Lines I read and loved

The following lines from Salman Rushdie's The Ground Beneath her Feet describing the protagonist, Vina Apsara, made an impression on me. They are narrated by Umeed Merchant, aka Rai, a photographer and one of her many lovers:

"... The music of India, from northern sitar ragas to southern Carnatic melodies always created in her a mood of inexpressible longing. She could listen to recordings of ghazals for hours at a stretch, and was entranced, for what? Not, surely, for an "authentic" Indianness that she could never attain? Rather, I must conclude- and this is hard for a lifelong sceptic like me to write- that what Vina wanted was a glimpse of the unknowable. The music offered the tantalising possibility of being borne on the waves of sound through the curtain of maya that supposedly limits our knowing, through the gates of perception to the divine melody beyond.

A religious experience, to be brief, was what she wanted. In a sense, this meant she understood the music far better than I, for its spiritual element is of central importance to so many people, not least the musicians themselves...."

I wholly and completely relate to these beautiful lines. To me music, especially Indian classical music, is a doorway to a different realm of consciousness. And I could never equate it to other forms of art, dance included. Music has an immensely abstract quality amd can penetrate the soul.