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Amidst the chaos, Sahaj Muniji ends his year-long tapasya

Madhuri Velegar in Bangalore

A shrivelled sadhu in white robes sits with his legs tucked under him on a wooden bed inside a sparsely furnished room, catching up with the morning newspaper.

Outside the room, lies chaos in the form of 300-odd devotees.

As early bird Jain followers jostle with one another, babes in arms, waiting for a glimpse, a soothing word or a warm touch of his hands over their heads, the voices reach a crescendo. Everyone wants to rush inside before the Jain muni breaks his fast after 365 long days; there is no ordinary man inside a room. He is a saint, whispers Sarala Ben.

Subsisting on boiled water twice or thrice a day, three hours of sleep daily, many hours of meditation, a few in showering blessings, 64-year-old Jain ascetic Shri Sahaj (meaning peace, serene) Muniji Maharaj began his penance on May 1, 1997, amidst much fanfare for world peace and universal brotherhood.

Today, except for synchronised chanting of japs by munis, sadhvis and devotees inside the marbled hall of the Vardhman Sthanakwasi Jain Shravak Sangh on Infantry Road in Bangalore, the event went largely unnoticed. No traffic snarls nor are there any takers for the fasting seer's laminated photographs or Lord Mahavira's audio cassettes. Instead of 100,000 devotees, the expected number of pilgrims, only 2,000 restive ones arrived.

0930 hours and a stainless steel tumbler containing crushed clove and water is brought out by Ram muni, (Sahaj Muniji's main assistant who also fasted for 54 days). Another 88 munis and sadhvis fasted every alternate day in the past year and are also waiting to break their fast. The devotees run toward Ram muni, trying to touch the tumbler of water, after which this fortified brew of faith is handed over to Sahaj Muniji who slowly sips it at 0945 hours, ending his year-long tapasya.

Still inside his room, he is bundled into blankets; the crushed clove gives him body heat as do the blankets. He then rests for two hours after which he is given water strained from cooked dal or ginger water. Insiders reveal the seer will remain on a liquid diet for as long as four weeks for his cold, unfunctioning body to get rejuvenated and function normally.

Of course, there is no question of a darshan. Maharaj of Tapa Samarat, as he is reverentially addressed, was beseeched since six on Friday morning as he would be unable to see anyone after breaking his fast for five days, because of his health.

Sathyabhushan Jain, a businessman from Delhi, unmindful of the chants inside the hall, complains that the organisers are partisan; he and his family were not allowed a darshan after 1000 hours. ''We have come all the way from Chandigarh just for the pranna (breaking the fast) and we are denied access. It is outrageous!''

More grumbling from other families, and a skirmish with the ANI television crew who are denied entry almost leads to fisticuffs outside while the weary saint sleeps inside.

Says Rachna Jain from Delhi: ''The organisers have not done a good job of letting us seek Maharaj's blessings; we are very unhappy. This place is quite dreadful, I lost Rs 15,000 two days ago and our shoes and chappals get pinched every other day.''

Says Jai Kothari, one of the organisers, ''there was much commotion in the morning, some people do not understand, they just want to barge in and make things ugly. In fact, Maharaj was unhappy with this -- for the first time during his entire fasting period -- and, that's why he just wants to rest for a while now.''

Saroja Jain, a housewife from Madras, met Maharaj during all his other fasts -- in Delhi (104 days), Haryana (21 days ), Rajasthan (109 days) Gujarat (131 days) and Bombay (201 days). She says, ''when we asked him 'how he was feeling?' he reprimanded us saying not to ask a question that would weaken his mind. He was able to do this only through sheer will power and faith in God.''

Doctors Prakash Chand, S S Jayaprakash and C R Chhallani, all Jains co-incidentally, are surprised by the feat and unanimously agree that it is ''medically quite impossible.''

Then how is he doing it? Dr Chand says: ''Two reasons: strong will power and past experience of fasting, but his condition really deteriorated today.''

Dr Chand feels if Sahaj Muniji were to fast another seven days, he might have gone into a coma. ''He has lost a lot of weight from 77 kg last May to 42 kg today; he has lost muscle fat, lipids, proteins, he's just a bag of skin and bones. His hameoglobin count has dropped to 8 mg (the normal for an adult male is 14 mg). Worse, his amino levels are alarmingly high. A few more days and we would have had to hospitalise him.''

Unfortunately, the Guiness Book of Records refused to make place for Sahaj Muniji in their hall of fame, stating lack of ways of verification and varied definitions of fasting. J Manakchand Kothari, secretary of the Sangh, said the Guiness people told him some people who subsisted on fruits also claimed to have fasted this long.

"Maharaj is not doing this to break records, but doing it for world peace and purity of his soul," says Manakchand Kothari. ''We believe if you do penance and fast, you will be destined to a better life after reincarnation, and that's also the reason why Maharaj has undertaken this difficult task.''

Why are all these people here, you wonder. What do they get by watching this frail man? Just to have a glimpse and go back to the mundane grind of life? Says Aruna Goyal, who is here with her husband, daughter, son-in-law and children, ''We don't get anything tangible or physical like beads or advice to recite any mantras; we simply receive aashirwad, saying: 'everything will be alright' This makes things alright for us.''

Shyam Nath Jain narrates an incident wherein he is utterly beholden to Sahaj Muniji. ''My wife did not conceive for four years into our marriage and I was desperate. When I told Maharaj, he explained that every tree flowers and bears fruits after either one year, two or even five and six years and so I must wait and not worry. Sure enough, I got three children starting from our sixth year of marriage; I trust him completely.''

''He is our medium to God,'' says Rashmi Jain from Gurgaon, near Delhi. ''We believe in him and believe he can solve all our problems, that's why we follow him everywhere.''

Jains belong to two major sects: Swetambara and Digambara. Sahaj Muniji belongs to the former sect. He was born a Hindu and entered Jainism when he was 18 years old.

In another 15-odd days, Sahaj Muniji will walk to Mysore over a period of four months. He will not perform any more penance. And no more fasts for him either. The doctors have advised against it.

As you leave the hall, a few tired devotees sing jaaps, while others discuss more worldly matters. You can't help but overhear a BBC correspondent ask an associate: ''Are you sure he never ate a sandwich?''

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