JAI GURU DEV (Glory to the Divine Master)

Jai was such an insufferable Devotee. He appeared, one day, at the front gate of Baba’s Ashram. Jai said Baba told him to come, and here he was.

“Ram,Ram…”

Jai came through the ashram gate twirling a homemade prayer wheel he made out of a used cardboard toilet paper tube, some string and a stick that he must have picked up in the Ashram parking lot.

He wore a white dhoti obviously fashioned from a sheet he borrowed from a nearby hostel.( The hostel‘s name was printed boldly on it.)

Jai came to the Ashram on foot, he had no possessions. He did not even own a pair of shoes.

“Ram,Ram…”

Said Jai ,repeating the name of God over and over.

Jai placed his hand over his heart. Jai Looked as if he was having visions. He had tears in his eyes.

“Namaste”said Jai. Jai Bowed deeply at the waist .He still managed to twirl his prayer wheel as he touched his forehead to the ground.

Jai was offered Chai (spiced tea) and Prasad (blessed food )as was the custom when devotee arrived at Bob‘s ashram

“Ram,Ram…

Jai made it his practice to fully prostrate on the ground before anything or anyone he came in contact with. Sometimes wept as he did the prostrations.

Three times a day Jai practiced his yoga in the middle of the main walkway of the Ashram.Jai sang loudly while intermittently blowing a conch shell trumpet in the four directions.

Soon everyone at Baba’s Ashram knew who Jai was. Jai was a disruption.

“Ram,Ram…”

Jai’s level of devotion was startlingly obtrusive and scary! It’s for that very reason the other devotees mostly, the Westerners ,avoided like the plague.

”Ram,Ram…”

All agreed that Jai had the right to his spiritual journey. Even if it was a noisy and problematic one.

By week two there was an ever increasing sense that Jai might not be right in the head. In fact, no one was sure if Jai was an overzealous Devotee or just some wing nut. Whatever Jai was no one seemed to want jai near. The growing animosity was palpable. however, Jai did not seem to notice his effect on others.

“Ram,Ram…”

Jai found an old ratty arm chair abandoned on the side of the road near the Ashram parking lot. Jai placed the chair in the far corner of the meditation garden. He fashioned the tent from the Ashram’s sheets and tied them around the chair. He made a shrine to Baba out of two empty milk crates, and a flagstone from the garden. Jai picked many of the Garden’s blossoms. He fashioned flower garland necklaces out of the blooms.

“Jai Guru Dev!”(Victory to the Divine Master)

“Baba told me that I am home !”Jai then blew the conch Shell trumpet loudly and sat down . Jai Continued to make flower garland necklaces. He made the flower garland necklaces to the point where the Ashram’s meditation garden could no longer provide flowers for flower puja.(Worship through flower offerings)

no one knew what Jai was doing with all the flower Garland necklaces he made from the Ashram’s meditation garden .

Gossip and rumors swirled around the presence of jai at Baba’s Ashram. Especially after Jai dug a hole in front of his tent for a Dhuni) sacred fire pit.)

Many western devotees gathered to watch jai and gossip about his activities. The crowd would gather across from the meditation Garden during afternoon tea. The devotees sat in a crisscross huddle of Indian cotton prints and Chi cups, whispering laughing.

“He’s coming !” one of the devotees hissed as they watched the Ashram manager march over to the meditation Garden.

“What’s he saying?” Asked a devotee.

”What is he doing now ?”asked another devote.

The devotees tried to hear what the Ashram manager was saying to Jai.The devotees strained their ears, trying to eavesdrop.

“Badmash!”(A person who is unruly or ill behaved.)

“Badmaash!” Cried manager. The manager began to take down the sheets that made Jai’s tent.But as soon as the manager removed one of the sheets, Jai was right behind him, replacing it with a new one.

The manager poured Jai’s chai onto the ground and threw the cup into the garbage can that sat in the Ashram Garden near the sunflowers. Or at least where the sunflowers used to be before Jai got his hands on them. The manager began to shout as Jai threw himself on the ground. He reached for the Ashram manager‘s feet and legs. The Ashram manager backed up. Jai kept reaching out his hands until finally he got his arms around the managers legs, causing the manager to fall backwards over the shrine Jai erected for Baba.

It was at that moment that the Ashram manager blew his cool.He totally lost it! He cussed Jai out on the spot! Jai was getting kicked out! The Devotees knew this because they heard the Ashram manager yell

“Jao!” ( leave)

The manager quickly dismantled Jai’s tent. The manager ignore protest by answering

“Jao!”(leave)

The Ashram manager came back towards the devotees. In his arms The manager carried the milk crates the sheets, and the conch shell trumpet .Looped around the managers neck were copious amounts of flower garland necklaces.

The devotees watched his Jai as he filled the hole he had Dug ,in the garden ,for his dhuni. Jai took the ratty broken down armchair to the gate.By nightfall,Jai was gone.

Jai guru Dev!(Victory to the Divine Master)

Ashram life slowly went back to its usual routine .

later the Ashram was hit by a bit of news :

Baba had been going around visiting his various Ashrams. He traveled incognito as a western devote who wore bedsheets ,owned no shoes and twirl the toilet paper to prayer wheel!

“Jai!” We all screamed at once and unison!

Regrettably, it was too late to go find our Baba or invite him to return. We messed up and we knew it. Somehow none of us recognized the “divine” in Jai.

That was Baba’s Lila( divine cosmic act of playfulness or drama, on the part of a God)

It would be the one of the many Lilas that summer at Baba’s Ashram

JAI GURU DEV! (Glory to the Divine Master)