Kedar miracle.

 Narsi Mehta was divinely gifted the anklets of dance by the Lord Himself, the celestial couple placing upon his feet the sacred bells that would henceforth keep time with eternity. Along with this rare blessing, he was also granted the Kedar raga—a raga not merely to be sung, but to be lived, danced, and dissolved into. The Lord promised him that whenever Kedar flowed from his heart, He would appear, unseen by the worldly eye yet unmistakably present to the devotee who sang in pure surrender.

Society, bound by rigid customs and shallow judgments, could not comprehend this divine madness. Family, relatives, and community disqualified Narsi Mehta, casting him aside as one who had strayed beyond acceptable norms. Yet none of this wounded him. Their rejection became his liberation. Freed from the weight of approval and convention, he belonged wholly to the Lord alone.

Now unburdened, Narsi Mehta sang, danced, and performed only for God—his anklets ringing not on earthly floors but in the courts of the Divine. Each time the Kedar raga arose, it was no longer music alone; it was a sacred invitation. And true to His word, the Lord came—again and again—drawn not by melody, but by the utter sincerity of a devotee who had surrendered everything for love.

In Narsi Mehta’s life, exile became grace, music became worship, and rejection became the doorway to divine intimacy.

A bhajan traditionally rendered in raga Kedar in the Narsinh Mehta bhajan paramparā—especially in temple and Haridās traditions—is the celebrated “Vaishnava Jana To”.

While bhajans often travel across rāgas, Kedar is one of the deeply accepted classical–devotional settings for this composition, especially for slow, meditative singing and abhinaya.

Bhajan: Vaishnava Jana To

Tradition: Narsinh Mehta

Rāga: Kedar (traditional devotional rendition)

Lyrics (Gujarati – select verses)

વૈષ્ણવ જન તો તે ને કહીએ

જે પીડ પરાઈ જાણે રે

પર દુઃખે ઉપકાર કરે તો યે

મન અભિમાન ન આણે રે

સકલ લોકમાં સહુને વંદે

નિંદા ન કરે કેની રે

વાચ કાચ મન નિશ્ચલ રાખે

ધન્ય ધન્ય જનની રે

Meaning (English)

He alone is called a true Vaishnava

Who feels the pain of others as his own.

He rushes to serve those in sorrow,

Yet keeps his heart free from pride.

He bows to all beings in this world,

Speaks ill of none.

His word, thought, and mind remain pure—

Blessed indeed is the mother who bore such a soul.

Why Kedar suits this bhajan

Raga Kedar carries a gentle majesty and inward luminosity.

It does not cry aloud; it flows like quiet assurance. When Vaishnava Jana To is sung in Kedar:

Compassion becomes still strength, not sentiment

Humility gains dignity, not weakness

The bhajan transforms into a vow, not a performance

For Narsinh Mehta, this raga was not ornamentation. It was a bridge.

When sung in Kedar, the bhajan ceases to be instruction—it becomes presence.

The devotee does not describe God; God arrives.

A devotional closing thought

When Narsinh Mehta sang this bhajan in Kedar, anklets ringing, eyes closed, society forgotten, the Lord did not come as spectacle.

He came as truth settling into the heart.

That is the miracle of Kedar.

Not that God appears before us—

but that we disappear before Him.