From Gitanjali (1985)

“Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure.” The poet’s recognition of this “endlessness” in himself is the aspect of these poems that fascinates me most. His assurance in acknowledging this condition causes me a sensation of joy—of awe.

This is not the poetry of drama, narrative or description. Nor is it, for the most part, like other poetry that touches on the spiritual nature of human beings, wracked with anguish or filled with yearning. This is a celebration, a statement of pure joy. This quality makes it the most difficult kind of poetry to set to music. My endeavor can at best be the sum total of my own recognition of this “endlessness” in me.

In order to portray pure joy in terms of music, harmonically I have used fifths and their fifths and so on—that is, fifths, fourths, minor sevenths, major ninths, etc. The piece opens melodically and harmonically with a pentatonic scale that is used in India to represent the morning. The songs themselves are self-explanatory. [The work] ends with a postlude that uses material from the third song juxtaposed with material from the first.

– Naresh Sohal