Today, we are delighted to share selections from Chapter 5, “A ‘Perfume Saint’ Displays His Wonders,” from the book “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda (vegetarian).
CHAPTER: 5 A “Perfume Saint” Displays His Wonders
“‘To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the Heaven.’
I did not have this wisdom of Solomon to comfort me; I gazed searchingly about me, on any excursion from home, for the face of my destined guru. But my path did not cross his own until after the completion of my high school studies. Two years elapsed between my flight with Amar toward the Himalayas, and the great day of Sri Yukteswar’s arrival into my life. During that interim I met a number of sages – the ‘Perfume Saint,’ the ‘Tiger Swami,’ Nagendra Nath Bhaduri, Master Mahasaya, and the famous Bengali scientist, Jagadis Chandra Bose.
My encounter with the ‘Perfume Saint’ had two preambles, one harmonious and the other humorous. ‘GOD is simple. Everything else is complex. Do not seek absolute values in the relative world of nature.’ These philosophical finalities gently entered my ear as I stood silently before a temple image of Kali. Turning, I confronted a tall man whose garb, or lack of it, revealed him a wandering sadhu. ‘You have indeed penetrated the bewilderment of my thoughts!’ I smiled gratefully. ‘The confusion of benign and terrible aspects in nature, as symbolized by Kali, has puzzled wiser heads than mine!’ ‘Few there be who solve her mystery! Good and evil is the challenging riddle which life places sphinxlike before every intelligence. Attempting no solution, most men pay forfeit with their lives, penalty now even as in the days of Thebes. Here and there, a towering lonely figure never cries defeat. From the maya of duality he plucks the cleaveless truth of unity.’ ‘You speak with conviction, sir.’
‘I have long exercised an honest introspection, the exquisitely painful approach to wisdom. Self-scrutiny, relentless observance of one’s thoughts, is a stark and shattering experience. It pulverizes the stoutest ego. But true self-analysis mathematically operates to produce seers. The way of “self-expression,” individual acknowledgments, results in egotists, sure of the right to their private interpretations of GOD and the universe.’ ‘Truth humbly retires, no doubt, before such arrogant originality.’ I was enjoying the discussion. ‘Man can understand no eternal verity until he has freed himself from pretensions. The human mind, bared to a centuried slime, is teeming with repulsive life of countless world-delusions. Struggles of the battlefields pale into insignificance here, when man first contends with inward enemies! No mortal foes these, to be overcome by harrowing array of might! Omnipresent, unresting, pursuing man even in sleep, subtly equipped with a miasmic weapon, these soldiers of ignorant lusts seek to slay us all. Thoughtless is the man who buries his ideals, surrendering to the common fate. Can he seem other than impotent, wooden, ignominious?’
‘Respected Sir, have you no sympathy for the bewildered masses?’ The sage was silent for a moment, then answered obliquely. ‘To love both the invisible GOD, Repository of All Virtues, and visible man, apparently possessed of none, is often baffling! But ingenuity is equal to the maze. Inner research soon exposes a unity in all human minds- the stalwart kinship of selfish motive. In one sense at least, the brotherhood of man stands revealed. An aghast humility follows this leveling discovery. It ripens into compassion for one’s fellows, blind to the healing potencies of the soul awaiting exploration.’ ‘The saints of every age, sir, have felt like yourself for the sorrows of the world.’ ‘Only the shallow man loses responsiveness to the woes of others’ lives, as he sinks into narrow suffering of his own.’ The SADHU’S austere face was noticeably softened.
‘The one who practices a scalpel self-dissection will know an expansion of universal pity. Release is given him from the deafening demands of his ego. The love of GOD flowers on such soil. The creature finally turns to his Creator, if for no other reason than to ask in anguish: “Why, Lord, why?” By ignoble whips of pain, man is driven at last into the Infinite Presence, whose beauty alone should lure him.’ The sage and I were present in Calcutta’s Kalighat Temple, whither I had gone to view its famed magnificence. With a sweeping gesture, my chance companion dismissed the ornate dignity. ‘Bricks and mortar sing us no audible tune; the heart opens only to the human chant of being.’
We strolled to the inviting sunshine at the entrance, where throngs of devotees were passing to and fro. ‘You are young.’ The sage surveyed me thoughtfully. ‘India too is young. The ancient rishis laid down ineradicable patterns of spiritual living. Their hoary dictums suffice for this day and land. Not outmoded, not unsophisticated against the guiles of materialism, the disciplinary precepts mold India still. By millenniums- more than embarrassed scholars care to compute!- the skeptic Time has validated Vedic worth. Take it for your heritage.’
As I was reverently bidding farewell to the eloquent sadhu, he revealed a clairvoyant perception: ‘After you leave here today, an unusual experience will come your way.’ I quitted the temple precincts and wandered along aimlessly. Turning a corner, I ran into an old acquaintance- one of those long-winded fellows whose conversational powers ignore time and embrace eternity. ‘I will let you go in a very short while, if you will tell me all that has happened during the six years of our separation.’ ‘What a paradox! I must leave you now.’ But he held me by the hand, forcing out tidbits of information. He was like a ravenous wolf, I thought in amusement; the longer I spoke, the more hungrily he sniffed for news. Inwardly I petitioned the Goddess Kali to devise a graceful means of escape. My companion left me abruptly. I sighed with relief and doubled my pace, dreading any relapse into the garrulous fever. Hearing rapid footsteps behind me, I quickened my speed. I dared not look back. But with a bound, the youth rejoined me, jovially clasping my shoulder. ‘I forgot to tell you of Gandha Baba (Perfume Saint), who is gracing yonder house.’ He pointed to a dwelling a few yards distant. ‘Do meet him; he is interesting. You may have an unusual experience. Good-by,’ and he actually left me. The similarly worded prediction of the sadhu at Kalighat Temple flashed to my mind.
Definitely intrigued, I entered the house and was ushered into a commodious parlor. A crowd of people were sitting, Orient-wise, here and there on a thick orange-colored carpet. An awed whisper reached my ear: ‘Behold Gandha Baba […]. He can give the natural perfume of any flower to a scentless one, or revive a wilted blossom, or make a person’s skin exude delightful fragrance.’”
