Page 30 - Kailaspati: Paramhans Hansdevji Avadhoot

surprised, we stood still there but soon after we remembered that a hut was being built atop the hill for a certain sage. We guessed that the sage there, might be the sage we knew. The moment we remembered it, we hastened toward the top of the hill. On reaching the hilltop, we saw that our guess was right. The sage there at the hilltop was the sage we knew and our joy knew no bounds. Obeisance over, we let him know that on not finding him there at the garden we came to the hilltop in search of him. Benignant enough, the sage cordially received us and invited us to have our seat. he sported a divine smile and we realized that it was but an expression of one who has had unalloyed peace and complete happiness in him. We asked him why he had decided to put up at such a solitary place. Replied he that he didn’t like staying in the society of men and that a desolate place was his most favourite. here i must add that the sage had to stay in the society of men for a certain period. as for us, we could follow hindi but were not fluent in it. The sage on the other hand could follow Bengali but was not fluent in speaking. We thought that he could read books in Bengali, because we saw a book, entitled ‘Mahatma Tulsidas’, written by Mr. sachish Chandra Chattopadhyay. Till then we were not acquainted with sachish Babu, though, however, we got introduced to each other at the ashram of the sage, our Baba. We heard him tell us that the sage had learnt all the Bengali letters in only one day and within a space of seven days he had gone through a Bengali book, titled Jibani Sangraha. a genius of such a kind can only earn enlightenment.
anyway, on reaching there on that day we saw the sage with a radiant face, reading a book, while sitting on the cement-floor. he had but a thin piece of cloth of saffron colour on his body at that time. The icy cold wind was blowing from the west then. While we were shivering in cold despite having put on woollen garments, the sage was sitting in a blissful mood in that biting cold.
Later on we came to learn that the sage knew a good many medicines and that he, having prepared pills and potions out of herbs, used to offer them to the patients. Cured or healed, if one offered him money, he used to tell him to offer the same to the
8 Kailashpati