‘Mujhay tum say Kuch bhi na chahiyay mujhay mera hal pe chor do'( I do not want anything from you, leave me on my own.)
The life of Gautam Buddha, if it is summarised in the fewest of words, yet showcases the life lived for humanity is this: A life lived for others, without seeking anything in return. ‘Desire is the cause of misery’, this illustrates the significance of human life which, if lived without any corresponding or, at times, with gargantuan desire driving the man towards actions which, if failed to yield the desired results, causes the volcano within the heart, even dishevelling the man’s physical state, as well as incapacitating his mental faculty to think rationally and behave plausibly. In course of a legendary encounter with an infamous brigand, Angulimal, whose mark of identity was the garland of human fingers that he would exhibit, more as an unabashed sign of his spirit of triumphalism, than with any sense of compunction, Buddha’s phenomenal serenity at the face of grave provocation from Angulimal, is the vindication of the sense of balance of proportion which shows not even an infinitesimal wavering, far less any amount of trepidation, is a tribute to Buddha’s equanimity even in the face of death. In fact, beholding Buddha, walking all alone in the dense forest, Angulimal, in his stentorian command, had asked him, ‘Thahar Jao'(Stop fortwith). In fact, he repeated his command thrice before Buddha, epitomising the pinnacle of serenity at his face, softly replied, ‘ Main to thahar gaya vatsa, tum kab thahrogay'(I stopped long back, when will you?) Connoting that i became desireless long back, when will you? It means that the entire life of Buddha revolves around conquering the demonic desires to attain the peace of mind, and to leave this world with the clean slate, a state of desirelessness, a precursor to attaining the Salvation. In the contemporary times, when the degree of desires have been the barometer of measuring one’s success, there is indeed a Buddha like phenomenon in our midst who, despite having been one of the greatest Karmayogi, throughout his life, nonetheless sans any desire.
He is none but our very own Dr Dinesh Mishra, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, did his B.tech as well as MTech from IIT Kharagpur, had a flourishing Civil Engineering practices before he left all that when he attained Buddha like enlightenment. Interestingly, during the devastating flood of 1987 of Kosi, in Bihar, he visited the embankment in Saharsa, the blinding spectacle of human misery that he beheld, was a new awakening for Dr Mishra: the series of tenements constructed on the embankment, where he saw the father-in-law on the chowkie above, underneath it, the chowkie on which the daughter-in-law lay. The humongous nature of human tragedy, the degree and scale of which he had never witnessed in life, provided a new dimension to human life to Dr Mishra. In fact, wherever his eyes could see, only the behemoth of menacing level of waters was the only sight.
Seeing this gory sight, Dr Mishra’s life underwent a metamorphosis that had a divine angle to it: He left his Civil Engineering practice to plunge himself in serving the cause of humanity as rarest of rare human being can dare contemplate, let alone actionalise. Hailing from Azamgarh, Dr Mishra, henceforth, devoted his entire life in researching on rivers, travelling across Bihari, traversed the nook and corner of Mithila, even knows the ins and outs of Karhara embankment of Kosi that demarcated our village, Bhakhrain from that of Karhara. Also, he has written 14 priceless books that so meticulously explains the nature of all the rivers in Bihar, especially Mithila. Unequivocally, the behemoth of work that great Mishrajee has done on rivers, has no parallel in the country.
It was during Ataljee’s time, when he had visited Bihar, Shri Sudheendra Kulkarnijee, Prime Minister ‘s adviser, had given him a call to know some technical aspects of the rivers of Bihar, when Ataljee was contemplating the river uplinking project. Recently, when Patna was flooded, even Nitishjee had sought the counsel of Dr Mishra for his own meeting with Prime Minister Modi. Even, Prime Minister himself, knows Dr Mishra’s expertise and consequently his expertise is highly coveted by him too. In such times as this, when, as great Adi Shankaracharya says, ‘ Uddar nibitram bahu Krit bhesam bhaju Govindam, bhaju Govindam'( In such delicate times as Kalyuga, men, in fact would assume facades, masquerade in different disguises to fill up their bellies, Dr Dinesh Mishra, so reverentially being referred to as Gurujee, is an honest exception. Neither he is swayed by any earthly temptation, nor he has any earthly desire to accomplish, he is genuine Karmayogi as Lord Krishna envisages in Bhagvad Gita, and Gautam Buddha exemplifies through his own exalted life, Gurujee has attained the state of equilibrium of mind, where the demons of earthly desires have long ceased to exist in his mind.
In today’s time, when there are fake saints ostensibly crusading for Mother Ganga, the countless charlatans purportedly serving the cause of rivers, in reality are making self-mockery of themselves, Gurujee is the flag bearer of truth and ethics in genuinely catering to the public good. His very famous book Dui Patan kay beech mein(Between the Devil and the Black sea) on Kosi, upon which a documentary too was made, reflects the depth of his studies and research on Kosi. Incidentally, Gurujee believes that a movie on Kosi too is to be made like the movie Lagan, however, it remains to be seen who and when will finally come to make a movie on Kosi. In course of my solitary visit to Nepal, where Gurujee is well known, people said to me that Gurujee’s contribution is at par with that of the president Dr Kalam. In fact, millions of people are born to follow the ongoing trend, rarest of rare can dare set the trend, Gurujee is doubtlessly one of such institution who has dared to set his own trend. In fact, it would be little exaggeration to suggest that he is the institution born after Rahul Sanskritiyan to have left his indelible marks in the annals of history for the multitude to explore him, to know him after he is gone. His wish is to leave this world unheard of, unsung, and this is why, he has installed a hello tune in his mobile: Mujhay tum say Kuch bhi na chahiyay mujhay mere hal pe chor do’. He does not want anything from anyone, he intends to be left alone. No earthly cravings ever bothered him, he remains in perfect peace with himself. Always engrossed in his own work, a riverputra, as people call him, has sung the glory of rivers of this country, much in tune with what India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said, ‘ that someday, somebody, will sing the glory of our rivers, Gurujee has so profoundly done it that would have surely brought smiles on Pundit Nehru’s lips.
