A chant is born

A chant is born

February 2015

By Suma Varughese

Yes, Thank you, Universe, Vickrant Mahajan
Word Smith, INR 299; 187 pages

It’s hard to imagine that one could write a nearly 200-page book on just four words: Yes, Thank you, Universe. And that it keeps you absorbed right through. Honestly, unlikely as it seems, this is a really good book.

And you’ll like the writer too. Vickrant Mahajan, believe it or not, has been an editor, publisher, photographer (where he earned Rs 5 lakh a day!), model, runner up at a Mr India contest, actor, and film-maker. In fact the story begins when his debut directorial attempt, Challo Driver, crashed and burned at the box office. So much so that the bankrupt Mahajan was forced to return to his parents’ home in Jammu. One evening, after watching negativity spewing out of the newshour on TV, Mahajan  was consumed  with the urge to find an easy and powerful way to restore positivity to the world. Determined that the extraordinary technique should be sourced from the Universal Consciousness and not his limited mind, he decided to meditate for 40 hours straight (evidently, reasonable is not a word in his lexicon – which is one of the commendable things about this man). Around the end of the meditation marathon, four words flashed into his mind before dissolving into a golden ball.

Yes, those same four words.

The rest of the book is devoted to explaining the larger meaning of the words – ‘Yes’, standing for the power of positivity, ‘Thank you’ for gratitude and the ‘Universe’ standing for the Divine. He calls it the Superpositivity chant, which evidently is one cut above mere positivity. According to Vickrant the chant has the power to heal and empower. His father’s diabetes dipped and his mother’s back pain abated. That encouraged him to take the chant out to the world, and by the looks of things, it’s ready to take over the world. Vickrant’s energy, passion and conviction is infectious. I have little doubt this young man will go far.