Bhoomi Madha
With A Big Heart- Short Fiction.
The
minister was coming out of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple when he noticed
a group of devotees clustered around a mantap near the entrance of the temple.
Out of curiosity he hurried over to join the throng and to see what it was all
about. In front of the mantap sat a beatifically smiling man in his 50's clad
in the saffron robes of a mendicant and he was preaching to a congregation of a
few devotees. The minister paused to listen for a few minutes as the swamiji,
as he automatically called him in his mind, started speaking again “how many of
you sleep well at night? How many fall asleep as soon as you hit the bed and
sleep dreamlessly all night? How many of you have a full appetite and eat when
you are hungry?” He paused as few seconds and looked meaningfully at the
listening devotees .
The
minister felt as if someone had given him a knock on his head. He had just now
prayed to god about his various ailments which included long and troubled
insomniac nights and multiple ulcers which prevented him from enjoying all the
power and perks of his office for which he had sacrificed so much and done so
many crimes which still gave him a troubled
conscience even after so many years. He felt like this swami was gods
way of answering his prayers, so he walked up to the mantap and gesturing his
ever present security to stay back, well back sat at the back of the crowd to
listen to the discourse.
“The
only way forward” continued the swami
“is to reduce your expectations, your greed for more and more. However much you
have you always yearn for more. At what point will you stop? Will you feel that
you have had enough? Is there no end to your wants?” he paused again and seemed
to be staring meaningfully at the minister seated right at the back of the
crowd “unless you voluntarily decide in your minds that you have plenty you
will never heal yourself” and he rasied his voice “and goddess lakshmi only
loves someone who exudes satisfaction. She flees the unworthy miser who grasps
for more and more. So go home and reorder your life according to your needs and
not your wants. Om shanti, shanti, shanti hi”.
As
the crowd dispersed slowly the minister approached the swamiji with folded hands “swamiji, i am blessed to have heard your discourse today, every single word
you said reverberates within my heart. I want to do something for you, please
allow this penitent to offer something”. The swami smiled enigmatically at the
minister and said “ son, i am a beggar living on the good wishes of the gods
and the alms of the devout. What could i wish for? I don't need anything. If my
advice has helped you, then go in peace my son. I am through with this world, i
desire nothing”. The minister who had built up his entire political life on
patronage and doles to his faithful adherents wasn't so easily swayed “ nothing
swamiji? You are the first person who has said nothing even when the state home minister has asked you directly about what you want. It's a novel experience for me to be refused like this. Its usually i who do the refusing. I think my karma is preventing you from accepting
anything from my hands. Do re-consider and allow this sinner to gain a little
punya”.
The
mendicant scratched his beard and got up abruptly to walk forward and he beckoned the minister to
follow him. As they went to one of the gates of the temple, the swamji pointed
out his hand towards the river which flowed beside the temple, specifically broad
expanse of the riverbank with its
gleaming white sands “ i have been meaning to construct a small ashram on this
peaceful river bank so i can perform my meditations as close to this peaceful
river as possible. And besides the crowd for my sermons grow bigger day by day
and its becoming harder to accommodate them all in the same small mantap i sleep
in. I have petitioned the district collector about this previously when he came
to the temple but he just accepts my petitions with a smile and does nothing
with them. Maybe you can?”. The minister felt elated, “atlast”, he thought “there
is something i can do to show my power”. The fact that he had been refused when
offering to help had been a great shock to his system. He turned around and
beckoned to the collector who had been part of the discreet group following the
minister and the swamiji from a distance.
The
collector came running forward “What is this i hear? That you refused to allot
the swamiji this riverbank to construct an ashram? Every month some fellow or
other comes with your recommendation letter and i allot him prime residential and commercial plots inside the capital city from the government quota freely,
but you cannot find it in your heart to give up even a river bank for this holy
man? Is this your administration?” he thundered at the collector who quaked visibly.
“sir, no sir, i will sign the file as soon as i reach the office sir” he
murmured. The minister continued “See
that you do. And no more troubling this holy man. If i hear anything like that” he left the rest
unsaid. After taking the holy man’s blessing the minister went back to his car
and returned to the capital to take up governance again.
Although
he meant to return to the temple town pretty soon to check up on the holy man
again, events in his political life caught up with him and he coudnt afford to
take the time off to go on a pilgrimage till more than an year had passed away.
Atlast one day with the assembly not in session and nothing else to do, he
decided to go see the swamiji again, to see how the ashram was coming on. When he
reached the temple he eagerly looked around for the swami but he was nowhere to
be found, so he hurried up to the eastern gate to look down on the river. To his considerable shock he found the river
bank desecrated, dug up to great depths, the river itself narrowed down to a
thin trickle and everywhere signs of great destrcution to the once pristine
riverbank. He immediately got into his car and headed straight ofr the
collectors office.
Once
seated opposite the collector he asked “What happened to the swamijis ashram?
What did you greedy bastards do?”. The collector who had had a pretty satisfying
day till then, quaked at the minister's wrath “We? We did nothing but follow
your orders sir, we gave the man permission to build on the riverbank by
granting him a patta and environmental clearance and everything. Soon lorry
after lorry came down to cart away the clear river sand and when asked about it
by the locals the swami had said they were clearing the foundations to build a
grand riverside ashram. As the sand lorries started doing ten trips a day, some
of the locals tried to complain, but the fraud swami threatened them with your
name saying he was close to the minister and sent them to me as reference. I
had to to tell them that you had instructed us government officials to leave
him alone, so there was no way we could take any action against him. After removing
all the usable sand from the river bed, the swami disappeared overnight” the
collector concluded.
The
minister sat there like a stone and reflected on the swami’s sermon a year back
on the nature of greed and its effects on men. Nothing changes, thought the
minster, everyone wants to loot the government money, be it a politician or the
public. The bhoomi madha who gives to everyone again and again, no questions
asked is the public money and goddess lakshmi is the public treasury. “And to
think i was fooled by a greater fraud than me” he mused with a bitter frown.
P.S.
Disclaimer- this story is not referenced to and in no one way about living
persons or swamijis who conducted any meets in any river beds in recent memory.
This is purely a work of fiction.
