Arbi Nityanandam
or more popularly known as Ajja of Puttur breathed his last a few months
back at a place called as the Satya Shodhak Trust (in search of the
truth trust). This time it was for good as it was rumored that Nettar
Ramachandra Bhat, which was his true name was supposed to have died
once and come back to life. According to his devotees that had given
him an insight into the mysteries of life and he was also credited with
having known the meaning of life. I had heard a bit about him particularly
since a local weekly, Taranga, which has a leaning towards sensationalizing
trivia which had any claims of the supernatural had made a cover story
about him. They had boosted their circulation with features about non
issues like lamps burning without oil, doomsday by 2000 etc. Though
the write up did not say anything much, his devotees had been thrilled
and had claimed that the Ajja’s story of rebirth had been confirmed.
Any way, devotees had gathered around him and used to have sessions
with him in where he was supposed to dwell at length on all mysteries
of life and death.
About
a decade back one of his devotees who had claimed that Ajja’s knowledge
was so vast and that his memory was going back to the big bang
had invited me to meet him. He had also conveyed that Ajja was very
much interested in seeing my demonstration of the so called miracles.
Since we claim that our demonstrations are for education of the gullible
and to create scientific temper, we try to keep ourselves confined to
such performances only at venues where there are serious audiences.
Yet this was an opportunity to meet a person with so called miraculous
powers on his turf and so I agreed.
On the
appointed day, I reached the venue with my kit and the audience of about
twenty, was seated around this Ajja, each one of them hanging on to
every word that he uttered. Some of them were sitting literally at his
feet while a few whose disabilities would not allow them to be seated
so were occupying chairs. I being a non believer stepped into this atmosphere
which was heavy with devotion. I could also see a couple of videographers,
recording the event. When I was introduced to Ajja, he replied that
he already knew about me and wanted to see only those so called miracles,
which involved sleight of hand. Before going about with that I told
him very clearly that I was an atheist held that all people were equal
and would treat him as an equal. He was agreeable to those conditions
and he also informed me that he too was a nastika. I started
with my demonstration which was watched with interest by all present.
When it was over, Ajja clapped and appreciated it.
Going
on with his rambling, he told me that I had done a good job exposing
false miracles and the godmen who were performing them. But, he said
that are some who can perform genuine miracles. Then, I asked him to
provide me their names and addresses so that they could be verified.
For that he replied that such people did not have any name plates. So,
I queried him if that was the case, how he got to know about them. There
was no reply. When I repeated the question he made an evasive reply.
When I persisted, he could not say anything. Then he made a comparison
to a mobile phone with which one could talk to any one any where. At
that I handed over my mobile phone and told him to talk to any one he
likes. But, that was under the condition that he hands
over his mobile to me through which I could get in touch with his contacts.
There was silence and so I excused myself as it was my feeling that
I was interrupting his time with his devotees who were anxiously waiting
to gather the pearls of wisdom that would drop from his lips.
So that
was the end of my first meeting with him. When I came out I realized
that videos were being shot with the hope that the Ajja would floor
the leading rationalist by his depth of inner knowledge! I could also
see the disappointment that nothing of the like had happened.
My second
meeting with Ajja was at ashram, the Satya Shodak Trust at Puttur. One
serial was being shot about an atheist, John Saffron who meets the various
religions of the world. In his search for proponents of Hinduism, he
wanted my help. One of those he wanted to meet was someone who would
be a philosopher by insight. One person who I thought would fit the
bill was the Ajja of Puttur. When we requested for an appointment it
was readily granted. When our team went to the place we were welcomed.
There were many devotees of Ajja around and they explained to John Saffron
that their guru, the Ajja knew the meaning of life.
The conversation
went something on these lines:
Saffron- What is the meaning of life?
Ajja- who are you asking this
question to? Saffron- To you, the person
sitting in front of me.
Ajja- When one loses his individuality…
Saffron- so you mean to say
you have lost your individuality?
So, it
went on the conversation was interrupted by lunch and after that Saffron
wanted to make sure that the question would be answered, so he put that
down on paper. Then he waited for an answer which never came. Ajja suddenly
got up and went to lie down for his post lunch constitutional and Saffron’s
question remained unanswered.
That was
the second meeting with the man who had plumbed the depths of philosophy
and had known the meaning of life. His devotees had also claimed that
he was waiting to get the right question and that had not been put to
him. While I do not know whether that had been done when he was alive,
his end did not seem to be different from that of any other old man
of his age. This time the end was truly so. He did not come back to
life as he had allegedly done couple of decades back. Probably that
was an anticlimax to his devotees who had expected him to make
the trip for the second time from the other side. For all purposes it
seems that he would have been unconscious for some time which would
have been interpreted as death by people who were not competent to check
things out.
Any way,
despite lack of any supernatural powers he seemed to be all right in
other ways. He had no communal feelings, no coterie of musclemen around
him like many other so called ‘spiritual’ persons around. The Ajja
(or grandfather) of Puttur was an ordinary mortal with no extraordinary
powers of any kind. Perhaps, he had a touch of echolalia!
|