Global Bhajan – part 1
Sathya Sai Baba gave this discourse at the Akhanda Bhajan (a 24-hour observance with devotional song sessions worldwide). At the conclusion of the discourse, Baba stresses the importance of reciting the Lord’s name. He compares the cry thus raised to the cry of a child who compels its mother to sit up, take notice, and attend to its needs. This is part one of a two-part article.
Last November 23, people from all parts of the world assembled here to celebrate the Golden Jubilee. Center officers were here for the Second World Conference and other functions that took place. Later they expressed a desire that they be allotted a date before the close of the Jubilee year when they could, in their own places, celebrate the happy occasion. To overcome their disappointment, it was decided that all over the world, in all Centers, devotional song sessions (events for the adoration of God) be held for a full 24 hours, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and ending at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Therefore, in 42 countries around the globe, more than 7,000 Centers have enthusiastically taken up this pleasant assignment.
This activity has been named Akhanda Bhajan—that is to say, a devotional song session done without any break. But was it really an akhanda bhajan? It began at 6:30 on the evening of one day; it is closing at 6:30 on the evening of the next day. Can you call this an “unbroken” session? What is a period of 24 hours when you consider the vastness of the universe and the eternity of time? It is just a wink, a minute part of man’s life on earth. By engaging yourself in the recitation of God’s name for one single day, you claim to have done devotional songs “without a break.” Akhanda Bhajan must be as continuous as breathing itself, if it deserves the name.
Purification
You must probe into the real significance of the samkirtan you are engaged in. Kirtan is “singing aloud the glory of God.” Samkirtan is “the process of singing that originates in the heart,” not from the lips or tongue. It is the expression of the joyous thrill that wells up from the heart when you remember the glory of God. It is the spontaneous manifestation of inner ecstasy. You pay no attention to the blame or praise others give, and you do not seek admiration or appreciation of listeners. Samkirtan is sung for your own joy, your own satisfaction, your own delight. Kirtan of this supreme type alone deserves the name samkirtan.
Singing with intense yearning for God, for enjoying the experience that adoring Him brings, helps to purify the atmosphere. Man is today forced to breathe air polluted by sounds that denote violence, hatred, cruelty, and wickedness. Therefore, he is fast losing the high attainments that are in store for him. The vibrations from singing the glory of God’s name can cleanse the atmosphere and render it pure, calm and ennobling. It is with this high purpose in view that the program of global samkirtan was designed.
No man can escape the influence of the pollution in the air he breathes. The sounds that you produce—with good or bad intent—spread throughout the air around you. This is your daily experience. The sounds produced at radio stations pass through the atmosphere and reach your home when you tune in. Vibrations travel vast distances and affect the nature of those who inhale them. The atmosphere also affects the food man consumes. The pollution in the atmosphere is imbibed by plants, the plants supply grain, the grain is the basis of the meal, and the meal shapes the character and behavior of the person. When the environment is clean and free from evil vibrations, food is pure and the person develops a tendency to be loving and simple. To ensure such an atmosphere, this spiritual effort was laid down all over the world.
Loud Singing
When a man falls into a well, of what use is it if he controls his voice and his emotions and whispers quietly, “I have fallen into this well; I have fallen into this well. I am in great danger. Please save me!” No one will be able to hear him and rush to save him. He must shout full-throated, with all the anguish he is experiencing and with the extreme desire to be saved, “I have fallen into the well. Save me! Save me, someone.” Then he can hope to get succor.
So, too, when you are caught in the coils of this world, when you have fallen into this deep well of worldly misery, shout with all your might, with all your heart, that you may be saved by God. There is no use muttering faintly and halfheartedly, “Save me, save me; I am floundering in this worldly existence.” When the prayer comes shrieking through the heart, help is assured.
The Name
Sam-kirtan or devotional singing can be of four types: guna-sam-kirtan, leela-sam-kirtan, bhava-sam-kirtan and nama-sam-kirtan. By guna is meant “the attributes of God,” so guna-sam-kirtan is “the adoration in song of the manifold attributes of God” (omnipresence, omniscience, compassion, majesty, etc.). Leela means “divine sport”; therefore, leela-sam-kirtan means “adoration in song of the various expressions of God’s attributes” (as evidenced by the accounts of such expressions recorded by sages and seers of all lands). Bhava means “the attitude of the mind,” “mental aptitude.” So bhava-sam-kirtan means “the adoration in song of God, pictured and contacted under various relationships.”
Some may prefer to adore Him as the grantor of equanimity; others as their closest friend, guide, and guardian; some others as the child they love and tend; and a few as the lover they love with sovereign love. Nama means “the name of God,” so nama-sam-kirtan means “the adoration of God, calling upon Him by name after name, each describing His glory, His achievements, His relationship with the individual.”
The names are many and even countless; it is so in all languages. You have many groups of “a thousand and eight names” you can use, for God, as the Vedas declare, has “a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.” Devotees can adore Him and derive bliss through that adoration, filling each name with the meaning and significance it carries.
By whatever means God is adored, the path of devotion is the easiest and most effective, for, it is a spiritual discipline of the heart and results in love and service to all as fellow pilgrims headed for the same divine goal.
Some people do question the propriety of calling on God by means of such a multiplicity of names. But each name is indicative of only one aspect of divinity. It denotes a single part of the supreme personality. The eye, the nose, the mouth, the hand, the finger, may be denoted by distinct words, but they all belong to the same individual, don’t they? So too, you must remember that every name is but a facet, a part, a ray, of the Supreme. Spiritual practice consists of recognizing and becoming aware of the One that supports and sustains the many. That concept is the precious gem of wisdom you must secure and treasure.
Inner Thieves
There is, however, a thief that lurks in the inner consciousness of man, planning to rob him of this gem. He is called desire. When what you desire is gained, greed, the accomplice of the thief, steps out and prods you to desire a few more objects. When what you desire is not gained, another accomplice, anger, comes out and prods you to hate and harm those you suspect to be your foes—those who stood in the way of your gaining what you wanted.
Of course, you cannot completely eliminate desire from the mind, but you can nourish one desire. The Vedas lay down four goals before man: righteousness, wealth, desire, and liberation. Since the first and the last are difficult to attain without detachment and deprivation of sensual pleasures, man has given them up as impractical and is struggling in all lands and climes with the middle two, wealth and desire. All the fear and misery of life can be traced to this dire mistake. What has to be done is to take the four as two inseparable pairs, righteousness-wealth and desire-liberation. That is to say, earn wealth through righteousness, use wealth for the promotion of righteousness. The means should be right, and the ends should also be right, so desire first and last liberation.
Release
Liberation means “getting rid of bondage,” “release.” Many people give up hearth and home, wife and children, property and possessions, and escape to the Himalayas or forest retreats and pride themselves on their praiseworthy “renunciation.” But the act of fleeing cannot be honored by that name. This act may not confer release; the mind will remain bound. The fundamental bond that has to be gotten rid of is the bondage of ignorance. Death is sweeter than the bondage that ignorance can impose on man. Cast away ignorance; you are free, liberated from all bonds that very moment. Every spiritual discipline has liberation as its goal. Namasamkirtan, too, helps you to get rid of this basic ignorance.
( Part 1 | Part 2)
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, December 1976
