Endurance

An excerpt from Heaven on Earth

Maharaj Ji’s (Great Master’s) tours in far-flung villages were rigorous, involving transportation by bus, train, horseback, and on foot, and accommodation was often uncomfortable and inconvenient. In many villages, Maharaj Ji slept in huts hardly large enough for his cot. Improvised bathrooms were made by leaning two cots against each other and covering them on the open sides with a white sheet. Once, on a cold winter morning in the mountains, I remember going into one of these bathrooms to wash; I was shivering – and with the icy cold water, the most I could manage was a hasty washing of my face and hands. But Maharaj Ji, without any complaints about the inadequate and cold ‘bathrooms’ and the ice-cold water, would take a bath at five in the morning and be ready to meet the sangat at about six.

These tours required incredible endurance by Hazur. When he was on long tours, he frequently arrived around the time for satsang, had a brief rest, and went straight to satsang, leaving orders that his travelling companions should have dinner immediately. He would not eat, as he always left a space of two hours between a meal and satsang. By the time satsang ended, it would be 4:00 p.m. Then he would go to the langar to bless the food. There were usually interviews and visits to satsangis’ homes after that, so he often did not eat until 6:00 or 7:00 p.m., with only a glass of milk taken in the morning to sustain him. Through all of this he was smiling and cheerful, and satsang organizers never knew that he had not eaten or rested.

Walking with Hazur on the hilly tracks of Simla and Dalhousie was a challenging experience. He would climb so fast and with such agility that even young soldiers were reminded of their rigorous army routines. A short account of one of Maharaj Ji’s tours will give an idea of his great capacity for endurance. He was just finishing a tour in Abbottabad and planned to return to Beas after delivering the morning satsang. His day began, of course, with meditation early in the morning. After giving satsang in Abbottabad, Hazur went by car to Rawalpindi, where he gave an unplanned two-hour satsang, and drove to Lyallpur, three hundred miles from Abbottabad. At Lyallpur he gave his third satsang of the day and left immediately afterwards for Beas, driving through the night and arriving at 4:30 a.m. At 6:00 a.m., he was ready to proceed to Kapurthala to attend a marriage ceremony. From Kapurthala he went on to Jullundur, arriving there at about 11:00 a.m. Dismissing the driver he had been given at Rawalpindi, the Master gave him a turban and some money as a gift. The driver, a hardy Pathan from Jalalabad (Afghanistan), said to Hazur, “Sir, remember me again. Though I am only thirty years old, I am utterly exhausted from trying to keep up with you. You did not eat or sleep, yet you do not seem tired. You are not a human being. To look at you is to look at God himself.” At that time Hazur was over eighty years old.