Antecedentes de la conciliación en equidad

(A.D.1911-1991)

I

Thakurlal was only 11 years old when his father died. He lost his mother during the earthquake of 1932 AD. He was looked after by his grandfather who happened to be an Official Grocery Supplier to the Ranas, specially the then Prime Minister, Juddha Shumshere. He had two uncles who cared a fig for the family or family business - one taken to drinking, and another, to gambling! His grandfather was too busy with his work, and Thakurlal passed his days mostly with his books. Being a good student and a top one (Vijay Shumsher who died of an accident in Delhi, when he was an Ambassador of Nepal, was one of his competitors who tried to beat him in his performance, but did not succeed) he was known as a goody-goody boy. He was married when he was still in his teens.

When he reached his Intermediate stage (i.e. IA) in Trichandra College, he was ordered by his grandpa to kick off his study, and concentrate entirely in the family business! He was literally forced to sit in the family office, exactly at 6 AM when people started coming to sell various items like rice, pulses, corn, salt, oil, ghee, turmeric and so on, so that by 6-7 PM he had to see about 400-500 persons off. He had to weigh the grains, and even lift mounds of grains, when the laborers were not immediately available! On the top of that, he had to keep the account every day, to be scrutinized by his grandpa, who used to sneer at his slow method of calculation, because. of his “western education” and turning into a “Babu Shaheb” (an expression meaning a clerk or a “coat & tie” gentleman)! He finished his office hours only at 9 PM. His grandpa used to go to the nearby river, for bathing, which took at least 4 hrs.; and after 3-4 PM, every day, he also would visit the Dunbar of the Prime Minister, i.e. a sort of “face presentation”, to keep the “boss” in good disposition! This used to be a normal practice of those days. In this way Thakurlal used to toil at least 15 hours a day, which, to a young boy in his late teens, was too much really.

On the one hand, he could not pursue his much loved study; on the other, he had to slog along, like a slave, while his seniors, his uncles, were having a nice time! Nor could he dare resist his grandpa in any manner! As a result, he worked like a bonded slave, morning to night, without being appreciated in a, manner, which gave him pleasure or satisfaction of some sort or other. “Being fed up with life he thought out a plan - a plan of escape. So one morning, he disappeared from his house aimlessly in a fit of dejection. He took shelter in roadside houses, during the nights, wherever available, took food in teashops, and continued walking to the West for about 2 weeks. However he neither knew the art of cooking nor he had sufficient budget to sustain him for long, so that he, after a week or so, found himself in a fix, as to the further course of action. The prospect of begging was out of question, nor even imaginable to a grandson of so renowned a businessman as his grandpa.

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He then started to remember his young wife, his little daughter in her first year, and felt guilty in suddenly leaving them in a lurch, as it were, without fulfilling his responsibility. So the best course left for him, was then to return home, which however was not in keeping with his dignity! Meanwhile, there was a big hue and cry back home. Grandpa deputed several people, in all directions, .to scoop his grandson out, for he realized his mistake of acting hard upon a young chap. Amongst the several people, who went for the search, Thakurlal’s maternal uncle and brother-in law were the first to track him down in Nuwakot area. Thus ultimately he returned home.

From then on, his routine was to get up at 4 AM, and after the call of nature, he would go to Gauri Ghat for a bath in the river followed by a Darshan of Pasupatinath. He would then give corn to the monkeys and then meditate in the jungle nearby. But the sudden rustling of the tree- leaves would make him start for fear of the snakes! etc.

He had heard of the Shivapuri Baba when he was a student of class IX; but now after 4-5 years, in the year 1935-6 AD, he came to know that Baba had been staying in a mud hut in the Kirateswar itself, just a little beyond Gauri Ghat. As a fact of the matter, he had asked his friend & relative, KP Manandhar to take him to Baba. But he replied, “Baba is a lion; he discourages people to visit him, because he did not like to befriend the wrong people nor would welcome one who had no definite question to ask regarding the quest of God. He used to say, that there was nothing in his “shop” except God”. It was, therefore, left to his own effort to approach Baba. So one day he found the spot, and noting that his hut was closed, he went round it, to find a small window open through which he could see the person inside. While doing so his eyes suddenly met with the Baba’s. Baba’s eyes shone like bulbs, which searchingly looked at him from head to foot, and foot to head again! Then Thakurlal found himself weeping spontaneously! Tears rolled out of his eyes from nowhere, down his cheeks, and continued to do so. For a long time he could utter no words in reply to Baba’s question. He was then told to take out the Gita he had in his right hand pocket of his coat, and was asked to read the first two stanzas of the 16th chapter! He was very much surprised at this because he had in fact a small Annie Besant Gita! He took this out of his pocket, managed to open it and tried to read it out. It was about the 26 virtues called Daivi Sampad.

SB said, “Go home and read it; try to understand what was written there; if

you cannot, come back tomorrow and ask me.” He instructed Madhav’s father, who voluntarily worked for him, to offer me a cup of tea daily, when I would arrive, and make me enter Baba’s hut exactly at 7 AM!

TL: “Thus, from the next day on, I found myself in front of SB, who gave

me instructions regarding Right Life and all, from 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM. At 8:00 AM he would take a bath. But while doing so, and afterwards, he would continue talking to me, non-stop, so that I became a pundit in some months’ time! SB himself told me many times that he had “spoken tons and tons of

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words with you, which I had never talked to anybody else, in my life before”. Not that I am so lucky, but it was the grace of SB to me, entirely. At 11:00 AM I would forcibly stop myself, and ask his permission to return home. I used to hike a bicycle then. So, to gain time, I used to jump at it and paddle it so fast that in about 15-20 minutes, I could reach my house at the New Road, go straight to my seat and start my business! My grandpa did not have the chance to rebuke me. I then worked and worked, took my lunch late, visited several Rana palaces or Durbars to collect money which was due to us, return home, and resume work again! I could rest only at or after 9:00 PM!

“My grandpa objected to my starting work at 11:30 AM naturally! I was scared of him, but SB told me to be bold and since I worked so hard, he could not afford to displease me anymore. SB also advised me to reply to my grandpa that, “not only I myself but the clerical staff too, would be working from 10:00 AM from now on and the office would be closed at 5:00 PM”. This was done, and even though he was surprised at my boldness, he had to agree to my decision wily nilly! As for myself, however, I had to work longer till 9:00 PM as usual. Thus I slogged along like a slave, for at least 25 years. Then due to family partition and grandpa’s paralysis, and later his death, I had to satisfy myself with only 25% of the total property, the rest being taken by my cousin, both uncles having died already. I had even to undergo a jail sentence for a month or so, as a part of the feud with my aunt. I also had to leave my family business and to sustain myself I took a job of a Librarian in the British Council and also as a Translator in the British Embassy, whenever so required. “Because of the guidance from SB, my intelligence improved gradually, my efficiency in office increased. The British Ambassador was very much impressed with me/my performance. In addition to this, being a Newari scholar, I worked for many foreign scholars in their research. At some time later, I became greatly conversant with ancient Scriptures or Sastras as well. I went to the UK and Germany as a Research Assistant and Lecturer in Indology! Strange to say, however, that I am not a great scholar nor a university graduate also; least of all I had anything to do with Anthropology, Indology and Musicology, etc. Still I could guide the foreign professors or scholars, one such professor being deputed by no less a scholar than Sylvan Levi himself. I even arranged a music conference of old folk songs of Kathmandu Valley, with the Professor of Musicology Dr. AA Baker of London University in the Chair. He even sang a song in the Nepal Bhasha, commonly known as the Newari! I acted as a Convener and Interpreter of the whole show, with a grand success! All this was due to the training of SB, I must say”

YB: How did you come to write about SB’s Teachings in the form of Long

Pilgrimage?

TL: Well, the story is like this. One British author JG Bennett had

expressed his wish to write a book on SB to SB himself. He had met SB several times before. On the first occasion he had written in one British magazine that SB was a Moslem fakir! In view of this SB was reluctant to agree, because, he said to me, “Even though JGB is a good writer, he does

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not know the details of Indian Philosophy; he needs a guide; and at least one, who knows most about Right Life. Therefore, if you agree to take charge of the writing entirely, and guide him, and correct him, as necessary, I will give him permission to write. Otherwise, people will criticize me. You must take care to write about my Teachings only, because they are important, not my personal life.” When I consented he introduced me to

JGB and said, “TL has been coming to me since 25 years. I have told him

all about Right Life. So if you wish to write a book on it, you must get your writings okayed by him, before you release it to the press”. This was agreed upon, and hence the book.

“Even after it was ready the Manuscript was withheld by SB for one year or so. Final consent was given only when SB declared that he would no more be living.

YB: Please tell me about your looking after SB.

TL: Well, it would not be proper to write in details what a devotee does to

his Guru. Suffice it to say that I was an official grocery supplier or Thekedar when I fortunately came in contact with SB. So I did what I could to look after my beloved Teacher. Because MB and his family looked after SB in their own way and they depended entirely on SB for their livelihood, I had to do something towards their care also. Later on, other devotees such as Renu Lal also contributed.

YB: This is something like serving your father/mother for what they have done to you. Isn’t?

TL: Yes, it is so.

YB: Please tell me about Right Life and all you think relevant to it.

TL: Well, you know the book Long Pilgrimage. You can read this slowly. If

you find difficulty I will help you. The most important thing is To Live rather than to know RL. I myself have been trying to live RL, though slowly, because my love of life appears to be more than my love of God, you see! And as you will come to know gradually, unless you have love of God overwhelming you and your daily activities, thought and even dreams, you cannot progress in RL. Discrimination & Devotion are the two limbs of Right Living. You need to balance both in every action of your life, this- worldly or other-worldly. If you want God in this very life, you must devote your time entirely in RL, pray, repent, meditate and surrender to Him. By this you will earn the merit for Grace, without which you simply cannot know Him! In other words you-must exercise your Will for RL and Surrender for His Grace, without which God-Realization is just not possible. So, my dear doctor, put your Effort or Purushartha and Surrender, that is all I can say.

YB: The other day I happened to talk with rL. He was emphasizing Devotion

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TL: SB always stressed discriminative living. Then and then alone your

devotion will bear fruit. He told me once, “Suppose you come to me without locking your safe which contains all your valuables! Then you cannot fully concentrate on my talk here, for the fear that the valuables may be stolen any moment! Likewise, unless and until you attend to your duties properly, you will never attain that quietude which is absolutely essential for Meditation.” This is Discriminative Living.

“But people who emphasize Devotion think that God-Realization is all too easy, all too simple! For example, Dhruva, the great devotee, it is said, was sent back to “enjoy” life, before he could qualify for God and to live RL for this. Remember again Buddha: he started his Search under emotion. He started his search with an emotion. After observing that there is old age, there is disease and there is the unavoidable death to end all, he came to the conclusion that life is a suffering. He therefore wanted to find out the cause of this suffering, and the way out of this suffering, with the ultimate view, to serve the suffering world, by offering the way out, by his own effort, to obtain his goal of Bahu Jana Sukhaya, Bahu Jana Hitaaya, for the “greatest good of the greatest number”.

But here RL differs with Buddha’s Teachings in that this life is not suffering, if you know how to live it, by disciplining Body (including Intellect), Mind and Soul. He climbed the very steep path to reach the top. He accomplished this within 6 years! This, however, simply cannot be achieved by ordinary mortals. For this, one must admit that he was of superlative strength and capability. In contrast to this Path, there is another way, rather a well known and well trodden way of RL plus Meditation, (i.e. Discrimination & Devotion) which synthesizes Pleasure, Serenity and Peace (or Sukha, Santosh and Shanti in that order) leading to God-Realization. Therefore he could have avoided the immense suffering he underwent in the process of his search, which, I repeat, is almost impossible for the other mortals. Actually when he realized, after his Enlightenment (Bodhigyan) that Devotion, divorced from Discrimination, is no good; it is full of difficulties and obstacles. Thereafter he preached his Middle Path. Others too who realized the Truth have also admitted their mistakes.

YB: KM once told me what SB said to him when he wanted God badly. SB

had said, “Bhakti alone is no good! God will not recognize you unless you live RL”.

TL: Of course, we do have our shortcomings, each according to our own

characteristic bent of mind and nature. I myself have failed to live RL in a great measure, I do admit. I cannot therefore complain that I am not progressing! Nevertheless I always emphasize on Discriminative Living. Once we are established in Discrimination, Meditation will be easy and then we become qualified for God.

But don’t misunderstand, doctor, that I am not living RL. I am living it, though I have not been able to keep pace with the required standard. Once a

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Mahamandaleswar visited SB’s Ashram and asked me, “What methodology or Sadhana, etc. you practice here?”

I replied to this, “We do not practice any known kind of methodology or Sadhana in particular. Nor do we have any organization or any organized meeting consisting of Bhajans or Kirtans etc. in this Ashram. With faith in our Guru we come here every Saturday, pay homage to him, remember him, discuss his teachings amongst ourselves, try to observe ourselves, analyze our failings and plan the necessary strategies to live RL as taught by Him, and then go back to our homes again and try.

“Ordinary beginners are we - collecting bits and pieces of articles of “food,” to “cook” and then “eat”. For we believe that cultivation, collection and cooking are as important, if not more, as eating. Needless to say these preliminary stages take more time than the last stage, i.e. eating!

“If we try to do meditation, straightaway, we are sure to fail miserably. This would be, as SB used to say, “cooking food with no cooking materials at all!” That is why SB told us to practice the Three Disciplines, before we go towards God.

I was then asked whether we follow any other Way or Yoga. I answered him that our Guru told us that they lead people to Powers (Siddhis) rather than to God. “Keep your Body fit, discipline your Mind, and turn your Soul towards HIM,” he had said; and we try to do them and practice the Disciplines, that is all”.

YB: But to attain God one must develop Vairagya, etc.?

TL: Yes, that is true. rL once was discussing about its importance. He even

said, “One can also go mad for God as a better devotee, R.P. Then alone you can get Him”. To this I replied, “Yes, but RL is different. In this one must live a sane life. One cannot exclude this-worldly-life or Vyabahaaric life;