समर्पण 8 —- बाबा राम नाथ जी एक सिद्ध पुरष Samarpan 8 — Baba Ramnath ji, An Accomplished Being

Baba Ramnath ji was a great seeker of the Nath tradition, and his deeds were great as well. During the upheaval of 1947, he would stand with a bullock cart filled with grain to help people — whether a caravan of Hindus came, or a caravan of Muslims, he would distribute grain to everyone alike, never distinguishing by religion or faith. In this way, he helped travellers along the way, assisting all those uprooted and divided by the border between Pakistan and Hindustan. After a good deal of time had passed, he set up a foundry in Mandi Gobindgarh, and due to his saintly nature, he would set up a free kitchen (langar) for all the labourers there. His family objected to this, and he left everything behind to become a Nath. When I asked, Husanchand ji told me how he came to meet him.

"I was going for the darshan of Naina Devi, and ahead lies a pond which people also call Kolaan Ka Talab, where some people were quarrelling. I stopped too, and saw some shopkeepers demanding money from a sadhu, who was saying, 'When I don't have it, where would I get it from? I haven't eaten it myself — I only held a community feast (bhandara); you too will earn merit from it.' 'We don't want such merit,' the shopkeepers were saying. He stood about 6 feet tall, wearing large earrings in his ears and a saffron robe. I asked them what had happened, and they said, 'He took supplies for a bhandara and now won't pay — it's 35,000 rupees; if it were less, we'd let it go.' I asked the Baba, 'Baba, if you didn't have the money, why hold the bhandara?' and he took me aside and said, 'A Yakshini goddess used to give me money for the bhandara. She had told me that I could only spend it on householders, because this Yakshini only helps householders. I am a sadhu, so I cannot use it for myself, but a few days ago I happened to spend a little of it on myself. If I were a householder, it wouldn't have mattered, but this is a different matter now. She refused to give me any more money, and this debt arose. Now, I haven't eaten any of it myself — they too should earn some merit. Baba, it doesn't work like that.' I calmed the shopkeepers down and sent them back, telling them they would get their money. They said, 'If he doesn't pay, we'll take it from you instead.' I gave them my address and said, 'I will be right here until you receive your money,' and they left."

"I told Baba ji, 'I have a certain practice that could help you,' and I taught him the Noori Tara sadhana, telling him to perform this ritual sitting beneath a kikar (acacia) tree, performing a havan with sesame seeds. He sent a man to fetch sesame seeds right away, and began the ritual that very night. He had me stay there with him."

"The second watch of the night had begun, and Baba ji kept chanting the mantra and offering oblations."

Om Noori Tara…………………………………………………………………………..Namo………….|

"Slowly, the night passed, and in the morning, after bathing, we ate. The second night too, the mantra chanting continued. Now it was the third day; it was 3 AM, and Baba ji was steadily chanting the mantra and offering oblations. Just 10 minutes later, a loud sound was heard, and a flame emerged from the kikar tree, and as soon as it touched the ground, it transformed into a beautiful young boy. With golden matted locks on his head, a small face, tiny hands, he looked like an angel, and he said, 'Baba, what do you need? Why have you called me?' Baba said, 'This trouble has come upon me — I need 35,000 rupees,' and that divine being looked into Baba's eyes, waved his hand in the air, and the very next moment, rupees appeared in his hand, which he gave to Baba, then transformed back into a flame and merged back into the kikar tree."

"The next day, I went on to Naina Devi. On my way back, I met Baba again and returned home. The following day, Baba loaded his belongings onto a truck and came to my house. I lodged him at my uncle's place, at a turn just outside the village, amid dense trees. In the evening, he came to me and said, 'Since you can do this work, you must also be able to fix this Yakshini.' I had knowledge of the Yakshini Nidaan (a 500-year-old scripture that had been burned due to a Nath's foolishness, which we had in handwritten form, containing authentic Yakshini sadhanas — I will mention this later), and remembering Gurudev, I performed a havan for her, and she was set right. After that, Baba ji kept me with him and, out of his boundless grace, granted me knowledge. Once he said to me, 'I feel like holding a bhandara today.' I said, 'Baba, we don't have any money — how will we hold a bhandara?' By then, quite some time had passed since Baba ji had been staying with us. 'Wait, I'll do something,' he said, and sat down on his seat, and ten minutes later said, 'Come and look — perhaps 30,000 has arrived.' When we lifted his seat, there were currency notes spread all beneath it. When counted, it came to 850,000. He said, 'Buy up whatever grain has come to the market today,' and I went to the market and bought the grain, loaded it onto trucks, and brought it back to the ashram. It came to 1,250 sacks, which we stored in a warehouse. Ramnath had only one passion — the bhandara — and such a massive feast was about to take place. When the neighbouring landowners objected, he simply bought that land in my name, built a house there, and started the bhandara, which ran for 3 years. Living there and serving him, I received teachings from him. He was knowledgeable in many branches of learning. Cremation-ground sadhana was like child's play for him — I will speak of this in the next article." (To be continued)