From Chapter Four
The water of the Ganges consisted here of melted snow and was extremely cold, so none of us bathed. By mistake, Bholanath took the wrong route today right after Sukki. Chhabilal had to return midway, after Harsell, to find him, so it was already afternoon when they arrived. We were thus compelled to stay here for the night. Coming to know this, the half-naked Bengali Sadhu came up to us again and engaged in conversation. He told me in his peculiar mixed Hindi that his place of birth was at Chaudanga near Ranaghat in the district of Nadia. In the prime of his life he got his initiation, became an ascetic and received the name Krishna Das. Later on he had travelled to the Himalayas, where he for the last fifty years had wandered hither and thither. He had been living in the Dharali for the last fifteen years. Jogenbabu interrupted his continuous chirping and asked, “Which caste do you belong to?” He ignored this question and said that here he was simply known as “the fruit eating Bengali Baba”. He had celebrated his 120th birthday here in Dharali. In the winter, he lived here among the snow and ice. Previously, many good Sadhus lived here, he said, but those days were now gone.
Listening to all of this made me curious, and I put his some questions in writing and gave them to Monimohan to read out. Why was he wearing the Ramanandi Tilak? What kind of spiritual practices did he engage in? What kind of realizations had he achieved? In answer, the ascetic said that he was at first a devotee of Gaur, later on a devotee of Shri Krishna, but recently he had associated with some Ramanandis and adopted their Tilak, becoming known as Rama Das. In regards to his spiritual practices, he said that in the morning his custom is to drink one sheer of hot milk. From sunrise to sunset, he stands knee deep in ice cold water on one leg, looking at the sun. Placing his two hands on his navel, he mentally recites the mantra that his preceptor gave him. He never deviated from this practice, even in winter, when the water of the Bhagirathi freezes. After coming back to his cottage after sunset, he will again drink a sheer of hot milk. He said that without the hot milk, he would not be able to stand in the freezing water of the Bhagirathi, but that he ate nothing else. For the last fifteen years he had stuck to these practices.
I was astonished to hear of this strange system. I wanted to know why in this age of Kali someone would take up such an eccentric process and what result he had gained by such a hard and laborious method. He said, “I don’t know. I have been doing this, but I have not gained anything yet. I came to know that if one recites the Guru mantra in this way, one will be liberated from the bondage of birth and death.” I said nothing. It would not be proper to disturb him further. But in my mind I thought, “Liberation from the bondage of birth and death! What a hard and laborious practice for such an insignificant fruit!” After some more time, “the fruit eating Bengali Baba” took his leave, delighted to have had the opportunity to speak Bengali.
Listening to all of this made me curious, and I put his some questions in writing and gave them to Monimohan to read out. Why was he wearing the Ramanandi Tilak? What kind of spiritual practices did he engage in? What kind of realizations had he achieved? In answer, the ascetic said that he was at first a devotee of Gaur, later on a devotee of Shri Krishna, but recently he had associated with some Ramanandis and adopted their Tilak, becoming known as Rama Das. In regards to his spiritual practices, he said that in the morning his custom is to drink one sheer of hot milk. From sunrise to sunset, he stands knee deep in ice cold water on one leg, looking at the sun. Placing his two hands on his navel, he mentally recites the mantra that his preceptor gave him. He never deviated from this practice, even in winter, when the water of the Bhagirathi freezes. After coming back to his cottage after sunset, he will again drink a sheer of hot milk. He said that without the hot milk, he would not be able to stand in the freezing water of the Bhagirathi, but that he ate nothing else. For the last fifteen years he had stuck to these practices.
I was astonished to hear of this strange system. I wanted to know why in this age of Kali someone would take up such an eccentric process and what result he had gained by such a hard and laborious method. He said, “I don’t know. I have been doing this, but I have not gained anything yet. I came to know that if one recites the Guru mantra in this way, one will be liberated from the bondage of birth and death.” I said nothing. It would not be proper to disturb him further. But in my mind I thought, “Liberation from the bondage of birth and death! What a hard and laborious practice for such an insignificant fruit!” After some more time, “the fruit eating Bengali Baba” took his leave, delighted to have had the opportunity to speak Bengali.