Underscoring the uniqueness of our guru-shishya parampara, here an octogenarian disciple is struggling hard to construct a temple for his beloved Guru, which as yet remains unfinished. Interestingly, the money spent on the structure has been collected by begging in villages.
Meet 81-year-old Baba Bairagi Charan Das of Sitaram mutt at Badasalar village in Chandol on the outskirts of Kendrapada Township. His unrelenting effort to build a temple for his Guru Gobinda Charan Das speaks volume about his love, respect and devotion for him.
According to Das, when he was only 13-year-old, he came in contact with Guru Gobind Das of Sitaram Mutt and was deeply influenced by him. He left his home to stay with the seer. later, he became his close disciple.
“So in a tiny gesture to acknowledge my gratitude for Guru's love for me which helped me attain my spiritual goal, I have decided to erect a temple for him,” said Das.
“I started erecting a stone temple for my Guru in 1985 on the premises of Sitaram Mutt at Badasalar village. My Guru took mahasamadhi after nine years of the temple’s construction work. As a result, I erected a tomb of my Guru inside the half built temple and have been worshipping him regularly for last 17 years,” added the octogenarian saint.
The temple construction work has been going on for last 27 years. More than 70 per cent of temple works have been completed. But due to fund crunch, the temple is yet to be finished, he stated.
“Every day, I with the help of mata Basant Dasi used to collect muthi vikhya from each household. The locals provide rice, greengram, crop, vegetable, blackgram and coconut. With the begging, I used to run the mutt and carry out the temple construction work,” stated Das.
‘I have a dream. I want to see the completion of my Guru’s temple before I close my eyes forever. If it happens, then it would be the best thing in my life,” added Das.