Becoming a Flute in His Hands...15th November 2009

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Posted at 08:00:00 Hrs. IST on 15 Nov 2009

"Be

like a flute: a hollow reed straight, light, with no substance to

hinder His breath. Then He will come and pick you up from the ground.

He will breathe divine music through you, playing upon you with

delicate touch."

Bhagawan has always likened His ideal devotee to a flute that has no identity of its own, but is completely His.

In case of Raviteja,

an accomplished flautist and a former student of Bhagawan, the Creator

not only blessed him with a flute in his hand, but also to play the

melodious instrument in His proximity -- he is a member of the music

group in Prashanti Nilayam.

The

talented musician and former student had the great fortune of

accompanying Bhagawan on His trip to Pune and Mumbai, and has shared

his 'divine' experiences.

 

The whole adventure began on October 4, 2009.

Evening bhajans were on at Prasanthi Nilayam, and

the mellifluous voices of Swami’s students were enthralling the

devotees and had filled the whole atmosphere with divine vibrations.

Swami was sitting inside the interview room of the Mandir -- just as He sits in the 'inner room' of His devotee's hridaya mandir (hearts).

Suddenly Harish, who escorts Bhagawan in the Mandir, came running towards our bhajan group and signalled in my direction to sit outside the interview room.

Excited and afraid, I immediately stopped playing

the flute and sat in the Mandir's portico wondering what would

happen. I even considered if I should call my family as well for the

interview.

After a while, Harish came back and indicated the number four with his fingers. I was confused by what that meant.

However, our bhajan group member Prabhakar, who was

sitting right behind me, said, “Sir, Swami is calling the four of us

into the interview room.â€

That is when I realised that four of us --

Prabhakar, Arvind Sai, Nishikanth and me (all members of the bhajan

group) -- had been asked to sit outside the interview room, and not

just me.

 

Swami watched us as each of us

entered the interview room and spontaneously burst into a beautiful

smile to greet us. We quietly sat at His lotus feet with our eyes fixed

on His 'Sundara Vadanam' (beatific face).

Suddenly, Swami drew out notes of Rs 500 and gave two of them to each of us.

Then with a twinkle in His eye and with a tinge excitement in His sweet and soft voice, He said, “Stitch new

clothes for yourselves. We are going to Pune. They have built a new

temple there on 200 acres of land on top of a hill. I will take you in

the flight, direct from Puttaparthi to Pune."

Needless to say, we were very thrilled with this

wonderful announcement and immediately began with the preparations

towards Swami’s trip to Pune.

 

In the days that followed, Swami

selected a total of 28 students, most of them being “music boysâ€. This

was a clear indication to us that there may be a few music programmes

scheduled for us in the trip.

So we, the music boys, began drawing up lists of

devotional songs that we could present when Swami asked. The process

was not simple -- it involved long practice sessions and intense

discussions, mingled with, no doubt, some apprehension and excitement.

As October 28, the day of our flight, approached

closer, we spent most of our waking hours in practising our songs,

harder and harder.

We compiled many song lists by juggling the songs,

the order of songs and the style of singing to suit the different kinds

of audiences and locations. Above all, our priority was that the songs

should be liked by our beloved Swami.

We also drew up a tentative order of songs that we

could render in case we were asked to present a musical session on the

spot.

Additionally, since we were on our way to 'Sri

Sathya Sai Panduranga Kshetra' in Hadshi, we asked one of our brothers

to write a song dedicated to the new mandir in Telugu. We set the tunes for the lyrics written and were ready to present it too at the earliest opportunity given to us.

 

Swami and we reached Hadshi on October 28.

We learned that a concert had been organised for

the same evening where well-known singers Kavita Krishnamurthy and

Nitin Mukesh would be singing among others. We anticipated that Swami

would ask us to perform soon after their programme ended, but that did

not happen.

The next morning, Swami inaugurated three temples

at Panduranga Kshetra, and blessed with a discourse in the evening. We

expected to be called for a programme that evening, however Swami

decided otherwise.

We continued to practise our songs every evening, expecting to be called for a programme anytime.

Also, we were praying for an opportunity for some private moments with Swami when we could offer some of the songs.

 

We stayed in Hadshi for almost three days, and were asked only to sing bhajans on different occasions.

The morning of October 30 is very memorable for all

of us, when we were rushed to the stage before Swami arrived and were

asked to start the bhajans.

Swami arrived and sat on the stage for almost 45

minutes, as all of us sat next to Him offering our heart-felt bhajans

at His lotus feet with complete devotion.

With a cool breeze wafting by, with thousands of

devotees partaking the bliss of the nectarine bhajans and with Swami

showering His love and grace on all, it was indeed a very satisfying

morning.

In the evening of October 30, child participants

from the television show Little Champs presented a programme, and we

again waited for Swami's call. But I assume we were not destined to

perform in Hadshi at all.

However, in the night, Swami sent a message to us

saying that we should be ready with a music programme on November 1 to

be presented at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. Swami had also specified

that we were to present only classical songs and ones that contained

ample “sargams".

As soon as we received this message, out excitement

rose high and we decided to practise the songs the next morning

before we left for Mumbai. Meanwhile, we compiled the final list songs

that we would render and began our practice. However, with the tight

schedule on 31st morning, we did not have sufficient time to practise

all the songs.

 

On October 31, we reached Mumbai

in the afternoon, and Swami gave darshan at the NSE grounds, Goregaon,

for over 50,000 devotees that evening. Bollywood singer of fame, Sonu

Nigam, performed at the darshan and Swami liked his performance, and

also presented him with a ring.

Even then, we were expecting Swami to look at us and signal at us to perform right then. But this did not happen.

 

As students of Swami, we have

learnt a significant lesson: One must always be ready to do anything

that Swami wants, at any time. Swami may suddenly ask someone to speak,

to sing a song or a bhajan, regardless of the situation or occasion.

If you shied away or offered excuses, you would have missed an opportunity of your life time to please God. After all, we are living only to please Him.

From then on, we were always

prepared to present the programme, just waiting for His call. We

carried our musical instruments everywhere Swami went, expecting Him to

ask us for a bhajan session or music programme anytime.

At every spare moment that we got in Mumbai, we

practised our notations, working on our song presentation techniques

and were constantly involved in discussions on ways to improve

ourselves. At the same time, we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our

stay in the divine proximity.

On the night of October 31, we sat together for a

thorough rehearsal – to fix the loose ends, finalise the improvisations

and to finetune our renditions for the programme scheduled on November

1. Our practice session went late into the night as we thoroughly

rehearsed every song.

 

We were excited, and also tensed; in fact we had a chilling sensation down the spine.

The programme was just 24 hours away, and we were

anxious about performing in the presence of God, and thousands of His

devotees in an open stadium.

The true cause of the anxiety was not the

performance, but about meeting the expectations of His devotees as

being 'Sri Sathya Sai Students'.

As we were representing ourselves as Swami’s students, we just could not afford to be anything less than the best.

 

On November 1 morning, Swami called our group member Aswath Narayan during breakfast session, and reminded us to be ready.

That morning, Swami gave darshan at Jamboorie

Maidan, Worli, and proceeded to the Maharashtra chief minister’s

bungalow. Swami then went Sri Gokul Das’s house, which is located near

Brabourne Stadium, from where we were taken for a brief sightseeing

tour covering the key places in Mumbai.

We were then taken to a nearby hotel for freshening

up and were later brought to the Brabourne Stadium for the evening

darshan at about 5 pm.

 

The stadium was packed with over 20,000

devotees eagerly waiting for Swami’s darshan. After reaching the venue,

we went up the stage to arrange our instruments and microphones for the

performance, after which we came down to sit in the places allotted for

us.

Devotees from Mumbai were rendering bhajans, and

the whole atmosphere was charged with excitement as Swami was expected

to arrive any moment.

 

 

 

Swami came at about 6 pm and went up on the stage.

As soon as He sat on His chair, Swami asked one of the organisers to

announce that students of the Sri Sathya Sai University would be

presenting a music programme.

We got up to take Swami’s blessings. As a prelude

to the performance, Swami asked us to sing two bhajans before we began

with the classical songs.

Accordingly, we began with the bhajans -- and this

not only charged the atmosphere but also gave us a shot of confidence

we needed.

Sri Ravi Kumar began with the classical session with the song 'Deva Namo Deva', followed by Sri Sai Krishna's song in Hansdhwani Raga and 'Shiva Shankari' by Aswath Narayan in Darbari Kanada Raga.

The singers got completely immersed in their songs,

which touched all the notes perfectly. The microphones and the open

stadium enhanced the sweetness and majesty of their voices, while the

entire audience was lifted to a reverie.

To our and the audience' elation, Swami too clapped in appreciation after each song.

Every singer and every instrumentalist rose to the occasion and there was perfect harmony in every rendition.

After presenting five songs, we paused for Swami’s

reaction. As if to say He was extremely happy, Swami said “Sing one

more song... †looking in the direction of Sri Aswath Narayan and Sri

Srinivasan.

The two singers presented a Thillana in Ahir

Bhairavi raga together. The fast pace, the rhythmic complexities, and

the melodious improvisations in this Thillana left everybody in the

audience stunned.

After this, Swami looked at all of us and said sweetly, “This time all of you sing together.â€

Ravi Kumar then started the Qawali 'Tere Dar Pe Jo

Bhi Aaya…†(O Sai Baba, you have answered the prayers of every person

who has knocked your door...) and was joined by the other singers and

instrumentalists as chorus.

The lyrics of Qawali, the purport of which is 'O

Sai Baba, you have answered the prayers of every person who has

knocked your door', was most suited on the occasion.

Swami too seemed to be emotional and was filled

with happiness. Needless to say, the audience was ecstatic and kept tab

with the beats.

After we had presented seven songs in total, Swami

said “Enoughâ€, and we all went up to Swami to surrender ourselves at

His lotus feet in gratitude to the wonderful opportunity He had given

us.

Swami was smiling all through and repeatedly said, “Chaala Baagundi†(Very nice in Telugu). He then blessed us with clothes and group photographs.

The next morning we left for Puttaparthi after a happy lunch.

 

As I look back now at the whole adventure that began on October 4, everything that happened seems perfect.

The whole music group is extremely satisfied, as we

feel we have offered our best to God, and God too seemed very pleased

with our humble offering.

Every talent is a gift from God. However the talent

gets its true worth only when it is offered back to Him with humility

and devotion.

And when God Himself expresses His satisfaction with the offering, what else does a musician need?

That, in itself, is the fruit and fulfillment of the talent.

(The writer has done his MBA degree from the Sri

Sathya Sai University, and is currently serving at the Sri Sathya Sai

Sadhana Trust, Sahayak Division, in Prasanti Nilayam)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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