The Bhajan

It was about 10 AM when my mother left for work, and I, already free from doing my Nitya puja and breakfast, decided to practice a Ram-bhajan sung by Lata Mangeshkar –  ‘Shri Ramchandra Kripalu Bhajman..’ before sitting down to write episodes of my daily soap, and dedicated the practice of the bhajan to my Guru.

Envisioning him, I faced North, the direction where our Guru resides, and started singing along with the bhajan playing on the phone. What I experienced next was something other-worldly. In the middle of the bhajan, I suddenly felt warmth enveloping all around me and I began to cry. I could feel our Guru listening to what I am singing, even felt his presence for a few seconds, even though I was out of tune, and was actually singing along with Lata Mangeshkar. It is hard to put this experience in words because even after the bhajan was done, I was shaking with love, warmth, and the beauty that had filled my heart just moments before, crying in relief, thanking Om Swami for giving me this beautiful experience.

This had happened only one more time before.

It was a few days before the above incident. We had Ganpati aagman in our home. It was the time for morning aarti and my brother played Lata Mangeshkar’s Ganesh aarti on the TV as we sang along, worshipping our Ganpati baapa. I was thinking of Baapa, and my Guru while singing the aarti. I do not know why but I thought of my Guru too often when Ganpati Baapa was at home. So, the melodious aarti was on, and suddenly, in the middle of the aarti, I felt choked with emotion.  Lata Mangeshkar’s magnetic, devotional voice reverberated through our home, and actually broke the barriers of my heart, and made it overflow with love. This time, I had to control my happy tears since there were people around. I could feel my Guru smiling as if teasing me for crying in a hall full of people like a baby.

The above two experiences confirmed two truths of life:

1)    Doing our karma with utmost devotion can break barriers of time and distance. Lata Mangeshkar is a legendary singer, everyone knows that. But these two experiences made me realize why and how?! She has now passed on, and yet both the bhajans that she had recorded at least 25 years ago, touched me almost physically 25 years later. It moved me. Such a timeless, immortal work of art her singing is!

2)    Our Guru, any Guru, but in this case, Om Swami actually listens to whoever calls him with Love, and devotion – HOW? We don’t know, but I am sure he does. No matter the physical distance.

Through these experiences, our Guru indirectly made me realize that any karma done by us, whether writing, singing, coding on the computer, or even washing the clothes if done with the utmost devotion and keeping God and Guru in mind will render itself immortal and timeless.

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