By Shobha Rao Smilemaker
Feb 27: After decades of seeing the Mahashiratri celebrations on TV, there was a sense of palpable excitement in the air, as I entered the Isha Ashram at Coimbatore to experience this phenomenon in person.
I walked straight to our seating at the Narmada Bay to join my friends from Mumbai in our quest to celebrate the festival by keeping our spine erect from 6 pm. to 6 am.
The devotional singing in the background added to the charm of the ambience. Satguru was greeted with a roar from the audience as he entered with the Home Minister Amit Shah, the deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka D.K.Shivkumar and other dignitaries. As mentioned in their speeches, this was truly a demonstration of the power of united intoxicated devotion without any petty barriers!
And then the light around us suddenly went out so that the countless crowds could focus only on the Divya Darshan lighting on the Adi Yogi, as we understood the story of the origin of Yoga. And the waving of the lighted torches next to us in the dark night added more magic to the surreal moment.
The first performance that blew my mind was from a blind German singer called Cass Mae, who sung soulfully in different Indian languages, overwhelming both herself and the whole audience too!
During the performance of Shubha Raghavendra from Mysuru, we went to have tasty Bise Bele Baath, and sweet Pongal, the free prasadam available to thousands of devotees.
Initially we started swinging in our chairs and later as the contemporary artist Tanishq Singh, also known as Paradox started singing Ba ba ba ba bum lahiri, the crowd erupted into a dancing frenzy.
The melody changed when Sathyaprakash started singing another set of devotional songs.
When Sadguru himself came dancing on the ramp next to us, the crowds almost went berserk with their adoration for this man who single handedly has increased Shiva devotion among the youth of India!
We decided to move into another open section to get more place to continue our dancing with abandon. However it was time to listen to the powerful discourse by Satguru. His midnight meditation, that I had listened to for years on TV was a completely different experience as I chanted the holy mantra om Namah Shivaya under the open skies and ended up with goosebumps all over my body!
It was time to dance in ecstasy again for the next hour with singers Ajay and Atul with their Marathi songs, and I remembered the vigourous street dancing during Ganpathi immersion in Mumbai.
They were joined by Muktidan Gadhvi, a powerful Gujarati folk singer. At 3a.m. I met my cousin by chance and pulled her to join the vigourous dancing of our group!
At 3.40am. Satguru guided us through a Shambo mantra meditation, just imagine the different amazing spaces that the crowds experienced that night! Though I have watched him doing similar rituals with rudraksha, bulls, fire Aarathi, answering questions, dancing on the ramp etc.every year on tv, seeing him personally on the ramp next us, sprinkling holy Kumbh water on all of us was a different feeling altogether.
The last cultural session was by songs from South Indian singers, supported with vigirous happy energy dancing by Isha school children on the ramp. I must mention the supportive music by the Sounds of Isha in house band throughout the night and the powerful fire based performances during the night. We listened to the vote of thanks and Satgurus closing remarks and made our way towards the exit.
As we dragged our tired legs towards the faraway parking lot, I realized how blessed I was to have this unforgettable Mahashivratri transformational experience at the Isha Yoga Center!
Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.