Love is Divine, so is Music. When you make a heart-to-heart connection with God, your world changes forever. When Swami came into my life, He brought the sounds of music into my heart. Now, my daily practice is to tune into Radio Sai's video interviews with celebrated lyricist and singer, Smt Jyotsna Reddy. She is a living legend, directly mentored and chosen by Swami from the time she was 19 years old to write and compose Sai bhajans. I adore her, let me tell you!
Her parents had been devotees of Shirdi Sai Baba, who told them that their daughter would become a noted singer. A beautiful singer, a remarkable lyricist and a humble devotee, her experiences with Swami are inspirational. Her innocence, simplicity and love for Swami can be experienced in every word that she speaks throughout the video series. World over, most bhajans that we sing today are composed by Smt Jyotsna Reddy.
To surrender is the highest form of love. If you have loved someone deeply, you are ready to put down your vulnerability and place your absolute trust in the person. In supreme love, or Bhakti, the same applies. In sai bhajan singing, the golden rule is: The feeling of "I am the singer" has to be first dissolved in order to experience the bhava of "Bhakti".
In a world where everyone pushes the other to take credit for accomplishments, here's a beautiful singer who prefers not to take credit for anything!
A golden rule: Without 'Bhava', there can be no Sadhana.What is the use of daily practice? With constant practice, the musician gains perfection and insight and clarity over the craft. The same principle applies to one's daily sadhana in bhajan singing.
From her experiences with Swami, Smt Jyotsna Reddy shares: "He taught me how to sing. He gave me my voice. If there is any mistake in your behaviour, he is a very very hard task master, but also a most loving one," she tells Radio Sai. To cite an example, she refers to a few days when she went out to town for few days and returned, Swami pointed out the 'lapse' in sadhana.
But she did NOT give up. She undertook sadhana with greater dedication.
She put her heart and soul into her sadhana, wrote and composed the famous 'Keshava Madhava Jaya Deva Madhusudhana' bhajan. As a child, this Sathya sai bhajan used to give me goosebumps! It still does.
Now I also recognize that it is the composer's 'Bhakti Bhava' even after all these years- her intense loving energy towards Swami - that renders it so sacred and pure. Her humility and love towards Swami is so full of innocence yet intense.
She hesitates to even say that Swami liked her lyrics so much that He used to sing one composed by her, "Bhava Bhaya Harana Vandita Charana" bhajan and another one 'Sathya Jnanam Anantham Bramha."
Hesitating to reveal this, she says: "One should never say 'my' bhajan - everything is Swami's sankalpa."
Hesitating to reveal this, she says: "One should never say 'my' bhajan - everything is Swami's sankalpa."
Smt. Jyotsna Reddy is a living proof of the most beautiful Sadhana of devotional music:
Never stop singing.
Never stop trying.
Never stop loving and having faith.
Trust me, I have watched the entire video interview series, not once or twice, but at least ten to fifteen times! Each time, I learned something very new! From my heart, I send out a prayer of thanks and gratitude to the Radio Sai team for their seva. Do watch these Radio Sai videos on YouTube and share your thoughts!
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