True the Sadhus in India are generally referred to as representatives of God. But here is one saffron-clad elderly Sanyasi, who represents the differently-able people and of course the God that resides in them.
An ardent worshipper of Goddess Kali Swami Bedananda has taken it upon himself the huge task of transforming the lives of the “physically have-nots” so to say by running his ashram from a small, nondescript enclosure where he co-resides with the south-faced idol of the universal Mother and a Homa Kunda in front of her.
“You will simply filled with divinity and tears will roll down your cheeks once you enter the little abode of the “Mother and the son,” the locals maintain.
On the Mahalaya Day, the Sevapeeth Matri Mandir as the ashram is called entered into its 36th year of service “under the auspices of Divine Mother and Swami Bedananda as her ardent son”, said a devotee adding how Bedanda renders a whole lot of humanitarian services.
Under him the ashram had been providing equipment of aid to the physically challenged, free medical and legal help to the poor and disabled, he informs.
Yet the humble Sadhu prefers to remain away from publicity. “His only concern is the welfare of poor, distraught and physically challenged people,” says the disciple.
A self-effacing Sadhu who sprays his smile with childish simplicity while elucidating the most complicated philosophical speculations with supreme ease is given to the concept of Sarva Dharma Samanwaya (unity of religions) as was preached by Ramakrishna Paramahansa, insiders say.
No wonder why the likes of Father Paul Carlose of the St Xavier’s College, was present alongside the political who’s who of Kolkata during the Mahaylaya function of the ashram when a handbook with all necessary information on the differently-abled persons was published.
A similar aide was also prepared in Braille for the blind. Swami Bedanada or Babuji as he is lovingly called by his ardent followers — comprising a divergent class of people: From the politicians, doctors, barristers, judges to the sans-culottes among whom he resides pretty comfortably devoid of any worldly pretensions — completed three Yugas in human service and Mother’s meditation, his devotees say, adding “now he will enter into deeper meditation of the Goddess.
“It is not for nothing that people from various walks of life come calling to this ashram to find peace,” says a devout.
While dedicating his life for the differently-abled persons, the Sadhu vouches, “though the physically-challenged are regarded as disabled persons, to my mind the devilish people devoid of human qualities, those who never repent for their sinful acts are the real disabled persons.”