Music as an Offering, not a Performance

Greatness is not measured by how many people applaud us, but by what we do with what we have been given.

M.S. Subbulakshmi, whose voice made Venkateswara Suprabhatam a daily morning ritual in countless homes, treated her music as an offering rather than a career. She sang for charity concerts across decades and is widely remembered for giving away much of what she earned to causes, hospitals and institutions. When Mahatma Gandhi asked for the bhajan "Vaishnava Janato", she sang it for him, and he is said to have remarked that he would rather hear her simply recite the words of a bhajan than hear anyone else sing it. Her voice reached the United Nations in 1966, yet she remained a devotee first and a performer second.

The very bhajan she sang for Gandhi describes the true devotee as one who feels the pain of others and helps them without pride. Her life carried that description into practice: the gift of her voice was never hers alone to keep.

We often treat our talents, wealth and position as personal possessions to be guarded and displayed. Subbulakshmi's life suggests that they are given so that they may flow through us toward others.

Today, take one gift of yours, your voice, skill, time or money, and offer it for someone else's benefit, without announcing it.