Page 28 - GOTIL (ENG) Sample

xxvi Introduction

stayed with. Having been raised an uncouth mleccha, I
sometimes felt embarrassed to be among such elevated
people, especially since they respected and served us
as sādhus. They were unaffectedly well-behaved and
cultured, yet humble, without artificial sophistication or
snobbishness. Their family life was ordered and content
to a degree I had never seen in the West. For example,
Indian children obeyed their parents without question.
I have several times been the guest of prosperous
businessmen whose adult children were unhesitatingly
and ungrudgingly obedient to them.

Occasionally I would visit a Sanskrit professor who had
mentored thousands of students during his long career.
Although widely known and highly respected throughout
Orissa, he would insist on bowing down before me, despite
my attempts to stop him. And he would try to stop me
from returning his obeisances, although he was clearly
pleased that I had imbibed the impulse to do so. My family
background and previous activities were low class and
abominable, especially compared to his. I could speak
but a few words of Sanskrit and was young enough to be
his son, yet he saw the positive: “Whatever his past may
be, he is a sannyāsī and therefore worshipable. He has
renounced all prospects of material enjoyment to serve
Śrī Hari. For all my learning, I am a householder bound
within the material world. I must bow down.”

Moving among such people gave me an inside perspective
on Indian civilization and brought it to life for me. Indian
culture was no longer merely theoretical — quaint and