Page 18 - My Father-Final Book

eyes and at other times, he was smiling in a way he was talking with his Guru.
During the Thursday Arati prayers, there was a time portion when devotees can sing a song one by one. I tried to sing on some Thursdays. I was very primitive in the singing, but it served to give me the confidence needed for teaching Chanting in Yoga classes. I remember clearly my father smiling, some times a little audible, when I would sing on those days.
When, I was eight years old, the sacred thread ceremony (Maunji Bandhan) was performed. During this ceremony, a priest is supposed to initiate the ceremonial boy into the Gayatri Mantra. This is done inside a tent of cloth where the boy secretly receives Gayatri Mantra from the Priest. When this event was about to start, my father told the priest that my father himself would impart the Mantra to me. Both of us were covered by cloth. My father gave me the Mantra only once or so. He told me to recite it 12 times a day. To my amazement, I was meditating on the Sun automatically when I used to chant this Mantra. I continued that chanting for 40+ years. Of course, I have received great benefit from it. But during my entire life, my father never enquired whether I was doing that chanting and I also never discussed that subject with anyone ever. This sounds amazing to me as a Yoga Teacher that I continued that practice so long and I thought it was totally natural to do so.[Illustration 7: My sacred thread ceremony.]
For my first four years in the Primary School, I was an ordinary student with average or below average grades. I used to sit at the side or back of the classroom. There were two girls in our class. One of them always came first and the other one
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