A Suitable Boy(369)

‘But if you want to grow a worthwhile plant: a rose, a fruit-tree, a vine of paan, then you need effort. You must water, apply manure, weed it, prune it. It is not simple.

‘So it is with the world. We are coloured by its colour. We are coloured by its colour without effort. As the world is, so we become.

‘We go blindly through the world, as is our nature. It is easy.

‘But for knowledge of God, for knowledge of truth, we have to make an effort…’

It was at this point that the Raja of Marh and his retinue entered. The Raja had sent a man a couple of minutes ahead, but he had not been so bold as to interrupt the sermon. The Raja, however, was not a man to be awed by a Chief justice or a Subsidiary Baba. He caught the young preacher’s eye. The young man did namasté, glanced at his watch, and directed a man in a grey khadi kurta to see what the Raja wanted. Mr Maitra thought this an excellent opportunity to get his own arrival announced to Sanaki Baba, who was known to be quite casual about times and places – and sometimes people – and might well not appear for hours. The man in the grey kurta left the tent and went to another, smaller tent deeper in the encampment. Mr Maitra looked impatient, the Raja impatient and highly agitated. Dipankar looked neither impatient nor agitated. He had all the time in the world, and he concentrated again on the sermon. He had come to find an Answer or Answers at the Pul Mela, and a Quest could not be rushed.

The young baba continued in his hoarse, earnest voice: ‘What is envy? It is so common. We look at the outside, and we long for things…’

The Raja of Marh was stamping his feet. He was used to giving audiences, not waiting for them. And what had happened to the glass of sherbet he had ordered?

‘A flame goes up. Why? Because it yearns for its greater form, which is the sun.

‘A clod of mud falls down. Why? Because it yearns for its greater form, the earth.

‘The air in a balloon escapes if it can. Why? To join its greater form, the outer air.

‘So also the soul in our bodies longs to join the greater world-soul.

‘Now we must take God’s name:

Haré Rama, haré Rama, Rama Rama, haré haré.

Haré Krishna, haré Krishna, Krishna Krishna, haré haré.’



He began chanting slowly and softly. A few of the women joined in, then some more women and some of the men, and soon almost everyone:

‘Haré Rama, haré Rama, Rama Rama, haré haré.

Haré Krishna, haré Krishna, Krishna Krishna, haré haré.’



Soon the repetitions had built up. to such an extent that the audience, still seated, was swaying from side to side. Small cymbals were clashed, high notes of ecstasy sounded on some of the words. The effect on the singers was hypnotic. Dipankar, feeling he ought to join in, did so out of politeness, but remained unhypnotized. The Raja of Marh glowered. Suddenly the kirtan stopped, and a hymn – a bhajan – began.

‘Gopala, Gopala, make me yours –

I am the sinner, you are the merciful one –’



But hardly had this begun than Sanaki Baba, clad only in his shorts, entered the tent, still engaged in conversation with the man in the grey kurta. ‘Yes, yes,’ Sanaki Baba was saying, his small eyes twinkling, ‘you had better go and make arrangements: some pumpkins, some onions, some potatoes. Where will you get carrots in this season? … No, no, spread this there… Yes, tell Maitra Sahib… and the Professor.’

He disappeared as suddenly as he had come. He had not even noticed the Raja of Marh.

The man in the grey kurta approached Mr Maitra and told him that Sanaki Baba would see them in his tent. Another man, about sixty years old, presumably the Professor, was also asked to join them. The Raja of Marh almost exploded in wrath.

‘And what about me?’

‘Babaji will see you soon, Raja Sahib. He will make special time for you.’

‘l must see him now! I don’t care for his special time.’

The man, apparently realizing that the Raja would make mischief unless contained, beckoned to one of Sanaki Baba’s closest disciples, a young woman called Pushpa. She was, Dipankar noted with appreciation, very beautiful and serious. He immediately thought of his Search for the Ideal. Surely it could run concurrently with his Quest for an Answer. He noticed Pushpa speak to the Raja and bewitch him into compliance.

Meanwhile the favoured ones entered Sanaki Baba’s small tent. Mr Maitra introduced Dipankar to Sanaki Baba.

‘His father is a judge of the Calcutta High Court,’ said Mr Maitra. ‘And he is searching for the Truth.’

Dipankar said nothing but looked at Sanaki Baba’s radiant face. A sense of calm had come upon him.