A strange introduction
I could not believe my eyes. I had just entered the drawing room of my friend Natasha’s home and was looking for a sofa to plop myself onto. But what was this, greeting my widening eyes? Seated on the carpet, his head bent forward, listening to a tape recorder placed on a low stool, was a huge man wearing a white kurta and a lungi. So, what was stunning about that? He was weeping noiselessly, with eyes closed and tears streaming down his coffee-brown cheeks!
That was my strange ‘introduction’ to this unusual, saintly singer, Hari Om Sharan. Later, I learnt that he had been listening to a bhajan (devotional song) he had rendered himself. This was not bizarre at all to me because, by then, I knew the intensity of this man’s devotion and how powerfully moved he could be by a sincere prayer or song, totally oblivious to who the singer was.
Brahmachariji and I
I was not just a budding, ‘hungry’ journalist forever seeking plots to weave into articles then. I was also a raw spiritual seeker bursting with unanswered questions. Moreover, I loved learning and singing bhajans. So, Hari Omji, who had come to Mumbai after a long sojourn in the Himalayas, whose bhajans and singing warmed my very core, seemed like a blessing manifested just for me with my bestie Natasha as catalyst.
After seeking his permission, I started trailing ‘Brahmachariji’. Everyone called him that because of his saintly demeanour and his joy at being a ‘wandering minstrel‘ or an ‘agent of the Divine’ so to speak. He had zero desire for all the material requisites by which megapolis-residents define success.
After those initial years of learning from such a pure and pious source came a huge interval, when marriage and motherhood on the personal front and a demanding job at Femina with regular radio, TV and live anchoring thrown in, ‘created spaces in our togetherness’. But the copy of Hanuman Chalisa Brahmachariji gifted me was the one from which I learnt the powerful hymn, which I chant to date.
Meanwhile, he got noticed by the right persons and was soon touring the world and drawing full houses in mega-auditoriums without fancy outfits, strobe lights and mayhem that today’s singing stars create onstage. Just a white kurta, his songbook, his vintage harmonium and one accompanist was more than enough to keep listeners glued and make them return home with full hearts and a renewed faith in God.
An unexpected call
Yes, we did keep in touch, and I remember his coming home for lunch with a gorgeous second-generation Indian bride from British Guyana. His robust enjoyment of my cooking and of all the little joys of life was one more thing which endeared him to me. This unexpected change of status, detailed in my book, A Song of Surrender, forever transformed ‘Brahmachariji’to the Hari Om Sharan who even got a Gold Disc from HMV (now SAREGAMA) for record sales of his velvet-voiced renditions.
Then came an inland letter addressed to Deputy Editor Femina from (in translation) ‘her brother in the eyes of the Lord’. He wanted to meet me urgently. I went; we talked and then talked some more. Mainly to convince (an overwhelmed) me that only I qualified to tell his unconventional life-story to the world, to his growing tribe of adoring listeners. That is how I became the official biographer of a singer about whom the world knew next to nothing.
Then began my weekly trips to his flat near Filmcity where I would read out the chapter I had written and then enjoy some tasty tidbits with tea, whipped up by his loving wife Nandini. That is how this book got written, checked meticulously for facts and execution by the principal protagonist himself. I can never forget his eyes welling up when I read out the final lines. He did not have to voice his approval after that.
A book is born
Hari Om Sharanji’s accidental fall in the USA just before they returned from a very successful concert tour led to many physical complications and finally his passing on, giving him much-needed release from all the pain he bore with an awe-inspiring cheer. This unexpected turn of events caused a long hibernation of the manuscript till dear friend Gautam Sachdeva inquired about it, read it and offered to publish it! How or why I was carrying that manuscript when Gautam asked for a meeting to discuss quite something else is another story.
This book offers many treats to seekers, proving without doubt, for instance, that abundant blessings, which we christen as ‘miracles’, rain down on a true devotee. The most amazing of these, is how this unworldly singer who had been separated from his dear family during the Partition was actually reunited with them, years later at a satsang (gathering of spiritual seekers)!
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam
I must mention here, that for Hari Om Sharan this world was literally a Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the family of Vasudha or Mother Earth, where anyone who crossed his path was touched by his care, concern and unconditional love and came away feeling he/she in some lasting way, belonged with this gentle giant.
If you believe in a world without walls that divide and breed greed, hatred and wars. If you have understood that the name by which you address your personal God – Rama, Krishna, Allah, Jesus – is not as important as what you assimilate and learn on your journey, if you feel irresistibly drawn to singing, or even listening to melodious heartfelt praise of the Divine, A Song of Surrender is for you.
