once in a while perhaps you can smile, but even that smile does not come from your deepest core; where once in awhile you can love, but even that love is surrounded by all kinds of fears. Nothing in you has been left in freedom. And the people who have done this greatest crime are the people you worship. That makes it more difficult to take humanity out of their clutches. You have to learn to love yourself first, to respect yourself first. And then certainly it will give you tremendous nourishment and it will start spreading around you.

Source:

Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link.

Discourse Series: Om Mani Padme Hum Chapter #20

Chapter title: Life has no boundaries

31 December 1987 am in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

References:

Osho has spoken extensively on ‘art, music, painting, poetry, dance,’ and creative geniuses like Picasso, Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Salvador Dali, Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Mozart, Wagner, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Taansen, Byron, Bhavabhuti, Coleridge, Dinkar, D.H. Lawrence, Ghalib, John Ruskin, Kalidas, Kahlil Gibran, Keats, Milton, Nijinsky, Omar Khayyam, Shelley, Tagore, Yeats and many more in the course of His talks. More on this subject can be referred to in the following books/discourse titles:

1. Ah This
2. Be Still and Know
3. Beyond Psychology
4. Come Follow to You Vol.1-4
5. The Guest
6. Going All the Way
7. This Is It
8. The Book of Wisdom
9. The Path of the Mystic
10. A Sudden Clash of Thunder