The Origin of Akhanda Bhajan - Pt. 2

Lighting of the Lamp - Akhanda Bhajan 1965

Several of my relatives were older than Swami, and a couple of my aunts, despite their absolute devotion to Him, would speak to Him with familiarity and sometimes scold Him too! One in particular, Savithramma, marched up to Swami and started to berate Him, “Who asked you to bring all these people? How will we feed them? You better come to the kitchen and say “akshaya [always full]” to all the pots! Otherwise our manam [self-respect] will be lost!”

Swami tried to calm her down, saying softly, “Savithramma, don’t worry. These are all my devotees, and they have come because I asked them. You will have enough, don’t worry.”

But she was having none of His explanations, “No, Swami, you have to come and say “akshaya!” And so saying, she dragged Him by the hand to the kitchen, and handed Him two coconuts to break! He did so, sprinkling the coconut water on the pots of pongal, and said “Akshayam, akshayam, akshayam”. He turned to Savithramma, “Happy, Savithramma?” “Yes, Swami”, she said, beaming.

And so, the first Akhanda bhajan started at 10:30 am and proceeded blissfully for the next 24 hours. Swami Himself was present for many hours and the devotees enthralled everyone with their musical outpouring of love and devotion. At the end, the elders reverentially performed mahamangalarathi to the young Lord, and my aunts started distributing prasadam to the gathered throngs. The women served prasadam…and served some more…and yet more….and it went on and on! Although the bhajan had finished mid-morning, the prasadam distribution stretched into the afternoon, then the evening, and into the night. Hearing that free food was being distributed, the surrounding villagers started coming to partake of it, and my aunts and those who helped them serve, grew increasingly weary.

Finally, exhausted and chastened, one of my aunts arrived at our home, where my father had brought Swami, and entreated Him to stop the never-ending stream of pongal. Swami pretended to be astonished, “What? First you say you want me to make it akshayam, now you want me to stop it?!” “No please Swami, we are very tired, please make it stop.” After teasing them some more, Swami eventually agreed and the pot finally ran out of pongal! 

So Swami, in His inimitable and loving way, taught us clearly that it is important to ask God for the right things, and to trust that His plan is for the best!

Tired, but triumphant at the success of their Akhanda bhajan, the small band of devotees resolved to repeat the event every year. And for the next 28 years, with great devotion, they did exactly that. Swami, drawn especially by His love for my parents, attended and participated in all but three of them. Each year, at my father’s request, Swami would provide the date for Akhanda bhajan. At the appropriate time, my father, brother Prithvi, aunt Sunderamma, and in later years, I, would travel to Puttaparthi to formally bring Swami to Bangalore in our car, typically the day before the bhajan started. He would stay in our home - what great joy there would be on the day the Lord arrived! – and my father or brother would drive Swami to the bhajan venue in our car, and back home again at meal-times or whenever they wanted Him to rest. Although cooks were hired to prepare meals for the large crowd of family and friends who would gather in our house, and to make prasadam at the bhajan venue, my mother would herself cook separately for Swami and serve Him His meals with her own hands. 

During those precious days, which grew more frequent as Swami spent more time in Bangalore and established His ashram at Whitefield, Swami was our constant Divine companion, guide, guru, and friend, the most important member of the household. As I reflect on those wonderful times, and the many sublime truths and practical lessons Swami taught us both by example and precept, I realise again that His life truly was His message.

In 1974, speaking in the Lalbagh Golden Jubilee Hall Bangalore, after the 25th Akhanda bhajan that He Himself attended, Swami directed that this auspicious  function, should become a global event. He lovingly told the faithful devotees that began it, “The lamp that you have lit and fostered, will now spread to the whole world!”

Geetha Mohan Ram, USA

SAMASTA LOKAH SUKHINO BHAVANTU