The Beloved Sant

Mom, I don’t understand why you and Dad come here every year. You are not only traveling to the other end of the globe, but this place is in the middle of nowhere; all I see here is this temple on the foothills and a row of pigeon holes down the unpaved road, you call living quarters. At least, I expected this temple to look architecturally somewhat decent, more like a western church. This place is darn ugly, urgently needing a chemical cleansing and a quality paint job. Anyway, who was this dumb and worthless Indian guru that attracted you so much? Instead of saving money for your retirement, you are wasting it all on this dummy. I am totally disappointed in both of you.

Paul, once you grow up, you will understand why we keep coming back to this place, time and again. It’s already five years since our beloved Sant has departed, but we still feel the same attraction as when he was here. Frankly, we cannot wait to come back here every year to be united with him in this temple. We feel a greater sense of oneness with him here than elsewhere.

Mom, who is this dumb guy that you all fell for? Was he educated? Did he do any philanthropic work that people should be proud of? Mom, it’s time you get out of this mindless devotion and get real about securing your life after retirement. If you continue to spend money this way, you won’t have any money left to enjoy your retirement.

Honey, if he was that dumb and worthless, people from around the world, across all races and religions, would not gather here every year during these hot summer days to celebrate his birthday and return home with his blessings. When you get a chance, just sit down in one corner of the prayer room and try to communicate with him. I guarantee he will appear and talk to you to relieve all your anxieties; you will get a feeling you never experienced before. You will then ask to come back here, over and over again. Just try communicating with him once.

“Okay, Mom. I will try, but you should take my opinion seriously,” Paul angrily reacted.

That afternoon as Yvonne and David were relaxing under a tree in the temple backyard, Paul showed up, “Mom, convince me that this dumb guru of yours is worth your time and all this money you spend to come here.”

“Paul, let your mother relax. She is extremely tired from the long plane ride. I will address your concerns,” remarked David, Paul’s father. David continued, “Fifteen years ago when I came here for the first time with your mother, I was in your shoes too. I was totally unwilling to come here, but your mother dragged me down to this place. I was a physical basket-case then, suffering from an acute form of cancer. Anyway, in my initial meetings with our beloved Sant, I was not at all excited; on the contrary, I was quite disappointed and perhaps annoyed, since I expected to encounter some spiritual miracles, immediately. However, your mother managed to calm me down and asked me to spend some quiet time in the prayer room to try to communicate with him via meditations. I tried, but I was too restless to meditate. Your mother insisted that I kept trying. Three or four days later, one afternoon I suddenly felt quite comfortable in meditating and then I realized I was increasingly becoming at peace with myself. I still remember, the evening your mother reminded me that I was very close to attaining his grace. The next afternoon, as I was able to meditate effortlessly, I encountered a true spiritual miracle; from a big mass of bright light a divine entity appeared and sat in front of me. He looked so divine, so peaceful, just the way you expect a true Prophet or Messiah to look. I was so awestruck by his mesmerizing divine beauty that I could hardly utter a word. As he smiled and placed his hand on my head, he chanted a mantra which I could not follow. As he finished chanting, he again smiled at me and then slowly exited, and along went the mass of bright light behind him. Of course, the divine entity that appeared during my meditations looked very different from our beloved Sant. Later that month, when we came back to the US, my physical exam showed I was cancer-free and I have been cancer-free ever since. In fact, back then, I was suffering from such a remote form of cancer that the medical community had virtually written me off. Now, tell me, why shouldn’t I revere him as God? In one of our later conversations, I thanked him for renewing my life; he however laughed it away calling it a God’s grace. Now, let your mother say a few things about our beloved Sant.”

Honey, I don’t remember how he came to be known as Sant. As you know, the root of the word ‘Sant’ is Sanskrit which, I think, simply means a saint or a holy person. But he never enjoyed being called that; instead, he always asked us to call him by his original first name, Raginder. We however felt quite awkward, so we kept calling him Sant and over a period of time he also came to accept that, perhaps as his real name. While we all considered him as our spiritual leader, he never gave us the impression that we were his disciples or even his followers; conversely, he always made us think that we were united together by the same set of credence and beliefs. We prayed together; we ate together; we played together; we cleaned the temple together; in fact, instead of being secluded himself from the rest of us, he always enjoyed being one of us. Every night we would sit outside and chat. It was such a joyous moment that I used to really look forward to. He would tell us all sorts of funny stories from his past. On many occasions, he mentioned how he disliked going anywhere without his wife and how he had to bribe her to give him company everywhere. By the way, he was not only highly educated, but he also built and ran a mega corporation. His kids are all prominent personalities today.

“So, what happened to all the wealth he accumulated?”

Dear, he gave it all away. Have you heard of the foundation called ‘The Inner Guiding Light’ that does so much of charitable work for the poor blind children around the world? After having donated all his wealth to that foundation which his wife and kids now run, he renounced the material world. He then built this temple and moved here. The devotees visited him only during the summer, but he lived here round the year, even during the harsh winter. We all invited him to our respective countries, but he never went anywhere. As the summer ended and we were all ready to leave, we could see the sadness in his face. On the final day, we would all hug him and cry and his tearful eyes could only be consoled by his two wolf dogs and a host of other pets including some deer, rabbits, monkeys and pigeons. At that moment, all his pets would gather around him to show their love and care and let him know they would take care of him during his lonely days. It was truly the saddest day of the year, for all of us.

Paul, your mother is right. Our beloved Sant had a way with the birds and the beasts. He could communicate with them so effectively that we always treated them as part of our extended family. The mountain people just loved him. One day every month, the mountain people would go down to the market in the valley to barter their products and on the way back they would stop by the temple to drop off some staples and produce for him. He and his crew of birds and the beasts used to thankfully and joyously celebrate that day by way of a grand monthly feast. But to tease him, the two wolf dogs would round up the wild pack from the nearby woods and show up for the grand feast, leaving practically nothing for him. He would just smile and say ‘I am always happy to share with God’s precious ones’ showing absolutely no discontent. Since he did not eat any processed foods, they hardly had any supply of foods during the rest of the month; they basically lived on whatever they could get from the surrounding trees, bushes and wetlands. Of course, the winter months were especially rough for them as the local vegetation went in hiatus. Let your mother now tell you the story of one his favorite pets, a king cobra.

Honey, perhaps the story about this king cobra may convince you of the spiritual power of our beloved Sant. It was a very hot afternoon and we were all sitting outside in the yard having our usual laughs and chats. Sant was sitting in one corner, telling funny stories to the small group around him. Suddenly we heard someone scream in fear, pointing to a fast approaching enormous black snake. Someone again screamed, ‘It’s a deadly king cobra.’ As we were all ready to flee the yard, Sant shouted, ‘Relax, he is quite innocent; he is not going to bite anybody.’ To maintain a safety buffer, we all rushed closer to the distant wall, leaving enough room for the cobra to move in. Amazingly, the cobra ran straight to Sant, climbed on him, wrapped around his neck for a while, kissed him on his cheeks and then ran back into the woods. We were all stunned and spellbound as we watched this miraculous event take place in front of our eyes. In his usual indifferent self, Sant looked at us and remarked, ‘Don’t be afraid of him. He is one of us.’ We saw that episode repeat, quite often thereafter. Although we were not totally comfortable in the presence of a cobra, yet we were not terribly frightened, either. We all knew, as long as Sant was around, the cobra wouldn’t harm us.

“Mom, that is simply fascinating. As you said, I should now go to the prayer room and try to communicate with the Sant to see if I realize his grace, like the way you guys did,” Paul remarked and proceeded to the temple.

As he sat down to meditate, a host of insignificant thoughts started crowding his mind causing him to lose all concentration. He became increasingly frustrated with himself and soon left the prayer room. His parents were still sitting outside under the tree, so he joined them and voiced his aggravation, “Mom, this meditation thing is not for me. I tried, but I couldn’t concentrate. My mind gets jammed with all sorts of unwelcome thoughts. The more I try to concentrate, the worse it gets.”

Honey, don’t worry. That’s how it is in the beginning. Just relax your body and mind and simply watch the Lord’s portrait for a while for the first couple of sittings; you will thus slowly and spontaneously learn to concentrate and develop an inner power to meditate. We all went through the same frustration as you are. But if you persevere, you will triumph.

The next afternoon, following his mother’s advice, Paul again sat down in the prayer room and just gazed at the Lord’s portrait as attentively as he could. While he still could not get to a tranquil enough mental state to meditate, he felt more relaxed and peaceful. He spent two more days gazing at the Lord’s portrait, but feeling increasingly more at peace with him. On the fifth afternoon, as he started his usual routine, he quietly and unconsciously fell into a state of trance. He tried to open his eyes, but he couldn’t. He suddenly felt extremely light and in no time he began to fly towards a snow-clad mountain. As he sat down at the mountain summit, he was enchanted to see a gigantic mass of bright light dawning in front of him. To his astonishment, he noticed a mesmerizing divine entity appeared through the bright light. As usual, the divine entity blessed him and slowly disappeared. As the mass of bright light dispersed, he was able to open his eyes. Although he found himself still sitting inside the prayer room, he was trembling with an unprecedented excitement and indescribable joy. He rushed out of the temple and as he started narrating his extraordinary experience to his parents, they were also ecstatic to know that Paul was finally graced.

Having been graced, Paul started spending more and more time in the prayer room than with his parents. His parents were happy to see the remarkable change in him too. Paul not only sounded happier, but he was also more calm, relaxed and peaceful. Amazingly, he also stopped complaining about the temple and the devotees and began to identify himself with the rest. He became increasingly more inquisitive of Sant’s spiritual life, his beliefs and teachings. One evening as they were all sitting outside and chatting, his mother started describing to him how simple and child-like their beloved Sant was, “He was a very simple-hearted person. He was so simple, we could talk to him about anything. He was not like a typical spiritual teacher or a Guru. He didn’t enjoy preaching at all, rather he had very simple things to say about life, like ‘if you deal with anyone with any evil intention, you will simply ignite the fire around you and that, in turn, will burn you and your loved ones’. At times, he behaved like a real kid. Once your dad accidentally made an unpleasant statement about another devotee that made Sant so upset he didn’t talk your dad for two days. Your dad also felt terribly ashamed; while he wanted to say sorry and make up, he didn’t know how to approach Sant. I felt terrible too, so I asked your dad to just walk up to Sant and ask for his forgiveness. As your dad said sorry to Sant, he hugged your dad and said sorry to him too, explaining how it was always a two-way channel. In fact, Sant never talked about that episode again. Out of curiosity, I once asked him if he remembered that episode and he replied he was not in the habit of looking back at unpleasant incidents. I always thought he truly had child’s arrogance; if I made him upset, he wouldn’t react negatively, but he would completely avoid me, whereas he would be perfectly normal with others. Once I made up with him, he would be just fine, as if it never happened. That is why I sometimes wondered if he was really God or just another Good Samaritan. Let your dad now describe how Sant used to lead us in singing devotional songs.”

Sant had a magical voice. We all loved the way he sang the devotional songs. All those songs were written by him and his kids. While he would lead us in singing, we all loved to sing along with him. We even heard from the mountain people, during the non-summer months when we were not here, as he sang, he would be joined by the temple’s birds and the beasts. In fact, one of our favorite songs is called ‘The Birds and the Beasts and God and I’; you must have often heard your mother and I sing that song at home, too. In fact, he once mentioned, he wrote that song to express his heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for those birds and the beasts that took care of him round the year. I never came across anyone who respected earth’s every living species the way Sant did. He simply worshipped every living being. When we joined him in his morning walk around the mountains, we used to see how even the wildlife here would greet him. Even after Sant’s departure, no wildlife has ever attacked us, in or around the temple.

“Mom, tell me how his life ended.”

One evening once our songs and prayers were over, he suddenly announced that the following morning he would be exiting from his mortal body. We were all so stunned and shocked that we didn’t know if we should cry or celebrate. Since it was his voluntary exit, we tried hard to change his mind, but he wouldn’t. We were up all night crying and thinking what we would do without him. Since he had brought so much of joy and happiness in our daily lives, we all felt totally devastated. We decorated the prayer room using all the beautiful flowers and fresh leafs we could get. At around 10am, Sant joined us in the prayer room. There was total silence. We even let all the birds, and the beasts and the reptiles in. The announcement came with such a short notice, Sant’s family however could not be contacted. As Sant sat in the middle of the room, we started our meditation. Once the meditation was over, he spoke for the first time that morning, ‘I will sing a departing song that I just composed.’ It was a beautiful song, essentially praising and appreciating his wonderful wife and the kids, his friends around the world, and all the birds and the beasts and God’s other creations that he came to love. As he started singing the final phase of the song, he slowly stood up and smiled at us. We noticed, fountains of tears were flowing out of his eyes. We were still in a trance, simply watching and silently wiping our tears. Once he finished his song, he sat down keeping his head down and murmuring probably some mantras, not loud enough that could be heard by the rest of us. In a few moments, his head went further down. We realized it was all over. The mortuary record later showed no unusual substance in his system at the time of his exit. Paul, talking about his passage, I am feeling sick. David, would you please carry on?

Okay, dear. That evening as we were all submerged in an ocean of grief, we heard a loud bang on the entrance door of the prayer room. As we opened the door, we were all astonished to see our familiar king cobra. Since Sant was gone, we were obviously all terrified to see the cobra at the doorstep. We however let him in with a deep sense of fear and terror. Amazingly, having totally ignored the large gathering inside, the cobra went straight to the coffin, slowly climbed up and sneaked inside. By then, we realized he appeared to pay his final homage to the departed Sant, so we all became curious and moved closer to the coffin to see what he was up to. He was struggling to go under Sant’s neck; as soon as one of the devotees raised Sant’s head, as usual the cobra wrapped around his neck and fondly kissed on his cheeks. He then stood up on Sant’s chest and looked all around the room. To our indescribable surprise, we noticed tears were streaming down his eyes. A few moments later he jumped out of the coffin, stormed through the door and disappeared in the woods. Nobody has seen him ever since. The two wolf dogs also vanished shortly thereafter, and we were too scared to look for them in the wilderness. They also never showed up. Those two dogs were also very fond of your mother. I know how much your mother misses them too. The monkeys and the pigeons are still here. The mountain people who were so fond of Sant hardly stop by now.

David took a short breather and continued, “Sant wanted to be cremated, but to allow Sant’s family and friends to arrive from all over the world, we decided to hang on to his body in the temple for a week. During that week, his body showed no apparent signs of decay. Of course, we all have heard and read the same about other great saints and sages over the centuries. Since the cremation had to take place in the nearest town about thirty miles away, we arranged a few carriages for our final journey together. As we were passing through the woods, we also noticed the immense sadness among the birds and the beasts, quietly observing their beloved Sant being carried away from this earth. It was like a heartbreaking, still picture.”

“Mom, I feel so ashamed that I made so many unwarranted comments about Sant. I hope he forgives me.”

Our beloved Sant is very forgiving. During your next meditation, just ask for his forgiveness and you will see, nothing bad will ever happen to you. Honey, I really miss him. I wish I could see him once more. We are running out of money, so I am not even sure we can come back here, anymore.

“Mom, I am finishing college soon. Don’t worry; we will come back here, over and over again.”