Meeting The Guru

It was densely dark and the rain in this city that late evening could be called unprecedented. It was pouring down blinding the vision of the Tata indigo driver Subhas Pani. Subhas was a post-graduate in political science. He had worked the hardest to get through the civil services examination, but it seemed fate had betrayed him or it had decided otherwise. His first attempt was unsuccessful. He had cleared the written examination twice but couldn't pass the viva voce both times. Right from the beginning, Subhas was unreasonably resolved not to accept a teaching job. The girl who loved her had ditched him and then he found the world a loathsome hell.

After years of sulking and sorrowing, he decided to do something at least to feed himself. He visited places in search of a job, but there was no job for him. Out of desperation, he decided on being a taxi driver. He excelled in singing and painting but who would pay one for singing and painting? He had taught in a private college and had to quit after an argument with the Principal. Then he joined an English medium school where teachers touched the feet of the Principal to express and pledge their allegiance to him. He hated the politics there and quit telling his fellow teachers that he thought domestic helpers and betel leaf sellers lived a more respectable life. He realized that education had become a most lucrative trade and nobody liked genuine talent. Parents, friends, neighbors, teachers,

principals, chairmen et al desperately needed splendid and eye-catching marks in each and every paper. He was fed up with the bogus system of education in the country. 

When he reached Acharya Vihar, he decided to have a short rest. He saw an old man sitting on the ground under the flyover and smoking a cigarette. He was wearing a black cap. Subhas observed the man was contemplating him and what could be his reason? Subhas was sure the old gentleman wanted a lift. He started a conversation."Sir, it doesn't seem this downpour is going to stop."

The stranger said contemplative, "Man is responsible for all these erratic weather conditions. Indiscriminate cutting down of forests and converting agricultural fields into human settlements and the rise in the pollution levels. In fact so many things...! if we discuss seriously?"

Subhas returned, "Sir if you reflect a while you can make out that man's greed is at the root of everything. Economists say industrialization can solve all our problems but Sir an industrial society only makes a man selfish and greedy." The old man seemed to be confused and for a moment kept quiet. He became sure the taxi driver was educated.

It was still raining uninterruptedly. Subhas said to the stranger, "Sir, where would you like to go..? I am going to Sahid Nagar. Come if you please.."

Subhas saw the stranger was quaking and sweating. He said, "Sir....! What's the matter? Why are you trembling?"He took the signs for a heart attack. But the stranger said, "I'm a sugar patient. My sugar level is decreasing." Subhas brought the stranger a bottle of coca-cola and a large bar of chocolate. The old man drank all the contents from the plastic bottle and ate a lot of sweet-savory chocolate."

"Medically speaking, the doctors call it hypoglycemia. This is a dangerous condition. I am experiencing it most of the time these days." The old man said this after half an hour. Subhas drove the car and they traveled together. Subhas dropped the stranger at Satya Nagar for he lived there. He asked him to go inside his residence. It was a splendid building. The old man dwelt alone in the big house. He pushed some hundred rupee notes into Subhas's shirt pocket despite the young man's strong resistance. 

The duo became very close friends.

Subhas came to know that Sarat Chandra Praharaj was a retired police officer. His two sons and a daughter lived abroad. The daughter, a chemistry professor, was a permanent citizen of Canada and had been divorced twice and both her ex-husbands were whites. She had a mentally disabled son from her first marriage. The first son, a cardiologist, was settled in Malaysia and his wife was originally from Tamil Nadu. The second son, though forty, was still unmarried. He taught physics at a university in Ireland. Mr.Praharaj's wife had died of a heart attack when he was forty-six. 

The relationship between the taxi driver and the lonely old man grew warm and intense. The young man served the old man like his own father. They began to live in the same building. Subhas occupied a beautiful and spacious room. Subhas regularly cooked food for both. But he was curious about the old man's eating habits. Mr. Praharaj ate very little but never in the taxi driver's presence. In the daytime, he would take a little rice and at night a glass of milk or an apple. Once while making Praharaj's beds he found a large bottle containing some superfine powder in it. He had been able to see that the old man would take some spoonfuls of the powder in his rice and curry. Subhas thought it was too personal a question to be asked. He thought Mr.Praharaj was taking some herbal medicine in his food. Once he had put a question about it but Mr.Praharaj had avoided answering it. 

Subhas wondered at Mr.Praharaj's activities since they appeared unusual. Once the old man was munching bread and sipping water to swallow the dry mouthfuls. Then he discovered that the herbal powder he was taking in his food was made from neem leaf! In the hot season, he didn't use any air conditioner or fans."What kind of life does this man live? " Subhas often asked himself. 

After some long years, old Mr.Praharaj called Subhas to his presence once and said, "Son, I have decided to say goodbye to this world. My death will take place on the 27th of coming January. 2:25 in the afternoon. Note down..." Subhas thought Praharaj had become mentally depressed. It was natural since he had none in this world. When Subhas was wondering thus, the old man clutched his wrist so hard that he screamed in extreme pain. When the old man released his wrist he rolled over and over on the floor most tragically. Then he sang some beautiful devotional songs and found himself to be joy incarnate. He hardly knew any singing and couldn't believe he himself was singing without any break. He also chanted hymns in Sanskrit with eyes suffused with shining tears. Then Praharaj caught hold of Subhas's other hand. Next Subhas was found dancing naked in the street to everyone's utter distrust. People saw him bleeding in the knee. For about fifteen days Subhas underwent a terrible phase of affliction.

When this cruel and tormenting phase ended, Subhas the taxi driver found the universe unraveling its incredible mysteries to him most benevolently. He understood bit by bit and most irrefutably all the unsolved mysteries of the universe. When he asked himself a question of metaphysical nature, the answer to it came in a breathtakingly transparent manner...!Subhas who was convinced that the visible physical world was the only reality and anything outside that was purely fictitious was transfixed by stark bewilderment. The moment he thought of Lord Shiva tears came to his eyes abundantly. 

Mr.Praharaj who was now like a father figure to him was there to pave the way for him to a radiant future. He could marry a glamorous girl of his choice and start a most respectable worldly life but he was determined to devote himself to the practice of austerities to live on a spiritual plane. However, his master had told him he would be a householder and there was a very long time before he took to a life of austerity and saintliness. 

The sky was covered by dark clouds; it was certainly going to rain. I got ready to leave the place. I touched my Master Subhas Chandra Pani's feet. He gave me a hug lovingly and said: "Never look for help from outside for you are a self-sufficient being. All the happiness is inside you. Just explore it and make your life a blessed one. The value of a human's life is incomparable."