Symbols of the world's religions
 

THEY TOOK HIM TO A DOCTOR

Hijara, Part 2

Eruch Jessawala

Still, most of the community continued to look down on the hijaras. It was the youth in the city who were drawn to the Perfect Master. Maybe they came at first out of curiosity, to see this man who had made a laughingstock of the champion wrestler, but they stayed because there is always a special atmosphere around one of the Perfect Ones. As Ramakrishna once said, when the flower is ripe, the bees come of their own accord. And so it was. The youth began to flock to the Perfect Master.

The elders in the community were upset. To them the Master was only a hijara, and as such, only fit to be ridiculed and despised. They couldn't tolerate the fact that their children were spending time with such a one, neglecting their studies to be with him. What was the world coming to, what would happen to society if the youth was polluted by listening to that man's ideas and philosophy? The situation was intolerable to the elders, and they decided they had to do something to expose the Master as a fraud.

Because they thought of him as a hijara, a certain idea came to them. They decided they would get two young men and dress one of them as a woman. Then they would present them as a bride and groom to the Master and ask for his blessings for a child. The Master would naturally give his blessings, and then they would expose him as someone who was not all-knowing and they would drive him out of town and then their young would return to their studies. It seemed to them like a good plan.

Accordingly they selected two young men, one of whom was particularly slight and feminine-looking. They dressed them up in the traditional garments of a bride and groom and tutored them on what to say to the Master. When the young couple was ready, they went to the Master, who was sitting on the roadside with his disciples as usual. The couple approached the Master.

"Yes, what is it?" the Master asked.

"We have just been married," the couple replied.

"Yes?"

"We would like your blessings for a son."

"A son?"

"Yes, we would like to be blessed with a bonny boy. That is our longing, please bless us."

The Master looked pointedly at the boy who was playing the part of the bride and asked, "Are you sure you want a son?"

The "bride" shyly repeated, "Yes, we really want that."

The Master told the couple to think about it. He pointed out that it is a big responsibility to raise children and they were only newly married. They could afford to wait. But the couple insisted that they knew what they were doing and they wanted a son and they wanted the Master's blessings, so finally the Master said, "So be it. You are blessed."

When the elders heard this, they were full of glee. "Now we have him," they thought. So they called a meeting of all the leading people in town and then questioned the couple before everyone. "You are a man but you dressed as a woman?" they asked the boy who played the part of the bride.

"Yes."

"And you asked the leader of the tribe to bless you to have a son?"

"Yes."

"And did he?"

"Yes."

"Were there witnesses to this?"

"Yes."

And so the interrogation went. At the end the elders turned to the congregation and announced, "See! It is confirmed that the man is an imposter. It is impossible for a man to conceive and have a son. The man cannot be all-knowing to give such a blessing. He is a fraud and he is duping others into believing that he is of high spiritual status. But we have proved that this is not so."

Over time, the word of the Master's blessing spread through the town, and everywhere it was proclaimed, "The man is a fraud!" But meanwhile the boy who had been the bride started to feel strange. He began having stomach pains, a strange bloated sensation in his stomach. When the sensation didn't go away they took him to a doctor, but the medicines given had no effect.

Part 1 | Part 3

 
THAT'S HOW IS WAS, pp. 354-356
Copyright 1995 Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust

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