‘BHAJAN RAVI’, follower of great sampradaya

Bhajan Ravi, a truly devoted and versatile Bhajan singer belonging to the famous tradition of Bhajan Sampradaya of South India, was honoured with the title of AASTHANA VIDWAN by Kanchi Shankaracharya at the Kamakshi Temple at Kanchipuram on the 30 September, 2008.  He has been conducting a Sthothra Paatasala at Saidapet in Chennai from 26 April 1966.

This paatasala was started by him for imparting knowledge and instruction relating to the recitation/singing of Sthothras, Namavalis and devotional songs, not only to children but also elders. He is a B.Com graduate.  Besides he has taken a degree B.Music in I class from Madras University.

During the last 25 years he has been giving Sampradaya Bhajans and Devotional Music Programmes on public platforms ranging from Sangeetha Sabhas, Cultural and Social Associations, Religious Organisations and Official functions.  He has also performed at Raj Bhavan, Kanchi Mutt, Tirumala-Tirupathi Devasthanam, Om Murugashram, Madhya Kailash and other places.  He has also functioned as an Expert Judge for various music competitions conducted by Schools, Colleges, and The Indian Fine Art Society etc.  At present he is a Faculty Member at Vani Arts Academy, (Carnatica.Com. CVAT/TVS Group).

He has received guidance and instruction from Bhagavatha Choodamani Sri Vembu Narayana Sharma, himself a competent exponent of Sampradaya Bhajans. The eminent Carnatic Vocalist Neyveli R Santhana Gopalan is solely responsible for giving finishing touches, with emphasis on Laya, Bhava, Shruthi and Sampradaya, to the devotional music of Bhajan Ravi. In recognition of his outstanding service to Devotional Music for more than 30 years, ‘SHREE PRAKASH CULTURAL HERITAGE RESEARCH CENTRE’, Chennai honoured Bhajan Ravi with ‘BHAJANA GANA PRAVEENA AWARD’ on 13 November 2008. What is interesting to note is that Vidwan Mahalinga Thambiran of Dharmapuram Adheenam conferred on Bhajan Ravi the title of ‘Shakthi Dasar’ on 15 April 1974 after seeing him perform at Mangadu Kamakshi Amman Temple near Poonamallee in Chennai.

When I interviewed Bhajan Ravi about his ‘Sampradaya Bhajans’, he told me: ‘I have been inspired by the devotional music of Saint Thyagaraja of Tiruvaiyaru.  The Bard of Tiruvaiyaru gives us this message in his famous krithi ‘Sangeetha Gnanamu’(Danyasi): ‘Knowledge of music bereft of devotion is bereft of merit.  The music practiced by Bhaktas like Bhringi, Natesa, Anjaneya, Agastya, Matanga and Narada can alone secure salvation.’  Saint Thyagaraja supplements this message in his krithi ‘Vidulaku (Mayamalava gowla) with an impressive, all inclusive list (with his keen analytical capability for details) of those noble, virtuous and spiritual men to whom our obeisance is due thus:

  1. All the learned.
  2. All those who are well versed in music.
  3. All those well versed in the divine music of Sama Vedha promulgated by Shiva.
  4. All those well versed in the ‘Seven Swaras’whose soul is NADHA.
  5. Lakshmi, Bharatha, Kasyappa, Chandikeswara, Anjaneya, Subramanya, Vigneswara, Markendeya, Agastya, Tumburu, Someshwara, Sarngadeva, Nandi and others (Promulgators of Music) who are worthy of Thyagaraja respect.
  6. All those who know the secret of the bliss of BRAHMANANDA’.

In my view all the six criteria defined by Saint Thyagaraja are fully justified in respect of and wholly applicable to the lives of the following great Saints who are the originators and the creators of the famous ‘SAMPRADAYA BHAJAN’ tradition of South India:

  1. Govindapuram Sri Bodendra Swamigal
  2. Tiruvisanallur Sri Sreedhara Venkatesa Ayyaval of the early 18th century.
  3. Marudhanallur Sri Sadguru Swamigal
  4. Sri Sadasiva Brahmendral
  5. Sri Narayana Tirtha Swamigal
  6. Sri Annamacharya

Many do not know that Bhajan Ravi use to give Bhajans from 1970 to 1980.  Later he took up a job in the corporate sector.  When he called on Paramacharyal of Kanchi sometime in 1984, it was Paramacharyal who gave his benediction and final direction to Bhajan Ravi in these words: ‘Your life’s mission is to get back to the spiritual World of ‘Sampradaya Bhajans’.  Please get into that world of ecstasy at once’. Upon his direction, Bhajan Ravi re-entered the world of Sampradaya Bhajans with renewed vigour, fervour and devotion.  It was Paramacharyal of Kanchi who gave the sacred prefix of Bhajan to Ravi and ever since then he is popularly known as Bhajan Ravi. 

As a lover of music and as an amateur Mridagam player, I have been an admirer of Bhajan Ravi’s ‘Sampradaya Bhajans’.  He has a divine, mellifluous voice, which traverses the three central octaves with felicity.  He has a large repertoire of songs in Tamil.  He has the unique distinction of presenting exhilarating, vibrant and invigorating Bhajans, replete with Brikas and all other refinements leading the listeners to the loftier portals of spiritual realisation and get a feel or glimpse of near divine presence.  It is NAMASANKEERTANAM pure and simple. 

Bhajan Ravi has composed many beautiful songs in Tamil. The language is straight and simple and its appeal is direct to the heart.  His Tamil style is easy and easy-paced.  They are pregnant with devotion and offer ample scope to bring out Raga Bhava.  Anyone who sings his compositions would get divinely submerged in the musical profusion of his religious feelings and emotions. I can see that he has been greatly influenced by the Tamil compositions of Pappanasam Sivan (1890-1973).  I am giving below two samples from the Tamil compositions of Bhajan Ravi.

The first composition is dedicated to Bhagwan Ganapathi—the remover of all obstacles.

The second composition (I have left out some charanams) is dedicated to Bhagwan Hanuman or Bhagwan Anjaneya:

Apart from being a trained musician and a singer of ‘Sampradaya Bhajans’, Bhajan Ravi is also an expert Mimicry Artiste.  He was honoured with the title of ‘Kural Jaalam’ in February 1971 by several public organisations.  Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr Balamurali Krishna has paid this tribute to Bhajan Ravi: ‘I chanced to listen to ‘Kural Jaalam’ performance of Bhajan Ravi.  He has a gift of imitating the various voices of great personalities and in doing so, I found something unique and rare quality of producing not only the actual voice but also the essence of the matter he likes to produce.  I am sure he will have an important place in the art of Mimicry’.  It is sheer delight to listen to Bhajan Ravi mimicking the voices of Krupananda Varriar, Madurai Mani Iyer, Sengalipuram Anantarama Dikshitar etc.

 

Bhajan Ravi has mastered the art of ‘Nama Siddhanta’, ‘Nama Uccharana’, ‘Nama Sankeerthana’ and ‘Bhajana Sampradaya’.  Padma Purana has laid down the following 10 Commandments for the practioners of Nama Sankeerthana for strict adherence:

 

  1. The practioners of Nama Sankeerthana should not insult or harm Saints or persons of Saintly disposition and should not indulge in calumny of any person.
  2. They should not differentiate between Shiva and Vishnu.
  3. They should not treat Vedas with scant respect.
  4. They should not treat their Guru with scant respect.
  5. They should have implicit and impeccable faith in the efficacy of utterance of NAMA.
  6. Because the utterance of NAMA absolves one of his or her sins, he does not mean that one can go on committing sin after sin.
  7. The mind of persons who practice Nama Sankeerthanam should be soaked in ahimsa, sathyam, astheyam, brahmacharya and aparigriha.
  8. They should not preach ‘NAMA’ efficacy and significance to those who do not have faith in it.
  9. What karma enjoins one to follow in day-to-day activities should not be deliberately ignored at the cost of ‘Nama Uccharana’.
  10. They should not be unkind and arrogant in their behaviour.

 

In my view, Bhajan Ravi has made an earnest and impassioned attempt to fulfill all the above conditions.   

 

In Tamil Nadu and elsewhere where Bhajana Sampradaya has struck root, Bhajan and Nama Sankeerthana do not commence without saluting Sreedhara Venkatesa Ayyaval, Bodendra Swamigal and Sri Sadguru Swamigal.  This is amply borne out in the following invocatory piece on Sreedhara Venkatesa Ayyaval.

 

While Sreedhara Venkatesa Ayyaval belonged to Mysore and settled down in the village of Tiruvisanallur, five miles east of Kumbakonam during his ‘kshetradanam’, both Brahmendra Swamy and Sadguru Swamy were born in ‘Tiruvisanallur’ and moved away to Nerur in Tiruchirappalli District and Marudhanallur (near Valangiman in Kumbakonam Taluk) respectively. Bodendra Swamy, on the other hand, was born in Kanchipuram, and finally settled down in the village of Govindapuram and attained ‘JEEVA SAMADHI’ there.  Narayana Tirtha was a settler from Andhra in Tanjore and attained ‘Samadhi’ in the village of Tiruppanthuruthi, between Tanjore and Tiruvaiyaru.  The unique feature of all these Saints is that they were all votaries of ‘Nama Siddhanta’ and produced their works in Sanskrit.  Evidence is not wanting to see the impress of these Saints and their works on Saint Thyagaraja (1767-1847) and Muthuswamy Dikshitar (1776-1835), two of the musical trinity of the Carnatic music, who flooded Tamil Nadu with their mellifluous musical compositions from the later part of the 18 th century to the middle of the 19th century.

Bhajan Ravi belongs to this great tradition of Bhajan Sampradaya.  He told me at the conclusion of my interview with him ‘Devotion is a basic human affection.  As always, a spiritual Way begins from a primary aspect of our being.  We start from a feeling of love and faithfulness.  Human nature, however, is weak, is changeable and self-contradictory.  Thus devotion must be gradually strengthened and refined if it is to rise to the heights of the feelings—joy, peace, serenity, and love—that often accompany the most beautiful of human experiences.  In order to understand devotion we need to understand the heart.  The heart is located at the centre of the soul, its most intimate and vital part.  But who or what is really in our hearts?  Perhaps a little of everybody and everything!  Especially in this age of haste and busyness of IT Revolution in which we are constantly bombarded with stimuli of all kinds, the heart is distracted and fragmented.  The result is that our feelings become superficial, flimsy and self-centered.  Devotion or Bhakthi is the rediscovery of the heart.  It entails removing all emotional clutter and finding the purest spring of feeling.  My singing of Sampradaya Bhajans enables me to reach that state of ecstatic feeling’.

All the admirers and avid listeners of the songs and bhajans of Bhajan Ravi can also testify that they too have a similar feeling of ecstatic joy, serenity and peace all the time at all his public recitals.

(The writer is  Sri. V. Sundaram, a retired IAS officer)