“Jai Ambe Jagadambe, Mata Bhavani Jai Ambe”

The music teacher Ranjini and the gurukulam children of Dunda and Gudipadi Cheruvu are connected through a laptop and mobiles set up on both ends. They start the session with friendly chatting and a prayer. Then the singing starts.

The session is conducted in a way that the teacher is singing the verse first, and then children are responding by singing the same line. Usually bhajans start with slower tempo and gradually build up speed. Towards the end, the children lose themselves in the joy of singing. Their voices go beyond their reach and they join in with rapid clapping and moving.

The village coordinators are already familiar with the bhajans, since they have learned them during Amritapuri trainings. Also, the children and the villagers know bhajan singing before. “Especially when children are listening music they start to dance. They enjoy music very much and now happily agreed to participate in the music class,” says Mallikarjun from Andhra Pradesh.

“In the beginning the children were shy, but now they are singing loudly,” says village coordinator Subadhra from Uttarakhand.

Singing together is one of the best ways to feel connected since there is no school or any other organised activity during lockdown. Bhajans are devotional songs offered to the Divine, by remembering God. While singing bhajans the singer feels connected to their inner Divinity.

By the end of the session, music teacher Ranjini encouraged them to sing a song which they know. Spontaneously, Dunda children sang about Krishna playing His flute and everyone coming to listen to His divine melody.

The session ended with the shanti mantra and a commitment to sing together again.