Tum jiyo hazaaron saal (May you live for thousands of years)…

On 13th May, 2006, Guruji celebrated His fiftieth birthday. He celebrated it in Germany but the rest of the world celebrated it every other place. Maha Kriya sessions were held at various locations all over the world. Maha Satsangs were arranged. I guess Gurudev must have cut a cake in every city that He travelled to in the month of May!

In Art of Living, we have a special birthday song that goes,
‘Today is the day the wave remembers the ocean where it was born,
And today is the day we all remember, this world is our very own,
Happy birthday to you, we belong to you,
Happy Birthday, dear _______, we are your very own,
Yes, we are your very own….’

This song is immediately followed by,
‘Saagar mein ek leher uthi tere naam ki
(In the ocean, rose a wave by your name),
Tujhe mubaarak khushiyaan atma-gyaan ki
(Congratulations to you for attaining the happiness of self-realization),
tujhko hain anant mein jaakar mil jaana
(You are to go merge into the Infinite),
Tu hain sundar phool is sansar ki
(You are a beautiful flower of this world)…’

Though it is a bit unusual to dedicate this song to Guruji… I mean, how can you sing ‘Tujhe mubaarak khushiyaan atma-gyaan ki’ for someone who is Atma-Gyaan Himself? How can you sing ‘tujhko hain anant mein jaakar mil jaana’ for someone who is Anant Himself?

Nevertheless, devotees world over have come together to sing this song for Gurudev. Recorded in different international and Indian languages, this is a beautiful composition… It truly reflects what a global organization Art of Living is today. It has touched the lives of millions of individuals from all walks of live. It has melted the hearts of hard-core terrorists, released the stresses locked up within long-term prisoners, brought smiles to wizened faces, replaced tears of misery with those of gratitude. Such a phenomenon of
love and sharing – it is indeed miraculous. At the centre of this universal movement is Gurudev – kal bhi, aaj bhi, aaj bhi, kal bhi. His closest followers vouch for the fact that be it a satsang of 10 people or 100,000 people, He is the same. Twenty five years back, when Art of Living was started, He was the same and now that it is a movement spanning more than 140 countries, He is unchanged.

What moves me so totally is the brilliance behind this idea. People have long associated spirituality with something that you take up when you’re ripe into your old age, something that you choose to do when retired from a career, something that goes well with grey hair. It is to Gurudev’s credit solely that He has broken this concept and shattered it to bits. Spirituality means that which has to do with the spirit. Today, millions of people world over are spiritual and they probably don’t even know it. Spirituality is a part of their daily life, not separated by any way. Seva, Sadhana, Satsang – these three aspects of the spiritual path have been embraced effortlessly by people and they have smoothly moved to a stage where they don’t regard being spiritual as being different or prematurely mature or *weird*, for lack of better terms. And THAT is how it should be for that which is of the spirit is the most natural way to be, isn’t it?

For an organization that is only twenty-five years old, Art of Living has reached such heights… It is said, you don’t choose your Guru. It is the Guru who chooses you. All I can say is, I am extremely blessed that He chose me, I genuinely cannot be happier!

http://www.esatsang.net/files/BirthdaySong(50).mp3.

Enjoy!