Mohanji Speaks MS54 | Greatness Displayed With Humility

In this podcast, Mohanji talks about music maestros. He says, "I’m here to talk about two music Maestros who touched my heart, at various points in time. These are two great Masters of Indian music, with whom I interacted at different points in time. Listen on and enjoy Mohanji's insight!

Transcript

Hello friends,

Hope you have enjoyed the previous podcast.

Today I am here to talk about two music maestros who touched my heart at various points in time.

These are two great masters of music,

Indian music,

With whom I interacted at different points in time.

One is Pandit Jasraj,

He left his body yesterday at the age of 90.

From his 10th age he started learning and practicing music,

Hindustani music.

He was truly a maestro,

Amazing voice,

Amazing rendition,

Amazing feeling he could deliver with his music.

I am not very knowledgeable in Hindustani music except if I hear a music I can say whether it touches the heart or not,

Means only as a connoisseur.

I don't know the intricacies of music.

The first memory is I was working in Dubai,

There was a concert at the Indian Consulate Hall.

I was invited.

It was a concert by a few maestros and at that time I used to do my podcast,

My radio shows called Mohan's World and the music,

The theme music of those radio shows were from Yu Srinivas,

The mandolin maestro,

The prodigy.

Remember this was in mid 2000s.

I was doing these radio shows in Dubai for a channel called Pod Me and we wanted theme music for it.

So the producer told me to find a music which is not copyrighted which I like.

I was listening to various music.

You know I love Beatles,

I love Elvis Presley,

I love U2,

So many different music bands I like but they were not really non-copyrighted.

They were all copyrighted so I can't use them,

Use the music.

So remember this is the time when I was not known as Mohanji.

I was still working in a company and I was known as Mohan,

The official name.

And just before or just around that time a friend of mine who had met Yu Srinivas told me about him and told me about his philanthropic mind apart from the musical genius.

And I happened to listen to Yu Srinivas's mandolin in the car.

I loved it.

So I contacted my friend and said I would like to speak to Yu Srinivas,

Can you introduce me?

So he called Yu Srinivas,

He met him a few times and he knows him and said his friend Mohan would like to speak to him and he gave me the number.

I called him and I told Yu Srinivas that I would like to use a part of his music for my radio shows.

And I asked him since it's copyrighted should we have an agreement or some kind of a paper that you agree me using it.

Before I could complete this sentence he asked me Mohanji,

Are you Mohanji?

I said yes,

I am Mohan of Mohan's world.

He said yes,

I know,

I know you through this friend of course we have not met.

And he said for you no copyright,

Use any music you like as much as you want from my albums.

So he gave me a blanket approval,

Verbal approval and I used a piece of his music for my shows.

And much later,

A few years later or probably a few months later I had been to Brindavan in Bangalore to visit Sati Sai Baba and I had his Darshan and I was going to a friend's home.

Meanwhile,

I can't remember whether I called him or he called me,

I spoke to Mandolin Srinivas.

He asked me,

You were there at Brindavan?

I said yes,

I came to see Baba.

Then he said I was there as well,

How come we did not meet and we agreed to meet at a different time.

What hit me deeply about him,

The most striking thing about Srinivas was his humility,

Deep humility.

He is a child prodigy,

A maestro but humble to the core.

This is very important to understand.

Greatness is displayed much more with humility.

He is not in the body.

I could not meet him physically,

He left his body.

And I did not do the podcast for more than almost two years,

One and a half years I did it.

I did about 59 or 60 episodes,

That's it.

This is one part of the story,

One maestro,

One great musician I could physically interact with.

Now Pandit Jasraj who left his body yesterday,

That is 17th of August 2020 in New Jersey.

Most of you know that I used to use his music Govinda,

Dhammodara,

Maathaveti often in my programs,

Because it used to really stir emotions inside and bring things out.

I wanted to tell him this and take his permission as well,

Because I don't like to use any music without anybody's permission.

So I wanted to meet him.

Before that,

Just to rewind,

I did meet Mandel in Srinivas.

There was this concert in Indian Consulate where I was invited.

It was Pandit Jasraj,

Mandel in Srinivas and few other maestros together,

A few of them together.

It was a beautiful concert and Pandit Jasraj's daughter Turga Jasraj was comparing this program.

After the program,

I walked towards Turga Jasraj and I said,

I introduced myself and I said,

I would like to meet Mandel in Srinivas because I'm using his music.

She said,

Absolutely,

Please come.

So I went on stage,

I met him and he was very,

Very nice and kind.

He said,

Oh,

We must meet again.

And I spoke,

I was really,

Really impressed with the music and there Pandit Jasraj was there.

But then I didn't want to spend a lot of time on the stage because other people were also coming in dignitaries.

So I congratulated Mandel in Srinivas.

I thanked him for allowing me to use his music and as a trace at any time,

No problem.

That was it.

And then I came back.

That was the time when I met him only one time.

Meanwhile,

That's the only time when I met Pandit Jasraj also.

Then later on,

When I,

As I was using his music in my shows,

I wanted to meet him and thank him.

And Madhu organized a meeting with him in Bombay a couple of years ago.

I met him.

He was not too well at that time.

I met him.

I told him about his music,

Which I'm using,

And he was very happy.

I said,

I would like to have your permission and blessing for me to use it.

He said,

I'm honored that you're using my music.

Thank you for using it.

You don't need any permission.

Please use.

He was so kind,

So humble and so much of love.

And he said so many things.

We discussed so many things.

I gifted him our books,

Which I was told that he kept in his personal library.

And some people contacted us after seeing our,

My books in the library.

And he appreciated us visiting him.

I went with Madhu and he said,

Mohanji,

I have a concert two days later and I'm not well,

My throat is not okay.

Just pray that I can do this concert.

I said,

Panditji,

It'll all go well.

Nothing to worry.

And when I was leaving,

He came up to the lift,

The elevator and thanked me.

It was a very beautiful heart to heart connection.

And he kind of delivered himself so profusely without expectations.

And he doesn't even know me that well,

Because that's the toughest time.

Actually we are meeting and talking.

And then he said,

Please do visit me more whenever you come here or we will keep in contact.

So all those beautiful things he said,

And then he said,

Bless me.

Then I said,

No,

No,

You are such a maestro.

He said,

No.

He took my hand and put it on his head.

So humble,

So much humility.

And then we parted.

Later when we released different books,

We sent a copy to him,

Which he received.

Then later he went to New Jersey.

So what I want to tell here is that when we are gifted with a skill or talent,

We should accompany that with humility.

All the great masters I have come in touch,

Come in contact,

Are humility incarnates.

Those who are not so humble are also insecure.

Here both these maestro's amazingly secure,

Stable,

And they deserve all the following that they had or that they have.

And their music will continue.

People will cherish it.

People will carry their music in their hearts.

They delivered amazing stuff to the world.

They made the world brighter.

They were positive.

They brought positivity.

So we can all do something positive and brighten up this world within our capacities.

We don't have to be a maestro.

We don't have to be a greatly talented person.

Within our capacity,

All of us have it.

We can change the world for the better.

I would like to offer my humblest greetings and gratitude to these great maestro's.

These maestro's will live forever through their music,

Through what they have delivered to the world and through their humility,

Kindness.

Just like I remember them as humility incarnates,

The world will remember them as bright stars in the horizon of mankind.

Thank you for listening to me.

Wish you happiness and peace always.

Wish you purposefulness and also inspiration.

Self inspiration to lead your life purposefully.