Nisaragadutta Maharaj did not suffer fools and was not an easy guru to get along with. He wore a permanent scowl, and his constant beedi smoking did not go down well with many followers either (he made beedis for a living, with a picture of Shivaji as the logo). Why do I waste my time with you people? he shouted out in the middle of a darshan once. Why does no one ever understand what I am saying? A disciple was brave enough to ask, In all the years that you have been teaching how many people have truly understood you? He was quiet for a moment, and said, Only one. Maurice Frydman. Maurice Frydman was a Polish engineer who fled his country during WW2, came to India and became a successful industrialist. Later, he joined the Indian Independence movement and was close to Gandhi (he made Gandhis spinning wheel; and also drafted the constitution for the state of Aundh: the successful Aundh Experiment). At some point he became a sannyasin, Swami Bharatananda, and was close to the sage Ramana Maharishi and later J Krishnamurti. He possibly had a hand in convincing Nehru to allow the Dalai Lama to come to India. When Frydman, the unknown man behind I Am That (a collection of conversations with the guru) died in 1977, Nisaragadutta was by his bedside. After his death, at the end of every morning puja, Nisargadatta Maharaj would put kumkum on the forehead of a picture of Frydman.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 05:21:31 +0000
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