Composer: JOHN SCHLENCK

Information:
John Schlenck was born in Indianapolis in 1936. After graduating from Eastman School of Music, he moved to New York City and almost immediately came in contact with Indian thought. He became a member of the Vedanta Society of New York and has served as its music director since 1961. He has composed many works for the Society and these compositions have been performed all over the country.
Vedanta, the religion and philosophy of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita in ancient India, teaches that the essence of each person is divine, and that the purpose of life is to unfold and realize this divinity, to make it manifest in every movement of life, as Swami Vivekananda said. All religions are accepted as paths to this realization. Vivekananda came to America in 1893 to attend the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. He continued to work in the West for several years and founded the first Vedanta Societies in America. An important part of his life's work was the formulation of Vedantic teachings in language that is not culture-specific.
Vedantic Arts Recordings is a branch of Vedanta West Communications Inc. They publsh a quarterly journal, American Vedantist, in which Vedantic idealism through the arts is communicated. Convinced that Vedanta has universal meaning not limited to a particular civilization, Vedanta West Communications encourages the development of cultural forms that can facilitate its communication in the West. John Schlenck's music is an integral part of this dedication to the philosophy and principles of Vedantic thought and belief
The choral cantata on this recording is based on a classical Vedantic text attributed to Adi Shankaracharya (788 - 820), widely regarded as the Thomas Aquinas of Hinduism. The work portrays a spiritual journey told through music, based on Shankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination & the Upanishads. Full of yearning and awe, a spiritual aspirant approaches an illumined teacher, receives instruction, practices intense meditation and at the end attains enlightenment. The composer's aim was to present, in concise musical form, the spiritual life from initial seeking to final illumination.