Bhagavan Das plays the Sitar

A sitar is a very complicated instrument. This one had dozens of strings, and I didn't know how to tune it. I didn't know where to begin, so I left it in the empty room next to Ram Dass' room. Every day I'd bring it flowers and worship it as Sarasvati -- the goddess of music, art, and letters. For weeks I sat with it and meditated.

One day, the sitar spoke to me and told me to pick it up. I picked it up very respectfully, as if I was holding a beautiful woman in my arms. Then it said, "Tune me." And I started tuning the strings. For the next couple weeks I spent hours tuning the sitar, never playing it. Finally, something happened and it all came together. I started to play. But it didn't feel like I was playing the sitar -- it felt like the sitar was playing me. Sarasvati was playing the sitar by using my fingers. I never had a lesson. I just surrendered to the Goddess. The music was sublime.

-- Bhagavan Dass, "It's Here Now (Are You?)