Krishna Kant Shukla is a physicist, musician, poet, ecologist and educator. Currently, he lives in

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

Bharat Bharat, or Bharath, may refer to: * Bharat (term), the name for India in various Indian languages ** India, a country ** Bharata Khanda, the Sanskrit name for the Indian subcontinent ** Bharatavarsha, another Sanskrit name for the Indian subcon ...

(India) and travels all over the world, giving music concerts and lectures. He is a disciple of the late Pandit

Kumar Gandharva Pandit Kumar Gandharva (pronunciation: umaːɾ ɡən̪d̪ʱəɾʋə Kn: ಕುಮಾರ್ ಗಂಧರ್ವ; 8 April 1924 – 12 January 1992), originally known as Shivaputra Siddharamayya Komkalimath was an Indian classical singer, well kn ...

and Ustaad

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was an Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, ...

. His concerts and interviews have been aired on National Television and Radio in India several times. His interview on a U.S. radio station has been widely acclaimed. His interview has also appeared on the front page of Times of India. His music concerts consist of singing the poetry of the self realized saints of India, such as

Kabir Kabir ( 15th century) was a well-known Indian devotional mystic poet and sant. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Gar ...

Gorakshanath Gorakhnath (also known as Gorakshanath (Sanskrit: ''Gorakṣanātha'') (Devanagari : गोरक्षनाथ / गोरखनाथ), c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, mahasiddha and saint who was the founder of the Nath Hindu mon ...

Tulsidas Rambola Dubey (; 11 August 1511 – 30 July 1623pp. 23–34.), popularly known as Goswami Tulsidas (), was a Vaishnavism, Vaishnava (Ramanandi Sampradaya, Ramanandi) Hinduism, Hindu saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. H ...

Tyagaraja Sadguru Tyagaraja Swami ( Telugu: సద్గురు త్యాగరాజ స్వామి; 4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known as Tyagayya, and in full as Kakarla Tyagabrahmam ( Telugu: కాకర్ల త్యాగబ ...

Surdas Surdas was a 16th-century blind Hindu devotional poet and singing, singer, who was known for his works written in praise of Krishna. His compositions captured his devotion towards Krishna. Most of his poems were written in the Braj language, ...

Meera Meera, better known as Mirabai, and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. She is mentioned in '' Bhaktama ...

on a base of

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the art music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is generally described using terms like ''Shastriya Sangeet'' and ''Marg Sangeet''. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as ...

. He has also translated these songs into English and reads out his translation before singing the song in the original vernacular. He has also extensively researched and recorded the folk songs of rural India, which are becoming extinct. Some of these songs belong to endangered living oral folk traditions that are over fourteen hundred years old. He also sings these songs. His lectures on "

Spiritual ecology Spiritual ecology is an emerging field in religion, conservation, and academia that proposes that there is a spiritual facet to all issues related to conservation, environmentalism, and earth stewardship. Proponents of spiritual ecology assert ...

" have also received wide acclaim in India and abroad. This is a newly emerging field in the general area of Religion, Science and the Environment. He is founding trustee and member of Saha Astitva Foundation, a charitable organization that has built a model eco village and organic farm in a tribal area in Maharashtra. This project is the practical aspect of his work on Spiritual Ecology. Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla is considered by many to be a national treasure. He is an empaneled member of

Indian Council for Cultural Relations The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India's global cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their people. It was founded on 9 April ...

(ICCR), an arm of

Ministry of External Affairs (India) The Ministry of External Affairs (abbreviated as MEA; ISO 15919, ISO: ) is India's Ministry of foreign affairs, foreign ministry. The ministry is tasked with formulating and implementing Indian foreign policy, India's foreign policy and repres ...

Government of India. This entitles him officially to represent India and Indian culture as a Cultural Ambassador in foreign countries.

Early life

Krishna Kant Shukla was born in Patna, Bihar,

(India) and raised in

, Uttar Pradesh. Youngest of four boys, both his parents were professors in

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, ...

. He was musically gifted as a child. Encouraged by his mother, he had taught himself to play several musical instruments by the time he reached his teens. When he was ten years old, he went to U.K. with his mother, who had gone there to pursue her doctorate. There, he studied first in St. Edmunds Primary School and later in Dudley Grammar School. Here, he topped in almost all subjects, including Physics, Math, Music, Latin, Chemistry, Biology, English and French. He recalls how he heard, for the first time, Mozart's

Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major), K. 525, is a 1787 composition for a chamber ensemble by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). The German title means "a little night music" and is one of Mozart's most famous works. The serena ...

and, the same evening, he came home and worked out the whole score, by memory, on the recorder. After three years in U.K., at the age of thirteen, Krishna returned to

(India) and joined India's top school, the famous Modern School (New Delhi), which was founded by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

to impart the best of Eastern and Western education to deserving children. After graduating with a distinction in Math, Krishna joined India's top institution, St. Stephen's College, Delhi for his undergraduate degree in Physics Honours. He then enrolled in the Doctoral program in Physics at the

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

. Here, he was appointed as "visiting lecturer" and taught full courses in undergraduate Physics. He was given an award for "Excellence in Teaching" by his University. While pursuing his doctorate, Krishna started studying

Indian Classical Music Indian classical music is the art music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is generally described using terms like ''Shastriya Sangeet'' and ''Marg Sangeet''. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as ...

with Shrimati

Lakshmi Shankar Lakshmi Shankar (née Sastri, 16 June 1926 – 30 December 2013) was an Indian singer and a noted Hindustani classical music, Hindustani classical. Born into a south Indian Hindu family, she became an outstanding Hindustani music, Hindustani voc ...

and Dr. Tapan Bhattacharya. While still a graduate student in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, Krishna was actively involved in organizing

concerts for visiting musicians from

(India), many of whom were living legends. In his own words, "This period turned out to be crucial for my later metamorphosis from a Physicist and a Mathematician to a Musician". Krishna would go to each of these visiting stalwarts, and ask them to teach him something of their art. He thus took classes from Ustaad

Vilayat Khan Ustad Vilayat Khan (28 August 1928 – 13 March 2004) was an Indian classical sitar player, considered by many to be the greatest sitarist of his age. Along with Imdad Khan, Enayat Khan, and Imrat Khan, he is credited with the creation a ...

, Pandit

Ajoy Chakrabarty Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty (born 25 December 1952) is a Hindustani classical vocalist, composer, lyricist and an exponent of the Patiala-Kasur gharana. He was awarded with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India in 2020 and ...

, Shree Vijay Kichlu, Ustaad

Rashid Khan Rashid Khan Arman (; born 20 September 1998) is an Afghan international cricketer and captain of the Afghanistan national team in the T20I format. In franchise leagues, he plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide ...

, Pandit

Sandeep Ghosh Sandeep may refer to: * Sandeep (given name), an Indian given name, primarily male See also * Sandip, an alternative spelling of the given name Sandeep * Sandeepa Dhar, Indian actress * Sandwip, an island in Sandwip Upazila * Sandwip Upazila Sa ...

, and several others. During this period, Krishna also became much influenced by the music of the legendary Great Pandit

. In particular, he was entranced by the "Nirguna Bhajans" ("songs of emptiness") of Pandit

. These songs, originally composed several centuries ago by

and others, were and are sung by wandering troubadours in

(India) and belong to a living folk

Oral Tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

that is over fourteen hundred years old. Pandit

had brought these songs to the classical stage. In Krishna's own words, "These songs tugged at my soul incessantly until I had no other option but to give my life to them".

From physics to music

Physics Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla's PhD work is titled "Calculations of Electron Effective Mass based on 3-D Kroenig Penny Model with Application to Solids". A pioneering mathematical model to predict the behaviour of electrons in simple crystal lattices. This work was later published in the book "Quantum Statistical theory of Superconductivity" edited by Dr. Van der Meswe; Reidel Kluwer Book co. After his Doctorate, Dr. Shukla joined Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York, as an assistant professor in Physics and Astronomy, in 1991. It was here, while teaching astronomy, that his life took an unusual turn. Music In 1992, Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla resigned his job as physics professor and went to

Ali Akbar College of Music The Ali Akbar College of Music (AACM) is the name of three schools founded by Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan to teach Indian classical music. The first was founded in 1956 in Calcutta, India. The second was founded in 1967 in Berkeley, Californi ...

in San Rafael, California to study

Indian Classical music Indian classical music is the art music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is generally described using terms like ''Shastriya Sangeet'' and ''Marg Sangeet''. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as ...

with the great Maestro Ustaad

. He studied Vocal and Sarode here. In 1994, he returned to India to study, research, record and, eventually perform, the

Bhajan Bhajan is an Indian term for any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Dharmic religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means ''reverence'' and originates from the root w ...

s (songs) belonging to the living oral folk traditions of

and

and other saints, such as

Tukaram Tukaram (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ukaːɾam, also known as Tuka, Tukobaraya and Tukoba, was a Hindu Marathi saint of the Warkari sampradaya in Dehu village, Maharashtra in the 17th century. He was a '' bhakt'' of the god Vithoba, also kn ...

Purandara Dasa Purandara Dasa (IAST: Purandara Dāsa; (1470 – 1564) was a composer, singer and a Haridasa philosopher from present-day Karnataka, India. He was a follower of Madhwacharya, Madhvacharya's Dwaitha, Dvaita philosophy. He was one of the chi ...

and

. Between 1994 and 2004, he also traveled through much of rural Northern India to learn and record the folk songs of the villages. With the advent of T.V. and Globalization, many of these folk songs, and the traditions that nurtured and protected their continuity, have become extinct. In his own words, "These folk songs contain much wisdom, beauty, and spiritual depth. It is this folk music, coming from the timeless soul of village India, that has given birth to many of the ragas of Indian Classical Music." In 2003, Modern School Diaspora Initiative hosted a function in New Delhi where Dr.Shukla was honoured by the ex president of India,

K. R. Narayanan Kocheril Raman "K. R." Narayanan (27 October 1920 – 9 November 2005) was an Indian statesman, diplomat, academic, and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1992 to 1997 and president of India from 1997 to 2002. Naray ...

for performing an invaluable service to the country in researching and recording these folk songs. Mr. Shubham Basu, Dy. Director

AIMA ''Aima'' is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language thriller film written and directed by Rahul R Krishna. The film stars Yunus Mohammed, Shanmugam Ramasamy, Akhil Prabakaran, Elvin Mathew and Sisira Sebastian in the lead roles. The film was produced by Shan ...

mentions about Dr. Shukla's (physicist and musician) "…there are threads that might open a physicists thoughts on Spirituality and Spiritual seeker's thoughts on Science…and the best part is Dr. Shukla sails on them with his Music."

Music

Concert Tours: * '' Kabir in Song: Musical Traditions of a Great Religious Poet of India'' (2003) – United States at

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

* '' Poetry of Self Realized Saints of India'' (2004) – United States at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

Hartwick College Hartwick College is a private liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. The institution's origin is rooted in the founding of Hartwick Seminary in 1797 through the will of John Christopher Hartwick. In 1927, the seminary became a four-year coll ...

* '' Poetry of Self Realized Saints of India'' (2010) – United States *'' Ahimsa Concert: Bhajans of Kabir and Other Saint-Poets from India'' (2010) -

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

* '' Benefit concert for the homeless'' (2011) - United States at Maui(Hawaii) *'' Concert with Ram Das and Peter Russell'' (2011) - United States at Mauii (Hawaii) *'' North Indian Devotional Music from the Hindu and Muslim (Sufi) Traditions'' (2014) - United States at

Albums: * '' Kabir in Song'' (2000) * '' Live Concert Delhi 2007 Part:1'' (2007) * '' Live Concert Delhi 2007 Part:2'' (2007) * '' Meher Baani'' (2010)

Spiritual ecology

Krishna has delivered lectures on spiritual ecology all over the globe. The foundation lies in the natural or vedantic worldview. Notable Lectures & Talks: * Dialogues with divinity, and their relationship to creativity, in the Hindu tradition * Spiritual Ecology * Spiritual Ecology: The Indian Village as a Model of Sustainability. * Spiritual Ecology & Research Paradigms at

Management Development Institute Management Development Institute (MDI) is private business School in India. It was established in 1973 by Industrial Finance Corporation of India and is located in Gurgaon, a commercial hub near the Indian capital of New Delhi. Rankings MDI w ...

(MDI), Gurgaon

(India). * Science, Spirituality and the Environment at

AIIMS The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. These institutes ha ...

on 15 April 2010. Event Organised by Center for community medicine. Interviews on the subject * Aaj Savere by

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

(2014) *Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla's radio interview with "Tributaries Radio", Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A. Spiritual Ecology in Action: * Krishna, and his friends Kalyani and Daniel Uppendahl set up a model eco-village in the village of Ganeshpuri,

(India). The Saha Astitva Foundation which is a registered charity creating a model year-round organic eco-farm. It drew interest of research community too.

Famous quotes

His popular quotes from his lectures, concerts and interviews:- * "What you don't use, You lose" * "What you abuse, You lose." * "Music is not a way to reach god. Music is god." * "Every single man,woman and child on the planet must, to the best of their capacity, become activists for the environment if we are to reverse our royal collective march to oblivion" * "Nature is our mother. She is not a resource for human consumption." * "Western Science, in its present form, is toxic. It must be infused with love and humility, and an ethical code of honor to renounce any experiment or procedure that causes harm to the environment."

References

External links

Official websiteSaha Astitva FoundationAnanda Aashram (NY) Biographies
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shukla, Krishna Kant 1959 births Indian male singer-songwriters Indian singer-songwriters Living people Musicians from Varanasi 20th-century Indian singers Singers from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian male singers