US Law School Graduate Becomes Swaminarayan Monk

krsna · August 6, 2004

Law School Graduate Becomes Hindu Monk

Houston Chronicle

HOUSTON, TEXAS, July 30, 2004: Rahul Patel knows how to speak like a

lawyer: He can make all the logical arguments. But this Georgetown Law

School graduate did not rely just on reason when he decided to turn

down a $125,000-a-year job offer from a New York City law firm to

follow a spiritual path of poverty, chastity and obedience. He also

responded to inspiration and his emotions about the spiritual leader of

the Swaminarayan Hindu faith, Pramukh Swami Maharaj. "It is hard to

describe the feelings I get when I see him," the 27-year-old said. "He

is unlike anybody on this planet. To please him and to serve him and,

in the process, serve God and his devotees and the general human

population is, I think, one of the greatest achievements -- if I

achieve it -- in my life, more than being a lawyer or working for a big

company."

Sunday, Patel turned in the last vestiges of his life as a car-driving,

cell-phone-carrying Texan to join five other American-born Hindus in

the diksha vidhi initiation ritual on the grounds of the Shree

Swaminarayan Mandir, a temple in Fort Bend County. At the end of a

two-hour ceremony that began shortly before sunrise, Patel was given a

new name, Virat Bhagat; a "guru mantra," from Pramukh Swami; and a

janoi, or sacred thread. He also changed into the white cloth garment

and hat that he will wear until he trades them in for the orange

garments of the sadhus, or saints, of the faith.

He also chose to live according to five principles: poverty, chastity,

detachment from his family, obedience/humility, and abstention from

food preferences. That means this former Aggie (Texas A & M University

student), son of two medical doctors from College Station and a

one-time campaign volunteer for George H. W. Bush, has given up his

life of comfort. He will no longer have any contact with his parents

and older brother, and for the rest of his life, he will refrain from

speaking to women.

"Anybody in life who wants to do anything, they have to give something

up," Patel said. Rather than focusing on sacrifice, Patel sees his path

as one of service that will lead him in the direction of peace and

liberation, he said. "It is the idea of oneness with God," he

explained. "You have no attachment to your body, no attachment to your

ego. You have no sense of need; you have no anger or jealousy; you are

at peace, and the only thing that matters to you is what will make God

happy."

Saying goodbye to a son was a difficult honor for his mother, Dr.

Anila S. Patel. "Emotionally, when you dwell on the thought, it is

hard," the Bryan pediatrician said. "But to know your son is going for

a mission like this ... I feel so proud.We feel very fortunate and

very blessed that we had an opportunity to be with him for 27 years,"

she added. Patel's decision to become a sadhu was an obvious one to his

childhood friend, Jignesh Patel, who is not related to him. The two had

discussed the sacrifices and rewards of the path since their teens,

Jignesh Patel said. "He has so much conviction and faith," he said. "I

don't know if he is truly going to miss anything. The mental

preparation had already happened." Patel did not spend his entire life

lost in prayer.

"Except for not eating meat, I'd be a good ol' Southern Texan," Rahul

Patel said a few days before the ceremony. "I'm conservative. I like

country music. I love Mexican food." He also enjoyed James Bond movies

and was a bit of a Trekker, but "not to the point where I was going to

conventions or anything." A good student, Patel had won a scholarship

to study at Texas A&M, where he earned a degree in biomedical science.

He also has a history of volunteerism. He worked with Habitat for

Humanity and tutored children struggling in school. He also pitched in

for Bush's 1992 presidential campaign. As a sophomore in college, Patel

made a losing bid for a seat on the College Station Independent School

Board. He had radio commercials and signs and gave speeches at local

civic organizations, he said. "I felt like I had something to say, and

I wanted to say it, so I decided to file," Patel said.

But throughout his life, Patel devoted his Sundays to the Fort Bend

County temple and the round-trip car ride from College Station. And

among the greatest influences on his life were Pramukh Swami and the

sadhus who ran the temple, he said. "It wasn't like you felt that ...

he was holier than thou," his friend Jignesh Patel said. "If anything,

it is the exact opposite." Rahul Patel approached Pramukh Swami with

the idea of becoming a sadhu in 1996, when he was 19. He was told to

continue his education. (HPI adds: It is a requirement of the

Swaminarayan order that each prospective sadhu earn a university

degree)

Later, at the swami's suggestion, he abandoned plans for medical school

and entered law school. In June 2003, he entered an 11-month first

stage of training in India to learn the language of the faith,

Gujarati, and to determine if the life of a sadhu was one he could

handle. But abandoning his innate desire to make lawyerly arguments

will be one of the most difficult sacrifices for Patel. "A part of me

looks at something and automatically analyzes it and says, 'What are

you doing and what are you thinking,' " he said. "In India and on this

path, a large part of it is humility and just listening." He is giving

up the logic for faith, he said. "There are plenty of people who maybe

follow a different religion, a different path, who strive for the same

thing. ... For me, I found a path that I truly believe in, and that is

Pramukh Swami, and he will show me the path as a sadhu."