A Concert Of Hope..

Mum n I walked into the shamiyana at around 2pm in the afternoon on the 7th Jan,’09 at Gandhi Maidan in Jodhpur(my city .i.e.). Once inside, we didn’t see much activity except for some old ladies lazily lying down on the mattresses which had been put to actually sit, some were eating, some were having tea…..but most of them were chatting..!!How can let go of their birth right….right?? The decoration of the entire shamiyana was of balloons and silver n golden ribbons, with “Handis” hanging all around. It looked as we had come to a big birthday bash..!! All the corners and support pillars were lighted up….and baskets and baskets full of chocolates and small toys like flutes, cars etc were being lined up… Wondering who’s birthday bash it was?? Lord Krishna was supposed to be born at around 6pm that day…!!
Still didn’t get it? Fine… take the question mark off your forehead now…. It was a session of the Shrimad Bhagwath Gita Katha by Shri Ramesh Bhai Ojha ji?(in the picture) from 3rd Jan to 10th Jan. A question mark again….”what was I doing there?” I was just giving my mum company. The crowd kept pouring in till 3.30pm; the scheduled time when the session was supposed to start. After endless rounds of nagging and arguments with the older ladies already present there, who did not want us to take their reserved seats or did not want us to sit in front of them and obstruct their view, we finally got place to sit down…and that too in the front. I couldn’t stop wondering and admiring at the same time the energy that the senior citizens present there emitted. They would get up and sit down quickly, run to grab the best seat, the aarti thali and could crush anything that stood in their way!! On the contrary one wouldn’t find them that active on normal days even when walking on the street or spending a lazy afternoon in the sun. My questions were to be answered soon as I too was about to feel the same oneness with the divine and emit his energy through me. Mum n I decided to lay low and sit quietly and not mess with all the ladies around us, for our own safety .i.e.
The decoration of the shamiyana was to celebrate the “Shri Krishna Janmutsav”. Lord Krishna was the 10th incarnation of Lord Vishnu and was born to Vasudev and Devaki in Mathura…whose uncle was Kansa(yeah yeah…you know all that…) we had missed the 14 to 15 sessions prior to this one where Lord Vishnu came in various incarnations. It was only due to Shri Ramesh Bhai Ojha(fondly known as Bhai Jee), a very distinguished Kathawatchak, that mum n I came all the way to listen to him. The experience was enriching and inspiring.
He started with a prayer and went into the deep philosophies of the scripture. When he recited the Shlokas in Sanskrit….I very faultily regretted not studying Sanskrit in school…..let alone Sanskrit…the impeccable Hindi that he spoke was equally immaculate; as said in the engineering slang-it was“Over Head Transmission” for me. I’l be honest here, I got maybe 5% of wat he said, but I knew that I would come again. The session started at 4pm and lasted till 11pm, Bhai ji had over shot the 3hr time frame. My first lesson there was that when it comes to God…there are no limits. It was for the longest time in my life that I had sat on the ground…but I didn’t feel it at all. Lord Krishna was born maybe at around 10:30pm :D suddenly the energy level went from double to tetra…!!
“Nand k anand bhayo..Jai Kanhaiya Lal ki…Yashoda k Lalo Bhayo…Jai Kanhaiya Lal ki..”!!( The fervor can b compared to the way we all sing “We will…we will rock you”….on the dance floor..)
Everyone stood up….the stored chocolates were tossed at the crowd…I caught a few too.. the atmosphere was charged and Godly..yet at peace. The resonance of the bhajan sounds, the jai ghosh… all amalgamated and mesmerized me. I had never thought that it would be so good.
Its ambience was that of a Rock concert for the elderly…..they sang all the bhajans with Bhaiji, they clapped with their hands in the air, and danced when the beat got to them. Though my bonding with Lord Krishna has been from a very long time…..since the times when I was too young to know that He is Lord Krishna, I was so thankful to him that he called mum n I on his birthday..
Dad was shocked to know that we would go again the next day….now no one gave us hostile looks since we were no longer new comers and seat stealers…the elders and the pundits on the dais were all really happy to see me, since I was the only toddler (compared to the ages of ppl there) amongst the 2000 plus ppl there. They called me and offered me special prasaad of the “Chappan bhog”. I was very happy. On the second day I carried a diary to take notes, I did understand a lot as well. The message was getting clearer.
Eruditions from the sessions were immense…..like no religion introduced caste divide….The Varna system of the Hindus was also defined by Param Brahma( the supreme Lord above the Brahma) as….He said…that the Brahmins are my Mastak( Head/ Brain)….the Kshatriyas are my Arms and The Vaishyas and The Shudras are my Legs…..i cannot stand upright if I do not have my legs….my brain and my hands cannot replace my legs…..similarly my legs cannot make me think…..it is the job of my brains….i need all of them to sustain…..they are equal to me..i love all equally..!!
The Lord will come to you in whichever way you will adore Him….in the Kalyuga…the easiest way to reach Him is to become a good human being amidst all the malice and the vile that reigns around us….and to take his name….He will run away from you the more you try to catch Him….He will tease you…test you…..Like the way Lord Krishna used to first steal the maakhan and then run around the house with Yashoda Maiyya chasing him….she would finally get tired and start crying…that you are so stubborn and naughty….all the while you are running away and laughing at me….why don’t you listen to me…am I asking for too much from you…why don’t you come to me yourself….it is then that God Himself comes and holds His mother wipes her tears and ends all her heartache……Pertaining to the present times….Replace yourself with Yashoda Maiyya….and you’l know how God takes care of you..Wait a Minute that does not mean we start crying everytime we pray……heheee….He is the boss ppl…..and he when do we need what….its an emotion….infact a connection.
The Scripture says that religions and religious places were built to remind the human of the goodness and the righteousness expected of him…..to remind them that the Creater is keeping an eye on him…and that his end is inevitable…..that his Karma decides his destiny….and that HE is ever forgiving….!!
I bought a simplified version of The Shrimad Bhagwat Gita myself at the end of the session to understand what my scripture and my Dharma have to say to me…. One thing that hit me real hard…was that this scripture…. written thousands…maybe millions of yrs back…..can b applied to its fullest in the present times precisely. It is a timless classic. It teaches us how to live….. The Lord himself took 11 incarnations to help out his creation in the changing times. I might sound like a skeptic…..but I was a believer even before I went for this session, though after the session I knew the reason behind my belief.
A time comes in everyone’s life when they are caught up in a war between his wants and his responsibilities, trying times, tragedies, calamities…..whatever you call them….they all bring misery and pain….it is that time when he is standing in the ”the battle of Kurukshetra”, in the chariot….where Arjuna once stood, guided by his Saarthi…Lord Krishna Himself…!! He left for us the Gita Gyan…..to solve all the problems in life….to become a good person….and instill faith in the power within ourselves.
Moral of the story is that the youth need to read and know about their respective religious books more than the elders…since it is easier to tread along the unknown path when you are aware of what might come up out of the blue; no calamity in life would deter you since you would have a solution for everything. All my friends who have a love for reading,it is a request.. should drop their current reads and pick up books like The Prince of Ayodhya Series by Ashok K.Banker or any simplified version of The Bhagwad Gita or Books of their respective faiths…and give them 10mins daily. Such literatures change lives.
I went to a local fair in the city and bought a stand to place my Bhagwad Gita on and to position it in the Pooja area in my house. I told mum….that the stand has been made by a Muslim…….the Book written by a Hindu…..it would not make the learning and the message in the book change…..infact the stand would beautify my book and give it the respect it deserves…..
Though I am not an anti Muslim person at all….yet the experience made me look at things in a different way…I never thought like that before....now…. I can see the change in me….. I feel forgiven and accepted by God….that has made me a happier person and even more courageous….
That is why……I had quoted…..It was “A Concert Of Hope”
Cheers..