Nizamuddin Ansari who was sitting on his bed in the male ward of Ramakrishna Mission Sewashram in Kankhal beamed as a doctor of the ashram presented him with a string of flowers while the ward boy put a vermilion mark on his forehead and another staffer handed over to him a bunch of fruits.
To top it all, an ochre-robed sanayasi did arati as is done daily to the deity. This was all part of Rogi Narayan Puja involving the 200-odd indoor patients of the hospital on Monday. This is in tune with the custom of serving the poor in the spirit of serving God as conceptualised by Swami Vivekananda, said a seer of the ashram.
Hailing from Bijnor, the teacher of a private school, Ansari was admitted on December 24 to the hospital with high fever.
He said that he was overwhelmed with what he had received on the day. “This is an experience which would remain etched in my mind forever,” he said. A 70- year- old Ramanand of Soham Akhara was another patient who was ‘worshipped’ as the divine is worshipped.Many more, including some newborns, received fruits as ‘Prasad’ from the saints who run the ashram.
Explaining the philosophy behind the ritual, General Secretary of Sewashram Swami Nityashudhananda said, “As per Bengali lunar calendar, Swami Vivekananda was born on the day of Makar Sankranti which falls today.
He preached the gospel of serving the God in the poor, the miserable, the destitute. This is a fitting tribute to the Swami at whose behest this hospital came up in 1901.”
Some discourses were held too on the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda in the temple located in the hospital premises followed by distribution of Prasad to all present, mostly those from the slum areas in and around Kankhal.