As a child in Sewagram ashram, I have vivid memories of being carried on my father’s shoulders, for the Morning Prayer at 4:00 am from our house to the Prarthana bhoomi; situated in front of the Bapu kuti. Father used to sing in his booming voice on the way to the morning and evening prayers, walking briskly, carrying his sack of potato sometimes or a sack of jiggery some other time. I would sing all religious prayers along with elders and learnt them by heart, reciting Sanskrit shlokas effortlessly. The serene ambiance, the rustling leaves and Bapu’s eternal presence used to be mesmerizing and the morning and evening prayers used to end with Ramdhun. I continue to do so even today, in the morning and evening, and it immediately connects me back to the Prarthana boomi, as if mystically, and I find myself transported back in time, my heart filled with peace.
For Gandhiji, education, life and spirituality were interconnected domains. Education is the process where the teacher and the taught learn from each other and together. Life too needs to be nourished and cared for. Spirituality is not about seeking personal salvation through meditation. Spirituality is being one with the people and moving forward with them. Gandhiji’s ashrams were such places, where Gandhi and the ashramites nourished each other. Perhaps the most important community activity in the ashrams were the prayer meetings, held every morning and evening. The practice of congregational meetings began in Phoenix settlement in South Africa. Earlier settlers met for the evening meeting which was concluded with the singing of bhajans. The practice was gradually transformed to prayers.
Kaka Saheb Kalelkar selected the verses for the morning and evening prayers at the Sabarmati Ashram. Later, on Gandhiji’s request, famous music teacher and exponent Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar sent his disciple Narayan Moreshwar Khare to the ashram. This worshiper of the divine sound, naadabrahman brought classical singing of the bhajans to the Sabarmati ashram. The time of the morning prayer was fixed between 4:10 am or 4:20 am, depending up on the season. The ashrmaites were required to wake up at 4 am; this practice continues in Sewagram Ashram even today. Peasants and cowherds of India wake up early. Gandhiji believed that a seeker of truth or a servant of the poor should wake up before the peasants. It was decided that the prayers should be offered under the open sky. The community prayers were offered in the lap of nature - on the banks of Sabarmati , under the Neem tree or in the prarthana bhoomi under the Peepul tree in Sewagram. Here there were no idols or images. But the individuals were not prohibited from worshiping images or idols for their personal prayers.
Narayan Desai, who spent twenty one years with Gandhiji, says in his book My life is My Message that he has not known Gandhiji missing the morning or evening prayer ever. The verses dealing with the qualities of a detached, selfless person, given in the second discourse of the Gita forms the main part of the evening prayers. Gandhiji considered these as the essential qualities of a satyagrahi. Later bhajans and dhuns were added to the prayer. Some years later Buddhist, Islamic and Christian prayers were incorporated in the evening prayers making them representatives of all religions. Gandhiji used to say that ultimately all the religions point to the same truth. Therefore, me must all study the essence of all the religions in an attitude of humble reverence and have a feeling of friendliness towards the practitioners of all the different religions.
Prayer is often understood as an act of seeking. Gandhiji considered that communion with God, worship, company of men of religion, being in touch with the self and the purification of the self were true forms of prayer. Communion with nature and the Creator were the objects of prayer for him.
He said “I have never lost my peace. That peace, I tell you, comes from prayer. I am not a man of learning, but I humbly claim to be a man of prayer.’’
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| In the Prarthana bhoomi in Sewagram Ashram during my recent visit |
Kaka Saheb Kalelkar selected the verses for the morning and evening prayers at the Sabarmati Ashram. Later, on Gandhiji’s request, famous music teacher and exponent Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar sent his disciple Narayan Moreshwar Khare to the ashram. This worshiper of the divine sound, naadabrahman brought classical singing of the bhajans to the Sabarmati ashram. The time of the morning prayer was fixed between 4:10 am or 4:20 am, depending up on the season. The ashrmaites were required to wake up at 4 am; this practice continues in Sewagram Ashram even today. Peasants and cowherds of India wake up early. Gandhiji believed that a seeker of truth or a servant of the poor should wake up before the peasants. It was decided that the prayers should be offered under the open sky. The community prayers were offered in the lap of nature - on the banks of Sabarmati , under the Neem tree or in the prarthana bhoomi under the Peepul tree in Sewagram. Here there were no idols or images. But the individuals were not prohibited from worshiping images or idols for their personal prayers.
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| Gandhiji during the Prarthana in Sewagram Ashram |
Prayer is often understood as an act of seeking. Gandhiji considered that communion with God, worship, company of men of religion, being in touch with the self and the purification of the self were true forms of prayer. Communion with nature and the Creator were the objects of prayer for him.
He said “I have never lost my peace. That peace, I tell you, comes from prayer. I am not a man of learning, but I humbly claim to be a man of prayer.’’
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