Swara - the hidden note

The acquisition of Swara is the core and substance of Indian music. The Ragas are passing, changing; what is stable and eternal is the Swara. If a seeker of music does not understand Swara and its function, he is said to demean the art to the level of mere entertainment which it was never intended to be.Whenever Indian music has been true to itself, its seeking has always been after the Swara.
In Raga music, one seeks to get to the Swara, which is not merely a frequency or a note. At most, we can try and define it as the hidden side of a note. This seeking is the most awesome challenge for a true musician; it is a necessary process of the growth of the human spirit.