The Swami in the mutt - Annasamy Anna

 

One of the many stories he tells me in the evenings over a glass of tea, sitting next to the fireplace as I would be cooking the evening meal ...

A simple story, but in these simple stories is built up the ethos of a community and a nation. There is a fundamental questioning of why the wrongs committed by a hungry man should be punished ... and all stories have god woven into the fabric of the story.

" ...

In another story there was a swami of a mutt who would feed all sadhus who came, and also give them money for their onward travel. There was a poor man with four sons who was unable to find work for days, and in desperation put on orange robes, smeared vibhuti over his forehead, lifted a kaavadi and disguised thus set out for the mutt saying, ‘Namo Narayana, Namo Narayana’. There he was received and fed well. Then the swami asked him where he came from. He replied ‘Kailaasam’, thinking that as the abode of Lord Shiva would be very far away and the swami would give him a handsome sum of money for the onward journey expenses. The swami understood the picture. He asked the disguised sadhu how far Kailasam was and when he fumbled for a reply, the swami locked him up in a room. The man wailed long at the thought of his waiting family, but the swami would not relent. Some days later another sadhu came, and was similarly fed. Then he heard the wailing of the false sadhu and went near the room where he was locked up. The man poured out his woes, and the sadhu promised to help him get released. When the mutt swami came, the sadhu said he wished to ask him a question. Then he asked him how far Dwarakapuram, the abode of Lord Krishna, was from Kailaasam. The swami could not answer. Then the sadhu told his that the poor man who was locked up came disguised as a sadhu driven by hunger and not with any other evil intention. And then he had locked him up for not being able to answer a question to which the he himself did not know the answer. The swami then unlocked the door and the man fled homewards without a backward glance. ... "

The children all giggled with joy at the story (they had come home to study in the evening), but a certain gentle subversion had happenned during this story session ...