Who is a saint?

How do we know who a ‘man of God’ is? Ramakrishna Paramahasa asked, “Will a goat become a sage because he grows a beard?” Yet, we can sense his presence. When he writes like this…

“God of my clan, I’ll not place my feetbut where your feet have stood before.

I’ve no feet of my own.

How can […] this world Know the miracle, the oneness Of your feet and mine, Ramanatha?” -Devara Dasimayya Again, we scent the aura of a saint in a story like this… When Namdev, the Varkari saint was young, his father wanted to groom him into the family business of tailoring. So he sent him to the marketplace to sell some garments. Namdev reached his destination but immediately forgot what he had come for. He began singing devotional hymns to his favourite deity, Vittala, oblivious of everything. Soon, it was dusk. And Namdev suddenly realiSed he still had to sell his clothes. All he could see was a stone in front of him. So he sold his clothes to the stone, by placing the garments on it. As a witness, he placed another stone before it. And happily went home.

He only understood something was amiss when his father angrily asked, “Where is the money?” “What money?” asked Namdev. “I sold the clothes and I even have a witness.” “Bring him,” scolded his father. The next morning Namdev found his garments obviously missing, but the stone intact. He took it home. Then, opening his palm, he told his father, “Meet your witness.” His father’s eyes widened, as he saw no stone but a shiny, gold coin.

All Namdev could say was, “Baba’s happy because the stone changed colour.” Saints inhabit a different world.

Yet, their’s is not necessarily a journey. It is a discovery. Asked what it was to be enlightened, the master said, “I feel like a fool.” “Why?” “Because it was like taking great pains to break into a house by climbing a ladder and smashing a window - only to realize that the door of the house was open.”

“A true saint,” says Hafiz, “is an earth in eternal spring.”