A Melodic Blessing

Apr 5, 2005 | permalink

In the Himalayas, the yogis call him in their caves to hear the flute of "Krishna". In the cities, large audiences gather to hear him and famous artists like Hari Prasad Chaurasia learn from him. Elsewhere, if he plays the flute in public, people will call him into their house.

Suresh Parekh started playing flute at the age of 5. Five years ago, at the age of 69, he decided to only play for 'God'. No more public engagement, paid or unpaid. "Nipun, today I have given you one lakh rupees worth of time," he said of our storytelling session during his afternoon nap time. After he played his magical flute for the three of us that evening, I joked: "Now, I have taken five lakhs worth of prasad from you."

As we were leaving, he opens his bag and give us a tiny booklet: "I have done sadhna with this for years. It is the Bhagvad Geeta in Gujarati. If you are ever in need, open this up to a random page and it will guide you. In this small book, you will have the blessings of my years of sadhna."