Holy Man and his ways....

Holy Man and his ways….

The Emirates flight landed past midnight and I was dead tired having travelled about 18 hours from USA with the stop-over in Dubai.

With sleepy eyes, I walked into the “Q” at the immigration counter.

I gave the Passport and other documents to the officer at the counter.

“Your name”, said the officer with authority.

“Sangeetha” I replied.

“Full name”

“Sangeetha Mehta”.

“Travelling to India after 5 years..”

“Yes Sir”

“How long is your stay in India?”

“4 weeks”, I replied.

Now I was getting a bit irritated on the lengthy conversation.

My brain always worked differently and always analyzed the other person’s thinking and most of my analysis was always right.

My brain said that the officer could be a Gujarati and hence these questions, after seeing my name.

I was bang on target.

“Welcome to India. Have a good stay with your parents and family” the Officer said in Gujarati.

“Thank you” I replied in Gujarati, with a smile and he handed over the passport after stamping.

Linguistic affinity is always strong and works in India.

I was returning to India after 5 years, completing my MS in a good university in USA and immediately started working in a large company in the Bay area.

An hour later, I was home and my parents and grandfather were waiting at the gate to receive me.

I was happy to see them all after so many years and my mother’s eyes turned moist with emotions. I could not control my emotions either and it ended with all having tears in the eyes.

I lived in a Gujarati colony that had individual houses of different sizes spanning over six streets. Most of the houses were built during early 1950’s and families were living for over two generations. The Colony had a small temple of Lord Hanuman surrounded by a huge playground. The temple walls were marked with three lines representing the stumps for the kids playing cricket.

People who wished to pray had very little space inside the temple to move around. During examinations, all kids had a quick darshan praying for easy question papers and success in their exams or atleast passing it! Many Gujarati festivals including Garba dances during Navratri festival were performed by the colony residents in a grand way on stages built on the playground around the temple.

When I went to meet my old friends, I saw that the small temple had become a big temple with part of the playground area converted into the temple premises. There was also a sanctum for Lord Balaji inside the temple premises.

I went into the temple and saw a small hall inside, apart from the sanctum for the deities. Inside the Hall was a Swamiji in saffron robes (let’s call him HM – Holy Man) sitting on a dais and handing over ‘prasadam’ to everyone.

I was flabbergasted to see a huge crowd waiting in a queue inside the temple, not to have ‘darshan’ of the Deities but to have ‘darshan’ of the Holy Man. When a devotee went near him, HM would say something into his ears, and a follower of HM would also listen to what HM has said to the devotee, standing close by. Then, the follower would explain the devotee what Pooja or other ‘pariharams’ (atonements or holy remedies) is needed to be done, as instructed by HM and the total cost for the same. The devotee would go to a counter and paid the amount for performing such Pooja etc without any further questions.  Such was the awe which the Holy Man had created amongst the common people.

I ran into an old colony friend and picked conversation with her about the temple and the Holy Man.

“Around 5-6 years ago, this HM appeared from nowhere and started sitting under the huge banyan tree just outside the temple premises and meditated for hours. People were told that HM had come from the Himalayas. He occasionally opened his eyes and when people interacted with him, he would start preaching and predicting future for the people.

Over time, word spread that HM was very accurate in his predictions. HM also gave directions to perform certain pooja or other ‘pariharams’ (atonements or holy remedies) by collecting amounts and was adept in saying that he will remove the evil, lessen their misery and increase the happiness of people”.

“Why do common people believe such men and why there was no questions asked to him about the amount collected by him?” I retorted.

“Sangeetha, common people are so gullible that they will believe any person talking about Gods and add to it predicting the future. Some years back, one day, he brought the idol of Lord Balaji and declared that he found it on the river banks. He declared to the local people that the Lord appeared in his dreams and wanted a sanctum built inside the temple. Then the Holy Man did a donation campaign and ensured that the temple premises were expanded by encroaching into the playground. No questions asked, as he had the knack of building relationship with local politicians and influential people in the colony. At the end of the day, as they say, MONEY is the nectar for all human beings to create influence and authority..”.

“Sangeetha, you know what? In the recent months, Holy Man has started claiming he is GOD!!!, And collected “Special Donation” to have his darshan” my friend quipped.

“Come on, are you kidding? Do people not see through this gimmick of HM?” I asked, fully confused.

“No. People really thought GOD has come to their colony. Getting his ‘darshan’, after paying his ‘special Donation’, was a big blessing to them”, pat came my friend’s reply.

“Why? What was so great about HM? He is a human being, maybe with special powers built through his meditation or other means. At best, he can be a noble soul. But definitely cannot be a GOD. Is there no end to superstitious behaviour of common people?”, I wondered.

Superstition always takes over when common man is engulfed with fear of the unknown.

“There are no definite answers to your questions, Sangeetha. No point talking about it. And many rumours are floating for some time that HM has bought two houses in our colony and also has kept girls in the house, claiming them to be his followers”.

I went home with my head spinning thinking about HM and his activities.

I was very close to my grandpa and had lots of love and respect towards him for his bold and independent lifestyle and his practical thinking. When I was a teenager, he always used to tell me “Your happiness is your choice and never let other people’s behaviour or views rule a day in your life. Independent thought process is a virtue!!” To me, these words became a gospel of truth and made my thinking independent and accept pragmatism and take life as it comes.

“Grandpa, do you know about Holy Man? What do you think about him?” I asked him.

“Yes Sangeetha. I know about HM. I don’t believe his big assertions nor do I want to comment on his activities. Simply said, it is shady and not appropriate to the holy image he has created amongst the people with his so-called godly activities.”

“Why does HM call himself to be GOD?” I asked Grandpa, expecting only a practical answer from him.

“Sangeetha, I personally don’t know how any human equates and calls himself to be GOD. If we do it, then we are only creating more confusion than answers.

What is GOD? To me, GOD manifests in the form of being omnipotent, omnipresent and eternal, either in idol form or in the form of nature. Some do Idol worship, some worship his presence and some do not worship anything, but definitely agree and feel nature. When we go against Nature, we witness natural destruction which is seen more frequently in recent times”, grandpa answered philosophically.

I vividly remembered my school days, when grandpa took me on suburban train rides, when they were introduced in the city, from the originating station to the last station and return. I would ask for ice cream during such rides and would get it without fail.

On one such ride, I had asked, “Grandpa, why do you go to that small temple, going in suburban train and so far off and not pray in the temple in our colony itself?”

“Sangeetha, I feel very peaceful in that small temple, even if I have to go that far. For me more than praying to God, a place which gives peace and tranquility to the mind is a temple. That is the reason why, I do not go to many popular temples with huge crowds and very famous in the eyes of the people. Faith in going to a particular temple is personal to that individual. To me, such famous temples do not give that peace of mind. I am not saying whether it is right or wrong. It is just my way of life. If you believe GOD is omnipresent, you will agree with my thoughts”, was the practical answer of grandpa.

These words of advice have remained with me even today.

Four weeks of my holiday went by like a breeze. The day I was leaving for the airport, my friend came home running with the hot news about HM. As heard on every news channel howling - “breaking news!!!”

“Sangeetha, there is huge commotion at the temple and also at the houses owned by Holy Man since morning. There is police force and two police vans and too many voices shouting at one another. Maybe HM is arrested !!…” my friend said.

I left home, waving to my parents and grandfather, and seeing the commotion at the far end of the road…

-        Venkatesh