Chakratirth Baba
98 year old sadhu Brahma Chaitanya Das, who is
known in Odisha as Chakratirtha Baba is a man of worth to know. Baba spent his
entire life alone in the remote forests of Orissa doing sadhana as ordered by his
guru.
One day his guru lit an akandha dhuni (sacred
fire burning eternally) and told him to watch the fire as he went out. He told
him he would be back in 15 days time.
This sadhu sat alone in the forest waiting for
him to come back, with no food or possessions. At the time, this was one of the
most remote places in India, deep in tiger infested forests of Odisha. Even
today it is one of the largest tiger reserves in India.
He lived alone in this forest with no house, no
food and no one else around to help him. He sustained himself by collecting
wild roots in the forest, which he knew from his tribal background. He kept
waiting for his guru to return, and finally one day his guru did return, but it
was 15 years later.
He kept the sacred fire burning alone in this
remote forest for 15 years without questioning why his guru had not
returned on time.
There is a saying in Oria among sadhus, “bara
varsha korile seva guru kohile kichi debha”. The meaning is that, “After
performing service for 12 years, my guru said
he will give me something.” This indicates that the guru first tests the
disciple for twelve years to see if he is sincere. After passing all the tests
of the guru, when the guru is convinced and pleased with the disciple, he gives
him something that is the real guru diksha which leads to siddhi. Thus
Chakratirtha Baba got what he wanted from Guru. He preaches the same to those
who trust him.
His Guru before passing away permitted him to have Char Dham yatra viz. Puri, Dwaraka, Badrinath and Rameshwaram. He now at the age of 98 started to go round the shrines.
Swasti.
