It was the custom of Swamiji that he took a glass of milk before going to bed. That night too he took his milk and went to sleep.
He woke up soon. He was suffering from stomachache. He vomited a few times and then went to sleep again. In the morning he failed to get up. He was an early riser. The puzzled disciples went to his bed and woke him up.
He again started vomiting. Now Swamiji realised that he had been poisoned. The milk he had drunk at night was spiked. His stomachache had become intolerable. Swamiji’s body was hot.
Waves of anger and sadness hit his followers and admirers. Udaipur king rushed to Swamiji with a doctor. The doctor examined Swamiji and gave him a medicine to stop his vomiting.
The medicine did not help. In the evening another doctor Ali Mardan Khan treated Swamiji but his condition worsened. Swamiji had not allowed his cook to leave. He had served the milk. The cook admitted to his crime of poisoning the milk. The Brahmin mob had bribed him to do so.
Swamiji did not punish the cook, Jagannath. He said to him, “What have you done, Jagannath? I am going to die. My mission will remain incomplete. What a tragedy! You don’t know what you have done, Jagannath. Let us leave it to God. Take this money bag and run. Leave this state. Otherwise my followers will kill you when they learn what you have done. Go, go, Don’t waste time.”
Jagannath cried, “No, Swamiji! I am a sinner. I deserve to die. Let them kill me.”
Swamiji forced him to go.
Swamiji was still sick. He went to Mount Abu. Things did not improve. Continuous hiccups were ravaging him. He felt his intestines stretching taut. His body was suffering from cramps all over. The cramps went away after a few days of treatment.
On the advice of his disciples Swamiji went to Ajmer where he underwent treatment which proved ineffective. His condition was aggravating.
Large boils had appeared all over his body. Breathing had become laboured. He could not talk. He endured all the pains and meditated.
One of his disciples was a doctor. He felt sad at not being helpful to Swamiji. Swamiji talked to him, “Why are you so sad, son?”
The doctor sobbed, “I try my best to put you back to health. It is not working. I am useless, O Swamiji.”
“Do you know what we are?” Swamiji asked.
“We are human beings.”
“Who sent us here on earth?”
“God.”
“Does anything happen without his wish?”
“No.”
Swamiji said, “So, there you are son. There is no fault of yours in my not getting well. God must will that. Leave it to Him, son, stop worrying.”
It was Tuesday, the day of Deepawali. Swamiji looked in slightly improved health.
He took bath and sat on the bed.
Swamiji asked a disciple, Atmananda, “What do you wish, son?”
“I want to see you in health again. I have been praying for it,” Atmananda revealed.
“This body is perishable son,. It has to die one day. Don’t lose heart when I am gone. Keep doing your duty and carry one your mission. God bless you. You have my good wishes.”
Swamiji talked to other disciples in the same vein.
At five in the evening he ordered the doors of his room opened. Swamiji asked all his disciples to stand at his back.
“What day is this? And what moon phase?”
“It is the descending phase, Tuesday…Diwali”, a disciple named Mohanlal Pandey informed.
Swamiji looked around and then began to recite couplets of Vedas. He appeared charged up with some excitement. His face glowed. He sang prayers followed by Gayatri mantra recitation. Gradually his voice died into stillness. He had fallen into meditational trance.
After a long time he came out of the trance and spoke, “O God Almighty. Great are your spectacles. Your wish is about to be fulfilled, Prabhu…Om.”
With that his body froze into stillness. His soul had flown away to join the conscience God.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati is no more with us but the impact of his works is still guiding us. The society we see today is so because of him. His true knowledge shaped it and still is shaping us. His Arya Samaj is still there. And today’s educated India is due to his contribution in the form of DAV education campaign.
