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Friday 23 May 2014

A life so lonely and sublime

In the year 1950, a film titled, Jogan was released. The main stars of the movie were Nargis and Dilip Kumar. They were the hit stars of those days. The movie was somewhat different , as there was no romance and no fighting scenes. It was considered "boring".The movie was  very appealing, and even though there was no romantic scenes, it was very emotional.I was a teenager at that time. The impact of the movie was such, that there was a yearning to see it again and again. 
         Given below is a story based on the movie. I have also made an attempt to show some of the songs  from the movie to enable my friends to get a feel of the music of Jogan.

In Rampur village near the river there was a temple.  Sati, a devotee of  Lord Krishna,sang bhajans (religious songs)  every morning. 

The whole village assembled there and were lost in the melodious and soothing voice of  Sati.In the evening she gave talks  from the scriptures.Her talks are so mesmerising that young  and old, all  men and women  flocked the village temple. Sati  came to this village only a month ago. No one knew from where she came. But they were attracted towards  her pearls of wisdom, sweet voice and enchanting personality. She was in her early thirties and her knowledge  about everything made the villagers spellbound !
                               One day, while she was singing a bhajan, she was suddenly distracted by a man , standing near the door of the temple. Their eyes met! For a split second she wavered , but continued the bhajan.



] As soon as the bhajan was over, Sati rushed out of the temple, literally ran to her abode, which was just a small hut, an apology for a  house. Her caretaker, an elderly lady was shocked to see Sati.
 She was breathing hard and was not in a peaceful state of mind.The whole day she remained in meditation, She did not go for her evening session to the temple. She went without food or sleep. Her mind was not steady. It was full of remorse. The words of Guru Mata were  haunting her. " If you want to become a real yogi,  don't be enticed by worldly pleasures. If your emotions dangle , you will fail  to be a real yogi."
Her thoughts went back, fifteen years  back!! Her name was Shyamla, the only daughter of the  village Pradhan.She was the apple of her parents' eyes. She was a very playful girl, climbing trees,  running after  cattle, stealing mangoes from the fields and what not.! One day , from morning to evening she was sporting and singing around merrily with friends on  Holi, a festival of colours.

 Her maid came to call her  several times but she was so much engrossed in merry making,that she just ignored  her maid. She reached home after two hours, happily dancing and singing along with friends. She entered the living room, where her father was  entertaining guests.  She went straight to her father,with colour on her face  and  started complaining,'Why did you call me? I was playing Holi with my friends. You disturbed me. I do not want to talk to you. And you know how much I hate to entertain guests.Who are these people and why are they here?" On hearing this comment one of the guests got up furiously and screamed, "Is this the way you treat your guests! You have insulted us.  Who will want a daughter in law who has such a temperament?  We are leaving and are not interested in pursuing this alliance".The guests left, in spite of her father's  requests. Next morning her father was found dead . He died in sleep. Shyamla was  shocked. It was due to her misbehaviour that her father died.
She left the house in the state of misery and shock and jumped into a river  from the bridge.  When she opened her eyes a motherly woman was seated beside her.  Her first question was who was the woman who saved her.  Without a word the aged woman took Shyamla to an ashram.She saw a lady,who looked very graceful and had a strange attraction. There was an aura ,which made her whole being a symptom of love and peace.She signalled to Shyamla to come near her. As if in a trance Shyamla moved towards her and sat beside her. The lady, as if blessing her, kept her hand on Shyamla's head.  Involuntarily Shyamla kept her head on the lady's lap and was completely at peace with herself. She did not know how long she slept. She got up with a start! She had slept for three hours in the lap of  the noble lady.
                    The lady was the Guru Mata of the ashram. She called  a girl and told her,"Take Sati  with you and tell her  all the rules." She looked smilingly at Shyamla and said,"Your name will be Sati  from  today." From a mischievous and fun loving girl the transformation was very smooth. The pain and sudden shock turned her into an entirely different personality. Guru Mata's words  touched  the inner most chord of her heart.. She was at peace with herself. Every word spoken by her was calm, composed, serene and tranquil. In three years  she had forgotten her past and lived  a spiritual and devotional life. One day Guru Mata told her, "Sati, you can now face the world with grace, confidence and equanimity."
Sati, along with two other inmates of the Ashram, went to various temples, singing bhajans
                            
                         
She came back to reality. This was the first time that she had wavered  She told  her associates that she was going back to Guru Mata and left without another word. The boy followed her and she was aware of him. All of a sudden , she stopped in front of a large Banyan Tree.  She addressed the boy,"This is your limit. You cannot cross  to the other side of that tree."  After saying these words, she moved on, leaving behind the shocked boy.  She reached the ashram and straight went to Guru Mata and burst into tears.  She apologised to Guru Mata and said that she would go into Samadhi as a repentance. Inspite of Guru Mata's   direction Sati went into meditation. She gave a note to one of the workers to  hand over the note to the person sitting near the Banyan Tree. The person who went in search of the boy found him near the tree.  As soon as he received the note, Vijay hurried towards the ashram, but he was too late. Sati had attained Samadhi and her soul had mingled with Lord Supreme.The  following song was resonating in the whole atmosphere.
                        
video  google


4 comments:

  1. A beautiful account of the movie, Usha Ma'am. It carries pearl of wisdom and enjoy watching movies of the bygone era, there is something simple yet sensitive. I am a huge admirer of Dilip Saab:)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Vishal. The old movies, though they did not have the glamour of present day movies, carried deep emotions .

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  2. Your post makes me want to see the movie. I am sure I will enjoy it very much :)

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  3. Thanks Beioo. I am glad you liked this post. You can see the movie on You Tube.

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