Eclipse-Nirvana: Contemporary Devotional Music by Aks & Lakshmi

Last updated on: October 19, 2017 at 9:39 am by Padma Kuppa

Eclipse-Nirvana: Contemporary Devotional Music by Aks & Lakshmi 2017-10-19T09:39:43-04:00 Padma Kuppa

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I had an opportunity to hear a wonderful husband-wife musician duo as part of a recent trip to Indianapolis: Ashwin Krishnan Subramanian and Lakshmi Chandrashekar Subramanian presented their contemporary devotional music program to the attendees of the 12th Annual Hindu Mandir Executives’ Conference. Hindu temple executives from around North America and the next generation of leaders from various Hindu American organizations, such as Sewa International and Hindu American Foundation (whose Board I serve on), were in attendance, and the evening consisted of visiting the beautiful Hindu Temple of Central Indiana, where we heard the melodious music made by this young couple. Enchanted by their spirit and the sounds of interfaith harmony that stayed true to the couple’s pluralistic Hindu roots, I asked for their story, and Lakshmi obliged.

We met in NYC in 2011 as members of a Chinmaya Mission study group, and worked on our first contemporary devotional album together in early 2012. By that point, Ashwin had left his software engineering career and was a full-time composer and producer. Prior to that, he graduated top of his class from popular Bollywood music director A.R. Rahman’s music conservatory and worked on several Indian films such as Raavan, Delhi 6 and Adaa. In my case, I was a financial analyst in Bloomberg L.P. Once we started collaborating, we realized our common love for devotional music & poetry, and I took the plunge and quit my job in finance. I went on to do graduate work at Stanford on the Bhakti Movement, focusing on the hagiography and poetry of Mirabai. My intent was to integrate my scholarly work with music to contextualize our live shows in multi-faith engagements.

Today Aks (Ashwin’s initials; which means “reflection” in Urdu) and I serve as a full time composer-vocalist duo under our company Eclipse Nirvana. We travel across North America to universities, conferences, fundraisers, and have shared our music in Singapore, Indonesia, and Zambia. Our live shows combine contemporary music – including World music traditions, Electronic music – contextual storytelling and visual media. Our goal is to communicate the great bhakti (devotional) poets’ universal messages of love, peace and harmony to today’s audiences.

Lakshmi Chandrashekar Subramanian is a vocalist, a scholar, a performer – she is obviously doing what she loves, with someone she loves, who is equally talented. Aks and Lakshmi are fortunate to be partners on this journey, charting new career paths for themselves – and so are all of us, as we listen to their contemporary devotional music, rooted in the traditional environment provided by their respective families.

Aks is originally from Palakkad in India, and moved to Maryland when he was five. Classically trained in Indian vocal music from his grandmother Jaya Bala, he also learned from renowned visiting gurus from India, picking up Sanskrit chanting from his grandfather who chanted every day. He even learned classical dance from his mother Shobha Subramanian, Dance Director of the Jayamangala School of Dance. As a teenager, Aks was influenced by AR Rahman’s musical style, and started composing music while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in software engineering at Virginia Tech.

Lakshmi was born and brought up in Singapore, and grew up taking trips to visit family in Chennai, India, several times a year. She was enrolled in classes at the Hindu Center, Singapore at the tender age of three, and by the time she was five, started Carnatic vocal and Bharatanatyam training at the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society (SIFAS) under several gurus. In particular, she developed a passion for bhajans (devotional songs) and stotras (Sanskrit hymns) while singing and recording devotional albums with her mother and first guru, Padmini Chandrashekar.

Both these talented professionals found common ground at Chinmaya Mission NY, as they had grown up attending Chinmaya Balavihar and Yuva Kendra, in D.C. and Singapore respectively. Their love for music and spirituality may be what initially brought them together – but it is apparent that they would love to bring their pluralistic approach, to composing and performing spiritual music, to a broader audience of global music aficionados.

Diversity and Inclusion

Contemporary Devotional Music

Eclipse-Nirvana

Fusion Music

Indian Bhakti Music

Previous Post

September 30, 2017

Finding the Goddess Within: Protect Us From Fear

Next Post

October 17, 2017 Watching Marshall, Lighting the Diwali Lamp for Dharma

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category acttochange Advocacy african american American Apocalyspse Autism Belief bhagavad gita Bhumi Project Bullying caste caste report Catholic Climate Change conversion Creation Story development dfn Dharma Diversity and Inclusion Divine Feminine Draupadi Education Environment EquityInEducation ethics evangelism Evil faith in the public square genocide God Goddess guru Hijab Hindu Hindu American Hindu American Foundation Hindu practices Holidays Holocaust human rights human trafficking identity India Indian American interfaith Internship Jewish Justice Kashmiri Hindus LGBT LGBT Rights Mahabharata Martin Luther King Jr Celebration meditation MLK Muslim National Day of Prayer NoDAPL Pakistani Hindu Peace Advocacy pluralism Prayer predatory proselytization Religious Freedom SacredSites Sari science self-realization Social Action spock Telugu Truth TSOG Uncategorized Urban monk Vegetarian Vote

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Paul tell Timothy to flee from in 2 Timothy?

Select your answer to see how you score.

False teaching Evil desires of youth The love of money Persecution