Singing for Baba by Ac. Tapeshvarananda Avt.



from the book 'Living With Baba' by Ac. Tapeshvarananda Avt.




During His lifetime, Baba composed 5018 sublime and very beautiful devotional songs called Prabhat Samgiit. He composed those songs from 1982 to 1990, until His very last breath. Most of the songs concerned spiritual themes. There were many songs, however, that touched on various other themes - festivals, social issues, and so on. All the songs were remarkable, whether in the spiritual genre or not. They were mostly composed in the Bengali language. Really, Prabhat Samgiit is incomparable. 




Once, at His Lake Gardens residence, Baba wanted to dictate Prabhat Samgiit. He usually selected and approved a group of three persons who would take notes of the Prabhat Samgiit as He dictated them. On that day, He approved me to be included in the group. He wanted me to sing for Him. It happened that the other members of the group were not present at the time He was ready to dictate the songs. 




Baba's Personal Assistant informed Baba that I was the only one present. Baba agreed to give the dictation to me alone. I entered His room and noted down the Prabhat Samgiit as He dictated the song. I then read the song like a poem and sang it before Him. 




After that, He left for His morning field walk. When He returned from His walk, He requested for the song to be sung again. So I sang the song again for Him, alone. 




This time I sang a little too quickly. I was singing the line, "Kichu kaye jao, kichu sune jao, ata taratari jeo na", which meant, "Oh, please say something, please hear something, do not go away so quickly, " when He also sang the same line, ".... Ata taratari jeo na." By singing this He meant, "Don't sing so quickly." I understood what He meant, corrected the melody, and sang it slowly to Him once again.