Shastriji assured her, ‘How won’t I be able to resist hunger? Am I such a fool that I’d go right now and sit there on fast? First arrange a meal for me; get all the sweets you can—rasgullas, laddus and imartis. Let me tuck in properly. Then I’ll have half a ser of cream topped up with half a ser of dry fruits. And if a corner of my stomach still remains empty I’ll stuff it with yogurt. How would hunger flirt with me then? I wouldn’t even be able to breathe for three days, let alone think of eating. And by then there would be a brouhaha in the whole town. Fate is on the ascendance now, any dilly-dally would only bring repentance later. If the bazaar remains open, know for sure that I’ll be loaded with money. If not, what do I stand to lose from my pocket! I’ve already got a hundred rupees, haven’t I?’
So while preparations were made for Shastriji’s meal he tom-tommed the message that he would lecture on the political problem the country faced that evening at the Town Hall ground, asking people to attend without fail. The pandit was known to keep himself away from politics. And today he was going to speak on it; this had to be attended, people thought with increasing curiosity. At the appointed hour a few thousand of them gathered on the ground. Panditji started from his home well prepared. His tummy was so full that he was finding it difficult to walk. People prostrated respectfully as soon as he arrived.
Shastriji spoke, ‘People of the town, businessmen, distinguished merchants and moneylenders! I have come to know that having fallen under the spell of these Congressists you all have decided to go on strike on the day of His Excellency’s welcome arrival. What absolute ungratefulness is this? If he so wishes, he could have you all tied to the mouths of the canons today; he could raze this town to dust. It’s not a matter of fun and play; he is the king. Thank your stars that he is taking pity on your condition. You are behaving like a herd of cattle out to graze the forbidden field at the risk of being slaughtered! His Excellency, if he so wishes today, can halt the trains, stop the post, disrupt the transaction of all merchandise. Tell me, then what will you do? Where can you go running away from him? Is there a place you can go? So, if one has to stay in this land under his authority, why create such disturbance? Remember this well, your very life is in his hands! He can bring down plague on you by spreading viruses. You are trying to block a storm with mere broomsticks. Beware of closing down the bazaar, I’m warning you, or else, I will give away my life right at this spot by refusing food and water.’
One man expressed his apprehension, saying, ‘Maharaj, it would be at least a month by the time the vital breath leaves your body. What can happen in three days’ time?’
Shastriji bellowed, ‘The soul does not reside in the body, it resides in the cosmos. If I wish, I can make my spirit depart this very moment through my yogic power. I have warned you, now it is up to you to decide what to do. If you listen to me, you will earn divine benediction. If not, you will be damned with murder and won’t be able to show your face anywhere in the world. So be it then, here and now I take my seat.’3
People were stunned as the news spread in the town. This new trick employed by the administrators left them at their wits’ end. The Congressists kept on saying that the entire thing was a sham. That the loyalists had greased the pandit’s palms to play this farce. The entire government machinery—the bureaucracy, the judiciary and the legislature—having failed, this was the ruse they had employed. And that it was nothing but the bankruptcy of the polity. Else, since when did our Panditji become such a well-wisher of our nation that the plight of it would move him to undertake a fast? Let him die of hunger, although staying off food for two days would surely bring him back on track. This new subterfuge had to be pulled up by the roots! Otherwise, if this ploy succeeded, the officials—mind you—would get a new weapon in their hands, and they would deploy it every time. The people aren’t so sensible to discern these complexities. They’d be easily outfoxed by the bluff.
But the merchants and moneylenders of the town, who were generally morally timid, became so alarmed that the reasoning of the Congressists had no effect on them. They started saying, ‘Sirs, we became an eyesore for the government listening to you, gave up our business with them, prepared ourselves for picking up losses—so many of us were rendered bankrupt. We lost face with the officials; whenever we used to go to them earlier they’d greet us saying, “Welcome, welcome, Sethji” and behave with us respectfully, and now we get pushed about on the railways and nobody bothers. Whether we generate revenue or not taxes keep mounting even on our dead stocks. We have tolerated all these things, and will tolerate them further; but in the matters of our dharma we cannot accept your directions. When a learned, noble and pious Brahmin sacrifices his food and water over us, how can we eat and stretching our feet go off to sleep? If at all he dies, what answers would we give God?’
To cut things short, not a single explanation of the
