Family Life and Renunciates
There was a little old man standing and gazing over the stone wall. He was alone and wearing clothes of modest means. I realized he was a local villager attending this large mela (spiritual festival) in rural eastern India. His simple demeanor and loneliness suggested to me that this was the first time he had attended; most certainly he had never met a westerner.
I decided to befriend him and make him more comfortable. Striding up to him, I asked him in the local Bengali language, “Apni ki English bolen [Do you speak English]?”
He looked at me with a surprised expression. “Yes, I do,” he responded. Another older Indian man joined him and looked at me curiously. We had only a moment to small talk when groups of people began coming by and paying their salutations to him. I recognized people I deeply respected, including senior monks and nuns, coming forward and reverentially touching his feet. The realization dawned on me that I had seriously misjudged the situation.
It turned out that he was one of the oldest and most respected practitioners and spiritual teachers (acharyas) at the mela; in fact he was widely considered a saint in the area that he was from. He took no offense at my forwardness; he seemed to understand my heart and that I had intended him nothing but goodwill. After a short but interesting conversation, I extricated myself from the situation as tactfully as possible and blended back in with the crowds.
It is equally respectable to be a family person and to serve both one’s small family as well as our larger human family, or to be a renunciate and dedicate oneself fully to the service of humanity. This man was a family acharya, a spiritual teacher who taught meditation as a service while maintaining his family life.
Spiritually advanced people are characterized most commonly by extreme simplicity. They view the world with equanimity, seeing everything as an expression of the supreme. Their demeanor, dress, and habits are modest. They endeavor to set an example in their conduct; indeed, to teach by example is their main methodology.