PRAKASH Gossaiji’s assertion riveted my wandering attention, which had been enthralled at the picture-perfect cameo of a loving father gently cradling his little daughter protectively in his arms, while I wondered at the contrast this was in comparison with fathers who abuse their little ones.

I turned to look at him, because I could not in any way comprehend the direction from which he was coming.

My attention is very hard to catch and hold, because my thoughts are always taking wings and flying away, causing me to do many impractical things not conducive to competently conducting my life, and I often end up in Parika when my destination is Crane, and placing my documents in the freezer and my water on my desk, causing my grandsons to be utterly convinced that they have the dumbest grandma, who need their care to avert catastrophic consequences.

So it is an immense feat when someone manages to capture one hundred percent of my attention, which Prakashji always managed to do – effortlessly, because he juxtaposed his interpretations of the sacred Hindu texts in direct correlation with life experiences, bringing the characters and events into comprehensible analogies applicable to modern-day existential dynamics.

Pandits Haresh Tewari and Reepu Daman Persaud are among the few in my limited experience who also possess this rare gift.

But this one surpassed everything else that he had said while presiding at a Yajna being held at the Ruimzeight Mandir one Friday evening because, as I mentioned, this was utterly incomprehensible, but then he went on to explain in his own inimitable style; and his profound statement made absolute sense – as his analogies always did.

Prakashji said that priceless unwritten books are buried in the graveyards of nations, because people are buried with irreplaceable and irredeemable institutional memories and talent – tapped and untapped, and my thoughts immediately ran with regret to the Jagan’s immortal love story, which I had been planning to write for years, and which I had to shelve forever with the recent demise of Mrs. Jagan.

Among the many enlightening lessons Prakashji imparted that evening was that the Lord’s power is embodied in all of us, a phenomenon he calls KRIPA, which is acrostic for the potentials residing in all of us:

K- indness; R- eason; I-ntegrity; P- urpose of Life; and A- ttitude. According to Prakashji, the Lord invested in us – along with those potentials, the right of choice to our lifestyle options.

As he explained, inherent in everyone is the potential to climb the heights, or descend to the depths, because the Lord created everyone in equal measure; and that is why some who are born into the depths achieve unsurpassing wealth and fame, while many others who are born to great families descend to unfathomable depths.

I attended the Yajna because unpleasant environments make me dysfunctional and I had been sitting in front of my computer all day without being able to construct one satisfactory sentence, so although Prakashji tried to lift my spirits over the telephone, I needed the magical ambience that he could create during a satsangh in order to restore my equilibrium, and I was not disappointed.

Within an hour after my return home I was able to satisfactorily complete my assignment.

There are many whose spirits have been uplifted by dedicated propagators of religion through enlightened and practical interpretations of the Holy books of mankind – whether it is the Koran, the Gita, the Bible, the Torah, and the role of responsible and humanitarian religious leaders within societies is incalculable in its potential to create the synergies that would herald the fulfillment and attainment of the global imperative of peaceful conflict-resolution for the perpetuation of humankind on a prosperous Planet Earth.

Prakashji’s effortlessly magical renditions in praise to the Lord are immortal and irradiant testimonies to the fact that the Lord blesses the special persons whose souls have evolved through good karmic acts with special gifts – in Prakashji’s case the gift of a sublime voice that he has raised to the Heavens all across the globe in praise of the Lord.

Today the Lord has recalled the conduit of that voice that has propagated all the messages and philosophies of the Hindu scriptures throughout the world, but his magical renditions are left with the world so that the darkness can continue to be dispelled from the souls of the troubled, and that enlightenment can continue to enrapture generations still to come as his scintillating interpretations of the sacred texts reverberate in the resonances of human existence.

Prakashji invited me to the Gandhi Bhavan last month to conduct a havan especially for my birthday. He was one of a handful of persons who always made me feel special, and my sorrow, like that of many worldwide, is boundless and measureless.

A country’s riches treasures indeed lie in its burial grounds – and today the gemlike talent in the jewel that was Prakash Gossai has been added to the collection.