== BABA STORY: MARGII SAVED FROM THE JAWS OF DEATH ==
~ TAKING RISK TO PROTECT THE HELPLESS AND HOW BABA SAVES ~
Namaskar,
Here is the story of how Baba saved our margii brother, Harihar Pandey,
from the jaws of death.
YOUNG GIRL'S STRUGGLE AT VASANT PACHANII FESTIVAL
In 1957, Harihar Pandey was holding a clerical post in the Indian
military and was stationed in Panagar of Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh.
One of the top officers of his battalion was Major NK, who had a young
daughter studying for her baccalaureate degree.
During Vasant Pachanii festival in the Spring, the daughter was walking
across the military compound when a jeep pulled up alongside her.
At that time, our margii brother Hariharji had just finished his lunch
and was going out for a walk-- it was around 1pm. He noticed that up
ahead a jeep had stopped next to a young girl. Initially he did not
think much of it.
Then he saw that the driver of the jeep was grabbing onto the girl's
hand and pulling her, and the young girl was struggling and trying
desperately to walk in the opposite direction.
Seeing this, Harihar began to run towards the jeep in order to save the
girl.
HARIHAR COMES TO THE SCENE
When he arrived at the scene, then he saw that the young girl was scared
and in tears, and that the driver of the jeep who was grabbing the girl
was none other than Hariharji's boss, N. Bhattacarya, the 2nd company
commander.
Immediately, Harihar saluted his commander and then pleaded with him to
let the girl go.
Commander Bhattacarya was irritated by Harihar's arrival and began to
scold him and then he dropped the girl's hand as he smacked Harihar.
Harihar stood firm and told Commander Bhattacarya to leave the girl
alone. Bhattacarya replied, 'No'.
Then Harihar said, 'If you do not leave the girl alone, then I will drag
you to the ground, sit on your chest, and beat you'.
Hearing this and seeing Harihar's strength of mind, then Bhattacarya
stood still, and the terrified girl left. After looking into each
other's eyes, then Commander Bhattacarya and Harihar parted ways.
THAT AFTERNOON
Harihar decided to go directly home where he remained for some hours.
Then he received word that he was to perform guard duty that night in
front of Commmander Bhattacarya's house. Immediately, Harihar knew that
this was trouble; it was some type of punishment or trick. Because
although he was in the military, Harihar worked in an office and rarely
did things like guard duty, let alone night guard duty in front of
Bhattacarya's residence. So he knew that he had to be extremely careful.
NIGHT TIME ENCOUNTER
That night, Hariharji was vigilant as he attended his post. He was
keeping alert in all directions. Then sometime after midnight, Harihar
heard someone approaching him from behind.
Harihar turned around and yelled, 'Stop! Halt!'.
Then Harihar saw that the person approaching him was his boss, Commander
Bhattacarya. So Harihar saluted him.
Then Commander Bhattacarya began his tirade, 'Who do you think you are?
Why did you come running when I was with that girl? Do you think you are
some kind of moralist?! What is wrong with you!!'.
In this way Commander Bhattarcarya was abusing Harihar.
Then Commander Bhattacarya sneered and said, 'You know, in the military
it is very easy to kill someone and cover it up'.
In his fury, Bhattacarya continued, 'I am going to kill you now, bury
you, and then proclaim to one and all that you were trying to escape and
run from your duty. After that I will arrest your entire family.'
Then Bhattacarya took out his revolver and pressed the barrel of the gun
against Harihar's chest. Bhattacarya's eyes had the look of murder. The
situation was ugly and tense.
Harihar was standing there totally still, not knowing what to do. Then
from behind him he heard Baba's voice: 'Kill him, shoot him, don't miss,
otherwise he is going to kill you!'.
Harihar wanted to turn around and look towards where the voice was
coming from, but he dare not look back.
Again Baba's voice came: 'Take action, kill him, he is going to kill
you, do not delay even one more second!'.
(Note: Decades and years later when Harihar would tell this story, then
when describing Baba's voice, his body would become full of goosebumps
and his mind would run towards Parama Purusa.)
In that next instant, Harihar reached for his own gun, pulled the
trigger, and shot Bhattacarya, and Commander Bhattacarya fell to the
ground.
Harihar saw his commander lying there and then pointed his gun again and
shot him a second time to ensure he was completely dead.
ALL SOLDIERS COME RUNNING
After the sound of the second gunshot, sirens and alarms were sounded in
that military compound and people came running from all directions. All
the soldiers reached to that place.
They all saw that Commander Bhattacarya had been killed.
Then Harihar crouched down in a fighting stance, loaded his gun, and
forcefully announced, 'If anyone comes even one stop closer I will shoot!'.
All the soldiers stayed where they were-- frozen.
They understood that when Harihar had already killed his commander then
he was capable of doing anything. And from Harihar's side, he was
thinking that, 'Already I am going to get capital punishment for killing
my superior, then killing more people will not make things any worse'.
He had nothing more to lose.
The entire situation was totally tense.
Then our margii brother Harihar shouted out, 'I want your promise that
no one will torture or punish me. I want justice'.
Nobody knew what to do or what to say.
'I WILL GIVE YOU JUSTICE'
Then the top commander, CF Warden arrived. He was very understanding and
intelligent. He said, 'I will give you justice. If you are right, if you
are innocent in all of this, I will give you justice, just drop your gun'.
So Harihar put his gun down and was arrested.
He was taken to the military jail and then quickly brought to the judge,
just a few days later.
THE JUDGE'S QUESTION
The judge simply asked him, 'Did you shoot your commander?'.
Harihar replied, 'Yes'.
And the hearing with the judge was over.
This went on for weeks. Harihar would get called to the military court,
the judge would ask the same question, and Harihar would give the same
reply.
The whole thing appeared to be hopeless and Harihar began to get
frustrated and wondered why the judge was not asking him for any more
details.
In that desperate mood, Harihar sent one of the new margiis that he had
created, and told him to go to Baba. Harihar instructed Umashankar to
tell Baba that I am in jail and that the situation is not at all good.
GOING TO BABA
Umashankar set out on his journey and reached to where Baba was. As
Umashankar was a new margii, he had never been to see Baba before. This
was his first time and he did not know what to do. Many people were
around and he did not know how he would be able to see Baba.
Before Umashankar could even put forth his request, Baba had asked PS
Dada Satyananda if anyone had come from Panagar.
In that way Umashankar was brought before Baba.
Umshankar was thinking that he would tell Baba all the details and go
over the entire story, but before he could say anything, Baba told,
'Tell Harihar to do sadhana and everything will be alright'.
Umashankar kept trying to tell Baba more of the details, but each time
Baba would interrupt him and say, 'Tell Harihar to do sadhana and
everything will be alright'.
Umashankar then returned to Panagar in an unhappy mood. He felt he did
not get to tell Baba anything. Umashankar conveyed to Harihar all that
had transpired during his visit with Baba and Harihar smiled and said,
'Baba understands everything'.
MORE ABOUT HARIHAR'S TIME IN JAIL
By this time, Harihar had been in jail for a while-- a few months had
gone by. He had dreamed of Baba on numerous occasions. Plus every week
he was being called before the judge.
Harihar's supervisors were telling him to change his statement, but
Harihar refused and insisted that he wanted justice.
FATEFUL MEETING WITH JUDGE
Finally, one day the judge called Harihar and again asked him, 'Did you
shoot your commander?'.
Then Harihar replied, 'Your Honor, I want to say something, I but wish
to tell you in a confidential way, not in front of this entire courtroom
crowd'.
The judge cleared the courthouse, and then in a calm, deliberate manner,
Harihar explained the entire course of events to the judge. He told how
he saw the girl, how someone was grabbing her, how that turned out to be
Commander Bhattacarya, how Bhattacarya then threatened him and gave him
night guard duty, and finally about the epic scene in the middle of the
night. All these things he carefully told to the judge.
The judge listened and took notes.
Afterwards, Harihar returned to his cell and the judge began to
investigate the case. Step by step, line by line, he was astonished to
discover that all that Harihar told was true. The judge talked to many
people who confirmed what had happened.
JUDGMENT DAY COMES
On one special day known as judgment day, all the offenders get dressed
in their normal clothes and are allowed to participate in a military
parade and then are brought forth before the judge for the final decision.
When Harihar stood before the judge, many thought that he would be
sentenced to death and hung for killing his supervising officer.
The judge asked all to rise as he spoke: 'The decision of the court is
that Harihar Pandey is not guilty and he is to be set free under certain
conditions. He is not to have home leave for 5 years, he cannot stay in
any posting for more than 1 month, and he is not to be promoted for ten
years. Under these conditions he is set free'.
Hearing this, everyone cheered and celebrated on Harihar's behalf.
A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
Even though he was set free, it was generally thought that Harihar would
have to live under a difficult set of rules.
But Harihar thought, 'Although I may not get home leave for 5 years,
each and every month I will be transferred and in so doing I will be
granted ten days to reach my new post'.
And sure enough, after one month, Harihar received his transfer orders
and had ten days to reach his designation. In that ten day period,
Harihar went straight to Baba, and Baba showered Harihar with immense
love and grace.
During that sweet visit, Baba said, 'It is duty of a margii to fight for
dharma and that is what you did.'
And so it was that during so many of his monthly transfers, Harihar was
blessed to be able to go see Baba.
CONCLUSION
If we follow dharma and fight against injustice then Baba will always
protect us. That is His divine decree. In his life, Harihar stood up for
dharma and protected a defenseless young lady, and by His grace Baba
saved Harihar from the jaws of death.
Baba says, "Men and women are human beings having equal dignity. As the
physical strength of women is less than that of men, the latter should
always endeavour to save the prestige of women. As the mothers of men,
women can claim this much as a right. Special attention should be paid
to the comforts of women during festivals, at spiritual conferences, and
on other occasions." (CC-1, 'Social Relationship Between Men and Women')
Namaskar,
Gurucharan
Note 1: MY ELDER BROTHER
In his book, 'My Elder Brother', Manas Ranjan Sarkar, Baba's younger
brother, tells how one day in his childhood he got into a fight at
school to protect someone, but in turn he himself was beaten up. When he
returned home everyone told him not to engage in fighting and that he
did wrong, but when Baba saw him, Baba praised his younger brother and
said, 'You did a great job'. Manas Ranjan became so happy hearing this.
So always Baba supports those who uphold dharma-- He always supports
those who protect the weak and the helpless.
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