Namaste, i'm your Baba of the day

Let's start by finding a definition for these two words, Namaste and Baba, so we are all on the same page. 

And i am also adding a disclaimer that in no way whatsoever i am writing about the specific people you see featured in this blog. 

Expect for one...

According to Wikipedia "Namaste नमस्ते - sometimes spoken as Namaskar or Namaskaram - is a respectful form of greeting in Hindu custom... by saying Namaste one means "I bow to the divine in you".

Namaste is usually spoken with a slight bow and hands together, palms touching and fingers pointing upwards, thumbs close to the chest... the greeting may also be spoken without the gesture, or the gesture performed wordlessly, carrying the same meaning". 

i have heard and seen many "Namastes" at the beginning/end of a yoga class, mainly in the West; in fact this term is hardly ever used in any yoga session i have experienced in India. 

Then of course there are the westernized versions of it: namastay ... right here... in bed all day... a complete destruction of the original word but hey... what to do?

Still according to Wikipedia, Baba बाबा  means father, grandfather, wise old man, sir. 

This term is used to define men -and sometimes women, although not as common- who have left family, possessions, attachments to live an ascetic life wandering from place to place without desires or wants. 

The purpose if this choice is to practice sadhana/tapas - a discipline or spiritual practice - living in a state of Bhakti, devotion to God. 

i see them walking in groups or alone - especially here in Rishikesh, a very special spiritual place where many sages and saints have lived.

They wear one or two cloths to cover their body - mainly orange or white - sometimes a turban, malas and/or bracelets; at times they carry a stick and a sleeping bag. In one hand they hold a metal tiffin for food, on the shoulder a small bag - often knitted by themselves - with their entire life in it: an extra cloth, a blanket, some small change, a towel, a cup, whatever found on the road that might turn useful.

Often they are barefoot, but not the baba i met the other day with a pair of broken down Birkenstocks donated by a tourist who was leaving and didn't have any more room in his heavy backpack. 

They weren't even his (the baba's) size but they were/are doing the job. 

Babas don't seem to be faced by weather conditions; the sun can be brutal here, the rain during monsoon season is not just a couple of drops and when it's cold it's COLD. 

Occasionally i see them finding shelter by the nearest ashram, where they are also fed at specific times during the day, or simply resting by the side of the road, waiting for whatever climate to pass. 

Of course they are all vegetarian. 

Some of them stop at road stalls to rest or drink a chai -if someone offers- smoke bidis or other substances believed to increase one's concentration and limit desires. 

They can strike a conversation about whatever subject they feel like talking about or they just sit silently. 

Rarely i have heard them talking about their own life. 

The majority doesn't ask for anything and often people offer them food, fruit, small change. 

Although sometimes i find myself complaining that i don't have all my "things" here with me I wonder if i could do the same ... living with basically nothing, that is. Then again... when you don't have anything, nothing can be taken away ... how freeing is that?

i imagine being a baba is not an easy life: not knowing where you will sleep next, or wash, or if you will have anything to eat, if someone will steal your bag, a monkey your food, or a tiger will attack you in the middle of the night... and then again i imagine how liberating it is not having to worry about recharging your phone, or paying your rent, or do your taxes, putting gas in your car, insurance, vacations, holidays, groceries shopping, making the bed, fixing your hair... to know that not much is necessary to live a life of devotion, that all the "stuff' the mind tells us WE NEED don't bring us closer to the Divine. 

And then of course there are the fake babas - and i purposely didn't take any pictures of them - You can see them in perfectly ironed orange garb, running shoes matching the impeccably crisp outfit (!) brushed long hair, tilak (the colored powder or paste between the eyebrows) applied in front of the mirror. 

They walk sure of themselves, head high, shoulders back, enough beads hanging from the neck to show they are serious about their babaness. They exude the calculated piousness necessary to attract whomever will give them a chance. 

These "smart" babas understand that often people come to India to "find themselves" - particularly in Rishikesh - or with the intent of learning more about the practice of yoga, of finding shanti or to meditate by the sacred Ganga. 

They have found the perfect formula to get what they need... attention, money, money and attention. They speak enough english to get by, some know a few words in other languages as well. The conversation begins whith a Namaste and continues with a where are you staying? By the answer to the question the fake baba determines what kind of a foreigner you are, how much money you have and subsequently what can be taken from you. Beware, oh videshi! 

These babas hang out where you and i do, because they know sooner or later they will find a foreigner (maybe on his/her first trip to India) who will mistake them for knower of "truth"... and what is truth anyway?

And then of course there are the REAL babas.

The one you see here is one of them. He has been living in the forest for over 20 years; in this particular spot for over 7. Just the other day the police told him to leave. He took his "belongings" - one bag, 2 tarps, 2 blankets, his bidis and matches, a Tommi Hilfiger jacket (donated by someone)- and spent the night on the road. 

He was back the next day. 

He said, "if Shiva wants me to leave i will leave."

i have no idea how old he is. He should wear glasses: his eyes can't see too well, but he doesn't want to. He meditates more or less all day, except when he goes looking for wood, or fixes his tarp. He cooks his own chai and chapati- although these days he is fasting, so it's just tea -. He smokes bidis 502 and every once in a while you hear him say, "OOOMMM". He keeps his rice, flour, and a few vegetables in a hole he dug, so the monkeys don't get to his provisions. He talks if you ask him questions or he sits in lotus pose, silently.

 

This is the real baba, the one who is joyous if someone visits him, but he can also do without; the one who sleeps on the ground with only a blanket and a cover over his head if it rains, regardless of how hot/cold it is; the one who bathes in the Ganga in any weather condition; the one who owns nothing, complains about nothing, accept everything as it is, wants nothing, and above all the one who does EVERYTHING as devotion to the Divine.

 Every. Single. Day. 

All. The. Time. 

i love how when he smiles the whole face illuminates. How he never asks for anything and when we bring him "things" anyways -bananas, a watermelon, milk, a new tarp, some ropes- he says, "Na Na Na mujko kuch nahin chahiye" No No No i don't need anything. 

the moral of the story? 

the beads don't make the baba