My sister Ahana¹

My sister Ahana’s original name was Madhuri. In the Ashram life it changed. Ahana got very high marks in school. She was the best student. At one point the school wanted Ahana to go to a higher grade, two levels higher, but she did not want a double promotion. Then my sister Lily agreed to study together with her in the same class.

My father did something special in the village. Girls usually did not study. People felt that girls did not need to study. For the young village girls my father opened up a school. He bought the books and he prepared all the facilities. The girls came and studied at our place. Then my sister Lily gave up school and started teaching the girls.

My mother’s brother did not have any children. He was sad, and his wife was very sad. My mother said to them about Ahana, “This girl is brilliant. You can take her.” They were very happy to take Ahana to live with them.

This couple lived in the town, and we lived in the village. Ahana went to the town, and she very nicely got her high school degree. Then she went to college. She was doing very, very well. Alas, that was the time when our father was summoned by God. She wanted to continue her studies. Then our mother became very, very sick. By this time Lily and Arpita, the two older sisters, were already in the Ashram, so Ahana was the only girl in the family. She had to give up her studies to take care of our mother.

Ahana was my first music teacher. When I was four or five years old, she was the one who taught me songs. Still I remember how affectionate she was. She was the one whom I tried to fool when I was five years old, and I did not succeed! One evening I was very angry and I would not eat. I pretended that I was fast asleep. Ahana said, “Really great singers can sing in their sleep. If you are a great singer, then you will be able to sing in your sleep.”

Alas, I started singing! Then she grabbed me and put me on her shoulder, and brought me to the kitchen to eat. How I was fooled! I think many children would do the same thing at that age to prove that they are great singers.

We talk about the psychic being, the representative of the soul. The Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram said that Ahana had the most beautiful psychic being.

Ahana went to God at the age of twenty-four. In our family she had the shortest life. She was the most beautiful and the most talented among the girls. She wrote very nice poems. Her poem Jago paran I set to music. Kindly sing it now.

[The disciples sing Jago paran._] Now kindly sing my sister Lily’s song, _Kabe amar.

[Sri Chinmoy leads the disciples in singing Kabe amar._] Now I am requesting you to sing _Man chale jai.

[The disciples sing Man chale jai, Sri Chinmoy’s song composed to the poem written by his brother Chitta.]

Now kindly sing Hriday’s song. That song I have sung thousands and millions of times!

[The disciples sing Tumi je hao se hao, the song Sri Chinmoy composed to the poem written by his brother Hriday.]