In Search of My Ancestors

MYSTERIOUS, INCREDIBLE BHARAT  

Kishorie Prasad,  lifelong devotee of Bharat Sevashram Sangha (BSS) with branches in Etobicoke, Canada and Cove and John, Guyana was organizing her usual trip to India in January 2019 and asked me to join her group but I wanted greater freedom of movement. I visited India once before just out of curiosity to accompany a friend who was taking the ashes of his late father to its homeland.  I was ill-prepared for the experience from Delhi and North to Punjab and even a quick bus trip to Lahore, Pakistan. After several weeks I returned sick from the pollution and promised never to return. 

The passage of several decades and my improved knowledge of the country’s glorious history and culture erased the negative images of corruption and overcrowded cities. This time I was armed with detailed information about my great grandparents who arrived in British Guiana on December 16, 1886. The Emigration pass indicate they were from the village of Umrah, District Benares (now Varanasi) on the banks of the famous Holy Ganges. The mystery of the land of the Rishis was revealed to me even before I made up my mind. 

KARMA or COINCIDENCE? 

The 2nd World Hindu Congress was held at Chicago in September 2018 to commemorate the 125 years since Swami Vivekananda made his first appearance and memorable speech “Sisters and Brothers of America” at the Parliament of World Religions on 9/11, 1893. In the book Mohandas K. Gandhi, Thoughts, Words, Deeds this was described as the NINE ELEVEN OF THE EAST. The first Congress was held in New Delhi in 2014 when the unethical, illegal and destructive practice of religious conversion was addressed by delegates from the 53 nations in attendance. Consequently I continued the discussion with an article which was published in the event magazine ABHIYAN entitled IS INDUCED CONVERSION TERRORISM?  

About midnight Toronto time one night in December 2019 I received a call from Dr. Manish Gupta (PhD), Vaccine Scientist, who is based in Belgium, whom I still have not met, introduced himself and expressed his appreciation for my article as conversion was a problem across the globe. When I told him that I planned to visit Varanasi he told me he can help as his father-in-law, Vinodbhai Bhadarka, is the general manager of the largest SWARVED MAHAMANDIR DHAAM (one of world largest meditation center) which is being constructed in Umrah, Varanasi.  In this meditation  center more than 20,000 people can sit a time for the meditation.  Both Vindobhai Bhadarka  and his wife were retired bank managers and dedicated their time to overseeing the massive project. On December 14, 2021 Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited this meditation center, now completed building and attended the 98th anniversary  of All India Vihangam Yog Sansthan and the 100 years of the imprisonment of  Sadguru Sadafal Deo ji Maharaj during freedom movement. A day before PM Modi also inaugurated phase 1 of Shri Kashi Viswanath Dham project of 23 buildings adding to the vibrancy of this spiritual corridor. 

I did not hear back for a while from Vinodbhai so I arranged to travel together with another Indian national, Vijay Pandya, Gandhi admirer and former resident of Gujarat, and booked a hotel online. The night before we departed Vinodbhai called and insisted that I cancel the hotel since arrangements have been made for devotees to meet me at airport and take me to Vihangam Yoga Ashram in Ahmedabad. They lived up to their promise as several devotees met me at Sardar Villabhbhai Patel International airport in Ahmedabad.  

I spent several days in the State of Gujarat, with Ramesh Chandra Trivedi, manager of the Kocharab Satyagraha Ashram, the first one set up by Gandhi when he returned from South Africa in 1915. I did my quota of spinning on the chakra after a painful training period under the watchful eyes of Trevidi ji who in the end rewarded me with a Gandhi topi.  The devotees of the Vihangam Ashram even had a driver and a car awaiting my command. At first, I thought the driver was a regular devotee as he slept there but later learnt he was there for my beck and call while being paid by his regular employer.   

They also accompanied me to Gujarat Vidyapeeth and Sabarmati Ashram aka Gandhi Ashram located on the banks on the Sabarmati River.  Here one can find a gallery of paintings of Gandhi’s life, a library of more than 35000 books on his works, and archives of more than 34,000 letters, articles and pictures of him and his associates.  No research is complete without a visit to this repository of his history. Most impressive however was the new city Gandhi Nagar, the capital of the state of Gujarat. Located there is the Mahatma Mandir, a world class facility for Global Confluence which has the capacity to host over 15,000 at one conference.  Next door is the Dandi Kutir Museum, the largest in the world dedicated solely to the life and times of Gandhi all within a 41-meter-high salt-mound symbolizing the salt tax walk to Dandi Beach in March 1930.  

A few days later when weather warmed up a few degrees Ramesh Pandit accompanied me on my first ever sleeper bus (seen only in movies) trip to a larger Dandakvan Ashram  in Vansda, Gujarat. Dandakvan is the same forest where Shri Ramchandra along with Mata Sita was put to exile in Ramayan.  From there we took a day trip to the Statue of UNITY an inspiring landmark which may be the tallest in the world rising to 182 meters. It is an engineering marvel as a tribute to Sardar Villabhbhai Patel known as the Iron Man of India. We also traced in part the route of the Salt march to Dandi Beach where salt became the symbol of the struggle for INDEPENDENCE.  

Once I learnt that Dharmeshbhai (a Vihangam yogi from Navsari) who arranged our stay for the night in Navsari and other volunteers were going to Varanasi I decided to join them.  This time it was sleeper train with triple bunk beds to the airport. We were met at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi and taken to a most comfortable living quarters for visitors, contractors and volunteers who travelled from many States to work on the Swarved Mahamandir in Varanasi. There, in the premise of Swarved Mahamandir Sansthan,  I got  the opportunity to take the Darshan  and the blessings of Sant Pravar Vigyandeo ji Maharaj of Vihangam Yog Sansthan, Prayagraj, India. 

A driver plus a guide and interpreter, another retired Bank Manager, accompanied me to the ancient Ganges and the village of my ancestors. I felt a strange feeling as we entered the village and the word quickly got around that this person who speaks only English was looking for his ancestors. The way the cattle and other animals intermingled with people and other life forms reminded me of my own childhood and our dependency on nature and cows. We did not find any relatives. The oldest person who was 90 years old, called around with his cell phone, and attracted a curious crowd but no luck. When someone said she knew my great grandmother who left in 1886 I resorted to my own mental calculation. This could not be possible unless she was over 134 years old. It was a turn off and warning to others who may want to take this emotional trip. Many are hoping to trace their ancestry in their last days but state and central Governments in India and Diaspora countries need to coordinate on this project so that records can be digitized before they are destroyed and reduce the prospect of corruption.  My own conclusion was that unless relatives maintained ancestral property it would be very difficult to trace those who left since the 1880s as a result of famine and were virtually nomads. 

Another friend from Fiji had no difficulty for his family kept their land even though some of them had left over a hundred years ago. 

Furthermore my relatives who had returned to India from Guyana in 1906 could not locate any relatives at that time. They had to leave Varanasi again on another contract for Trinidad where a brother was located.  Eventually they made their way back to Guyana and decided it was home. 

KOLKATA, BHARAT SEVASHRAM SANGH (BSS) NERVE CENTRE 

Once I landed at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport in Kolkata the name alone made me recall the history of this revolutionary and understands why he is still admired.  My inability to speak any language other than English was not a source of pride.  Fortunately I met a Buddhist Monk and expressed my concern about price variations to him so he accompanied me to find transportation. He ascertained the cost and gave my destination to the driver who spoke no English. 

BANANA SHAKTI 

My room which was luxury compared to the ones I shared in my University and law schools days. The buildings showed their age but the rooms were large with a comfortable bed, washroom and shower. Unlike student days however I did not have to coexist with any strange roommate. What was most memorable was a bunch of bananas which was my welcoming gift. The buildings housed mostly students and visitors at the upper lever while the lower level functioned as a medical clinic during the days serving long lines of patients without charge.  

Next morning on my way to my first meeting with Swami Biswatmanandaji Maharaj, General Secretary of BSS, I observed a medical patient in obvious pain. The boy was about 6 years old and clinging to his worried mother waiting to see a doctor. Since I was also planning to visit Tagore Shanti Niketan and Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math in West Bengal for the next 2 days and I did not want the bananas to spoil I decided to give two to the child. He smiled and took it.  Miraculously his face changed and the pain seemed to have subsided immediately. His mother also seemed relieved and told him something. With my little knowledge of the language I recognized two words Shukria and Babaji.  I translated the sentence to mean Tell Babaji Thanks. This may seem unbelievable to many but those few minutes, his smile and a light in his eyes was one of the highlights of my trip and the image was to come back to keep me company later on. I wondered whether if I was complying with one of the universal codes of Sanatan Dharma without knowing it. The Bhagavad Gita CH.17:20 States: CHARITY, given as a matter of duty, without expectation of any return, at the right place and time, and to the right person is said to be SATVIKKA. I had shared something that was given to me, it was going to be spoilt and for a brief moment that act removed pain from a totally innocent stranger whom I never met before and may never see again. Was this the wonder of Seva, Karma, and the eternal principles of Sanatan Dharma?  For about 17 hours with only myself as company I had more time to contemplate that smile act as I travelled alone from Bengaluru to Kerala on a sleeper bus. 

I scouted the area around the Ashram and quickly recognized I was in the hub of a global service center.  

About one hundred years earlier in 1917 this organization was formed and I was now standing at 211,Rashbehari Avenue, Kolkata, the heart of a worldwide monastic humanitarian organization that has branches all over the globe even as far away as  Guyana, South America. It was the land that produced spiritual giants like Ramkrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sri Aurobindo, and Paramhansa Yogananda. In a few days I observed their daily activities: serving the poor with meals, healing the sick, assisting students with housing and educational needs, managing temples, hospitals, dharamsalas and even gow shalas. This was all consistent with the humanitarian philosophy of the founder Acharya Swami Pranavanandaji Maharaj who asked “If a man sees another suffering and he does nothing about it, can he call himself a human being?”  

The room was reserved for me even when I left for a few days to visit Swami Vivekananda Centre and Ramakrishna Mission in Belur.  Next day we took first-class air-conditioned train from Howrah for an overnight trip to Shanti Niketan, home of Rabindra Nath Tagore.  While there it was not difficult to imagine how students were taught in an open air setting surrounded by nature in all its colors and splendor.  Flowers, giant shade trees, luxurious grounds and well-manicured lawns must have influenced the works of the Bengali poet, writer, playwright, composer, painter and social reformer. It is no wonder that he was the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for Gitagali. There we stayed at a simple hotel named MUD HUT indicating the composition of the walls.

Next to Bengaluru, the IT capital. After a week with the family of Toronto resident Soma Shekhar visiting schools and several ashrams around Bengaluru I headed south. Another memorable event was being in the presence of the oldest person I knew as the family and villagers celebrated his grandmothers 105 birthday. His brother Anand Kumar was most helpful in hosting and making transportation arrangements. 

THE BANANA IMAGE RETURNS. 

Shekhar was supposed to accompany me to Kerala but plans had changed and he could not spend more than a week there as business demanded his presence in Toronto.  

For the first and only time during my five weeks sojourn I was without company.  The sleeper bus from Bangaluru took about 17 hours before I could reach my destination in Kerala. It was like a small bedroom with a bed, no electrical outlets, no washroom, and no food. All I had was my own self and a bottle of water which I sipped every few hours. I could not recall being with myself in such a closed space all my life. I had a cell phone but could not charge it and did not want to use up the battery as it would be needed to call contacts once I got off the bus. I had books but could not read as there was no light. The bus stopped several times for washroom breaks but since I could not speak the language it was ready to take off before I knew what was going on. I came off to use the local bushes as washroom only once for a few minutes before I heard Jaldi, Jaldi. The last thing I wanted was to be left in a dark countryside without being able to communicate with anyone. I recalled my experience in 1996 while in Lahore, Pakistan at midnight looking for directions to a hotel when a group of young men made all kinds of comments amazed that I could only speak English. 

When I was not sleeping, I  tried practicing Yoga and meditation while lying or sitting on the bed but the eyes and the smile of the child and his mother from Rashbehari medical clinic came back to me constantly. I had time to reflect on my own life like never before and was amazed how simple an act of giving a banana to a child made such a difference not only to his life and that of his mother but now it seemed to be my best company. The banana was donated by devotees to the Ashram, then to me and then to a total stranger and had I not given it away it would have been wasted.  

The definition of Seva in the Gita came to make my 17 hours trip a blissful period of introspection. I explored the question how are all forms of life connected. We breathe the same air which is a source of universal life and energy but the act of giving and receiving seems to be part of the essence of universal consciousness. We came with nothing and will leave only with a record of Karmic deeds and sharing with one another whether a flower, a fruit, affection, thoughts or a few pleasant words seems to be one way to connect with the universal energy.  

I spent a relaxing week at BSS Kerala as guest of Bramchari Sukdev. From there we took an overnight visit by train to the BSS ashram at Kanyakumari to the Vivekananda Memorial Rock built in 1970. Here he had obtained enlightenment before he left for the West to spread the message of Sanatan Dharma.  Thousands amass daily either to see sunrise or the sunset at this southernmost part of India and yes it’s HOT. 

We returned to the Kerala Ashram for a day until a flight was arranged to INDIRA GANDHI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT in Delhi to connect flight to the adopted homeland, a long rest with time to  reflect on a trip etched in memory forever.

An impressive practice at all the Ashrams was to issue a receipt immediately for every donation no matter how small, and to ensure that visitors are well fed with a sumptuous vegetarian meal.

PS. I may return to Bharat for there is much to learn about this spiritual empire that withstood invaders for centuries but retained its essential distinctiveness.  However those of us who grew up in the West must develop that third eye to appreciate the mystery of this ancient land.  We also should rely less on Google translation and interpreters. A lot is lost in the translation and we cannot continue to blame the British for all our current limitations.