OSHO explains The Real Art of Listening and its importance in music with an amusing anecdote. (Few Life Inspiring Words - 2)

It happened in an emperor's court that a musician came.

He was a very rare genius, and he said, "I will play on my veena, on my instrument, with only one condition: that nobody should move his head while I am playing. Nobody should move his body, people should become like stone statues."

The emperor whom he told that his condition had to be fulfilled was a madman. He said, "Don't you be worried. If somebody moves his head, his head will be cut off immediately."

The whole town was made alert that if they came to listen to the musician, know well that it was risky: "Come prepared, don't move, particularly your head."

Thousands of people wanted to came. They have long cherished the idea of hearing this musician, and now he has come with such a dangerous condition, almost absurd. Who has ever heard of any musician asking for such a condition to be fulfilled?

In fact, musician becomes happy when people sway & their heads move and their body-energy starts a subtle dance. They feel happy because their music is effective, people are moved. Emotion is a movement; hence the word 'e-motion'. It comes from motion.

When people are moved, thrilled, stirred, a musician feels happy, rewarded, and appreciated. So what type of man was this? Only a very few people came, only people who were madly in love with music, who said, "Okay, at the most we can be killed, but this man has to be heard." Just a very few people came.

The king had made arrangements: soldiers were standing all around with naked swords. Then the musician started playing on his veena. For half an hour nobody moved. People were like yogis, sitting like stone buddhas, unmoving, as if dead. Then suddenly the people were possessed. As the musician entered deeper, deeper, deeper, a few heads started moving and swaying, then a few more.

When the musician finished in the middle of the night, many persons were caught. They were to be beheaded but the musician said, "No, no need to kill them. In fact, these are the only people who have the capacity to listen. Don't kill them. The others who have remained like statues have to be thrown out. Now I will sing only for these people. They are the real listeners" The king said, "I don't understand."

The musician said, “It is simple. If you cannot be possessed so much that even life becomes irrelevant, you are not possessed. If you cannot risk life, then music is secondary and life is primary."

A moment comes when you can risk life - then music becomes primary, then music becomes ultimate.

Then you hear the ancient music in the pines, not before it.

- osho -
(From the Book : Ancient Music in the Pines)