A HATHAYOGI SINKS

The venue – Bombay. The period – late 50s. The feat – walking (or sliding?) over water- The Sponsor – the late R. K. Karanjia, a fellow traveler, Editor of The Blitz, a committed leftist, a Russia lover, a great friend of Mr. V. K. Krishna Menon and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru – all steel cast rationalists, intellectuals and non believers. Now read the story: -

One fat, fair complexioned, saffron clad figure claimed himself as a practitioner of Hatha Yoga and branded himself “Hatha Yogi”. The Blitz weekly was his promoter and its pages could comfortably accommodate him along with progressive Marxist theories – an instance of coexistence preached by his political Gurus. Shri Hathayogi could convince doubting thomas Karanjia without any demonstration that he could walk over water which none could achieve ever in world history. Hatha yoga or no yoga Hatha yogi proved every one that none could excel him as a top salesman as he could sell his ideas to a hard nut like Karanjia. When Karanjia accepted the claim and gave considerable publicity backing through his publication the Mumbai public accepted it as a preacher’s dictum. Now the stage was set for the demonstration for the people to see for themselves this miraculous feat of our Hathayogi walking over the water.

A 5 ft. deep small tank was constructed in the heart of the city and filled in with Corporation water. The hathayogi with colorful robe – no swimsuit, mind you – appeared on the scene with a cultivated smile and those who assembled stood up in respect clapping (not slapping). Karnjia received him in reverence and led him to the brink of the tank. Hathayogi murmured something for a minute or so as is the practice even now of such holy men and to the excitement, expectations and ecstasies of the assembled he put his right foot - mind you, not the much-maligned poor left foot - over the water and lo and behold the human sized elephant sank deep into the water. No time lost, his followers jumped into the tank and raised the body to the safety of the land. The next scene was filmic – no trace of Karanjia and his Guru around.

Before I conclude, let me make some observations. The same question I asked in the Eye Care Special issue of The Sales Digest - I wish to repeat. This happened nearly fifty five years ago. Had we changed our outlook on claims and conclusions? We have holy men around us clad in orient and western attires who claim of miracles through prayers and to convince us of these they cite instances and parade testimonials on the stage. Any doubts or reasons that surface in us we suppress fearing God’s wrath and consign it to the recycle bin and there we delete it to our detriment. When our commonsense and intellect warn us of these frauds and cheats who amass wealth in the name of God, we ignore it and succumb to it. In all cases we gradually lose our reasoning power and in most cases our money too to these charlatans. At least let us allow our children exercise their intelligence and commonsense to identify these God-shaded criminals and keep away from them and their shaded sacred identity. This is an essential part of good parenting. Mathew Thomas