New Delhi [India], September 28: There is a difference between wanting to return to childhood and wanting to preserve something of the child within us. That distinction lies at the heart of National Award-winning Hindustani classical vocalist Mahesh Kale’s recently released ‘Lahanpan Dega Deva’, a composition inspired by the words of Sant Tukaram Maharaj and by a simple but increasingly relevant idea – as we grow in knowledge and experience, can we still retain our innocence, curiosity and capacity for wonder?
‘Lahanpan dega deva, mungi sakharicha rava’ – Sant Tukaram Maharaj’s much-loved words are often understood as a plea to God to grant one the simplicity of childhood. For Kale, however, their meaning goes beyond nostalgia. ‘Lahanpan Dega Deva’ is not really about wanting to become a child again,” says Kale. “It is about asking whether we can grow up without losing the qualities that make a child so receptive to life… curiosity, openness, trust and wonder.”
The melody itself came to Kale through an unexpectedly simple encounter. In 2023, while in Tampa, Florida, Kale spent time with Layla, a seven-month-old puppy. Watching her experience the world – loving freely, responding instinctively and being completely present in each moment, suddenly brought Sant Tukaram’s words to his mind. The tune followed almost immediately. “There was something about watching her that made those words come alive for me,” Kale recalls. “There was no calculation, no judgement, no baggage, just a complete openness to experiencing and receiving the world. And I remember thinking perhaps this is what Tukaram Maharaj is asking us not to lose.”
That thought feels particularly relevant in an age of information overload. We know more, consume more and process more than perhaps any generation before us. But greater access to information does not necessarily leave us more open to experience. Sometimes, growing older and knowing more can gradually replace wonder with judgement, curiosity with certainty and openness with cynicism.
“Innocence does not mean ignorance,” Kale explains. “It does not mean being unaware of the complexities of the world. It means not allowing everything we know and experience to harden us. A child can encounter something without immediately needing to categorise it, judge it or protect itself from it. There is a beautiful receptivity there. For me, Tukaram Maharaj’s prayer becomes incredibly powerful in our times… let me acquire knowledge, let me experience life, let me grow, but please let me retain enough innocence to continue receiving its magic.”
The music video, filmed in Goa in 2026 with young children, extends that thought visually. Rather than simply depicting childhood as something left behind, their spontaneity, playfulness and unselfconscious joy become reminders of qualities that adulthood need not erase.
The song was unveiled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at Mahesh Kale’s ‘Abhangwari’ concert in Mumbai, where it instantly found its first live connection with audiences.
Song link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfvCmyBbrDY
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