When you have nothing but you feel you have everything

I was going to Puri to attend a wedding ceremony, and the train stopped at a station. An old man came in and sat in front of me. His leg touched mine accidentally and he followed the very old custom in respect - taking his hand and touching my feet and taking the name of our Hindu God Lord Vishnu. We have been taught this from childhood and it has become a habit that will go only after death. The reason we follow this custom is that, Lord Vishnu resides in every soul and if our leg touches anyone, then its a disrespect to the Lord, so we apologize by following this custom. But I was surprised because the old man appeared to be from Muslim caste - his dress and cap was clearly indicating that. I just did Namaskar (Salutation with two hands) to honor his respect and kept mum.

After being comfortable at his seat, he started enchanting some slokas of Lord Jagannath. I was curious to watch him. As the train was passing by a temple, he bowed his head, closing his eyes offering some prayers. I was very much confused by this dilemma - a person from Muslim caste offering prayers to Hindu God !! After some time I could not resist my curiosity and asked him - You look like Muslim, how come you are offering prayers to Hindu Gods ? Where are you going ? Where is your house ?

He was very clam and not disturbed by my question. He started answering me - I belong to Salabega caste - my father is muslim and my mother is hindu. I belong to a village from where I boarded the train and I am going to Puri to do my business - I sell mutton. Selling mutton is my family business, so I have been brought into this business by my father, but I do not eat. I am thankful to the Lord to be able to go everyday to Puri , the holy place for the sake of my business.

My curiosity doubled and I asked - do you believe in Lord Jagannath? But you must not be allowed to go inside the temple ? He answered - He is the Lord of this universe, so how come I stay out of the universe ? Every day I go and look at the temple and offer my prayers and then go for my business. I feel him in every moment of my life. Even though I cannot go inside the temple, I wait for the car festival (Ratha Yatra) to see him, to feel those eyes that is looking at this universe, to capture them in me till next year. Don't you know about Salabega ? I belong to that caste. I feel my life is success and complete because of the Lord - the lord is present in every soul - tears were coming out of his eyes.

I was speechless - there was no words for him - he was a living symbol of the divine. He is not rich but he has everything. The happiness in his face won't match any other materialistic achievement in this world. He seems to look complete and a very successful man. For a moment I was comparing myself to him - do I have the same happiness even though I have achieved everything in life !!!

If you do not know about Salabega, then he was a famous religious poet in 17th century and was son of a Muslim father and Hindu mother - his father forcibly married his mother. So even though his religion was Muslim, he devoted his life to Jagannath. He was refused entrance to the Jagannath temple because of his religion, but it did not dissuade him by any means. His faith became stronger and it is said, he used to see the lord everyday during his bathe - he would take water in both his hands and offer that to the Lord only after he sees the Lord - kind of live telecast. He would come to see the God only during car festival as Lord comes out of the temple to see everyone. Once a villager from his village was going to the temple and Salabega gave him a coconut and told him to stand in front of the temple and tell the Lord that Salabega has sent this coconut. If you want to take this come out and take it else Salabega has told, I will take it back. A big hand came outside of the temple and took that coconut. After this incidence, people started giving him all the due respect, but he was still not allowed inside the temple. In one car festival he was coming to see the Lord but felt ill on his way. Fearing that he will not be able to see the God, he offered his prayer and ask the Lord to wait for him. The lord obeyed his summon and did not move - Lord Jagannath's cart did not move an inch even though so many people were pulling it. The main priest could feel there is something wrong and then started his prayer to understand and the lord gave the message, which he conveyed to public. That place where the cart stopped was later devoted for Salabega and his body was cremated there ( as per hindu rituals) and the Samadhi still stands there. During every car festival, Lord Jagannath's cart stops at his Samadhi to honor his devotion.

The government of Odisha has declared Salabega's birth place ( where he was residing) as a cultural heritage and taken over the place doing all sorts of development. We visited this temple sometimes back and this video is from that temple. You can see how he is sitting outside the temple offering the coconut so that the Lord would come and take it.

If you have come this far then ask yourself - What does success look like from a spiritual perspective? I am sure, you will get the answer.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.