Sadhu and me

I have this penchant of being  drawn to Sadhus, it is not acquired now but as far as I can remember it is there from my childhood. During our school days in Delhi, we would be following Sadhus with Kamandal and Trishul  whenever they came to our area, as though they were pied pipers. They would be going round the houses to collect food grains or money and we would follow them around. Some of them would get annoyed finding us following them . However, a few would entertain us by singing bhajan or show some magic like producing something from the air.

I have interacted with various Sadhus during my adult life, in my earlier blogs  I had mentioned those.

I am not very clear whether Sadhus attract me or they see an easy prey in me to make a kill so they approach me, this boosts my ego as though I am the chosen one. One such Sadhu fleeced me of some money when I was in Barauni inspite of my wife cautioning me that the fellow was a fraud.

But now I will tell you about a Sadhu the conversation with him is still etched in my mind.

It happened long time back.

The meter gauge train from Gauhati was whistling out, I was waving at my friends from my first class compartment. Those days first class was a coupe of two. There were lot of women seeing off a Sadhu who was my co passenger. His devotees made the bed for him in the lower berth, my reservation was for upper berth, but it was yet not sleeping time. From the door, I looked back, the sadhu in plain white kurta and dhoti was sitting relaxed, I was irritated as he had left no place for me to sit. With irritation in my voice I said, “It is not yet sleeping time!”

He was embarrassed and with a folded hand invited me to share his bed, “Sorry for the inconvenience, my devotees in over enthusiasm spread the bed. If you wish I can roll it!’’

‘”No , please don’t, I will sit by your side.’’ I was ashamed of my rude behavior.

My luggage was below the seat; I pulled out my suitcase , took out my nightwear and headed for the attached washroom. After changing to casuals I comfortably sat by his side.

“Have you taken dinner? I can offer you some.”

“”Thanks, I had dinner at the station dining hall with my friends, you please carry on.”

“I don’t take dinner; I will take some fruits before going for sleep.”

Thus our acquaintance started. During the conversation, he told me that he has followers in Assam, Bengal and Bihar running to nearly a lakh.

He smiled at me and said, “From your attitude and questions I can make out that you don’t have much faith in God.”

I was caught, hesitantly asked him,’How do you know that the God exists?”

“Why your own Ramakrishna has said that if you believe then the God is there but if you don’t then the God doesn’t exist. It is the belief. You actually want to see or feel Him.’”

The discussion was becoming interesting; I was getting warmed up to the subject as I could feel that I was having conversation with a wise learned person..

He continued.

Have you seen Alaska? Have you seen Mars? You have not but you have heard or read about those. Similarly, you would get people who have felt Him or got some blessings from Him. I know you are a student of science and will look for scientific proof. Have you ever wondered who had produced so many species of leaving beings, the ocean and mountain? Can scientists produce a  tree where the water will be found like inside a coconut? Do you know that an albatross flies round the world without flapping it’s wings. Who designed those wings, which they flap only while taking off or coming down? It is believed they sleep during the flight, rarely come down and keep flying hundreds of miles without any rest, in their life period of 60 years or so they fly millions of miles. The aero engineers are studying the flight pattern and wings of this bird to design efficient airframe. Imagine a bird weighing 7 kgs or more flying on wing span of 12 feet across the continent miles after miles. Who has created this heaviest creature to fly?
There is God in every living being, you me and all.When you help some needy then you become God for him for that moment. We can not do faith healing but at least by extending our sympathy and empathizing with others problem we can give healing touch to their troubled soul.I don't perform any miracle or don't have solution for disease, that is the job of a doctor. i listen to others problems , try explaining the reason. 

Whatever he said on that day is the universal truth, there is no conflict of ideas, i was pretty impressed by his prabachan.

Well I was a skeptic but after talking to him I could know the limitation of my knowledge. Those days there was no Google to get instant information, one got to study books to acquire knowledge and then have to have intelligence to interpret those information. That Sadhu had read books and some realization had come to him which made him to adopt the life of a sage. To me he did not appear to be a fake like the modern ones we come across. He did not offer any magic potion to me like I have mentioned in my other encounters.

It was approaching bedtime, after bidding him good night; I climbed to my upper berth.

Next day morning the train reached Barauni, again there was a crowd of devotees to receive him. He smiled at me; I waved at him and got down with my luggage.

During my service life i was lucky to be posted in BHEL,Bhopal where apart from day to day work there were lot of social events. I was fortunate to come across some religious leaders like Jitamanand of Ramakrishna Mission, Rajeswaranand ( a muslim sufi turned hindu sage), the head of Digambar Jain sect, Shankaracharya of Kanchi,Mata Amritanandmayi of Kerala etc but that Sadhu on Assam Mail left an everlasting impression in my mind.