Illness and Healing
There are so many stories of how Babaji healed people. My own brother Subodh, who lived with us, was very nearly blind. He was a good student and joined the education department as a temporary subinspector of schools. He was in that post for a long time, but could not be confirmed until he submitted a medical certificate. Because of his poor eyesight he was afraid to go for a test, knowing that he would be rejected outright. He kept working on a temporary basis and the result was that he had foregone promotions and other benefits due him.
Now Babaji knew everything and it is certain that he must have been protecting Subodh all along. Once my auntie, who loved Subodh like a son, told Baba that she worried about him when he went out on tours of the villages and wanted him to stay home, safe and secure. Baba said, "Maushi Ma, there is nothing to fear, God moves with him."
However, the question of Subodh's confirmation remained. One day, Babaji said to him, "Tomorrow we shall go to the doctor in Pratapgarh and have your eyes tested." Subodh, of course, was nervous, but agreed since Babaji was taking him. The next day they drove to Pratapgarh and the doctor tested Subodh's eyesight. We do not know what trick Maharajji played, but Subodh received a certificate that his eyesight was quite all right. So he got his confirmation and continued in his job.
In the early days Babaji's photographs were few, and he himself did not want any publicity. When Didi received a picture it would be kept hidden in her puja room, and every morning and every evening food would be offered to Maharajji's photo.
One day she found that there were spots on his body in the picture and Didi was very frightened at what this might mean. A few days later, my mother had an attack of smallpox and eruptions came out on her body. Babaji was not in Allahabad, but Siddhi Didi and others later told us that he had eruptions on his body at the same time and then they vanished. My mother also got cured very quickly.
In the early sixties, before we started going to Kainchi, I was teaching in the university and I was very fond of my reading and study. At night I sat for at least two or three hours at my desk and read. Then I would switch off the lamp in my study and pass through Babaji's room, stopping to bow at the left side of his cot. I would automatically put my hand on the leg of the cot. One night I felt a deep hole in the cot leg. Suddenly I thought, "I take this to be Babaji's leg. Am I mistaken?" I went on touching it, but I knew of no abscess or boil on his leg.
A few days later, Maharajji and K.C. Tewari arrived for an unscheduled visit. After we had finished our food, I went into Babaji's room. He was on his bed and suddenly my eyes fell on his uncovered leg. I saw a deep wound, but said nothing. Babaji said "Kya? Kya?" (What? What?) But nothing registered; it didn't even occur to me to bandage it.
After Baba left, I remembered his wound and the hole in the leg of the cot. That made me crazy. I paced all night long. For many years I never talked about it to anyone, it was too painful and mysterious.
I have been told that long before the temple was built, Babaji came one night to a house in Bhumiadhar. An old gentleman was very ill and the family was just sitting, waiting for the last breath to pass. Babaji came and sat there and everyone began to hope that something might be done. It was very dark; there was no electric light at the time. In the darkness, two persons came, stood there and said, "Give us a carpet."
Babaji said, "Give it to them. Do not ask why they want it." So the carpet was given.
The men left carrying the carpet rolled up on their shoulders, crying, "Ram nam satya hai. Ram nam satya hai..." (The name of Ram is infinite truth.) And that old man recovered.
One winter day in Allahabad a woman who came regularly said her husband was very ill. He had been suffering for some time with kidney trouble and uremia. Babaji told her he should be operated on during the winter months.
In the month of May that lady came to Kainchi. Her husband was then in very critical condition and there seemed no hope of survival, the Ramayana was even being read to him. When Babaji was told that the man had not had the operation, he cried, "Drive her away! Her husband is in critical condition and she comes here?" Babaji would not allow her to come near him.
She began to cry and said, "Dada, what is the matter? I came to Babaji for his blessing, what shall I do now?"
Baba said, "No, no, she will kill me also. Send her away!" And he actually gave her quite a few slaps. Later I learned that her husband had recovered and he lived for some time after that.
Sometimes it seemed that a cure was not possible. A judge of the Allahabad High Court was seriously ill and his son and daughter-in-law came to see Baba at our house. That lady cried bitterly and said, "Baba, my father-in-law is so very ill. You must do something."
Babaji just replied, "When your father-in-law is so very ill, why are you not at the hospital looking after him? Why are you coming and wasting your time here? Jao!"
Baba did not say that he would be all right. Nothing of the sort. He just rebuked her and sent her away. When she came again, he said, "No, no, you should be there with him. You can make him happy."
Then one day Babaji and I went to the hospital to see that man and the next day he died.
I have heard from many devotees how Babaji cured them or helped them to face their illnesses. He would not cure them by giving some ashes from his dhuni—he didn't have a dhuni—or by a pat on the head. He would tell them to see a doctor or take some medicine. The doctors to whom he sent people would say, "I only gave medicine, Baba gave the cure."
There was a devotee from Calcutta who was an amateur homeopath and gave medicine to people. Maharajji used to call him "my doctor." He would say, "I also sneeze sometimes, give me some of those pills." In this way he was blessing that man and encouraging him to continue to give medicine.
The man once brought his uncle, who was a sadhu, to see Maharajji. They sat for some time in the room and when they left, the uncle said, "How very fortunate that you have such a saint as your guru."
The devotee was rather curious, since his uncle had not spoken to Maharajji. "You wanted so much to talk to him, but you didn't say anything."
The uncle answered, "Whatever I had to know, he communicated."
One day Maharajji came to Allahabad after having been in Lucknow and he seemed to be a little disturbed. I went with him to his room and he said, "Dada, your friend is very ill."
I understood that he was referring to Sang, who was in the hospital in Lucknow. I asked, "Baba, thik ho jayengi?" (Will he be all right?)
After a moment he answered, "I do not know." I knew then that the end was near.
I said to him, "God can cure him."
"God can do everything," was his answer.
Babaji later went to see Sang. In the hospital room were Sang's wife and children and a few friends. Maharajji's chair was drawn near Sang's bed. Each and every one had so much on their minds and hearts. Sang, of course, was not talking. He was just bending down, catching hold of Babaji's feet. A few tears fell on Maharajji's feet. Babaji said, "If you cry, I will go away."
Sang replied, "Baba, these are not tears of pain or parting. These are tears of joy and fulfillment. You are here. I have got everything."
One morning when Babaji was staying in Bhumiadhar I went to his room and found a number of the Mothers there. They were very much disturbed and said, "Dada, since last night Babaji is having great pain in his knee."
I came to him, "What is the matter."
"Oh, Dada, there is very much pain."
I said, "Why are you unnecessarily teasing these persons? You don't have any pain."
He said, "No, Dada, there is very much pain." So I asked what was to be done. "Get me that medicine, that mocha (sprain) wallah medicine—the medicine with the moustache!"
I could not understand what he meant—could a medicine be made out of a moustache? He insisted on having it, so I went to Bhowali, a very small town nearby, to see if there was any such medicine. I had given up searching and was waiting for the bus near a small stationery stand. The owner knew me well and began talking to me. He sold all kinds of things: books, papers, pens and pencils. When I was looking in the case I saw a carton with the picture of a hefty person who had a big moustache—it was Sloan's Liniment. I purchased it and a packet of cotton and brought them back to Bhumiadhar.
"You have brought that medicine?"
"Yes, of course."
"And what is this?"
"It is cotton. After the massage, the knee has to be wrapped with cotton."
"Oh no, Dada, that is not necessary! Only a little massage of that medicine will do, that is enough."
I said, "No, you have been creating problems for these persons and making them worry. Now you must have your knee wrapped."
He said, "No, just put a little liniment." That was done and the knee was all right.
An old devotee, Kali Babu, came often to Kainchi ashram. He, too, had pain in his knees and joints and he used to put on an elastic bandage. When he came, Babaji asked, "What is that? What are you wearing?"
"Babaji, it is a knee bandage, and I wear it when I have pain. It gives much relief."
"Can you get one for me? I also sometimes get a knee pain." So he got it and Babaji actually sometimes would put it on in his room, but he would never come outside with it on.
Maharajji had serious kidney trouble at Vrindaban at a time when none of the Mothers were there. Many doctors were called who gave medicine, but with no relief. After three days, Babaji came to be all right. Everyone was very disturbed. I heard about it when I came to Vrindaban a month later and asked Babaji about it.
"One day I had something wrong with my urine. It was coming too often. These persons got upset and called a doctor. He came and examined me. He said, 'The tube has burst.' I said, 'My tube has burst, but your tube is all right. Enjoy your good tube.' After that a bigger doctor came from Delhi. He said, 'The urinary bladder has burst.' I said, 'Let your bladder be broken, my bladder is all right!'"
This is how he was narrating the story with his inimitable gestures and postures. Then he said, "I told these people, 'Let these doctors go, don't get any more of them. They do not know anything. They are giving wrong advice and frightening you.' Then I went to my devotee, that great doctor in Agra, and he said, 'Babaji, there is nothing, only that you caught cold,' and he gave me a tablet. I was all right."
The next year the Mothers said to me, "Dada, Babaji had that trouble with his urine. Something must be done to test it. Also, he is not interested in taking his food." He had stopped eating sweets altogether. So they thought there should be a test of his urine. Of course it had to be done in secret.
One morning the urine was collected and I took it to a doctor's clinic in Vrindaban. That doctor was known to us and I waited for him for some time, but he did not come. His father said to leave the sample and it would be tested when the doctor came and the report sent to us. When I returned to the ashram, Babaji asked, "You got the report?"
I said no, and explained the situation. He shouted at me, "What a fool you are! They will mix up the sample and send a report that is wrong. This is how they go on with their business. They will make a complicated report and prescribe a lot of medicines and injections. Go and get it and throw it away. Tell them I don't want any test." I did that, but, of course, the matter did not end there.
Three or four days later, the Mothers again said I should take a sample to the Ramakrishna Hospital nearby. This time it had to be done in my own name. When I got the report it said everything was all right. When I brought it, Baba said, "You have got it?" He actually threw that report. "You people are unnecessarily bothering me. Nothing is there." So that is the kind of thing that was going on.
In 1972 Babaji once complained that there was something wrong with his heart. It was painful and he could not sleep at night. Of course, there was no question of his sleep—he would be awake all night whether ill or not. Someone suggested that he be taken to Dr. Joshi, the Civil Surgeon, at Nainital. Babaji just looked at me and said, "Joshi is coming this morning." He was a devotee and sometimes came to Kainchi and had actually said he would be coming on that day.
When Dr. Joshi heard the story, he said Maharajji should come to have a test at Ramsay Hospital in Nainital. The next day the devotees took Babaji to the clinic where the electrocardiogram machine was kept. All the talk was about the machine, where it was made, how it was made, and Babaji wanted to see how it worked. There was no talk of disease or illness. The test was made and nothing was wrong.
Before Maharajji took his mahasamadhi there was such a drama created in Kainchi. For two days all the devotees were confused and upset because it seemed that Babaji had had a heart attack, but the doctor had come and said he was all right. On the ninth of September when Babaji said he would leave, Inder at first refused to take him to the train station because Baba had not been well. However, Babaji insisted and it was done. On the day that he took his samadhi, he visited his devotee in Agra, the doctor, who examined him and found everything—heart, pulse, everything—perfect. How is it to be explained?
Now Babaji knew everything and it is certain that he must have been protecting Subodh all along. Once my auntie, who loved Subodh like a son, told Baba that she worried about him when he went out on tours of the villages and wanted him to stay home, safe and secure. Baba said, "Maushi Ma, there is nothing to fear, God moves with him."
However, the question of Subodh's confirmation remained. One day, Babaji said to him, "Tomorrow we shall go to the doctor in Pratapgarh and have your eyes tested." Subodh, of course, was nervous, but agreed since Babaji was taking him. The next day they drove to Pratapgarh and the doctor tested Subodh's eyesight. We do not know what trick Maharajji played, but Subodh received a certificate that his eyesight was quite all right. So he got his confirmation and continued in his job.
In the early days Babaji's photographs were few, and he himself did not want any publicity. When Didi received a picture it would be kept hidden in her puja room, and every morning and every evening food would be offered to Maharajji's photo.
One day she found that there were spots on his body in the picture and Didi was very frightened at what this might mean. A few days later, my mother had an attack of smallpox and eruptions came out on her body. Babaji was not in Allahabad, but Siddhi Didi and others later told us that he had eruptions on his body at the same time and then they vanished. My mother also got cured very quickly.
In the early sixties, before we started going to Kainchi, I was teaching in the university and I was very fond of my reading and study. At night I sat for at least two or three hours at my desk and read. Then I would switch off the lamp in my study and pass through Babaji's room, stopping to bow at the left side of his cot. I would automatically put my hand on the leg of the cot. One night I felt a deep hole in the cot leg. Suddenly I thought, "I take this to be Babaji's leg. Am I mistaken?" I went on touching it, but I knew of no abscess or boil on his leg.
A few days later, Maharajji and K.C. Tewari arrived for an unscheduled visit. After we had finished our food, I went into Babaji's room. He was on his bed and suddenly my eyes fell on his uncovered leg. I saw a deep wound, but said nothing. Babaji said "Kya? Kya?" (What? What?) But nothing registered; it didn't even occur to me to bandage it.
After Baba left, I remembered his wound and the hole in the leg of the cot. That made me crazy. I paced all night long. For many years I never talked about it to anyone, it was too painful and mysterious.
I have been told that long before the temple was built, Babaji came one night to a house in Bhumiadhar. An old gentleman was very ill and the family was just sitting, waiting for the last breath to pass. Babaji came and sat there and everyone began to hope that something might be done. It was very dark; there was no electric light at the time. In the darkness, two persons came, stood there and said, "Give us a carpet."
Babaji said, "Give it to them. Do not ask why they want it." So the carpet was given.
The men left carrying the carpet rolled up on their shoulders, crying, "Ram nam satya hai. Ram nam satya hai..." (The name of Ram is infinite truth.) And that old man recovered.
One winter day in Allahabad a woman who came regularly said her husband was very ill. He had been suffering for some time with kidney trouble and uremia. Babaji told her he should be operated on during the winter months.
In the month of May that lady came to Kainchi. Her husband was then in very critical condition and there seemed no hope of survival, the Ramayana was even being read to him. When Babaji was told that the man had not had the operation, he cried, "Drive her away! Her husband is in critical condition and she comes here?" Babaji would not allow her to come near him.
She began to cry and said, "Dada, what is the matter? I came to Babaji for his blessing, what shall I do now?"
Baba said, "No, no, she will kill me also. Send her away!" And he actually gave her quite a few slaps. Later I learned that her husband had recovered and he lived for some time after that.
Sometimes it seemed that a cure was not possible. A judge of the Allahabad High Court was seriously ill and his son and daughter-in-law came to see Baba at our house. That lady cried bitterly and said, "Baba, my father-in-law is so very ill. You must do something."
Babaji just replied, "When your father-in-law is so very ill, why are you not at the hospital looking after him? Why are you coming and wasting your time here? Jao!"
Baba did not say that he would be all right. Nothing of the sort. He just rebuked her and sent her away. When she came again, he said, "No, no, you should be there with him. You can make him happy."
Then one day Babaji and I went to the hospital to see that man and the next day he died.
I have heard from many devotees how Babaji cured them or helped them to face their illnesses. He would not cure them by giving some ashes from his dhuni—he didn't have a dhuni—or by a pat on the head. He would tell them to see a doctor or take some medicine. The doctors to whom he sent people would say, "I only gave medicine, Baba gave the cure."
There was a devotee from Calcutta who was an amateur homeopath and gave medicine to people. Maharajji used to call him "my doctor." He would say, "I also sneeze sometimes, give me some of those pills." In this way he was blessing that man and encouraging him to continue to give medicine.
The man once brought his uncle, who was a sadhu, to see Maharajji. They sat for some time in the room and when they left, the uncle said, "How very fortunate that you have such a saint as your guru."
The devotee was rather curious, since his uncle had not spoken to Maharajji. "You wanted so much to talk to him, but you didn't say anything."
The uncle answered, "Whatever I had to know, he communicated."
One day Maharajji came to Allahabad after having been in Lucknow and he seemed to be a little disturbed. I went with him to his room and he said, "Dada, your friend is very ill."
I understood that he was referring to Sang, who was in the hospital in Lucknow. I asked, "Baba, thik ho jayengi?" (Will he be all right?)
After a moment he answered, "I do not know." I knew then that the end was near.
I said to him, "God can cure him."
"God can do everything," was his answer.
Babaji later went to see Sang. In the hospital room were Sang's wife and children and a few friends. Maharajji's chair was drawn near Sang's bed. Each and every one had so much on their minds and hearts. Sang, of course, was not talking. He was just bending down, catching hold of Babaji's feet. A few tears fell on Maharajji's feet. Babaji said, "If you cry, I will go away."
Sang replied, "Baba, these are not tears of pain or parting. These are tears of joy and fulfillment. You are here. I have got everything."
One morning when Babaji was staying in Bhumiadhar I went to his room and found a number of the Mothers there. They were very much disturbed and said, "Dada, since last night Babaji is having great pain in his knee."
I came to him, "What is the matter."
"Oh, Dada, there is very much pain."
I said, "Why are you unnecessarily teasing these persons? You don't have any pain."
He said, "No, Dada, there is very much pain." So I asked what was to be done. "Get me that medicine, that mocha (sprain) wallah medicine—the medicine with the moustache!"
I could not understand what he meant—could a medicine be made out of a moustache? He insisted on having it, so I went to Bhowali, a very small town nearby, to see if there was any such medicine. I had given up searching and was waiting for the bus near a small stationery stand. The owner knew me well and began talking to me. He sold all kinds of things: books, papers, pens and pencils. When I was looking in the case I saw a carton with the picture of a hefty person who had a big moustache—it was Sloan's Liniment. I purchased it and a packet of cotton and brought them back to Bhumiadhar.
"You have brought that medicine?"
"Yes, of course."
"And what is this?"
"It is cotton. After the massage, the knee has to be wrapped with cotton."
"Oh no, Dada, that is not necessary! Only a little massage of that medicine will do, that is enough."
I said, "No, you have been creating problems for these persons and making them worry. Now you must have your knee wrapped."
He said, "No, just put a little liniment." That was done and the knee was all right.
An old devotee, Kali Babu, came often to Kainchi ashram. He, too, had pain in his knees and joints and he used to put on an elastic bandage. When he came, Babaji asked, "What is that? What are you wearing?"
"Babaji, it is a knee bandage, and I wear it when I have pain. It gives much relief."
"Can you get one for me? I also sometimes get a knee pain." So he got it and Babaji actually sometimes would put it on in his room, but he would never come outside with it on.
Maharajji had serious kidney trouble at Vrindaban at a time when none of the Mothers were there. Many doctors were called who gave medicine, but with no relief. After three days, Babaji came to be all right. Everyone was very disturbed. I heard about it when I came to Vrindaban a month later and asked Babaji about it.
"One day I had something wrong with my urine. It was coming too often. These persons got upset and called a doctor. He came and examined me. He said, 'The tube has burst.' I said, 'My tube has burst, but your tube is all right. Enjoy your good tube.' After that a bigger doctor came from Delhi. He said, 'The urinary bladder has burst.' I said, 'Let your bladder be broken, my bladder is all right!'"
This is how he was narrating the story with his inimitable gestures and postures. Then he said, "I told these people, 'Let these doctors go, don't get any more of them. They do not know anything. They are giving wrong advice and frightening you.' Then I went to my devotee, that great doctor in Agra, and he said, 'Babaji, there is nothing, only that you caught cold,' and he gave me a tablet. I was all right."
The next year the Mothers said to me, "Dada, Babaji had that trouble with his urine. Something must be done to test it. Also, he is not interested in taking his food." He had stopped eating sweets altogether. So they thought there should be a test of his urine. Of course it had to be done in secret.
One morning the urine was collected and I took it to a doctor's clinic in Vrindaban. That doctor was known to us and I waited for him for some time, but he did not come. His father said to leave the sample and it would be tested when the doctor came and the report sent to us. When I returned to the ashram, Babaji asked, "You got the report?"
I said no, and explained the situation. He shouted at me, "What a fool you are! They will mix up the sample and send a report that is wrong. This is how they go on with their business. They will make a complicated report and prescribe a lot of medicines and injections. Go and get it and throw it away. Tell them I don't want any test." I did that, but, of course, the matter did not end there.
Three or four days later, the Mothers again said I should take a sample to the Ramakrishna Hospital nearby. This time it had to be done in my own name. When I got the report it said everything was all right. When I brought it, Baba said, "You have got it?" He actually threw that report. "You people are unnecessarily bothering me. Nothing is there." So that is the kind of thing that was going on.
In 1972 Babaji once complained that there was something wrong with his heart. It was painful and he could not sleep at night. Of course, there was no question of his sleep—he would be awake all night whether ill or not. Someone suggested that he be taken to Dr. Joshi, the Civil Surgeon, at Nainital. Babaji just looked at me and said, "Joshi is coming this morning." He was a devotee and sometimes came to Kainchi and had actually said he would be coming on that day.
When Dr. Joshi heard the story, he said Maharajji should come to have a test at Ramsay Hospital in Nainital. The next day the devotees took Babaji to the clinic where the electrocardiogram machine was kept. All the talk was about the machine, where it was made, how it was made, and Babaji wanted to see how it worked. There was no talk of disease or illness. The test was made and nothing was wrong.
Before Maharajji took his mahasamadhi there was such a drama created in Kainchi. For two days all the devotees were confused and upset because it seemed that Babaji had had a heart attack, but the doctor had come and said he was all right. On the ninth of September when Babaji said he would leave, Inder at first refused to take him to the train station because Baba had not been well. However, Babaji insisted and it was done. On the day that he took his samadhi, he visited his devotee in Agra, the doctor, who examined him and found everything—heart, pulse, everything—perfect. How is it to be explained?
