“Bhajan” is Sanskrit for “Song in praise of God” and “Akhanda” means “continuous” – so the aim of everyone taking part in this ambitious event was to present a constant flow of chants and songs for twenty four hours, praying for World Peace.
 | | Members of the MK Sai Centre |
I met one of the organisers of this special Bhajan, Seelan Moodley, who is also Chairman of the Milton Keynes Sri Sathya Sai Centre. As he explained, the organisation is part of a global community: “The Sri Sathya Sai Service Organisation UK is part of an international organisation…it is non-religious, non-denominational… spirituality is at the core. It was started by our Spiritual Master, Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He is Hindu by birth and lives in India. We follow his teachings, which are for us to lead a righteous life, to go into a community and serve those that are in need, selflessly. By selflessly, I mean serving people without any expectation of reward.
 | | Seelan Moodley, Shanker and Thakor Morarji |
We are joined by other Sri Sathya Sai centres in almost 190 countries around the world this weekend in presenting our programmes of devotional songs for world peace.” The aim of the Bhajan is to spread the message of love, create harmony and to purify the atmosphere. The devotees believe that the air around us is polluted by sounds that denote violence, intolerance, hatred, cruelty, wickedness and deceit. By creating the vibrations of songs of prayer, they hope, as they put it, to ignite the flame of peace, love and harmony.
The Bhajan was being held in St Johns Ambulance Centre on Blackmoor Gate in Furzton. At the entrance to the hall, the colourful Sri Sathya Sai logo was on display, welcoming participants and guests. According to Seelan: “Within the organisation we have two logos- one depicts all the major religions, the other the five human values. [Put together, the design] shows you that it doesn’t matter if you belong to a faith or not, you can still belong to the organisation and follow the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba.” The logo was specially designed for use all over the world with the annual Akhanda Bhajan. It comprises ten seeds, overlapping each other to create five flames to represent the different faiths. Each pair of overlapping seeds looks like a “bee” to represent the five human values – Truth, Right Action, Peace, Non-violence and Love. Sound waves, like the musical stave, interconnect the signs, and depict sound vibrations, to illustrate the continuous singing around the world in praise of God.
Inside the hall, exotic incense was burning and the congregation were sitting or kneeling before a beautifully adorned altar decked out in orange. I asked Seelan if the orange colour scheme had been chosen deliberately since it is considered by some to be a colour of creativity and productivity, and had they chosen this scheme and altar layout with that in mind? “It is an aura, yes, but orange [simply] appeals to us at our centre, for special occasions. It is common practice to segregate men and women – purely to help us focus our minds. And the photo [of Sri Sathya Sai Baba] is there to help us focus our minds because that’s from where we draw our inspiration and motivation. The timetable for the 24-hour event began at 6pm with fifteen minutes of Vedic Chanting that was led by Shanker, a former student of a Sri Sathya Sai Institute of High Learning. His chanting, in Sanskrit, invoked the presence of the deities such as Lord Ganesh to remove obstacles in order to make the function a success.
At 6:15pm, members of the Luton Sai Centre took over, bright and excited. After them, Vijan and Cookie led the Bhajan on tabla and harmonium. They performed some beautiful and moving songs. At 8pm it was the turn of Luton Hindu Temple
…and so the prayers went on, all through the night. The Milton Keynes and Luton Sai Centre Youth members (some aged just 14) braved it out into the early hours. It was heartening to see how many other guest groups, including some Christians, were on the list to come along and join in the effort and contribute to the well-organised event. Different communities were coming together locally to create constant prayer and positive energy – vibrations aimed at shifting the world onto a more peaceful track. One of the fundamental beliefs held by devotees of the Sai organisation is that it is possible to transform oneself through service to mankind and through this transformation to then be able to transform one’s fellow human beings. As another organiser of the event, Thakor Morarji, from Luton, commented:
“Service to mankind is service to God, that’s our motto. Service is like a prayer. It is also for our own spiritual development that we pray. Humanity is one and God is one – whatever form we pray in. We show this [unity] through our 24 hour Bhajan.” Useful Information:
Luton Sai Centre meets at the Lewsey Community Centre – third Saturday of every month.
MK Sai Centre meets weekly at the St Johns Ambulance Hall in Furzton. | 
