Village girl Sulekha’s new incarnation of that of Sadavi Padmavati of Matri Sadan, has a huge cost associated with it: Neither she could go for Samsara, nor she can aspire for Nirvana. The wheel chair that is her sole companion amidst the descending gloom from all sides.
– Vivekanand Jha
The journey of Sulekha, a village girl from that of Nalanda district of Bihar, into that of Sadavi Padmavati of the spiritual citadel of Haridwar, tantamount to a paradox of immortalizing Padmavati’s Anshan for Ganga, being a part of Matri Sadan, at the expense of physically incapacitating Sulekha for all time to come.
No wonder in times when ‘Beti padhao, Beti
bachao’, is the invigorating mantra for the republic, how an inspiring ambition of a young girl to become a Sadavi, and moving away from her home, finally metamorphosed her into a living dead woman, even while she is still so young.
Alas, she had realized that her enthusiastic ambition to be a Sadavi, would perpetually confine her to the wheel chair, craving to die every single moment, would she, then, ever have dreamed of being venerated as Sadavi Padmavati while languishing on the wheel chair for her whole life?
Who brought her to the current sorry pass? Why her actual state has been kept hidden from the general public, especially the Gangs devotees in general and the cheerleaders who cheer those who undertake Anshan ostensibly for the altruistic Ganga Mission, knowingly that such travails finally lead to unpleasant consequences.
Especially when the ghoulish Anshan had already swallowed two activists to its deathly embrace- Swami Nigmanandjee and Prof. G.D. Agrawal, Swami Sanandjee. But then the young enthusiast who had seen Prof. G.D. Agrawal embracing death, through the fast unto death, felt a girlish enthusiasm for the adventurous Anshan, metaphorically described as ‘Tapasya’ by the proponents of this devilish propaganda.
Significantly, Sulekha, already was elevated to the position of a Sadavi, not by virtue of any spiritual enlightenment, but on account of childish excitement to undertake the Anshan, presumingall this while that it would be an exciting journey altogether.
Her mentor, in the Ashram, seeking to exploit Matri Shakti to the hilt, providentially found a God sent opportunity to encash her childish enthusiasm. Unfortunately for Sulekha, whose new name Sadavi Padmavati, was too big an honorific to resist, quickly realized in no time that excitement has its shorter life: barely after 10 days, she was prepared to give up; she pleaded with her mentor, her guru, that she felt like quitting; calling it a day!
Seldom she knew that her guru, for whom she was a prized possession, would never allow her to backtrack. Her intense desire to withdraw, was nipped in bud. (Swami Punyanandjee, a venerable saint of the Ashram, testifies to the same) Padmavati, whose Anshan was not allowed to end, unable to cope with this gruesome prescription of skipping food, slipped in Comatose state, from where she was revived.
Ironically, it was Mr. Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, who, succumbing to pressure from hishome district Nalanda, Padmavati too belonged to Nalanda- sent his representative Mr. Sanjay Jha, the then
Water Resource Minister of Bihar, to Matri Sadan.
The subsequent writing of the letter of Mr. Kumar to Prime Minister Modi, had a positive impact: Padmavati was rightly admitted in AIIMS Delhi, which saved her life. Regrettably, her discharge from the AIIMS triggered the chain of events that irretrievably pushed her to a permanent disability. Ashram’s blatant insensitivity towards the medicines prescribed by the neurosurgeons of AIIMS; instead its predilection for Ayurvedic treatment, resulted in her rapid deterioration; the subsequent bizarre invention of Bhoot (ghost) being the reason for Padmavati’s nemesis, the Ashram unleashed scores of Tantriks upon her; the very caretaker who ought to have taken an affectionate care of her, turned out to be her tormentor.
Such was the level of her mental distress brought about by the intrinsic feeling of her permanent disability, that many a times she sought poison for ending her life. She was confined to a wheel chair; even unable to stand up. In such a level of mental stress, the playing of bhoot by her guru, along with her caretaker, substantially added to the worsening of her mental state.
The outsiders who were trapped during lock down, like this writer, Mr. Sunil Agrawal and Mr. Nile Agrawal were witness to the ongoing torture of Sadavi. This writer, along with Mr. Sunil Agrawal, had vehemently protested; they even suggested changing the caretaker, restoring of medicines as prescribed by the neurosurgeon, facilitating the physiotherapy treatment. All the protests fell in deaf years. Padmavati
became as good as living dead, confined to a wheel chair, she would get lost.
Tragically, all those who bothered when she was active, in her senses, abandoned her in no time when she returned from AIIMS. None bothered to know what happened to her, and even those who bothered to know,
no information was furnished. Mr. Nitish Kumar, who sent his representative when she was on Anshan; forgot all about her existence once she had slipped in Coma.
Worse still, her parents, even when informed, cared little to visit and witness her pathetic state. With five daughters to contend, Sulekha’s father had little time to know how his daughter Sulekha, elevated to the level of Sadavi Padmavati, is a living dead, confined to a wheel chair, crying for the mercy of God to take her away. And all this happened for her Anshan that neither enabled her to have her own family or become real Sadavi, not the one Matri Sadan intended her to become.
Sulekha is, unfortunately not our own daughter or sister, why would we at all bother about her fate? We give two hoots to someone’s daughter or sister. Why should we bother if her life had been destroyed by a maniac whose obsession is to put the young men and women to death in the name of Anshan for liberating Mother Ganga?
We the cheerleaders shall continue to cheerlead him because he is showing us a regular circus; as a ring master he is entertaining us by enacting one after another drama. Who bothers scores of Padmavati are driven to despair of permanent physical incapacity, or being reduced to skeletons as in case of Atmabodhanand. We will still cheer him, because he promises to show us another circus by enacting another drama of going for another Anshan, no matter he will find some convenient reasons to withdraw it, and once again put poor Atmabodhanand or someone else on this job.
But this deathly game must stop forthwith. We must identify ourselves with Padmavati’s travails-I have seen her silent tears, her excruciating pain. Hence, I reject this maniac’s insatiable lust for blood; in fact, we all must reject this insatiable lust for the maniacs, for those whose hearts do not rend seeing the skeletal frame of Atmabodhanand, the rivulets of tears gushing forth from the eyes of helpless young women who is confined to her wheel chair.
I cried inconsolably seeing her dire state. I, therefore, call for the end of this deathly game. It is the time we all should treat Sulekha, not Sadavi Padmavati, as the village girl who fell for the charade that should have been rejected long time back.
Vivekanand Jha is the author of Making of Narendra Modi, Unmaking of Jawaharlal, and The People’s Leader. You can reach him at [email protected]
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If I were younger, I would have offered to adopt her and given her a new life
Stop putting sewage into a holy river. Thats all you have to do. Just stop.
If you want to honor this little girl, stop destroying the river Ganges. Stop letting your own shit flow everywhere. Thats all. Idiots. Stop making hectares of leather to make your river toxic. Idiots.