You can't touch this. Twenty years after Lataji teamed up with her gifted composer-brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar for an album of Meera bhajans, the most distinguished siblings of the music world are back together with an album that's fated to be a benchmark in devotional music.

The first thing that grips our senses in Meera Soor Kabeera is, of course, the sublime vocals. Lataji doesn't just sing the lines. She holds each word close to her heart, makes the feelings behind the words a part of her being, and then gently throws those spiritual emotions back in our face with velvety velocity.

Hridayanath Mangeshkar's compositions are like diamonds scattered over a beach. Untamed and yet strangely elegant in their universal resonances. Arre dil mere mann whose extraordinarily evocative music video has been shot by Bharat Bala, is the most cherishable gem of the album.

What feelings trickle transcendently from the track as Lataji sings Sant Kabeer's lines about life's endless journey and the accompanying heartbreaks! "Sun mere saathi sun mere meeta/ Iss jeevan pe kya-kya beeta/ Sir pe bhaari bojha leena/ Aage kaun utarega..." We are transported into a world of aching beauty where life's drudgery alchemises into a celebration of the proccess of being.

The words of unending wisdom are by three of our most trusted and timeless poets, Sant Kabeer, Soordas and Lataji's favourite bard Meerabai. She imparts a special sparkle to Sant Surdas' Ab main nachyo thakyo (I'm tired of dancing) and Main pardesnini where the woman's heart bleeds brilliant emotions into the innermost corners of the wistful words and symphonic tune. In Ab mein nachyo, the composition converts the simple ritual of dance into a metaphor for life's all-consuming journey from light to darkness.

Though the lyrics are so laden with profound thoughts, the singing and composition bring a stirring lightness of touch and delicacy of emotions to the soundtrack. Hridayanath Mangeshkar's compositions are not your typical manjeera-mridang bhajans. He takes us on a strange and sublime journey on the wings of his supremely gifted sister's talents.

Home truths enunciated in lines that address themselves to the music of the universe, Meera Soor Kabeera doesn't require us to be skilled philosophers or raga scholars. It doesn't even need a devotional allegiance on our part. All we need to do is flow gently into the streams of the compositions, into a universe where worldly thoughts and desires become redundant.