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He
looks like the rishies of old and the Khalsa of Guru Gobind
Singh—a veritable combination of courage and compassion,
a total embodiment of unselfishness and service. Bhagat Puran
Singh is what India’s distilled wisdom and rich heritage
are all about. There he sits, at the entrance of the Golden
Temple at Amritsar, with loads and loads of paper around him.
In front of him is a brass vessel as nondescript as the man’s
physical appearance. Visiting devotees to the shrine stop, pay
silent obeisance, put some cash into the tray and move on. Bhagat
Puran Singh neither seeks nor acknowledges their greetings.The
money piles up, but the sage notes it not, and along comes a
seeker and the sage welcomes with open arms.
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spontaneous rapport and the generation gap is closed. You wonder
what this wizened old man has - anything at all - to say and
minutes later there is another kind of wonder : how is it that
this frail man of near ninety is so well versed in ecology,
environment problems, the Tehri dam, Narmada and deficit financing.
The words of Guru Nanak in Var Asa flash through the mind
"He who attains humility through
love and devotion to God, Such a one may attain emancipation".
If you are from the Tribune ? I
have reprinted your article on ... (he turns to one of the Sewadars
to open a bundle). The Times of India had a series of articles
on this subject..."
Amazing that he should tell a journalist what the journalist
had written. Perhaps the transience of journalism acquires the
trappings of immortality through not a mass medium but a spiritual
one. Bhagatji subscribes to two dozen regional, nation and international
dailies and magazines - and reads them all.
What obsesses us most - the daily obscenities of politician
and editorial homilies of journalists—does not occupy
his attention for more than a fleeting moment. Bhagatji, over
the decades, has developed a feel for real news, that which
concerns the people, society at large and the values that (ought
to) govern it.
He is gentle, soft and sublimely uncritical
of anything around him. To him, all of God’s creations
are sacred, be the animal, vegetable or mineral or whatever.
He collects, as he walk along the streets of Amritsar, pebbles,
horse-shoes, peculiar shaped stones, and a lot else...
An important, looking SGPC functionary,
surrounded by kirpan-wielding assistants and armed guards, passes
by. Somehow, the presence of Bhagat Puran Singh with no guards,
no security, no Paraphernalia, seems irksome and out of place.
What is the secret of this man’s impregnable security
? Guru Arjun Dev has the answer : "Humility is my mace;
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Touching The dust on the feet of
the people, my spear
These weapons no-evildoer can
withstand,
The Master, all-endowed, has armed me
with these",
(Sorath 80)
The picking of pebbles on the street is very symbolic. After all
for, close to seven decades Bhagatji had been picking up human
pebbles cast away on the street by a cruel destiny or an uncaring
society. God helps those who help themselves; Bhagat Puran Singh
has vowed to help those who can’t help themselves.He is
the saint of our times. Contemporary history has few names ( I
have Mother Teresa in my mind when I write this) which can boast
of such relentless service to humanity as that of Bhagat Puran
Singh. "Binu seva phal kabhu na pawasi seva kami sari".
Talking to him is enlightening. He has very simple remedies for
almost all the nation’s ills. All perfectly practical and
easily enforceable - but in a nation of Bhagat Puran Singh.
A few public spirited Indians in the USA have started a movement
to recommend the Noble Peace Prize for Bhagatjl. He would be the
last person to be enthusiastic about it. He knows the difference
between the emancipated soul and the good Samaritan, the difference
that would explain why Martin Luther King’s non violence
struggle was worthy of Nobel Award, and why the Noble Prize is
unworthy of Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagriha and Ahimsa.
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But the prize money - around Rs. 40
Lakh - is welcome if only to house Pingalwara in a better building
and with improved hygiene and amenities. Also, the Noble Prize
needs to redeem its honour by going to the right persons. The
cause must be taken up by the country at large.
Meanwhile, the saint goes on unworried by the mess caused by
our leaders to the country. Bhagat Puran Singh would echo Guru
Nanak Dev..."I have learnt by the light shed by the
Master, perfectly endowed; Recluse, hero, celibate or sanyassi
- No one may expect to earn merit without dedicated service—
Service which is the essence of purity."
V.N. Narayanan
Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune Chandigarh 
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