The baba basking in the 'now'

 

The old babaji has picked a very suitable place to pass his days in sunshine during the winters. It’s an iron bench by the foot track on the way to the holy Neelkanth shrine in the lower Himalayas. It is the off-season, so just a few dozen pilgrims pass him, whom he accosts in the lord’s name. Some coins, some ten rupee notes, sunshine and lots of peace among these little hills are his possession. During three consecutive days of our pilgrimage to the holy shrine we have offered him some bhiksha and built up a lot of friendliness with him. He has lots of scriptural knowledge and recites beautiful lines from the holy books befitting the context of the talk. After having a nice talk, as we get up to move ahead, he hails and celebrates the occasion with a shout of joy: ‘Hey rajan, aaj ke anand ki jai ho!’ It means: ‘O king, let’s hail today’s joy!’ It’s a beautiful summary of the joy of being in the ‘now’.