RAKHI BROTHER’S SONG
It seems to me sweet sister
That there could hardly be
A love more like our Mother’s
Than the one you’ve offered me
With face so fair and innocent
No other motives there
Except, expressed right from the heart
True respect and care
Chorus:
I am your rakhi brother
A spiritual brother to you
And this bond between us
Will last our whole life through
The giving of a gift like this
Is more than I could say
You’ve touched me very deeply
And in a holy way
Now I’ll think of you each day
Wherever I may go
My soul will reach across that space
And try to let you know
And so today, as through the years
Your face again I see
Reflecting there the grace and good
That is Shri Mataji
Your sweetness and your beauty shine
Inspiring me and so
Thank you again sweet sister
You’ve helped me much to grow
And so it is, and so will be
The golden age this way
We know the dharma it requires
Is here with us today
The flower and sweets, the perfumed oil
The rakhi that you tie
Reminds us of the truth and love
We know will never die
English Songs Page 30 – Sahaja Yoga Songbook
About Rahki Brothers Rakhi Song
English Songs Page 30 – Sahaja Yoga Songbook
Pavan’ re Becoming a yogi
Coming into Sahaja Yoga in 1983, at 32 years of age, and second of three boys, I had never
experienced the unique beauty of a true brother-sister relationship. Not only that, I had, like most
Western men, a fairly poor regard for the feminine role and qualities. My mum was a saint. That’s
true. But my appreciation of her decades of selfless service, of cooking, cleaning, washing and all
manner of household and business responsibility, was taken very much for granted. She was, kind,
wise, musical, humorous and never complained. My understanding of the true value of the
feminine, and the divine feminine however arrived much later I am sorry to say.
Sahaja Yoga was such a breakthrough in my awareness, a complete reversal in terms of Western
culture, and a complete re-framing of the true Nature of the Divine Mother as the Holy Spirit, that
She is, Shri Mataji and Universally the Holy Spirit. My first Rakhi tying ceremony was almost
akin to being worshipped by a sister who has voluntarily asked you to be her spiritual brother.
Yes I had understood for years that ‘Namaste’ was a social greeting based on a spiritual idea that
‘Yes the Spirit in me recognises the Spirit in you’, but this was little more than a simple formality
in India, a social custom. However to be the subject of a realised Sahaj Yogini’s respect, concern
and care was a real blessing, and both a humbling and yet elevating experience. It really does
move you. So the words for the song just came through in a divine flow of inspiration. I also heard
how it could sound and my fellow yogi Matthew Fogarty had no trouble putting that into music.
Providence provided a spontaneous transmission of the Rakhi Song words to Shri Mataji, within
hours of them being written. I was told that She had been dealing with some problems at the time
She received them. I was also told She was very attentive to the song and really quite moved.
Subsequently She recommended a change in one word in one line. In expressing my sentiment in
how I was feeling toward my new sister I had used the term ‘in the nicest way’ and She rewrote it
“in a Holy way.” Suddenly the song became Auspicious – Pleasing to God.
This holiness was something I had felt triggered by the sincerity and depth of my new sister’s
request, but I was in that moment unable to think of the term holy, and yet that was indeed the
essence of this newly discovered bond, with my first ever sister in this life.
In 2014 Matthew and I over in Perth did our first ever properly recorded version of the song, and I
put it with some slides in a video. I still enjoy it. It commemorates an early and auspicious pivotal
moment in this Journey Into Spirit.
Love, Respect and complete Surrender to The Great Mother of all yogis. Jai Shri Mataji.
Paul Pavan Keetley.
