Wednesday, October 17, 2012

From ‘Barefoot in the Heart. Remembering Neem Karoli Baba’ Edited by Keshav Das


…..Drukchen Rimpoche of Ladakh once said, “Knowledge can make you old. Compassion is a river of youth that will never run dry.”



“PURIFY AND WAIT for grace”



Someone recently asked me what it was like to be around him. As a child, all I remember was that it was great fun. As I replay these meetings in my mind, I feel differently today – here was a man who did not look any other sadhu that I had seen or met; he did not sound like any saint that I had met – his language was often colorful; he did not have the same hang ups as most other sadhus that I have come across – most have severe restrictions about where they will eat, who will cook it etc. His devotees did not fit into any pattern either – they were rich, they were poor; they were Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Sikhs, and even the atheists who did not realize that they had been drawn. There were the VIPs and the dacoits, all in the same room. He preached nothing and yet his devotees were constantly learning. He met no pattern, he fit no description, and yet from where he sat, he was telling the kitchen what he wanted cooked; he was telling an eight year old what he would be when he grew up; he was scolding someone else about a recent lapse of judgment, addressing someone else about a concern that he/she was yet to express and probably dealing with creation elsewhere in the Universe, all at the same time. The answer to every question was still “How do I know?” He defies description and he does so on purpose.



“YOU CAN PLAN FOR A HUNDRED YEARS. BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT will happen the next moment.”



“EAT ALONE, SILENTLY, simply or with a few people.”



Maharajji spoke fondly of Shirdi Sai Baba, Ramana Maharshi and Ramakrishna ……..



“NITYANANDA WAS a good sadhu.”



“MUKTANANDA IS GENTLE and learned.”

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