Sep 24, 2009 04:19 PM
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Intro: Besides my everyday search for information (googling) there are 2 other searches I keenly follow. They are ‘Man’s search for God’ & ‘God’s search for man’! When I came across this book, the back cover of the book said it was about “ … ultimate triumph over death that he discovered” & the front cover said “A remarkable true story of one man’s search for God”. I read further to know that this was a story about something that had been a buzz word in the recent past – Conversions! Little more reading, I came to know the author Rabindranath R Maharaj was a Brahmin who came from a family with long lineage of Gurus & Pandits – but he dared to to go beyond his ritualistic life in search of the truth. This book is an autobiography detailing his life – before & after conversion.
The Book : Someone said ‘Don’t judge a book by its movie’ – but I am sure if someone made a movie based on this book it would be great. Because the book itself has elements of drama, seriousness, humor & a writing style that makes script writing easier. In fact the book follows a Prologue – Biography – Epilogue format = scene-flashback-climax format for a movie!
Prologue begins with Rabi being detained in Pakistan on a visit & charged of being an Indian spy. He tells his side of the story & gives the 13pages of his autobiography that he was writing, to the police officer. From their begins the flashback of his life story – starting from his earliest childhood & finally it ends with his being let free by the officer convinced that he is harmless.
Roots: Rabi’s father was Chandrabhaan Raghubeer Sharma Mahabir Maharaj (we thought srilankan cricketers had the longest names!) who was considered an avatar by everyone as he had taken the silent vrut. Just few months after marriage the yogi decided to go on maunvrut, which meant he only sat in yogic postures. His wife served him. Rabi never got to be in his father’s arms, nor hear him call ‘beta’ or ‘rabi’ even once. His mother had no choices & hence no qualms. The community called him an avatar & worshipped him. Being a son of a yogi, rabi was also expected to be a yogi. The young rabi also shows his inheritance when at very young ages he masters all matras & shows prodigious signs. His mother was his guide in early years as she taught him the nuisances of religion. It was she who told him “Jesus is the god of Christians, you can pray to him too, if need arises, as he is one of the gods” !! Years later Rabi did get to experiment this!
Death of an avatar happens due to a cardiac stroke – Rabi’s mom leaves a young Rabi with his aunts & heads back to Banaras where she is to complete her studies. As years roll Rabi is now a grown young man & a learned Brahmin expected by everyone to be the next avatar. Even the ones elder to him addressed him as Guru.
Though he is a devout hindu, he often had challenges both at home & outside. Outside many of his friends question why things are the way in hindusim –about idols, castes, untouchability & cow! He tried best to defend often using blunt denial. But when at home his rational uncle who never went to temples said “your religion has to get out of mythology, rama or Krishna never existed, except in those stories” – this wud get Rabi real angry, but one cant kill one’s uncle so easily – so he kept arguing with him – knowing well that his uncle wud never get swarg even after many reincarantions. But these did make Rabi question about what he believed in.
The Holy Cow & the unknown God: The shock of his life came when the very cow he offered pooja everyday attacked him once. After that incident he began to have second thoughts about whether he wanted to be born as a cow in his next janam. His rational uncle also kept telling him about how the cow was just another animal & also that the cow itself did not realize being worshipped. Slowly he distanced himself from the cow.
He finally gets a chance to experiment what his maa told about Jesus. In a near death situation ( read the book to know it) after calling upon all his known gods & goddesses, including the cow, he gives one chance to Jesus. Takes the name of Jesus & challenges him to save him if he is one of those gods, as his mother had mentioned. The death threat vanishes & Rabi is left in awe.
Further Miracles & conversion: Rabi now is mingling with pupils of other faith esp Christians & shares his experiences with them. He begins to visit churches nearby & the family also sees a lot of changes in him. He has grown calm now. While going on with his duties as priest he also does parallel research on the difference between the religions, by studying literatures. He finds new enlightenment in the concept of Grace & finds it better than the karma principle. Soon many of his questions are getting answered. He also finds the concept of forgiveness great & attributes the lack of this at home – though it was a joint family, they were lot of grudges against each other. He takes the first step to ask forgiveness from his aunt, who he always felt mistreated him & he returned her in the same coin. Slowly another miracle begins to happen at their home. Another lady at home who was crippled many years walks on her own. Rabi attributes this to his newfound faith & forgiveness they practiced at home. He also explains how many noble practices of Hinduism had lost meaning by way of ritualization. By now the family, society, community is aware of his leanings – trouble was brewing.
Repercussions: ostracism begins at home & extends to society too. The very people who hailed him as a Guru now tell him “you are a disgrace to family & Hindu community”. Couple of attempts to harm him physically also happen, but he escapes unscathed. Finally he declares his choice, shuns the status of a guru & becomes a aam aadmi. The family doesn’t support him nor does the community. His uncle does & so do his new friends.
Journey of new faith: slowly he learns more about Christianity & loves jesus more. He realizes his call is to be a preacher & joins bible colleges in Europe, graduates & travels all over the world preaching. Towards the end of the book, he reaches India, where he has an emotional meeting with his mother at Mumbai…. if made into a movie, this wud be a great scene emosanally charged!
Glossary: Since the book was first published in the west, there is a glossary of hindu religious terms & their explanations. If you don’t know wat brahma, ashram, avatar, dharma etc mean you will find it here.
Book details: Dedicated to ‘You, The Reader’ – ( at last someone dedicated something to the aam reader!) Published by Authentic books, Secunderabad, 208pages, 5x8 inches, 90Rs.
thanks for reading.
