Thanks Radhika for the share. I was in tears when I completed reading this. I have already shared this incident before but couldn’t resist sharing again! There is none to compare with Him! Dr Kalam knew who lived his all his life as a staunch Kanchi Matam Devotee.
It was the first visit of an elevated saint (Shankaracharya) to Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Since the then President, Dr Kalam wanted to give due honour to the saint, he called me (I was Comptroller in the President’s House) to his office and asked me the traditional protocol.
I told him, “I will receive the Saint at the gate and bring him inside”.
After few minutes of deep thinking, he asked me “What will happen if I receive him?’
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I said, “Sir, you will honour the Saint and make his position more important than the President.”
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He smiled. He didn’t say anything.
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Then , once inside the office, I briefed him, “Sir, I will bring him here, put his seat (asan) on this sofa and will request him to sit and President will continue sitting on his usual sofa chair.”
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He again asked me, “What will happen if I make him sit on my sofa seat?”
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I said once again “Sir, you will honour the Saint and make his position more important than the President.”
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He smiled once again and didn’t give me any more instructions.
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After thirty minutes, when the Saint was to reach the Rashtrapati Bhavan, a few seconds before his arrival, to my surprise, I saw Dr Kalam, standing behind me at the gate. I immediately behind the President.
He was there to receive the Saint with garland and flowers. We received the Saint, walked through the corridors and straight entered into his office.
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When I was spreading the Saint’s seat (tiger skin asan) on the visitor’s sofa as we had discussed, he directed me to put the same on his own sofa chair.
I was shocked by this simple, humble and great gesture.
He was President Kalam.
We offered fruits and flower basket to the Saint.
After the mulakat (meeting) I asked him the reason behind doing this. He smiled and said, ”I wanted the sofa seat of the President of India, to be blessed by the Saint’s spiritual power so that whoever sits here later also gets the Saint’s blessings”.
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I admired these words of my Spiritual Guru President Kalam and said “Sir, you are not only a scientist but you’re yourself a Saint in disguise too.”
As usual he gave his meaningful smile.
Lt Col Ashok Kini H, SM, VSM
Former Comptroller to The Former President Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Categories: Devotee Experiences
A shining example of how great Dr kalam was throughout his life.
What a fantastic gesture by President Abdul Kalam! Contrast this with how TN treated Swamiji….putting him behind bars, humiliating him?! I agree people like Abdul Kalam take Avatar again , teach humility, Basic values , how to be ” Humane”! CJ
Great Human being and God Bless his soul, hope he is reborn again in India to take our country to more greater heights. 🙏💐
That is how he was great amongst us humans.
He is a man of simplicity and
principles
கல்கியோ தேவனோ கண்ணதாசனோ வரவேண்டும் Dr. கலாம் அவர்களின் மேன்மையைப்பற்றி எழுதுவதற்கு. நம்மிடம் வார்த்தைகள் இல்லை.
He was just in human form, but he was always an elevated soul throughout his life. It is our Bhagyam that we had such finest person among us.
I read this article in FB yesterday and shared with the group. I too was in tears and for a long term could not stop crying. We have done enormous punyam to have known and associated with these Divine souls.
Beautiful and soul-elevating incident!
மிக்க நன்றி, 🙏🕉️🙏🕉️🙏
மேன் மக்கள் மேன் மக்களே !! No wonder Dr.Abdul kalam is known as a great person not only by His position as president of India, a great scientist but all because of his humility and bhakti towards Swamigal !!
A divine soul in the form of gentle human being who decented to sanctify mankind especially v the indians. His contribution is immense to everyone of us yesterday, today and tomorrow