"I saw a yogi remain in the air, several feet above
the ground, last night at a group meeting." My friend, Upendra Mohun
Chowdhury, spoke impressively.
I gave him an enthusiastic smile. "Perhaps I can guess his name.
Was it Bhaduri Mahasaya, of Upper Circular Road?"
Upendra nodded, a little crestfallen not to be a news-bearer. My
inquisitiveness about saints was well-known among my friends; they
delighted in setting me on a fresh track.
"The yogi lives so close to my home that I often visit him." My words
brought keen interest to Upendra's face, and I made a further
confidence.
"I have seen him in remarkable feats. He has expertly
mastered the various pranayamas
1 of the ancient eightfold yoga outlined by
Patanjali.2
Once Bhaduri Mahasaya performed the Bhastrika Pranayama before me
with such amazing force that it seemed an actual storm had arisen in the
room! Then he extinguished the thundering breath and remained motionless
in a high state of superconsciousness.3
The aura of peace after the storm was vivid beyond forgetting."
"I heard that the saint never leaves his home." Upendra's tone was a
trifle incredulous.
"Indeed it is true! He has lived indoors for the past twenty years.
He slightly relaxes his self-imposed rule at the times of our holy
festivals, when he goes as far as his front sidewalk! The beggars gather
there, because Saint Bhaduri is known for his tender heart."
"How does he remain in the air, defying the law of gravitation?"
"A yogi's body loses its grossness after use of certain
pranayamas. Then it will levitate or hop about like a leaping frog.
Even saints who do not practice a formal yoga
4 have been known to levitate during a state of
intense devotion to God."
"I would like to know more of this sage. Do you attend his evening
meetings?" Upendra's eyes were sparkling with curiosity.
"Yes, I go often. I am vastly entertained by the wit in his wisdom.
Occasionally my prolonged laughter mars the solemnity of his gatherings.
The saint is not displeased, but his disciples look daggers!"
On my way home from school that afternoon, I passed Bhaduri
Mahasaya's cloister and decided on a visit. The yogi was inaccessible to
the general public. A lone disciple, occupying the ground floor, guarded
his master's privacy. The student was something of a martinet; he now
inquired formally if I had an "engagement." His guru put in an
appearance just in time to save me from summary ejection.
"Let Mukunda come when he will." The sage's eyes twinkled. "My rule
of seclusion is not for my own comfort, but for that of others. Worldly
people do not like the candor which shatters their delusions. Saints are
not only rare but disconcerting. Even in scripture, they are often found
embarrassing!"
I followed Bhaduri Mahasaya to his austere quarters on the top floor,
from which he seldom stirred. Masters often ignore the panorama of the
world's ado, out of focus till centered in the ages. The contemporaries
of a sage are not alone those of the narrow present.
"Maharishi,5
you are the first yogi I have known who always stays indoors."
"God plants his saints sometimes in unexpected soil, lest we think we
may reduce Him to a rule!"
The sage locked his vibrant body in the lotus posture.
In his seventies, he displayed no unpleasing signs of age or sedentary
life. Stalwart and straight, he was ideal in every respect. His face was
that of a rishi, as described in the ancient texts. Noble-headed,
abundantly bearded, he always sat firmly upright, his quiet eyes fixed
on Omnipresence.
The saint and I entered the meditative state. After an hour, his
gentle voice roused me.
"You go often into the silence, but have you developed
anubhava?"6
He was reminding me to love God more than meditation. "Do not mistake
the technique for the Goal."
He offered me some mangoes. With that good-humored wit
that I found so delightful in his grave nature, he remarked, "People in
general are more fond of Jala Yoga (union with food) than of
Dhyana Yoga (union with God)."
His yogic pun affected me uproariously.
"What a laugh you have!" An affectionate gleam came into his gaze.
His own face was always serious, yet touched with an ecstatic smile. His
large, lotus eyes held a hidden divine laughter.
"Those letters come from far-off America." The sage indicated several
thick envelopes on a table. "I correspond with a few societies there
whose members are interested in yoga. They are discovering India anew,
with a better sense of direction than Columbus! I am glad to help them.
The knowledge of yoga is free to all who will receive, like the
ungarnishable daylight.
"What rishis perceived as essential for human
salvation need not be diluted for the West. Alike in soul though diverse
in outer experience, neither West nor East will flourish if some form of
disciplinary yoga be not practiced."
The saint held me with his tranquil eyes. I did not realize that his
speech was a veiled prophetic guidance. It is only now, as I write these
words, that I understand the full meaning in the casual intimations he
often gave me that someday I would carry India's teachings to America.
"Maharishi, I wish you would write a book on yoga for the benefit of
the world."
"I am training disciples. They and their students will be living
volumes, proof against the natural disintegrations of time and the
unnatural interpretations of the critics." Bhaduri's wit put me into
another gale of laughter.
I remained alone with the yogi until his disciples arrived in the
evening. Bhaduri Mahasaya entered one of his inimitable discourses. Like
a peaceful flood, he swept away the mental debris of his listeners,
floating them Godward. His striking parables were expressed in a
flawless Bengali.
This evening Bhaduri expounded various philosophical points connected
with the life of Mirabai, a medieval Rajputani princess who abandoned
her court life to seek the company of sadhus. One great-sannyasi refused
to receive her because she was a woman; her reply brought him humbly to
her feet.
"Tell the master," she had said, "that I did not know
there was any Male in the universe save God; are we all not females
before Him?" (A scriptural conception of the Lord as the only Positive
Creative Principle, His creation being naught but a passive maya.)
Mirabai composed many ecstatic songs which are still treasured in
India; I translate one of them here:
"If by bathing daily God could be realized
Sooner would I be a whale in the deep;
If by eating roots and fruits He could be known
Gladly would I choose the form of a goat;
If the counting of rosaries uncovered Him
I would say my prayers on mammoth beads;
If bowing before stone images unveiled Him
A flinty mountain I would humbly worship;
If by drinking milk the Lord could be imbibed
Many calves and children would know Him;
If abandoning one's wife would summon God
Would not thousands be eunuchs?
Mirabai knows that to find the Divine One
The only indispensable is Love."
Several students put rupees in Bhaduri's slippers which lay by his
side as he sat in yoga posture. This respectful offering, customary in
India, indicates that the disciple places his material goods at the
guru's feet. Grateful friends are only the Lord in disguise, looking
after His own.
"Master, you are wonderful!" A student, taking his leave, gazed
ardently at the patriarchal sage. "You have renounced riches and
comforts to seek God and teach us wisdom!" It was well-known that
Bhaduri Mahasaya had forsaken great family wealth in his early
childhood, when single-mindedly he entered the yogic path.
"You are reversing the case!" The saint's face held a mild rebuke. "I
have left a few paltry rupees, a few petty pleasures, for a cosmic
empire of endless bliss. How then have I denied myself anything? I know
the joy of sharing the treasure. Is that a sacrifice? The shortsighted
worldly folk are verily the real renunciates! They relinquish an
unparalleled divine possession for a poor handful of earthly toys!"
I chuckled over this paradoxical view of renunciationone which puts
the cap of Croesus on any saintly beggar, whilst transforming all proud
millionaires into unconscious martyrs.
"The divine order arranges our future more wisely than any insurance
company." The master's concluding words were the realized creed of his
faith. "The world is full of uneasy believers in an outward security.
Their bitter thoughts are like scars on their foreheads. The One who
gave us air and milk from our first breath knows how to provide day by
day for His devotees."
I continued my after-school pilgrimages to the saint's
door. With silent zeal he aided me to attain anubhava. One day he
moved to Ram Mohan Roy Road, away from the neighborhood of my Gurpar
Road home. His loving disciples had built him a new hermitage, known as
"Nagendra Math."7
Although it throws me ahead of my story by a number of years, I will
recount here the last words given to me by Bhaduri Mahasaya. Shortly
before I embarked for the West, I sought him out and humbly knelt for
his farewell blessing:
"Son, go to America. Take the dignity of hoary India for your shield.
Victory is written on your brow; the noble distant people will well
receive you."
1 Methods of controlling life-force through regulation of breath.
Back to
text
2 The foremost ancient exponent of yoga.
Back to
text
3 French professors were the first in the West to be willing to
scientifically investigate the possibilities of the superconscious mind.
Professor Jules-Bois, member of the L'Ecole de Psychologie of the
Sorbonne, lectured in America in 1928; he told his audiences that French
scientists have accorded recognition to the superconsciousness, "which
is the exact opposite of Freud's subconscious mind and is the faculty
which makes man really man and not just a super-animal." M. Jules-Bois
explained that the awakening of the higher consciousness "was not to be
confused with Coueism or hypnotism. The existence of a superconscious
mind has long been recognized philosophically, being in reality the
Oversoul spoken of by Emerson, but only recently has it been recognized
scientifically." The French scientist pointed out that from the
superconsciousness come inspiration, genius, moral values. "Belief in
this is not mysticism though it recognized and valued the qualities
which mystics preached."
Back to
text
4 St. Theresa of Avila and other Christian saints were often observed
in a state of levitation.
Back to
text
5 "Great sage."
Back to
text
6 Actual perception of God.
Back to
text
7 The saint's full name was Nagendranath Bhaduri. Math means
hermitage or ashram.
Back to
text
