The houseful audience at the Sringeri Pravachana Mandiram, Chennai, on Saturday last had the rare experience of being transported to a remote Maharashtra village. On the stage was Tukaram Ganapathi Maharaj and his team — all vintage Marathi, in terms of costume, headgear, etc. Tukaram Ganapathi Maharaj presented the rich Abhang tradition of Maharashtra, with the compositions of saints Tukaram, Namdev, Jnaneswar and Janabhai, rendered in native Marathi style. Strictly following the varakari sampradaya abhanga Hari keerthan technique, he commenced the Namasankirtanam with the refrain, ‘Jai Jai Ramakrishna Hari.’ It is believed that during this Namavali, the Lord makes His presence instantly. Appropriately Jnaneswar’s ‘Roopa Pahatha Lochani’ was rendered, describing the joy of witnessing the divine form of Vithala.
Familiar abhang
Sant Tukaram’s familiar Abhang ‘Kshana Kshana Hachi Karava Vichar’ was the theme song for elaborate exposition. It’s a song that gives you wings to fly. The essence of the Abhang: One should spend every moment of life in contemplation — about this illusory world and the ultimate truth in the Lord of Pandharpur. His narration of the spiritual essence of this Abhang in chaste Tamil was interspersed with humorous anecdotes and profuse quotes from Thevaram and Divyaprabhandam. India is perhaps the only land that offers such a diversity and at once, universality in worship. Tukaram Ganapathi pointed out that sans faith, there would be no mental peace.
Tukaram Ganapathi quoted an Abhang of Janabhai (Namdev’s adopted daughter), ‘Dharila Pandaricha Chor’ — here is a thief who will steal your heart. In order to further reinforce the spirit of the evening’s theme song, he rendered ‘Nalage Mukti Ani Sampada,’ another Abhang of Tukaram. ‘I don’t even need Mukti. All I want is Satsang, the association of a sacred gathering of noble souls.’
Words of Adi Sankara — ‘Ma kuru dhana jana yavvana garvam’ — came in handy to explain Sant Gyaneswar’s ‘Nalage thandana nalage mundana’ — don’t take pride in wealth, friends or youth. Tukaram’s ‘Nijalyane gaatha ubha Narayana’ asserts that you can recite the name of Narayana in any posture, lying down, standing or sitting down. The power of the song is incredibly uplifting. ‘I gifted you the whole world. In return, you can give me just a drop of water or a leaf of sacred Tulsi with love,’ Tukaram says in ‘Evada jagadani.’ In ‘Iha loki cha ha deha,’ Tukaram says that even gods desire to be born in this world, because we have satsang here.
Tukaram Ganapathi concluded his Namasankirtan with ‘Gnaneswara Mavuli, Gnanaraja Mavuli Tukaram,’ a Sant Namavali.
Overall, there was poetry, drama and music in that Namasankirtan. Raghunath Das (Harmonium), Venkatesh (Pakhawaj) and the thirteen Taalkaaris (those who keep the Taal) offered immense support to Tukaram Ganapathi in keeping the audience spellbound. The programme was part of a bhajan series organised by Sri Vidyatheertha Foundation, Chennai, to mark the 101st jayanti Mahotsavam of Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamigal, 35th pontiff of Sri Sringeri Sarada Peetam.
