A Dutchman, he is a devout Hindu

He folds his palms into a graceful namaste, followed by a 'Jai Swaminarayan'.

Over the next hour and a half, he elaborates on the niyams he follows, the ekadashis he observes twice a year, and the sadhus who form a significant part of the world he's come to inhabit. However, this 66-year-old gentleman, who is so eloquent about the Hindu religion, is not an Indian by birth or even upbringing.

Han Kop, originally from Holland, has been following the tenets of the Swaminarayan sect for the past 40 years. The Swaminarayans are a significant community within the Hindu religion.

So devout is Kop towards his adopted religion that in 1984, Shri Pramukhswami Maharaj  (also referred to as 'Swami Bapa') on his way to Belgium chose to stay at Kop's place before meeting the several hundred eagerly waiting devotees.

"Maharaj and I share a relationship that goes beyond words. We may not be in physical proximity, but I can still feel the bliss I first felt on seeing him. He is my spiritual inspiration, the reason why I have come back to India over 40 times in past 38 years," he says. 

Kop's tryst with the religion began in 1972 when he was in Mombasa, Kenya as a teacher of pedagogy. It was here that he first set sight on a picture of Yogiji Maharaj, Swaminarayan sect's religious leader before Swami Bapa.

A later meeting with Bapa ensued. But Kop first felt a real bond with Bapa while he was saved from sharks on a beach in Pakistan. He muttered Bapa's name and saw his image come alive in his mind, underwater.

The incident, he says, connected him to Bapa spiritually, forever.  Kop visits India every year around the time of Bapa's birthday. "I am completely at home here. Once I'm done with morning rituals, I spend my time in the company of sadhus. They have taught me all I know about the Hindu religion," he said. 

Talking about the reaction back home on his following the Hindu religion, Kop said: "Over the years, different people have had different reactions. Some were very supportive, others sceptical and mocking. People abroad have a skewed image about Hinduism."

He further added, "I eventually found a friend in Janet, my landlady who took an equal interest in the faith. Today, Janet has been to India at least a dozen times. She writes to Bapa every two months, and cries out in joy when he responds to her letters. Women are technically not allowed to come in the vicinity of Swami Bapa, but Janet says she feels his spiritual vibrations all the time. This faith is a way of life for us now."

A bachelor due to his religious preferences, Kop recently adopted an eighteen-year-old, Uday, the nephew of his Nepali trekking guide. "Uday is the reason I shall not be devoting myself to sewa completely for next few years. I am in charge of his education, and we shall both be in Thailand till he finishes his studies."

So what are his plans after that? Says Kop: "I shall be travelling to Kailash Mansarovar, Tibet, the Himalayas. I am writing a book on Nilkanthji Maharaj, and that cannot happen till I know the environs well enough." A massive responsibility this, at his age. "Oh, I totally love it," he ends, walking off to catch up with a sadhu for a discussion on religion.