Recently I went to my Friend’s village kattuputhur, Trichy (40 kms from my home town) and was gifted to witness the Seetha Kalyana Maha utsavam. The total trip made a great impact on me and I wish I could share it here.
It is their 49th anniversary of Seetha Kalyana Mahotsavam. I came to know that they generally celebrate the total festival for five days. On the fourth day of the festival is the main event of Seetha kalyanam. The highlight of the event is the Namasankeertana by Sri Rajagopala bhagavathar. Of late, I rarely get chance to hear to bajans and nama sankeertanas. But this time, got a chance to sit at a nearest position and listen to the whole event.
The Bagavathar is accompanied by a flutist from my home town, a mridangam player, a Dolak player and couple of his group members playing jalra. The Bhagavathar’s voice need a special mention. What a great range and a bold nature. His renditions were totally clamped to the sruthi. The mridangist and the dolak player were enthusiatic and their playing was awesome. They were switching from Tisra nadai, kanda nadai and Misra nadai appropriately for songs. The total crowd started following/repeating the sangatis. This is what I will call a unison. I could not find anything odd or infact there is no second entity. I could not dissociate anything. I started getting goose bumps and now I am struck up with words to explain the situation.
I had always seen my parents and grand parents telling me the reason for conducting such Bajans. People come out of inhibitions only in group events i.e., bajan in this context. when a group of people perform an activity, we are influenced to do the same. The inhibitions are killed and you come out. The easiest way to reach god could be this.We have crores of cricket fans here. What is the state of their mind when they witnessed India’s worldcup victory? How about the people who are in the stadium to watch the finals? The happiness level is inexpressible. I experienced thousand times greater happiness and peace of mind over here. People please forgive me for this analogy. I know the experience in listening a namasankeertan is incomparable. But just wanna quote an example of the state of mind.
I know the principle of a trans-receiver, the receiver has to be tuned to the same frequency as that of the transmitter to receive any data. similarly this is a way you tune to the frequency of god. As per advaita, the only entity that separates us from God is the abstract mind. If you are capable of bringing this mind in unison with god, what else do you need. I saw people clapping their hands for the tune and this is the outcome of a perfect blend of music and Bhakti. This really took me to a trans state. It is then I understood the importance and significance of bhakti through bajans and nama sankeertans.
The Ragas chosen by the bhagavathar such as Sindhu bairavi, Surya, Hamsadvani, Hamsanandi, Durga, Shudha dhanyasi, Mohanam, kalyani etc were beautifully rendered. I was surprised to see such a great musical knowledge/ skill. We were tied in place for couple of hours that I almost forgot about everything. The total group was immersed in the river of bhakti. Where the ego and jealousy annihilates, the Godliness creeps in automatically. I had a great peace of mind after a long time. Thanks to my friend Arul Murugan for giving me such a great opportunity and a divine experience.
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Posted by RAMESH E on May 26, 2012 at 4:52 AM
Likewise, we will invite you for ‘Radha Kalyanam’ utsavam used to performed at my B-In-Law’s flat every year – Come once – be blessed – we will inform about the program details once finalized.