Once when he was a young man, cholera broke out in Calcutta and all the rich people left the city. When the epidemic broke out, there was no medical treatment for the poor, so he used to go to the section of town where the very poor lived and treat them.
Now, in that part of town there were many hooligans. They used to threaten him and say, “Don’t come to our section and don’t bother us. We don’t want to see you. You are well-educated and come from a rich family, whereas we are very poor and uneducated. We don’t want you here.” But although the hooligans didn’t want him to come and help the poor, he didn’t care. He said, “Do whatever you want. If you want to kill me, kill me. I have come into the world to help the poor and sickly. I shall continue coming with my money and my food to try to help as much as I can.”
One day the only son of the leader of the hooligans was attacked by cholera. So the young man went to his house and started caring for the son, feeding him and giving him medical treatment. The hooligan leader was so moved! “I threatened you and warned you not to come to this area, and now when my own son is attacked by cholera you come to help him. You are so brave.”
The young man said, “It is not a matter of bravery; it is my necessity. I see God in everybody. When I see somebody is suffering, when I see another human being in need, I feel it is my duty to help him. One must help one’s brother when he is in need.”
The hooligan chief bowed down to the young man and said, “You are not a human being. You are Divinity Incarnate.”
This great leader and great patriot, this matchless leader and matchless patriot, was none other than Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The very mention of his name brings such a divine emotional feeling into the consciousness of India!
GIM 60. 15 January 1979↩
From:Sri Chinmoy,Great Indian meals: divinely delicious and supremely nourishing, part 3, Agni Press, 1979
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/gim_3