Brahm Muhurta
Parents intrusion in the morning is a dreaded experience for most of the kids in an Indian traditional family. Rarely a kid must have grown up without being woken up early morning, for it is prescribed in our traditions to open eyelids at Brahm Muhurta.
I have heard in my childhood that Brahm Muhurta is the time when Lord Shiva and Parvati take a round of earth, like the doctors do in a hospital. Lord Shiva with Goddess Parvati sets on a leisure meaningful walk to see what his creations are doing in the wee hours, when the shadows of night are dissolving in the wake of light. Gauging their spirit and commitment he showers his blessings accordingly on his progeny. As everyone believes, Shiva, the bholenath, known for his magnanimity, easy accessibility and being prone to be won over with little effort, is most vulnerable at that hour of the morning. His vulnerability is a boon to all because that paves way for the desirable creatures to woo him. It is said that it is the best time to seek his blessings to make all dreams come true.
Now what is brahm muhurta? To my knowledge, it is sometime between 330 am to 5/5:30 am, just when the night crawlers start giving up, after exhausting all the sensory vices, and plan to drop dead in the bed. It is the same time when the early to bed disciplined lot get into the last phase of their sleep and get ready to start the forthcoming day. This is the time when the demarcation between these two different categories of people gets more defined and is deepened. Now, anyone getting up anytime in this time slot has fair chance to meet the generous and benevolent blessing couple.
A student getting up to study at that time is bound to be blessed with knowledge, which would eventually get reflected in bright performance in the academics. Sports persons can tone and mould in the best way if they practice during Brahm Muhurta, as strength and sharpness would automatically flow. Similarly, a spiritual person would gain maximum through meditation and recitation of mantra's, if practiced at that hour. And, the same philosophy would apply to all. Whatever you practice at that time you get close perfection and precision.
So, wanting to have best for their child, every traditional Indian parent intends to arrange that most desired meeting between the kid and lord Shiva. With pious intention they test their luck by waking up the child early morning. If not, certainly they sermon the child in broad daylight as to what they miss by getting up under the sharp rays of sunlight and not during Brahm Muhurta. Interestingly, there are many tools used to incisively demolish the child’s dream, as for them brahm muhurta is the time when they consider to be having the deepest and sweetest sleep. Intrusive mechanism adopted by parents are sometimes physical and sometime remain soft.
I would here share the methods that I have personally witnessed in three generations. Luckily none of them were physical in real sense, where the child is shaken up rudely and pulled out of the bed.
We brothers had the fortune of being woken up by our grandfather. When we were child, he would come, call name once or twice and then noisily start working in the vicinity. He would also start singing little louder all his religious offerings. He was not at all a great singer, so his songs tore apart our closed eyes musings and force us to start the day during Brahma muhurta. Whatsoever we did to ward off those musical mornings we failed miserably. It is said that habits are made if one practices something regularly, or I have heard 21 days at a stretch. Alas, our 21 days continuous failures got converted into a habit of waking up the moment we heard him sing. So, we became early riser, a brahm muhurti.
My father had his own style. He was a very religious person. He recited hanuman chalisa hundred eight times a day. Not a small feat to achieve. Conventionally, the first call was by calling names. Then after walking around room to room, carrying on with his prayers, every time he entered our room he would snap his fingers couple of times and then move on. That clack sound hit our eardrums and subconscious state so hard, like a shell, that we would get up in just couple of his rounds. After one call he never uttered a word, however his proximity we sensed and those clicking fingers cemented his presence. So, our grandfathers tradition was inherited by our father, thought the tools used were different. Hence, our habit continued.
I have evolved a different way of annihilating my children’s nocturnal peace and tranquillity. It is blend of both physical and mental. Respecting the convention the first abortive attempt is always calling kids by their name and stating that they are still sleeping despite it is broad daylight. They know that the clock-time I quote is never true. It may be half an hour or so ahead of actual time. Then the trick is to sleep with them, embrace them by throwing arms and legs all around them, and then start singing songs loud. The songs are fixed-
Utho ho laal ab bhor bhayo hai, utho Krishna ji bhor bhayo hai, utho gopal ji bhor bhayo hai, gayya charan ki bela…
Uth jaag musafir…Jo sowat hai so khowat hai jo jagat hai woh pawat hai.
Jaago mohan pyaare jaago…
They have thousand times told me in bed that it is torturous and intimidating. But, when fully awake, they laugh and tease me on how I wake them up.
Now, the children are grown up and for them the concept of Brahm Muhurta has no significance. They are nocturnal animals and Brahm muhurta is the time when they hit the bed. I do not know if what we experienced and what we intended our kids to experience, to get up at Brahm muhurta, was really helping them to start the morning on a right foot or was it morning blues. That is debatable. I still believe that the over gracious, compassionate, altruistic couple-lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, still take that morning walk and are ready to bless us with fulfilment of all our desires.
My spirits have not dampened yet. Even at 9 am if I have to wake my grown up kids I still throw my arms and legs all across their adult body and sing out loud….utho ho gopal ji…Brahm is within us and I tried to wake him up within each of us.
