Dr. Syed and his wife

[Guest guest]

Really wonderful Gloria Lee. It brought tears in my

eyes. Kindly keep sharing such incidents. Many thanks

and respects.

 

Gopi Krishna.

 

Message: 5

Tue, 5 Feb 2002 14:05:40 -0500

"Gloria Lee" <glee

Dr. Syed and his wife

 

>From Vicki's Million Paths

 

 

By Voruganti Krishnayya , from www.sentient.org

================================================

 

................................

 

Dr. Syed was a Muslim scholar and a great devotee of

Bhagavan. His wife too became a devotee without losing

her faith in the ways and conventions of the Muslim

religion. She would not appear before other men.

Stealthily she would come to the Ashrama, hide herself

in one of the rooms and implore her husband to ask

Bhagavan to come to see her. It was a most unusual

request, but such was Bhagavan's grace and compassion

that even this was granted. Mrs. Syed would at

first keep silent, rather than talk to Bhagavan

through her veil; then later she would talk to him

without a veil. But it took a long time for her to

venture into the Hall without a veil and sit there

like everybody else.

 

Dr. Syed and his wife used to stay in a rented house

outside the Ashrama and cook their own food. One day

she felt a very strong desire to invite Bhagavan to

their house for food. She nagged her husband, but he

did not have the courage to request something so

unusual. Meeting his wife outside the Hall was unusual

enough, and twice he had asked Bhagavan to consent to

it; that Bhagavan should go to their house for food

seemed unthinkable. But the intrepid lady went on

pressing her husband until he became more afraid of

her than of the enormity of her request and hinted her

wish to Bhagavan, who smiled and kept quiet. She would

not give up. She was certain that Bhagavan would grant

her wish if the matter were put before him in the

proper spirit and form. At last, while Bhagavan was

going up the hill, Dr. Syed and his wife stood before

him and told him her desire. Bhagavan just laughed and

went up the hill.

 

When they returned home in the evening, there was

quite a row in their house, she accusing him that he

had not asked Bhagavan in the proper way. At last he

had enough of it all and said to her: "How am I

responsible? The truth of the matter is that your

devotion is deficient. That is the reason why Bhagavan

refused." These words of his must have touched her

deeply and she sat in meditation throughout the night.

She wanted by sheer intensity of prayer to bring

Bhagavan to dinner. During the early hours of the

morning she must have dozed. Bhagavan appeared to her

in a dream or vision and told her: "Why are you so

obstinate? How can I leave the Ashrama and

come to your house for food? I must dine along with

others, or they won't eat. Besides, as you know,

people are coming from distant places, facing a lot of

trouble to see me and to have food with me. How can I

leave all these guests and come to your place? Feed

three devotees of mine and it will be the same as

feeding me. I shall be fully satisfied." In her vision

she saw the three devotees whom she had to invite. One

was Dr. Melkote, the second Swami Prabuddhananda and

the third was myself.

 

She told of her vision to Dr. Syed, who invited all

the three for food in his house, telling us that we

could not possibly refuse. We were astonished and

asked him the reason. Dr. Syed told us the whole

story. We were all Brahmins and, although we were

delighted to represent Bhagavan at the feast, we were

afraid of what the Ashrama Brahmins would say. For a

Brahmin to eat in a Muslim's house is a serious breach

of convention.

 

Dr. Melkote was in the guest room near the flower

garden. I went to him and asked him, "What are you

thinking about?I am thinking of the dinner at

Syed's place.Are you going ?I wonder. They are

Muslims." ''If we go, we are bound to get into a lot

of trouble.Yes, they may turn us out of the

Ashrama.Then are you going ?I am going," said

Dr. Melkote. "I am taking it as Bhagavan's direct

order. Otherwise, how could Mrs. Syed pick us? How

could she know our names and faces so as to show us to

her husband?Prabuddhananda can go, for he is a

sannyasi and can eat anywhere. Besides, he is not

afraid of the Ashrama authorities, for he cooks

his own food. But we are taking serious risks," I

said. "Well," said Dr. Melkote, "we are going, and

Bhagavan will attend to the risks."

 

In spite of these brave words Dr. Melkote was

perplexed. We were to dine in a Muslim's house. Even

if the food were vegetarian, what about the kitchen

and vessels? What do Muslims know about the Brahmin

rules and habits concerning cleanliness? How would we

explain our going to a Muslim house for food? Why

should we trust the vision of some Muslim lady? Could

we really say that we were merely obeying Bhagavan's

orders? Who would believe us? Surely not the Ashrama

Brahmins! And what an assortment we three made! One

was a Kanarese householder, the other an Andhra

bachelor, the third a Bengali sannyasi!

 

The next day when the bell for dinner was rung, we

three went before Bhagavan and bowed. Bhagavan did not

ask us the reason, he merely looked at us. Instead of

going to the dining hall with others we marched out of

the Ashrama, passing before Chinnaswami who-O wonder!-

did not ask us why we were going out without taking

food.

 

Mrs. Syed got up early in the morning, swept the

kitchen and washed the vessels carefully herself. She

would not allow the servant girl to enter the kitchen.

She had been scolded repeatedly by her relatives and

the Muslim Moulvis for her devotion to a Hindu saint.

She told them that while she used to say her prayers

she would see the Prophet standing by her side. Since

she met Bhagavan, the Prophet had disappeared and

Bhagavan was coming to watch her pray. So great was

her devotion!

 

After getting everything quite clean, she lovingly

prepared dish after dish, and when we arrived, we

found the food excellent. After the meal she offered

us betel with her own hands.

 

When we were returning to the Ashrama, Dr. Melkote had

tears in his eyes. He said: "I come from Hyderabad and

I know well the Muslim ways and customs. A Muslim lady

will give betel leaves with her own hands to nobody

except her husband or a fakir (a saint). In her eyes

we were fakirs, the forms Bhagavan took to go to her

place."

 

When we returned to the Ashrama we were astonished

that nobody enquired why we had not been present in

the dining hall, where we had gone or what we did in a

Muslim's house. How wonderfully does Bhagavan protect

those who obey him!

 

- From Ramana Smrti Souvenir

 

 

 

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