Two experiences from Sunday to narrate:
1.
Quality of Gurus: After getting inspired by the
Favorite Devotional Song thread, finally, I headed to Ramakrishna Matha (Ashram) after nearly 1 and a half decades. This time I wasn't alone though..Heard the soothing preaching by the senior swamiji in the auditorium, in the patented punctuality style. Sharp at 5.30 preaching starts, ladies & gents separated, absolute silence including mobile nuisance missing and exactly at 6.29 a close to the preaching with push-button close of auditorium stage sliding wooden doors. Incredibly disciplined people.
Many moralistic & motivational stories were told. Heard it just like when I was in high school. One story really stuck to my mind. Imagine a big flat terrace of a building. Many pipes of different size, bend & position are fixed to get the water that accumulates on top to various sections of the building down. Now note that some of the pipes may be corroded, colored or in polluted in other ways. The same clean & colorless rain water from the terrace shows up in different colors & force in various end points downstairs. Now that clear, colorless water is the eternal spiritual truth. Pipes are the mathas/ashrams/organizations preaching spirituality/religion. Pipes from top to bottom also signify the swami/guru lineage (not exactly gene pool) over the generations. Color, rust, pollution, blockage etc. in water movement within each pipe represents the mental/physical cleanliness, discipline & overall quality of shishyas (students) setup & supported over the generations. Finally the end result, the quality of water collected downstairs will depend upon how clear, clean & efficient the overall guru-parampara (teach-student knowledge transfer) has been. Some will invariably pass on better 'water' or spiritual truth than the others.
Moral: Stuck to my mind immediately the difference between a Sringeri matha guru parampara maintained extremely well for 1200+ years to that of modern age swami/Guru like Nityananda
2.
If God takes something away, he compensates for it in another form: For the 2nd half of the afternoon, we sat through the evening bhajan. Again, highly disciplined, mostly non-verbal & non-soliciting way of setting the stage for the bhajan, the typical Ramakrishna matha style. One volunteer takes the bell & rings it on his way to various parts of the big complex garden & monuments. Not a single word spoken, but everyone knows that it's time to stop moving around & head to bhajan hall. Children under 7 strictly not allowed inside. Not one exception in seating or silence part. Just an awesome feeling being with 100s of extremely interested & spiritual crowd.
Between 6.30 and 6.45 (Ekadashi special aarti), most sanyasis in robes & head turban seat themselves at the front. Dot at 6.45, Aarti starts to the Ramakrishna idol and this aarti song is sung by everyone.
Khandana-Bhava Bandhana ~Composed by Swami Vivekananda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXAtqWbvtS8An immense chill went through my body this time. Maybe because I missed it for over 15 years in person (internet can never substitute to real experience). I wasn't a very regular during earlier days, but somehow this Bangla/Sanskrit song had huge impact on me right from beginning. Don't know why.. Maybe the words & raaga. This time during the middle of song, both my eyes overflew with ananda-baashpa (tears of happiness). By the end of song, I had tears down the cheek & almost to my chest from both eyes.. I am hardly a guy who cries easily, even in extreme real life sentimental scenes. But somehow yesterday's Khandana Bhava Bandhana rendering, 100s of extremely devotional people, the absolute synchronization of rendering probably touched the right chord in my cortex:) To sum it up, it was a real divine experience..:emrose:
It got better after about 30 minutes & more songs. The theme on Ekadashi day is Rama bhajans. From 6.45 till 8.15. Around 7.13, one volunteer walks in a blind man in his dhoti right to the mike in the front next to swamiji's seat. In a couple of minutes, Aarti to Rama, Sita, Lakshmana & Hanuman photo starts & the swamiji just pats the left shoulder of the blind man. Then magic starts. His voice mesmerizes the crowd. Those Rama bhajans & his immensely impressive vocal chords make those assembled feel as though Hanuman is hugging them, Sita is blessing them.. Magical 45+ minutes. Even though I don't know more than half of bhajans & didn't carry any book, thoroughly enjoyed his voice. When everything was over and the blind gentleman was being helped on his way out, I hushed to him.. 'Bahala chennagi haadidri' (you sang very well sir). He felt my touch, gave a very simple smile & walked out. No drama, no hype & absolutely no one cared if I put 1 rupee or not to Aarti plate/contribution box.
Walked out after taking ashirvad from Swamiji later. Of course wife donated well with a very happy mind.
Moral: If Bhagawan takes something very important for a meaningful life, like eyes, he does give enhanced capability to some other sense... even for those who came into this birth with a poorer Sanchita Karma score card. Yesterday that blind gentleman proved it to me with absolutely no doubt what-so-ever. God bless him & his amazing devotion which feeds energy off to 100s of those who assemble weekly.
Till next time. Do share if you had a inspirational and/or spiritual experience off late.
