Remembering Gopal Dass Gupta

Some Sidelights on my friend

By Ganapati Pattegar

In 1985, shortly after I started working in the Archives, one day Gopal Dass ji asked me my name. My response in Hindi "Is sevak ko Ganapatt kahte hain" [This servitor is called Ganapati] must have surprised and pleased him. Surprised because such a statement is not common; pleased because he found in me a kindred soul. That was the beginning of a close association which lasted till he closed his earthly chapter on 3 August 1998.

Gopal Dass ji, as a sincere and serious sadhak, had surrendered all of himself and all he had to the Mother. All circumstances, situations and events, pleasant or unpleasant, he calmly accepted as the Divine's Will. In keeping with the ideal of a sadhak, he had very few possessions and kept his personal needs to the barest minimum. His only source of funds was his meagre pension. Considering it as the Mother's, he religiously offered practically the entire sum to the Ashram every time he received it from the Government Treasury. Expenditure on any perceived need, particularly where it personally concerned himself, he deemed a misuse of the Mother's money. On his birthday he distributed sweets to friends, if only to keep up the prevailing practice in the Ashram, but in order to minimise misuse of the Mother's money, the sweets would be tiny pedas of the same standard size year after year. For his personal needs he received only whatever was given by "Prosperity" and that too only to the extent of his needs, anything in excess was dutifully returned to the Ashram. He used very carefully everything he accepted and to the fullest extent. For example, if any of his clothing got damaged or torn, he got it mended and re-mended until Albert-da refused to do it any longer. Then it was used for wiping washed utensils or the floor until the servant refused to use it any more!

Once "Prosperity" distributed table-mats made from the Mother's collection of handmade papers. Regardless of all persuasion or arguments by his friends, Gopal Dass ji could not bring himself to use something sanctified by the Mother's touch. Instead he used as table-mats pieces of old newspapers, carefully cut to size and kept in a neat pile.

His commitment to Sri Aurobindo's yoga was whole-hearted and total. Once I entered his room singing a line from a Hindi bhajan: Tere janam maran mit jaye re, tu Hari ka nam sumar pyare [O dear, take thou the name of Lord Hari, thy cycle of births and deaths will cease.] He objected, saying that ending life-cycles is not the aim of Sri Aurobindo's yoga. Years before he chose to make Pondicherry his spiritual sanctuary, during one of his periodical retreats, he had taken mantra diksha from Swami Shivananda of Rishikesh. He knew that on the spiritual path, it is not considered good to mix the influences of more than one guru. Even the Mother has said this. So, though he maintained a sense of loyalty to his diksha guru by carefully preserving the slip of paper on which he had written the diksha mantra in his own hand, his acceptance of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother was absolute. In the Ashram itself there have been great examples of spiritual luminaries like Kapal Shastriar changing their allegiance from one guru to another without any kind of conflict.

Gopal Dass ji's spirit of self-reliance, self-containment and self-contentment are best highlighted in the fact of his not allowing his wife to wash his clothes, a service traditionally considered part of wifely duty in India. He never sought any favour or service from anybody, never visited anybody's house, even when he was ill, he found it very difficult to accept a cup of tea or the day's newspaper sent or brought by friends. Perhaps he believed that they would have to be suitably repaid in this life itself, failing which he was bound to be reborn if only to repay this debt. While he was in Colomban House, he dutifully went about his work and visits to the Samadhi and the Dining Room on his bicycle. Even his ageing body, failing eyesight and impaired hearing did not deter him from the increasingly chaotic traffic of Pondicherry. One night on his way to the Dining Room, he was knocked down by a cycle-rickshaw and, giving up his dinner, he had to go to the Nursing Home for immediate medical assistance. Soon it became difficult to continue cycling; but then walking everywhere was also time-consuming and far from easy. At this time, two fortunate developments took place. One, he was relieved of his work of keeping stationery stocks for the Publication Department, thanks to a tiff he had with Jaleshwar ji for no fault of his own. (It might be mentioned that he quietly listened to all of Jaleshwar ji's long and harsh harangue, unmoved and without the least trace of resentment. Thereafter for several months the two were not on talking terms. Finally, realising that he was in the wrong, Jaleshwar ji himself resumed cordial relations.)

The other fortunate development was that Gopal Dass ji was allotted a room in Tripura House which had been specially constructed for aged sadhaks and located much nearer the Ashram. Even after shifting to his new abode, he dismissed the requests of his friends and insisted on cycling everywhere on the plea that it was easier to keep his balance on it than while walking. Only after the doctor advised him against it did he stop using his cycle.

His spirit of independence suffered a setback when failing health forced him to depend on an escort even on his brief daily visit to the Samadhi. Workaholic that he was, he kept collecting information for and preparing the manuscript of the Supplement to his famous Glossary and Index and making ‘Blessings Packets’. He even thought of taking up the massive labour of revising the many bundles of index cards that he had earlier prepared to make them accord with the new 35-volume set of Complete Works being brought out to commemorate Sri Aurobindo's 125th birth anniversary. Only after he had realised the magnitude of the work involved did he give it up.

But the greatest psychological blow came when he had to give up that brief daily outing. He just could not reconcile himself to it. Gopal Dass ji had truly transcended all desire, but once he became dependent on others, a very strong desire arose in him to shed his mortal coil. He constantly prayed to the Mother for his ultimate release.

For some unknown reason, he had decided that he would not live beyond his eighty-fourth birthday, without realising that Lord Yama does not oblige either by accepting anybody's invitation or by prior appointment. That birthday, 17 September 1996, was something special: he decided he would personally meet his erstwhile colleagues at the Archives Office. He was brought in a wheel-chair and from the foot of the staircase carried up the stairs in a chair. Once among his friends he insisted on putting his birthday pedas into the mouth of everyone present with his own hands!

An ordained ascetic is supposed to be reborn following the performance of the viraja homa, taking on a new name and severing himself in all respects from his earlier life. Gopal Dass ji was no less in the strong sense of detachment that he had attained. But his unilateral decision to stop all correspondence with his relatives was only the dictate of his head; his heart refused to fall in line. The relatives fortunately found in his conscience-keeper, Sunjoy, a convenient intermediary. Whenever a missive from any of them arrived, the inner fondness of family-ties surfaced and he read and reread the epistle and at times even prodded Sunjoy to answer them.

This strong inner bond with his family (particularly his daughter) was readily apparent during his last days. The happiness and satisfaction that he derived from the presence of his daughter near him during his last ten days were indeed writ large on his face. He suffered pain, but always with a smile. Whoever visited him was met with a smile of benediction.

The long-awaited moment of release came finally on 3 August 1998.

Om Shantih, Shantih, Shantih!

Source:
Mother India,
September 1999 Issue