Life of a Saint

Had fate not willed otherwise, Murlidhar Devdas Amte could have ended up as just another wealthy, arrogant lawyer wallowing in luxury. This eldest son of a Brahmin landlord, born on December 26, 1914, at Hinganghat in Wardha district, was completely insulated from the world of abject poverty and the inequalities of the prevailing social structure.
When he was a mere 14 years old, Amte or Baba as he was affectionately called by his family, had his own gun to hunt wild boars and deer. During his college days in Nagpur, he would travel in a Singer sports car with leopard skin-covered seats, and buy two tickets when he went to watch a film—one for himself and the other to stretch his legs on. He indulged his passion for cinema by writing film reviews and also corresponded with the reigning Hollywood stars Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer.
A visit to Shantinekatan and his brush with Tagore’s world of poetry and music and later his association with Gandhiji changed Baba. While poetry transformed him into a sensitive person, his understanding of Bapu’s relationship with God in the form of truth, love, morality and fearlessness inspired him to break the shackles of a secure life and dedicate it to the underprivileged masses.
Baba did well as a lawyer and took up criminal cases for the well-heeled during his practice at Durg in then Madhya Pradesh. But he was appalled by the fact that his clients often expected him to tell lies. “A client would admit he committed rape and I was expected to obtain an acquittal. Worse still, when I succeeded, I was expected to attend the celebration party,’’ Baba once recounted. He started working for Harijans in his own fields although he was not expected to mingle with them. With six leprosy patients, Rs 14 in hand and a lame cow, Baba went ahead to set up the Maharogi Sewa Samiti in 1949 at a time when leprosy patients were shunned and left to suffer supposedly for sins committed in a previous life. After shifting to Warora in the early 1940s, he set up Anandwan (Forest of Joy), the first fully integrated township for the rehabilitation of leprosy patients and people with disabilities. Today, Anandwan is spread over 176 hectares and houses 3,000-plus inmates. This ideal township demonstrated how persons with disfigured limbs could create a self-sufficient world of their own.
So sensitive was Baba Amte to the needs of Anandwan’s inmates that he even developed roses without thorns so that a blind inmate could touch the flower while enjoying its fragrance. Today, Anandwan boasts an orchestra of 150 members—blind, deaf, dumb and lame singers and dancers who enthrall large audiences with their talents. With his wife Sadhanatai standing by him through thick and thin, Baba went on to establish settlements in Somnath, Nagepalli, Hemalkasa and Ashokvan, camps with schools and colleges and hospitals for the tribals and poor in the inaccessible jungles of Gadchiroli. His two doctor sons, Vikas and Prakash, and their equally qualified wives and grandchildren are now keeping alive the flames of hope kindled by Baba. ‘Bury me so that the plants can get fertilizer’

Source : The times of India