God loves music - The Nada Brahmam story

When stars descend...

The Radiosai studio at Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi was abuzz with excitement and activity though it was Sunday, a weekly holiday. The Prasanthi Bhajan Group had gathered there for a special audio recording. The brightest stars from the galaxy of singers at Puttaparthi had descended to the studio for this venture. Each stalwart singer present had his own beautiful story of singing for Swami and the collective experience of the group is worth several books! Take for instance the story of Ravikumar and his Sai Bin Raha Na Jaaye or the love-filled tale of the Meera-boy Koustubh Pare; or there is the test of love of Sai Krishna or the sweet stories of Ashwath Narayan. This is just a sample!

The new and young members of the group were excited to just see these ‘stars’ in action. They knew that rubbing shoulders with these senior members would only enhance their own musical skills and experience. But it was not just the ‘music people’ who had gathered. Music lovers who had been given the chance to be present for the recording had turned up too. It is not daily that one gets to witness a recording of this kind.

But wait! What was it that was being recorded? The straight answer would be - Nada Brahmam.

All had assembled at the Radiosai audio studio for the recording of Nada Brahmam.

What is Nada Brahmam?

Radiosai had been spreading Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s love in the digital dimension for almost a decade now. In an effort to bring high-quality, audio-visual media into the home of the devotees, it started its products wing - Sai Blossom. One of the first audio products by Sai Blossom had been ‘Prasanthi Mandir Bhajans’, a recording of bhajans being sung in the direct presence of the Avatar of the Age. Though the audio CD had been received very well, the problems of making use of live-recorded bhajans began to show through. The audio levels of various instruments would not be evenly balanced across bhajans which would be recorded across several months. There were also some mistakes made by the singers or instrumentalists which could not be corrected.

That was when Radiosai decided to come up with special, high quality, studio-recorded bhajans in a new series. In the quest for the best possible quality, track recording was introduced. Each singer would be made to sing separately and each instrumentalist would play his piece on a metronome. Days would pass in taking different inputs from the chorus singers, the instrumentalists and the lead singers. Any mistake could be corrected. Thus was born the technically-perfect and musically-rich series called  ‘Bhavanjali’ (an offering of feelings). But even that was found lacking!

The ‘live-feel’ was missing. It was felt that though the melody and rhythm was perfect in Bhavanjali, the ‘feeling’ that is aroused in the heart of the singer and the instrumentalists during an actual bhajan session was missing because of the track-recording employed. What was needed was the perfection of studio recording, coupled with the feeling of an actual bhajan session. It was Prof.G.Venkatraman, the director at Radiosai, who came up with the brilliant idea of a new series - Nada Brahmam.

“Record in the studio but ensure that the bhajan session is conducted as a bhajan session and not like a movie-song recording”, he said.

Always have a direct connection to God - Nikhil Koushik learns his lessons from Baba _Part 2

God sees only the efforts

Nikhil dialled his mother and sought her advice,

“Mother, Swami tells me that I need to do my sadhana before I can sing in His presence. Could you tell me what sadhana you did? What did aunt do... what did granny do?”

The mother was both surprised and happy at her son’s question. She replied,

“My child, I really don’t know what sadhana I have done. It has just been Swami’s love and grace...”

Nikhil already knew that this would be the answer. Every true devotee of the Lord credited Him for everything. She never claimed to have done anything special for she felt that it was Swami alone who is all special.

“Yes mother! Swami’s love and grace is infinite indeed... But... there must be something that you people did right. Tell me what you would do when you were not in Swami’s presence?”

“Your granny and aunt had deep love for Swami. From that sprung a commitment to put in daily efforts. They are talented of course but their efforts were so relentless that Swami would have been pleased with them even without their skill!”

{This is the concluding part of a story which will definitely make better sense and grant more joy if read after the first part. The first part is located at the link below:

Always have a direct connection to God - Nikhil Koushik learns his lessons from Baba _Part 1 }

Nikhil had his answer with crystal clarity. It was not as if some sadhana was better than the other. What mattered to Swami was sincere effort alone. That was probably the reason why it everyone is said to be equal in the eyes of God - because everyone is equally capable of putting in 100% efforts though their capabilities to produce results vary. Since God did not judge based on results but only based on efforts, each one has the equal capability to please God.

"If you look to me, I look to you."
Look at this beautiful picture. Do you think that there is a need for any intermediary between the devotee and God? Why don't
we strive for that direct connection? Why do we always want shortcuts? All it needs is effort

“Thank you mother. You are wonderful... Sairam.”, Nikhil said before putting down the phone. Now, he knew what he had to do - put in efforts, in whatever way he could.

The next morning, Nikhil was up and ready by 4:30am. Armed with a harmonium in the music room of the hostel, he began to practice chanting the Aumkaar (the ‘Om’ chant). He practiced till 5 am after which he went to attend the Suprabhatam. This effort did not remain as a one-day wonder. It became part of his daily schedule. He also put in supreme efforts to swallow his pride and ego. As suggested by Shailesh sir, he approached other singers in the bhajan group and sought their help to improve his singing. Having put in these efforts, he left the results to Swami and just prayed for an opportunity.

Within a week, Nikhil got that opportunity. With all love and humility, he sang a simple bhajan in the presence of the in-charges. What Shailesh sir told him that day has remained etched in his heart.

“What have you done? You have transformed completely the way you sing. You are fading out the ending of each line in the bhajan so perfectly. I suggest that you teach the exercises you have done to some of the other aspiring singers. I am sure they will benefit a lot from it.”

“Thank you sir... So... I can try singing in the mandir?”

“Yes, you can. Seek permission from Swami before that.”

A couple of days later, Swami called Nikhil to take his letter in the bhajan hall. As he handed the letter to Him, Nikhil sought permission to sing in His presence. Swami nodded with a smile and wholeheartedly permitted him. Nikhil’s joy knew no bounds. He knew his efforts had paid off.

Pride and Ego - not easy f(r)iends to subdue

That was how Nikhil achieved his dream of becoming a mandir singer - a dream that he had once taken so much for granted that it had almost turned into a nightmare. Reaching the top is one thing; staying there is a totally different game. While reaching the top requires intensity of effort, staying there needs persistence in the same efforts. While Nikhil had passed the test of intensity, it was probably the time for the test of his persistence.