Saturday evening was made up of two powerful yet humbling experiences which have made me ponder for a little while longer on the impermanence of life. I was visited by a friend from outside the city, and after a ritualistic visit to the sea, we were observing the city’s skyline, figuring out our next move. Out of the blue, I suggested, “Should we go to Nisargadatta Maharaj’s home?” We were at Marine Drive. Maharaj’s home (Girgaon) was not far from there and having read his book, my friend’s eyes lit up and in the next 5 minutes, we were in a cab. Once we reached the entrance of the narrow lane where the cab couldn’t enter, we got off and asked a couple of people for Vanmali Bhavan. 1 out of 3 people knew where it was.. “Right opposite the public toilet”, they said. The landmark was accurate but the building had no board suggesting any name and so, we entered, asking the ground floor residents if we were in the right building.
We were in Vanmali Bhavan alright, but did Nisargadatta Maharaj indeed stay here? Again, the two houses on the ground floor had not even heard of Maharaj.. while a lean, elderly man in the third house they referred to as “mama” promptly pointed upwards. We quickly climbed the stairs to the first floor. It was occupied by just one resident, and next to it, there was a bolted blue door.. My friend was already climbing the stairs of the second floor assuming it was further up when a lady from this house came out & asked me what we were looking for. I inquired, “Is this Nisargadatta Maharaj’s building?” She said, “Yes, come in..” I was a bit confused. This felt like someone’s home and not a memorial as I had seen in photos on the internet.. She asked us to take seats on sofas in the adjacent room which was exactly the hall where Maharaj used to conduct discourses & bhajans. All the videos & photos of Maharaj in Mumbai that exist on the internet are from that very place. Except it has transformed into a home from a somewhat semi-public space. She asked us if we had come upon reading the book to which we replied in the affirmative. I couldn’t help but say, “We didn’t know someone lived here. We thought this was a memorial.”
It turned out that the lady was family!! She was Nisargadatta Maharaj’s younger brother’s daughter-in-law. She explained how they always lived there and that the house keeps getting visitors from across the world. Some visit, some stay & meditate, but ever since Covid, the visitors have greatly reduced in number. We saw a large photo of Maharaj in his room, and next to it the photo of his younger brother & wife. The piercing & gleaming eyes of Maharaj are so evident in this photo of his (swipe & zoom).
We sat in the room for just some more time, exchanging a few words with her.. it seems that Maharaj had left home & was on his way to take up Sanyas at a remote place once but his brother brought him back, asking him to pursue his spiritual journey at home. We spoke about Maurice Frydman too (translator of the book & disciple of Maharaj). It didn’t strike me to take many pictures of the place, also because we felt a bit like we were intruding their family time and therefore left in 5 – 7 mins. I was still a bit surprised. Such an enlightened being.. Not only was the family humble & nonchalant about it, but the surprising part was that it had not even been long since he had passed away (1981) and people in the same bldg didn’t even know of his existence. The building was so nondescript too! It didn’t even have a name on it & had a (literally) stinky landmark! It goes without saying though that I felt very satisfied upon having visited his home. I just regretted not having anything to offer but made a mental note to carry something for when I visit again..
Next, we decided to grab some snacks at Sukh Sagar & walk along Chowpatty for a bit. It turned out however that the beach was closed (high tide? 🙁) and so, we kept walking, towards the direction of Charni Road station, looking for a place to sit. Within 5 minutes or so, we came across a beautiful, quiet garden along the same footpath as the beach with lovely smelling grass & palm trees.
I couldn’t take pics of the garden as it was already too dark so posting a pic of the sea from earlier that evening. We entered the garden & took a walk along its perimeter to finally settle down on the grass. There were hardly any people there and we were like- “What a find! Grass beneath our feet, the smell of mud, the sea breeze from the sea some feet away.. all at one spot! ” By the time we could soak it all in, a guard informed us that the garden would be closing & we made our way out. I made a note of the name of the garden “Lokmanya Tilak Udyan” & returned home.. I couldn’t stop thinking about it however (it was REALLY good) & decided to look it up.
It turned out that we had been in the exact place where Lokmanya Tilak was cremated over 100 years ago (1st August 1920) and buried right under 30 feet of us was an iron box which had in it Tilak’s clothes, his shoes, his pagdi, a copy of the Gitarahasya penned by him and a copy of his biography by N C Kelkar !!! I had missed seeing his statue due to it being dark, but the back-story of how the garden & the statue/memorial itself came to be is quite interesting & dramatic. Lokmanya Tilak’s funeral procession was the largest procession Bombay had ever seen.. Over 2 lakh people came out on the streets! Bombay police had to finally take a decision to cremate his body at Chowpatty instead of a crematorium but on the condition that there would be no memorial in his name (him being a ‘nationalist’ leader and all!! 😒). However, the public was relentless and after many years, the Govt had no choice but to give in to the citizens of Bombay.. Some snapshots of this article in the gallery below (click to read):
Full article here : https://www.peepultree.world/livehistoryindia/story/snapshort-histories/tilak-memorial-a-gift-from-the-people-of-bombay
A non-descript garden, with just the name of Tilak – no mention of it being a memorial or a Samadhi, and barely a few people in it.. for someone who fought till his last breath for Swaraj claiming it was his birthright?
What these 2 incidents in this 1 evening showed me is that a goal such as making a ‘name’ for yourself is truly futile. Neither of these great beings wanted a name. Nisargadatta Maharaj’s name isn’t even his birth name. Whether it is to be enlightened, or to fight for the country, life is short & it only asks of us to live it fully. The purpose plays out through us. We cannot ‘think’ it.