There was a flurry of activity outside the SSE Arena from 8am every morning for nine days. But it was only when I entered the the vast arena that I felt that elation, that feeling I get when I enter Bapu’s katha, only this time it was at home, in London, and I was part of the team helping to organise it.
“My heart is dancing today,” was the opening line of Rudra’s speech, my eloquent and confident nephew whose family, the Sachdev family, were hosting this Ram Katha. It perfectly described what we were all feeling that day, to see Bapu on the stage, the vyaaspeeth, sat against that striking backdrop of Chitrakut, the place where Bapu sits and reads his paper everyday in his hometown of Talgajarda Mahuva, where he has his meetings, where people from his village and from all over the world come to meet him, and where he gazes at and meditates upon the large golden Hanumanji statue.
Here in the Arena, though, the Hanumanji statue and the entire temple was behind him, while beneath his vyaaspeeth was grass, recreating the entire scene from Mahuva. It was mesmering. And we remained mesmerised
for nine days.
Morari Bapu’s nine-day kathas are called Ram Kathas, but they feel much more like a nine-day spiritual retreat, nine days which bring about and forge new relationships, friendships and bonds. Last week’s Ram Katha at the SSE Arena drew thousands of listeners each morning, filling this hall with vibrations of togetherness, unity and love.
Bapu takes his audience (to date, he has held almost 800 Ram Kathas around the world) through a journey of humour, laughter and intense emotion, through stories from the Ramcharitmanas, through teachings of different faiths and the overarching message to respect all. It is the universal aspect of his teachings that makes Bapu so appealing to everyone.
Spirituality or adhyatma, says Bapu, is beyond religion, spirituality is involved with feeling rather than with knowledge. Bapu also speaks about the all-encompassing mantra of truth, love and compassion, three key principles which should be our life anchors. And he speaks about the importance of living, working and being a part of this world, that
working is just as important as praying. There’s something very real about his message, something that appeals to all and excludes none, and this makes it all the more important in the world we live in today.
There were over three hundred volunteers working tirelessly in different areas of last week’s Ram Katha to make it a success. Bringing together thousands of people and then serving Prasad or lunch to each of them is no small feat (there were around 8000 people attending and have lunch daily).
A young team had come together to manage the operation with two energetic 21 year-olds managing the entire volunteer operation. This brought a fresh perspective to such a large-scale event as well as a youthful spirit, but as Bapu rightly pointed out during the Katha, there were both younger and older volunteers, and so the nine days
built bridges between the two, founded upon love and respect.
When Bapu entered at 9:30am, Naginbapa (Prof Nagindas Sanghvi), a learned scholar and writer from India, would present his summary of the previous day of katha. He had come especially for this at the age of 97. There were also periodic translations on the Ram Katha London app, updated every half an hour, allowing people of all ages to better understand the katha. Guests from other faiths were also invited to enjoy the katha, from a Rabbi as well as the Isreali foreign minister who addressed the audience to the Indian High Commissioner.
To make the whole katha experience more enjoyable for all, there was a large children’s area with a range of fun activities from drawing and creative arts to yoga and tabla put together by Sanskruti For Kidz.
While the mornings were dedicated to katha followed by lunch, the evenings were filled with musical and cultural programmes. Two concerts took place at the Arena, a duet by Ustad Zakir Hussain and Niladri Kumar, and another evening with classical vocalist Kaushiki Chakraborty. On all other evenings, the platform was given to poets,
scholars, singers and musicians from Gujarat who had come as Bapu’s guests. As these programmes went late into the nights in one marquee, at the place where Bapu was staying, chai, biscuits, sweets and fruits were provided in another smaller marquee.
And so, with all these different aspects, Ram Katha London became rather like a festival, where both children, parents and elders could enjoy each moment and every aspect. In India, Bapu often draws crowds of hundreds of thousands, he also holds many kathas abroad in different parts of the world, but this katha in London was his largest katha outside of India to date. On some days, the SSE Arena was at full capacity of 10,000, and even with so many people, there was
pin-drop silence in the Arena. Only Bapu’s voice could be heard.
I’ve been listening to Bapu for years now, but what we wanted to do in this katha in London was to include and attract all, both in the team of volunteers and to allow others to understand more through translations, to have a children’s area to allow parents with young children able to come and sit in katha, and to ensure that everyone could listen, from the young to the elderly and disabled.
“Serving food is addictive,” a friend who was giving out sweets in the evening told me. I’d never thought of it like that, but it really is. The act of giving, speaking to the person and just making people happy… it’s all rather addictive. I’d take it one step further and say that being a part of such an event is addictive.
Right now, it feels like a beautiful dream that touched the soul, left its mark, and flew away. But we savoured each moment and created a treasure trove of memories. As much of a festival as it was, as much as we enjoyed being a part of this powerful event and making new friends, essentially these nine days were about the Ram Katha, about being present and listening to Bapu, and feeling whatever we felt when Bapu spoke, something that Rudra touched upon in his opening speech, “I have been to a few kathas and while I don’t understand everything that Bapu says, I somehow just drift off into this imaginary world where I can listen to Bapu’s voice, to the music and to the Ramayana in peace.”
That’s how I started listening to Bapu, to Katha, drifting off yet entirely present, some twenty years ago. And while I now understand what Bapu says, it is more important to feel that peace, to absorb the love, to find that connection around us. It is this that will remain with us and it is this that we will carry into the world and into our daily lives.
Photo courtesy: Harishyam Chandegra & Hari Om Mistry
