While the world reels under the coronavirus attack, a whole lot of people have been engaging themselves in different ways – some by doing personal sadhana, staying within the house; some by making food packets for needy people in the vicinity; some by coming together virtually to chant prayers, to share inspiring thoughts, etc. The online option has become the sole saviour to bring people together.
I happened to come to Mumbai one day before the lockdown was imposed. Away from my workplace, my home away from home – Chinmaya Vibhooti, there was not much to do except for household chores and looking into official work on and off. It was suggested that we could have some Facebook Live sessions, which interested people could watch, sitting in the comfort of their homes. Many artists were already doing this by then. I decided to teach one small and simple bhajan every day for the period of the initial lockdown. From the day we started, this worked out to fifteen sessions.
Just singing and teaching bhajans would have been ordinary and not completely inspiring. I thought of including Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda’s quotes and connecting the bhajan to the quote as much as possible. On one of the days, we chanted the Hanuman Chalisa together. What started as a good way of spending my time, turned out to be inspiring for many, who watched either during the live streaming or later. The many comments that came from the viewers reinvested my faith in my teaching abilities, which I was losing. This was despite the fact that my voice was more or less unworthy of live streaming due to a throat issue. The hashtag for these sessions was ‘#CoronaNahiBhajanKaroNa’.
On the last day, 14th April, we had a Bhajan ‘Farmaish’, where viewers shared their choice of bhajans that they wanted me to sing. What started as a half-an-hour session went on for one hour, and yet many people didn’t manage to get their choice of bhajans sung by me.
The lockdown was extended up to 3rd May. Now there was a request for these sessions to continue. However, we decided that we should have registered participants taking 10 paid sessions if they wanted to learn seriously. This too received a great response and I am presently conducting sessions for 41 music enthusiasts!
God is with us. Forever!
Always look forward to your bhajans and teaching sessions. You are an excellent teacher.
Thanks so much.
Hari Om.
Dear Pammi, my childhood friend, a great fan of you and your family, especially Aunty Sushila Acharya, your mother.Your bhajan sessions were a great blessing for me. With no formal training in music, I shyed joining any music class. Your sessions were God sent for me. Your music bhajan sessions are so inspiring and elevating!. You spread so much of positivity with your melodious music, ever smiling face, quotes and anecdotes. God bless you in all your endeavors. Love you dear.
Thank you for the love.
Pramodini
Dear Pramodiniji,
In these unprecedented times where there is very little to look forward to, your Facebook class was a ray of sunshine. Your positive attitude, ever smiling face and determination to complete the session inspite of your bad throat is really encouraging. The bhajans were simple for everyone to follow and were very soothing .Looking forward to a lot more sessions with you.
Thanks and Regards,
Gayathri Narayanaswamy
Thanks for being with us in the journey. 🙂
Hari Om.