We had only read in the books that Lord Rama woke up with the chanting of mantras, and so were the other devatas and kings. Listening to the chants brought inner solace and gave positive mind as well as a pure soul.

Every year, the same divinity transcends from one soul to another during the festival of music and dance organized at Vedic Heritage; Inc., NY. It is through the conception of Her Holiness Guru Maa, that the purity is redefined through the medium of classical music, and the listeners are blessed during the two days at the Pandit Jasraj Auditorium. Organizing a Festival of this magnitude is not a small task, but Guru Maa has been doing it for two decades now. Music engulfs the atmosphere and divinity transcends through the swaras of the artists. This year was no different.

Activity began in the month of December the previous year with the competition of upcoming artists in the categories of vocal, instrumental and dance, in Mumbai. Guru Maa had conceived this program in the memory of her Late Guru Acharya Vishwanath Dev Sarma. These upcoming artists participate in the three categories in a competition every year on 21st December in Mumbai and the winning artists, two in each category, are flown to the Dipawali Festival held at Vedic Heritage in New York, to compete in the finals.

Senior artists were also invited to participate in the program. Once the senior artists' confirmation for their attendance and performance was received, all other arrangements needed to be made for the senior as well as upcoming artists.

Traveling with Pandit Jasraj is an experience. As luck would have it, we were on the same flight and neighboring seats from Mumbai to New York. On the flight, we shared musical, spiritual and other such friendly experiences, including our meals. He narrated to me how young Vimla Devi (now Guru Maa) used to learn music from him in Kolkata fifty years ago, how her ear and passion for music led her to organizing this one and only festival of its kind in New York years later, were all the things that we chatted about.

Each year, it is a blissful atmosphere with senior artists gathering at Vedic Heritage. The 2002 festival had artists like Pandit Jasraj, Smt. Sonal Mansingh, Pandit Buddhaditya Mukherjee and Smt. Veena Sahasrabuddhe. One by one, all the artists started arriving and from early morning to late nights all were engrossed in the musical notes.

When Anuji would feed us untiringly, or Phalguniji would perform untiring and selfless seva or Renuji would give her creative ideas or Rachnaji would be involved in how to do up the stage or Pandit Amol Mishra would keep looking after all the guests’ needs apart from the needs of his Baba Bajrang Bali, or Kusumji would come and look into the details of the various financial matters or Guru Maa would be working on the sponsorships and accounts of the tickets were matters that were to be looked into with utmost care and detail.

Then came the day of the program. On the evening of November 1st the festival commenced with the vocal recital of Sangeet Martand Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj. He began his recital with Raag Puriya. Being the Master of Ceremonies, I had to be attentive, introduce the artists in a unique manner and hold the interest of the audience- do three jobs at the same time. Usually all artists get introduced in the same fashion: that they have learned from their particular Guru, that they belong to a particular Gharana and have received so many awards. Such introductions do not capture the interest of the audience as these narrations have been made umpteen times and there is nothing new about the announcements. At the same time these introductions do not bring out the real bhava or spirituality, which is the ultimate impact of any good music.

That, I consider, is my task when I introduce an artist. But how could one introduce a maestro like Pandit Jasraj! When Pandit ji told me on the stage that he was going to recite Raag Puria Kalyan, God came to my help and I said to the audience, "Today, Pandit ji renders Raag Puriya Kalyan. He is singing in the Pashchim, (west) and comes from the Purab (east) and sings with the feeling of Kalyan (well being), therefore Raag Puriya Kalyan." I think I am blessed, as audience loved the true feeling behind what I talked to them.

Next item was the Sitar recital by Maestro Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee. He tries to bring out true emotions through the strings of his sitar, and you feel that the sitar itself is actually singing. The audience was overwhelmed with the Raag Durga and then the Mishra Kafi dhun.

We had six upcoming artists from India for the competition: Indrayani Mukherjee and Diti Shah performing Kathak dance, Pushkar Lele and Amrita Kale giving vocal recitals, Krishna Murthy Srinivasan on the flute and Aditya Kalyanpur giving a Tabla solo performance. Seeing these young artists perform and enthrall the audience, one could confidently say that the future of Indian music is very bright.

The final item on the first day was the Odissi dance performance by Padma Bhushan Sonal Mansingh. Her Prarthana, Pallavi, abhinaya on Geeta Gobinda, Seeta Svayamvara were great but the last item- Hanumanashtak Stotra was the one that brought tears to the eyes of one and all sitting in the auditorium and this included Pandit Jasraj himself. I think there cannot be a better tribute to any artist if his or her contemporaries appreciate their art. This is exactly what happened on that day, rather early morning of November 2nd. Yes, I forgot to mention that the program that began at 7pm on 1st November went on till the wee hours of 2nd November.

It is heartening that the Indian Consulate as well as the US authorities are taking interest in Indian classical music. Actually it is the efforts of Pandit Jasraj and Guru Maa that His Excellency Mr. Lalit Mansingh, Indian Ambassador to the US and Mr. Rath, Counsel General of India and Mr. James Garner, Mayor of Hempstead were present during the Festival. In fact Mr. Mansingh sat through out the second day's program and Mr. James Garner issued Citations to the participating artists appreciating their effort in bringing Indian music to the US. It was a rare gesture.

The program on the second day saw the performances of the young artists once again for the audience to decide as to who the winners were, and who would be the runners up. It makes senior artists proud that their disciples and the younger generation are taking classical music and dance seriously. Ms. Veena Sahasrabuddhe's vocal recital too was much appreciated.

The audience was eager to listen to Pandit Jasraj. Therefore, when he came to the dais, it was only he and his swaras. When I noticed him tuning his Swarmandal to the swaras of Raag Darbari Kanhara, I could only say, "In the Darbar of Baba, Pandit ji could sing only one Raag, and that is Darbari Kanhara," Pandit ji was truly amazed. And then it was the pure music that lifts us human beings to show the true Brahma. One feels how small one is in this expanse of the universe, in this expanse of the music, in this expanse of the divinity and that is when one is compelled to render a prayer and bend in front of Thee, "tera tujhko arpan, kya lage mera".

Thank you, Guru Maa, for bringing this experience to us!