Page 239 - SocialHarmony

Bridge for Harmony: Narendra Modi 243

a bath in the holy river before going to the temple. An old woman
of the Dalit community was cleaning the premises. She did not
know that Ramanujacharya was coming. She was just absorbed
in her work. Ramanujacharya had to go past her, but the old
woman did not look towards him. At this, Ramanujacharya said,
“O unholy old woman, I am going after getting purified, and
you are standing midway. Don’t you know this? What will
happen to my purity?” He was in a fit of rage. The old woman
thought that she had committed some sin. Ramanujacharya had
to go past her and she, a Dalit, was cleaning there. What sin
have I committed? What error have I committed? She was
doubtful, but her inner-self gave out just one voice. The old
woman politely asked Ramanujacharya, “You are right that I
am impure, but where should I go? There is purity wherever I
might go. Where should I go with this impure body? Tell me
where I should go with this body.” This small question shocked
Ramanujacharya’s mind. He fell in her feet and said, “It is you
who has given me the true knowledge. I am not learned, you
are the one. If there is purity everywhere, who am I to look at
impurity? I have committed an error that I have tried to see
impurity in you. Mother, you are pure, you find purity
everywhere.”

A Dalit, ordinary old woman, who cleaned the dirt,
transformed the entire life of Ramanujacharya. This old woman
displayed courage, but the courage that Ramanujacharya
displayed was wonderful. In his old age, when he went for a
bath, he would take the support of a Brahmin, and when he
returned to temple after the bath, he would take the support of
a cobbler. He followed this system all his life. An old woman
had transformed the way of Ramanujacharya’s life.

There is an instance related to the life of Swami Dayananda
Saraswati. Once he went to a devotee’s place for eating. He did
not know the community to which the devotee belonged to.
When he enquired, he came to know that he belonged to the
Nai (barber) community. Somebody asked him if he had been
to a Nai’s house for meals. Dayananda Saraswati did not speak
a word. A few days later, the man got his head shaved.