"SANTOOR AND NAAD: PATH TO DIVINE '. BY ABHAY RUSTUM SOPORI

                                      

                                             

                                               

 

                                    

                                                                                

"SANTOOR  AND NAAD : PATH TO DIVINE" BY ABHAY RUSTUM SOPORI

The Yog Parva magazine, published annually by the Sangeet Natak Akademi under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, presents yoga not merely as a discipline of physical postures, but as a civilisational philosophy encompassing consciousness, discipline, breath, sound, attention, and inner transformation. Within this ambitious publication, Abhay Rustum Sopori’s scholarly write-up, “Santoor And Naad :Path To Divine ” published in the 2026 annual issue, stands out as one of its most evocative and intellectually integrated contributions. This scholarly  write-up appears both languages ; English and  Hindi .

Abhay Sopori approaches yoga through the profound Indian concept of Nada Brahma ,  the universe understood as vibration and primordial sound. But his essay does much more than explain a philosophical proposition. It brings together music, Kashmir’s sacred geography, mythology, Shaivite philosophy, the Shree Chakra, Sufiana traditions and the santoor, creating a compelling continuum between landscape, spirituality and musical expression. The authority of the essay derives particularly from its author. Abhay Rustum Sopori is a leading Santoor maestro, composer, scholar and custodian of Kashmir’s Sufiana musical heritage. His understanding of sound is therefore not theoretical alone. It comes from a life devoted to listening, performing, composing, researching and transmitting music. His essay is consequently best understood as philosophy emerging from practice.

 Nada as the Origin of Creation

 At the heart of Abhay Sopori’s argument is the ancient idea that existence itself is vibration. From the primordial Om to the subtler conception of Anahata Nada, Indian philosophical traditions have long understood sound as a pathway towards consciousness. Abhay Sopori’s great strength is that he does not treat this idea in isolation. He locates it within Kashmir’s own spiritual and musical inheritance. The Sufiana tradition of the Valley, with its synthesis of poetry, devotion, melody and contemplation, becomes an important manifestation of this broader Indian understanding of sound.

 The essay thus invites the reader to regard music not simply as entertainment but as Sadhana. The musician listens, concentrates, disciplines the body, regulates the breath and gradually refines perception. The progression from audible sound towards inner listening becomes analogous to the yogic movement from the external towards the internal.

This distinction between Ahata Nada, the struck or manifest sound, and Anahata Nada, the unstruck or inner sound, is particularly important. The santoor belongs initially to the world of struck sound: its strings are awakened by wooden mallets. Yet, in Sopori’s conception, the physical sound can become a doorway to the subtler experience of vibration.

 Satisara and the Sacred Geography of Kashmir

One of the most fascinating sections of the essay is Sopori’s treatment of the ancient Kashmiri narrative of Satisara, the primordial lake. The illustrated sequence accompanying the essay presents the traditional story in four stages: Satisara as the ancient lake; Sage Kashyapa’s intervention; the outflow of the waters; and the emergence of the Kashmir Valley.

According to the sacred tradition, Kashyapa caused the waters to drain away, revealing the land of Kashmir. Sopori places this mythology alongside the geographical reality of the Valley. Kashmir forms a striking triangular basin enclosed by the Pir Panjal, the Greater Himalayas and the Zabarwan ranges, with its opening at Baramulla. For Abhay  Sopori, this triangular geography resonates with the geometry of the Shree Chakra or Shree Yantra, one of the most profound symbols of creation in the Shaivite tradition. The comparison is both imaginative and philosophically suggestive. The downward-pointing triangle represents the Yoni-ksetra, the womb of manifestation from which existence emerges, while the bindu at the centre represents the primordial point and the origin of cosmic vibration. Kashmir, therefore, becomes more than a geographical space: it becomes a sacred ksetra, a field in which consciousness and energy are embodied in nature. The draining of Satisara can consequently be read symbolically as the emergence of manifested existence from primordial waters.

 Shiva, Shakti and the Kashmir Vision

 Abhay Sopori deepens this interpretation through the traditional association of Kashmir with Shiva and Shakti. The essay recalls the Kashmiri cultural memory preserved in oral tradition and in Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, including the association of Kashmir with the divine feminine. The Valley becomes, in this reading, a manifestation of the union of consciousness and energy. Shiva represents consciousness; Shakti represents creative energy. Their union produces manifestation.

 This philosophical principle is central to Sopori’s larger argument because it provides the bridge between Kashmir’s geography and the santoor’s musical structure. The accompanying sequence of illustrations:  the triangular Kashmir, the inner triangle of the Shree Chakra, Kashmir as Yoni-ksetra, and the Shiva-Shakti union makes visible the conceptual progression that the prose establishes. The result is a distinctive interpretation of Kashmir as sacred geometry made geographical, and of music as the next stage in that movement from metaphysical principle to physical form.

 The Santoor as a Sonic Yantra

It is at this point that Abhay Sopori’s argument becomes especially original. The ancient Kashmiri Santoor, or Shatat-tantri Veena, is presented as a sonic Yantra. Its trapezoidal form, symmetrical arrangement of strings, geometric bridges and multiple resonating fields are understood as corresponding symbolically to the unfolding geometry of the Shree Yantra. Just as the Shree Chakra expands from the bindu into successive layers of manifestation, a single strike on the santoor produces a complex field of resonance. One vibration becomes many. A single physical action generates a multiplicity of sonic relationships. Thus the instrument becomes more than an object of craftsmanship. It becomes an audible representation of the principle of Nada Brahma. Abhay Sopori’s reference to the instrument’s 100 strings acquires further significance in this philosophical context. Multiplicity does not contradict unity; rather, multiplicity is the unfolding of unity. The many strings can be understood as manifestations of the one primordial vibration.

The accompanying image of the Shree Chakra, followed by the visual correspondence between the Yantra and the Santoor, reinforces this extraordinary proposition: Kashmir is the geographical Yantra, the Shree Chakra the metaphysical Yantra, and the Santoor the sonic Yantra.

 The Sopori Gharana

The essay also gains significance when viewed through the musical inheritance represented by the Sopori Gharana, rooted in the Sufiana musical tradition of Kashmir. The Sopori–Sufiana Gharana of Kashmir is a nearly 300-year-old musical lineage, carried through generations from Pandit Shankar Pandit and Pandit Samsar Chand Sopori to Pandit Shamboo Nath Sopori and Pandit Bhajan Sopori, and today represented with distinction by Pandit Abhay Rustum Sopori. This lineage embodies a distinctive synthesis of Kashmiri musical culture, Hindustani classical discipline and spiritual expression. Pandit Bhajan Sopori expanded the Santoor's classical vocabulary and established a distinctive approach associated with the Sopori tradition. Abhay Rustum Sopori now carries this inheritance forward with remarkable artistry, scholarship and creative responsibility. His contribution is therefore not merely hereditary: he is a living custodian who preserves the tradition's spiritual identity while extending its possibilities for contemporary audiences. In him, lineage becomes living practice, and tradition becomes an evolving language rather than a museum piece.

Abhay Rustum Sopori: Maestro and Practitioner

It is impossible to separate the essay from Abhay  Sopori’s stature as a performing musician. The Santoor presents unique technical challenges. Its sound is produced by striking strings, and unlike the human voice, it does not naturally sustain a note indefinitely. To create lyricism, continuity and emotional depth therefore requires exceptional control of touch, resonance and timing.

Abhay Sopori’s artistry demonstrates precisely this mastery. His musicianship reveals that the apparent limitation of the instrument can become an expressive strength. The decay of the note becomes part of the musical statement; silence acquires weight; anticipation becomes expressive. This is why the philosophical argument of “Yoga and Nada” feels authentic. Abhay Sopori does not merely describe concentration, breath, restraint and attentive listening. He demonstrates them through his music. His Santoor playing reflects the discipline of Riyaz: the cultivation of ekagrata, or one-pointed attention. The musician must listen deeply, anticipate the resonance of each note and remain sensitive to the relationship between sound and silence. The practice becomes a form of meditation. The performer and the thinker are therefore inseparable.

Scholarship as Cultural Custodianship

Another major virtue of the essay is its interdisciplinary character. Abhay Sopori moves comfortably between mythology, philosophy, musicology, Kashmir’s cultural history and the spiritual traditions surrounding sound. His discussion of the Santoor is particularly valuable because it refuses to separate the instrument from its cultural environment. The Santoor is presented not simply as a technical device but as part of a much larger Kashmiri civilisation  of music and contemplation. This scholarly approach also has cultural importance. Kashmiri traditions have sometimes been placed too narrowly under the category of “folk” culture. Abhay Sopori’s work reminds the reader of the sophisticated musical, spiritual and intellectual traditions of the Valley and of their place within the broader history of Indian music. His scholarship is therefore also an act of cultural restoration.

Yoga Beyond the Physical

The essay’s contemporary importance lies in its insistence that yoga must not be reduced to physical exercise. Yoga, in Abhay  Sopori’s conception, is attention. It is discipline. It is the inward movement of consciousness. And attentive listening can itself become a yogic act.

This opens valuable possibilities for education, music pedagogy and cultural practice. Music can teach concentration; sustained listening can cultivate awareness; Riyaz can become a discipline of selfhood. Sopori also points towards the wider social possibilities of shared listening and collective musical experience, suggesting that music can create spaces of harmony in an increasingly fragmented world. His argument is particularly powerful because it avoids reducing music to a simplistic therapeutic formula. Rather, he restores to music its civilisational dignity.

Conclusion

“Yoga and Nada: The Inner Resonance” is a thoughtful, imaginative and deeply personal contribution to Yog Parva 2026. Its achievement lies in connecting the primordial waters of Satisara with the geography of Kashmir, the geometry of the Shree Chakra, the metaphysics of Shiva-Shakti, and the resonant architecture of the Santoor. At the centre of this entire journey stands Abhay Rustum Sopori. As a leading Santoor maestro, he represents the extraordinary expressive possibilities of an instrument whose voice he has helped carry from Kashmir to the wider world. As a scholar, he articulates the philosophical and cultural foundations of that voice. As a custodian of the Sopori musical lineage and Kashmir’s Sufiana heritage, he ensures that tradition remains both rooted and alive. His deepest achievement is perhaps the unity he creates between performance and thought. He does not write about music from outside it. He writes from within the discipline of sound.

The essay ultimately offers a simple yet profound proposition: that the journey from external sound to inner resonance is itself a journey towards consciousness. The Santoor, with its many strings and infinite resonances, becomes an apt metaphor for existence: multiplicity emerging from unity, vibration becoming form, and sound leading the listener towards silence. Abhay Rustum Sopori has given Yog Parva 2026 not merely a music essay, but a meditation on civilisation, Kashmir, consciousness and the sacred power of listening. His research provides the map; his musicianship provides the experience; and the Santoor provides the voice. In his hands, Nada is not merely heard; it becomes a path to the Divine.

( Avtar Mota )

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