It is 12 o’clock midnight and the atmosphere in Baleba village of western Barmer district is filled with highly charged rhythms. These are the rhythms of devotional songs led by ‘Raamdev ji ke Rikhiye’ and collectively followed by the whole village at Narsa Ram’s house. They have gathered here to celebrate the anniversary of achieving ‘Pitra Yoni’, a state (not salvation) achieved by Narsa Ram’s father, Rajsingharam’s unsatisfied soul.

Irrespective of caste, the entire village has gathered here to sing together near Rajsingharam’s ‘sthal’, a cemented bed with inscription on stone, made with the advice of Bhope (local magician) in remembrance of Rajsingharam after achieving Pitra Yoni. Raamdev ji Ke Rakhiye, bhajan singers lead these Satsang bhajans and ‘Raatri Jagarans’ with villagers.

Traditionally, unlike Manganayirars, who are a folklore singing caste, Ramdevji ke Rakhiye or Meghwal community sings only devotional songs at Satsang and Raatri Jaagaran – especially those of Rajput families. They sing bhajans of Kabir, Meera Bai, Ravi das, Rayee Das, Tulsi das (of Benaras, Soor Das. Rakhiye also sings poetry of local poets such as Sant Shambhunathji, Tulsi Das (of Jaisalmer), Mularam and Chanchal Prag ji etc.

Aakhedaan Senortalakdan, a retired Delhi police official says, “Earlier not many people could sing bhajans or play instruments like harmonium, manjeera, dholak and tandoora (local word for tanboora, but 60 years back, when young Hazara Raam came back to village after learning music from Pakistani Sufi Saint Banka Ram ji and taught classical music and bhajans to everybody irrespective of caste in this village and in nearby ones. We started singing bhajans in todi, malar, bhairivi, ashavari, sorath, aheer bhairav, bravaas and many other raags”. Tradition of Satsang in Hazara Ram’s family is still successfully continuing in the safe hands of grand son Hakam Chand, and nephew Nimba Ram.

Hakam Chand, a rikhiye singer, says “Like life, every ratri jagaran has to follow certain routine. It has smooth transition from crests and trough.” Raatri Jagaran is divided into nine parts according to the various levels of devotion. Every jagaran starts and ends with ‘Aartis’ of lord Ganesh, Shiv, Durga, Vishnu, Ramdev babaji, Hanuman ji and yog maya. Singers try to invoke gods with their Aartis. Rikhiye sings aarti for one hour after which they proceed to sing ‘Guru Mahima’ – praising spiritual saints for showing them the light. The opening line of a popular bhajan says “Guru saman daata nahi, Jatak shishya saman, Teen lok ki sampada ka, Guru hamko dijye daan.”(There is no donor like teacher, and beggar like student. Teacher please gives us knowledge of all three worlds).

The third part is ‘upadesh’ or sermons. In this time rikhiye sings songs of Kabir and local saints which give them the knowledge of right and wrong, good and Bad. Kabir’s bhajan, which describes all life as interplay of personal soul (Jivatma) and God (Parmatma) are also sung. These bhajan’s are radical in nature because they are against prevailing caste structure in the society. This realisation of god inside human body clears the way for more serious talk like ‘tatvagyan’ – supreme knowledge. In this section bhajans telling about our body and the god living inside it are sung.  The above routine prepares devotee to shed his biases about their body, soul, god, and other human beings. This is followed by something called “Yog Sadhna” where the bhajans tells devotees about the way of doing bhakti to achieve ‘Paanchwa pad’, a situation when soul meets par bramha parmatma, universal divine god (too long sentence. Rephrase). Bhajans of this section also tells devotee about difficulties in achieving Panchwa Pad and encourages about doing it.

The penultimate routine is called ‘Beyond Panchwa Pad’. These bhajans are also called Shain bhajans and are sung between three to four o’clock in the morning. They narrate life after meeting god and being enlightened.

After singing these bhajans, at four in the morning, the villagers start singing in praise of lord Krishna in Raag Ashawari. These bhajans, written mainly by Meera bai, Kabir and Soor Das, are also called Prabhati and are filled with hope.

Slowly but steadily, the small initiative by Hazara Ram ji of teaching music to everybody is bridging caste biases. The culture of Satsang is bringing small but powerful and visible changes in the social fabric. In the past few years, Rajputs have started taking part in Satsangs. Now, they attend and even sing together with meghwals in Satsang. In Dedadiyar village, Bhagwaan Singh, a Rajput by caste and direct disciple of Hazaara Ram, despite family pressure made his own Satsang party with a lower caste Meghwal and Manganiyar. The rigidity of his family can be judged by the fact that none of his brothers has ever attended a Satsang outside Rajput houses. When asked to, Bhagwan even performs in a lower caste house but he does not eat there. Nonetheless this small change is worth appreciating.

First published in ACJ Newsline in 2010.