Sri Sadguru Mahime

Author: Charana Dasa

Translator: Shri.Ganesh Prasad

Chapter 152 :  Shall I push a little further?

Sadguru will keep a watch over his devotees and protect them as eye lashes protect eyes. This incident is about a person whose acquaintance with Gurunatha dated back to more than 25 years. Still, when I spoke to him I did not find any ego or excessiveness in his behavior instead he seemed to be floating in eternal bliss.

He started like...” Long time ago, we were making arrangements for a marriage in our family. We needed coconut leaf buds and other items to erect a ‘chappara’(Thatched roof erected in courtyard for marriages and other ceremonies), we spoke to one person in Sakharaya Patna and went there to collect them. The farm belonged to Gurunatha but at that time we did not know him as such. Once the items were loaded he said I will also come till Chickmaglur. I asked him to be seated in front. But, he said “I don’t want to come in between you brothers” and made some space in the back and sat there. His words about not coming between brothers left an impression in my mind. When we reached Chickmaglur we heard that the bride was suffering from high fever and has been admitted to a hospital. Coming to know about this Gurunatha asked us.. “The bride is a step mother’s daughter isn’t it?” we nodded. He continued “It seems you have not bought a wedding saree for her mother”. We immediately bought one saree and kept and the bride recovered miraculously and the marriage went on without any hitch.

Probably four years after this, I was coming from Shivamogga towards my town on my bike. When I was about one kilometer away from Sakharaya Patna the bike broke down and l was towing it. Then someone from behind asked ‘Sir, shall I push the bike?’ I said yes and without even looking back sat on the bike seat. That person would have pushed for almost a kilometer, then he asked “shall I push a little further? I told him, thanks, I can manage from here but still did not bother to look back at him.

A few years after this, Gurunatha reminded me about the incident and told me it was him who was pushing my bike.

His recollection of events was flowing like a stream of water that I did not want to stop/disturb.

“A few events like this made our friendship even deeper. As I did not have any clue about what ‘Guru’ means I was treating him as a friend. A little later I had to travel I had to attend a relative’s marriage near Shivamogga, as Gurunatha wanted to go to Sagara (a nearby town) he tagged along with us and we started in a car. First we visited his relative’s house and then went to attend the marriage. Gurunatha had bought two garlands and kept it in the car we did not know the reason behind it.

As Gurunatha was in dhoti we did not want anyone to humiliate him so asked him to be sitting in the car while we went inside the marriage hall. Inside the marriage hall we were making fun of the bride’s father as we knew him to be a miser and quite peculiar in his mannerisms. Suddenly, we saw Gurunatha coming inside with two garlands, and got worried. Gurunatha asked the bride and the groom to exchange garlands, which they did. It was an unusual sight to see the bride and groom exchange garlands before they entered the mantap that too in front of the strangers.

I told Gurunatha we’ll go to a hotel and eat there. But, Gurunatha said, “Having attended a marriage we should not leave without having food there”. I kept quiet. Then Gurunatha went to the kitchen with a plantain leaf and asked for food almost like a beggar does “Ayya please serve us something, we are hungry”. The cooks served for just four of us. After that everyone flocked Gurunatha. The bride’s father who was an astrologer appeared from nowhere gave a very small dakshina though he was miser along with tambula (betel leaves) and vanished.

Through these incidents Gurunatha had shown, though he held a very high stature, he did not fall into any of the usual stereotypes and his simplicity shone always.

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