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Continuous Recitation of the Ramayana |
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The non-stop recitation of the Ramayana
was being held in the house of a railway officer, Hem Chandra Joshi,
near Prayag station in Allahabad, and many of Baba's local devotees
were participating by chanting it together. After the completion of Uttarkand
(the seventh and final chapter of the Ramayana), aarti
was performed. Prasad was being distributed when
Sudhi Mukerjee's nephew arrived and told them that Baba had come to
Church Lane. After taking prasad, all the
devotees went to have Baba's darshan.
Baba
had just returned from his journey to the South with Sri Ma and some
other devotees. The devotees who had journeyed with Baba were talking
excitedly about a new experience they had just had. When their train
was about two hundred kilometers from Allahabad station, Baba ordered
that a window be opened. As soon as it was open, they all heard the
beautiful sound of the chanted Ramayana. There
were many
harmonious voices accompanied by musical instruments. Everyone thought
that it must have been organised in a local village. They listened to
the recitation of Uttarkand for some time.
Meanwhile the train traveled many miles, but there was no change in the
sound of the Ramayana.
Baba told them to shut the window and the sound stopped. Some time
passed and Baba got them to open the window again. They heard the
recitation of the Uttarkand in the same melody
once again. This lila of Baba's continued until
Allahabad, and everyone enjoyed the singing. When someone asked Baba
where the Ramayana
was being recited, he did not reply. On their arrival at Church Lane,
the devotees traveling with Baba were surprised to learn that
recitation had been organised at the house of his devotee in Allahabad.
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