An encounter with a simple soul and his umbrella (and a lesson in Bhagavadgeeta)
Few days back we visited a seasonal waterfall near Ponda. The falls is on the slope of a nearby hill. It was raining and we had planned to walk in the rain and get wet. We were going under the fall anyway. We took the car halfway and parked it on the mainroad where it branched towards the hill. The place has a small roadside shrine of an unknown deity.
Two of us had reached the place early. Since it was raining we stood under the awning of a roadside shop waiting for the third person. There was an elderly gentleman in front of the shrine. As we watched, he wiped the shrine clean, lit a few incense sticks, offered a few flowers and came to where we stood. He had an umbrella in his hand.
“Do you want an umbrella ?” He offered his umbrella to us. He had seen us alight from the car and since we stood under a shelter, thought that we were waiting for the rain to stop.
We politely declined his offer and I asked him “Don't you need the umbrella yourself ?”
“Oh. I don't really need it. I am going to be around here. I belong to the ‘zalmi’ community and stay closeby”
He told me that people from his community took care of the shrine and a few other small temples nearby. They attend to the daily maintenance and upkeep. It is a traditional voluntary work.
“You don't know us and you are offering your umbrella. What if we don't return it to you?”
“Why will you not return it ?” He retorted. “You will use it when it is raining and after that you will give it back. And if you don't return it, I will take it as god’s will !”
He spoke very casually but the words stuck in my mind. He said he took care of the cleaning and maintenance of the nearby temples. From the way he spoke it wasn’t a burden or compulsion. He considered it a privilege. He does not derive any benefit from the activity. It is just ‘Nishkaama karma’ upon which Krishna insists in Bhagavadgeeta.
Work or a task done without any expectations, as a service to society or god !
He felt that we were in need of an umbrella and offered his umbrella to us. We were strangers. The thought that we may not return it did not cross his mind. He was a good man and considered us to be good. “सर्व भूतस्थमात्मानाम सर्व भूतानिचात्मनि ईक्षते योगयुक्तात्म” The yogi sees himself in others and everyone in himself, says BG.
And his final statement - accepting the will of God, actually is what Krishna advises Arjuna to adapt !
That ‘zalmi’ gentleman was Bhagavdgeeta personified !
