Abhimanyu

Ujjain Kumbh Mela, continued

Arrival in Ujjain

It was 11:30 at night when I was received at Mr. Sethi’s guest house.

The next day Munish’s family and I started off to visit all the temples. At Mahakaleshwar temple there was a long line — a two-hour wait to get in. Because of Munish’s contacts, we were inside the temple within a few minutes. I felt guilty and embarrassed. I had to remind myself that I was in India, which is still a feudal country. Just as the Indian mores would not be suitable in the USA, my western sense of propriety was out of place in India. This justification helped me control guilt feelings in similar situations later on.

That afternoon we ran into one of Munish’s friends, Mr. Pandeya, a local politician and journalist in Ujjain and a member of the Mela management committee. I told him I would like to meet someone who has a strong foundation about the Kumbh Mela and who can help me experience its very essence.

“Ah, I know just the man!” Pandeya exclaimed excitedly. “I want you to meet Abhimanyu Dabbewala. He is a Panda (a Hindu priest) who knows everything about the Mela. He is the man you are looking for. Abhimanyu is also a college lecturer who speaks fluent English.

Pandeya’s mood then turned pensive as he said, “The problem is that I have not seen Abhimanyu for more than a year. I do not know where he lives, and he does not have a telephone at his home.”

Meeting Abhimanyu

The next day at 9 a.m, I met Abhimanyu! How could that happen? When Mr. Pandeya left us the previous day, guess who he ran into in the teeming streets of Ujjain? As Abhimanyu told me later, when he came home from work, his wife insisted that he take her for a stroll. He was tired and did not feel like it, but he complied. During the walk he ran into Abhimanyu.

“A miracle!” Mr. Pandeya exclaimed.

“Quite a coincidence,” I remarked.

 “There are no coincidences,” Abhimanyu answered. “It was your and my sanskars (intentional journeys that come together) that brought us together. “Out of the millions of people present in Ujjain, we have met. This meeting could have been conceived and put in motion long years ago.” Abhimanyu’s eyes were dancing in childlike joy.

Abhimanyu’s Conversion

To have a meaningful discourse with Abhimanyu, I wanted to be honest with him. I wanted him to know I was not a devotee, but a skeptic trying to find the essence of the Kumbh Mela.

I told Abhimanyu, “Wherever there is a spider, there is a web. The web is much larger than the spider. I am looking for the spider and not to get caught in the web.”

“I used to be an atheist as a teenager,” Abhimanyu said, “And then I met a certain sadhu (a renunciant holy person).

Abhimanyu told me the following story:

“This sadhu asked me to sit down alongside him. When our thighs touched, I immediately felt as if electricity were passing through me. I sat there for four hours in a trance-like state of mind with this feeling of electricity flowing through me. After that encounter, I was no longer a skeptic. This sadhu became my guru, my spiritual teacher.

Abhimanyu described a second incident: “My guru asked me to put a blank piece of paper in my hand. Then he said a few mantras, and this piece of paper suddenly had writing on it in red ink that described my last life and the role I was destined to play in this life.

“My guru died a few years ago,” Abhimanyu recounted. “A sick man had come to seek his help. My guru told the man that he could not help him. The guru knew that the illness in this case was brought on by the supplicant’s own intentions. Upon the sick person’s constant imploring, my guru cured him with mantras, but my guru died as a result.”

The Hindu concept is that everything must balance. For example, if someone took out a loan, then that loan must be paid. In this case, the guru paid the person’s loan.

Abhimanyu became my friend, philosopher and guide. I met his family and had several meals with them. His wife reminded me of my younger sister who had recently died. At dinner time she asked me about my experiences of that day, and she would offer me sisterly advice. It was obvious to me that Abhimanyu had a very high regard for his wife and valued her advice.