'Naga Sanyasin' wishes to fly helicopter

Ardh Kumbh Nagar, Jan 18: A law graduate and trained pilot from Bangalore, who became a 'Naga Sanyasin' instead of arguing cases in court rooms, now wants to fly a helicopter to spread 'Sanatan Dharma' across the globe.

''I was trained as an air pilot during NCC training at the Military Services School in Bangalore. If the Panch Dashnam Juna Akhara provides me with a helicopter I will love to spread Sanatan Dharma across the world by flying it,'' said Mahant Tejaswini Giri (49), one of the over 3,500 Naga Sanyasins belonging to the Juna Akhara camping at the Ardh Kumbh fair here.

''Let them buy the helicopter and then I will spend rest of my life spreading Sanatan Dharma through the air-craft,'' she added.

The daughter of a former Company Commander of the 26th Madras Regiment of Indian Army, Tejaswini was third among five Bangalore sisters. ''I was repeatedly neglected by my family and when only nine years old I willfully decided to join the ashram of Vidya Narayan Tirth Shankaracharya in Bangalore in search of a Kul Guru,'' she said.

During her stay at the Ashram, she passed out as a history graduate and later completed a bachelors degree in law with flying colours from the Bangalore University. ''But court room was not my cup of tea and hence the child in me who hankered for warmth decided to devote entire life in ushering love and affection among commoners through the Sanatan Dharma. I moved to Maharashtra first, but later spent 12 years at the Gita Mandir in Varanasi studying Sanskrit and various religious texts pertaining to Sanatan Dharma. After a stint at the holy city I moved to Madhya Pradesh and then Haryana where I found my real Guru Mahant Dharma Raj Giri of Juna Akhara in Yamunanagar. In 2004 I turned a Naga Sanyasin after getting Diksha from Guruji.''

The highly educated Sanyasin is presently with a branch of the Juna Akhara at Ludhiana in Punjab managed by her 'Shiksha Guru' Mahant Anand Giriji.

The Naga Sanyasin, who relishes the puffs of Marlboro cigarette as well as the desi ganja with equal elan while talking on a latest cellphone feels 'Nasha' by 'Naga sadhus' or 'sahdhvis' (lady Nagas) is not for enjoyment, but for plunging them fully into the meditative mode.

Are these intoxicants in anyway related to her attempts to forget her past life? ''I have no family from the day I turned a Sanyasin for Sanatan Dharma,'' she replies.

The only thing she remembers about her family is that her eldest sister was once the Deputy Commissoner of Hassan district in Karnataka, another the Chief Medical Officer with the Victoria Hospital in Bangalore, while the youngest sister is a Kannada playback singer Manjula Guru. ''But I have no idea about where they are now especially my only brother who was youngest among the six children,'' she said.

''The day I became a Sanyasin I cremated my past life and was reborn. Now the entire world is my family and the only task at my hand is to spread Sanatan Dharma.'' The diminutive Sanyasin, however, does not rule out the idea of getting back to court rooms to contest cases of those who have no money to seek justice. ''I have become Sanyasin for Jan Kalyan and will never hesitate to go back to court room for poor people who cannot afford lawyers to further their fight for justice.''

UNI