Hare Krishna Hare Rama

Nara janma bandaga nalige irovaga krishna yanabarade...
(when blessed with human life , while you can still speak chant krishna)
Krishnana nenedare kashta ondhistilla krishna yanabarade....
(chanting krishna would free you from all problems .. chant krishna)
-Sri Purandhara daasaru

I read vedas speak of bhakti (devotion). I am talking about my experience with bhajana sampradaya, bhakti by means of devotional songs and music. I touch on no particulars of gods or any supernatural power, all I am trying to say is what my senses felt and what mind sensed. The need to write this..well.... today I visited the local ISKCON center.

My today’s visit reminded me of my very first visits to the ISKCON temple as a young kid of say 7 or 8 years. The very idea of the songs and rhythmic accompaniment of the dhols(percussion instruments) with synchronized movement of the devotees up and down the platform in front of the deities singing in perfect unison, all this would amuse me. Then all this was mere part of an evening outing my maternal uncle would take all the kids at home (when we visited Bangalore during our summer holidays). Today when I saw the same set up again I wondered what soothes human mind, as part of the physical set up and not something metaphysical.

Here are few of my observations, As I mentioned earlier the songs had great rhythm and were loud... I could hear nothing but what was being sung around me.....that isolated me from all the sounds of the outside world. The deities were beautifully decorated with flowers so my eyes could see beautiful colors.. And the place was filled with fragrance of flowers ..... Finally to complete the experience there was great food served so that hunger would not distract me.

All the senses were channelized so that they were running in an isolated mode from the outer world.....and hence the mind which is the processor of all these inputs was in isolation too.