Chapter 7

Khalsapati went to his customary seat and started the everyday job. As he picked up one pile of flesh, and cut through it completely, and then went ahead on to the second pile, Venkataraman’s stomach twisted, and he felt a sense of being let down. Why on earth would Satyananda send him to a man like this? Not only that, but also claim that this butcher, this lowly butcher who engages in cutting animal flesh everyday, is his guru. He felt Satyananda had definitely lost his head, and the entire last couple of days seemed to be going to the dumps. Khalsapati, while going through his routine, occasionally turned to smile at them, at which their faces twitched and then they turned away.

Khalsapati caught his drift of thought and promptly made a statement. “Even the greatest of people have been born in lowly families. Valmiki was born as Ratnakara, into a family of dacoits. Narada was initially born as the son of a maidservant, and later became the greatest devotee of Lord Narayana ever. Why, for that matter, even Lord Narayana was born first as a varaha, then a kurma, a varaha, and in his greatest avatar to date, as a gopala.”

“Krishna was born in a royal family.”, retorted Venkataraman.

“But, all he did was herd cows.” said Khalsapati as he gave away a pound of flesh to his last customer and went to wash his hands. He came back near Venkataraman, and sat beside him. “Remember my friend, the greatest of them all have lowly origins. But, origins are hardly what matters. I found my philosophy at the place of a prostitute. If that wasn’t enough, Satyananda found his at my place. Where you find your philosophy isn’t important, it’s finding it which is important.”

“I can see that your biggest doubts are regarding sanyasa. Well, Satyananda told you this and I have the same to tell you. Detachment is not necessarily a physical virtue. It could be mental alone, while physically you could attend to the duties prescribed to you. It would rather be gross injustice to the sanatana dharma if you did not attend to your duties in your pursuit for sanyasa. I was earlier an unhappy man. I once decided to visit a brothel. The prostitute came to the bed, when her child started crying outside the room. It made me feel very bad, that she had to attend to me instead of take care of the child. I asked her to go and make it sleep, before coming back to me. She said, “It is my baby. It is bound to keep crying all its life, for the kind of place it’s been born in. So, I don’t really attach any importance to its crying, I have gotten used to it already.” I do not know in which context she made that statement, but in which ever context it was made, it had opened my eyes. Mental Detachment was the answer to happiness. I gave her the money, and walked out. I tried practicing it. Initially it was difficult. But then, as a family man, I had to perform my duties, but I used to try to not keep a mental association with any of them. It soon started working. Life was never unhappy.”