a few weeks ago, amma asked some of the brahmacharinis to learn to blow the conch.
it started with just two or three. then it became ten.
twenty.
thirty.
forty…
then amma asked the brahmacharis also to start learning.
and something interesting happened.
within a couple of weeks, the numbers simply exploded!
now there are more than a hundred conches on the brahmachari side, more than a hundred on the brahmacharini side, and devotees too have started buying conches and learning to blow them.
even little children of three or four years are trying!
when do they practice? through out the day and some times even night!
it started destryoing many peoples peace of mind.
and when do they blow? or perform?
when amma comes to the hall for darshan and when she leaves after darshan.
people line along amma’s path with their conches. then the sound begins…
when she takes a break from darshan before bhajan and right after the daily arati. the small stage for children infront of amma will be full with the kids – all blowing their lung out.
suddenly, the whole atmosphere changes.
whenever i hear it, i remember the opening chapter of the bhagavad gita. just before the great battle begins, conches are blown from both sides. sri krishna blows pāñcajanya. arjuna blows devadatta. bhima blows his mighty pauṇḍra. (its up to you to figure out who is krishna, who is pandava, who is kaurava)
there, the conches announced the beginning of a great war.
here too, perhaps, there is a battle to be fought — but within ourselves.
amma says that blowing the conch is good for the lungs and also helps the mind to calm down.
but what fascinates me is something else.
see how amma can take one very simple thing and make it so interesting.
normally, somewhere in an ashram or temple, perhaps one or two people may blow a conch.
when amma says, “learn to blow the conch.” and within two weeks… the silent ashram becomes a grand conch orchestra! more than two hundred people blowing together!
this is something i have seen with amma again and again.
she keeps exploring.
she keeps learning.
she makes us learn.
she introduces something new, creates enthusiasm around it, gets everyone involved, and before we realise what has happened, a small activity has become something happening on a mega scale.
it is the same with every activity of amma. free heart operation in hundreds, free kidney transpalnts in hundreds, free houses in thousands, self help group in thousands, scholarship in thousands, one gita yagnja 700 speakers!! singing bhajans in over 60 languages, new bhajan release in an year is in hundreds !!!
recently amma started singing meera bhajans. any guess how many? over 50 bhajans already tuned and recorded!!
amma alwyas ‘ammazez’ me.
and there is another beautiful lesson hidden inside the conch itself.
before a conch can produce that clear, powerful sound, everything inside it has to be removed. all the flesh has to be taken out. it has to be completely cleaned and emptied.
perhaps we too have to become like that. when the ego and all the raga-dvesha within are removed, real nadam comes. omkāra.
and even with a perfectly cleaned conch, you cannot produce the right sound if you are too excited or if your mind is unsteady. you may blow harder and harder, but the sound will not come properly.
the mind has to settle. the breath has to become steady. hold the conch in a specific position with appropriate presure on the lips. with less effort the sound comes.
and something beautiful happens after you blow…
the long nādam slowly fades away. the mind becomes still. the sound dissolves into silence. and you too slip into that silence. you feel full.
what begins as blowing a conch can actually become a sadhana.
empty yourself. steady yourself. let the omkāra arise. then dissolve into silence.
ॐ
