Baba Ram Nath Aghori — from chapter 7

Baba Ram Nath Aghori

Baba Ram Nath Aghori also had invisible servants. One day he called all the local babas for a feast, a bhandara, he would prepare on Dashashwamedh Ghat, a half-mile downstream from us. Even though the local shopkeepers and others laughed at him when he announced that he would feed his guests from the meager resources of his humble dhuni, just a couple of small pots, hundreds of babas arrived.

The babas sat in a pangat, two pairs of long lines each facing another. Plates made of leaves sewn together with twigs, patals, were placed in front of them. They were served the traditional bhandara lunch of vegetables, dal, puris, and halwa, and of course, a one-rupee note as dakshina. Everyone was amazed that Ram Nath Aghori was able to feed so many people with such small pots. The pots had no bottom.

After the meal, he announced that his work was not yet finished. He had another hundred leaf plates laid out, and food served (but without dakshina). A large crowd gathered to touch his feet but when he started barking like a dog, they all recoiled. Then, from every street and alleyway, an army of dogs raced to the ghat and devoured their prasad.

Then he had them lay out another hundred plates of food, this time with the one-rupee-note dakshina. “Ladies and gentlemen!” he announced. “This round is for my friends, the spirits and the ghosts!” and immediately, all the food and money vanished.