To a Great Being, Nothing is Little.

Dada J. P. Vaswani

Many years ago our local MP (Member of Parliament), returned to Pune from Delhi after his release from prison on bail. He had ben indicted for his alleged excessively creative management and accounting skills while heading a very prestigious and prominent sports body.

Coincidently my wife Mohini and I were at the small airport at the same time to receive our guests when the MP was also due to arrive. Present there was a huge crowd of his followers shouting slogans, making a nuisance of themselves, disrupting passenger traffic.

After a little while the mob just outside the arrival hall, broke into loud cheering and slogan shouting and a band began to play. We turned around and saw the MP enter the arrival hall as he marched towards his band of noisy supporters.

The MP's mob covered his entire body with garlands. After a few announcements the MP gave a impromptu speech at the exit of the arrival hall blocking the exit of all other passengers for about 20 minutes and causing general inconvenience to everyone.

This rousing welcome reminded me of another incident I and my wife Mohini had witnessed a few years earlier.  We  had travelled to Pune airport to see off a friend.  At that time the airport was small and security was not a big deal, so non passengers were also permitted to enter the terminal building which had a common lounge area for  both departure and arrivals for visitors to the airport.

An acquaintance in the arrival area waved at us and we walked over to her. She was with a small group waiting to receive the frail 90 year old Dada Vaswani, a living saint.  After a brief wait, we saw a radiant Dada enter the arrival hall and his followers walked forward greeting him by bowing and touching Dada's feet*.

 Dada smiled, greeted them and blessed them all. Then casting an eye around the hall he noticed two very old and invalid ladies offering their salutations sitting a bit away, unable to stand up and greet Dada because of their poor health.

Dada extracted two roses from one of the bouquets offered to him and slowly shuffled to the old ladies, greeted them with folded prayer hands, offered them each a rose and spent a few minutes enquiring about their lives and then left after blessing them.

We were surprised to observe that accompanied by his tiny entourage he left the airport in an unescorted car without any fuss.

A great soul revered around the world, so humble, gentle and magnanimous walked amongst us sharing his message of love without troubling anyone or anything, while spreading his wonderful aura all around him.

Both Mohini and I  received two valuable lessons, 
The truth always walks alone, and the false travels with the mob.
Nothing is too small for a Great Being.
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Bowing to touch the feet.  This is the traditional Indian way where followers and disciples greet their Gurus, teachers and revered elders.