By Vincent Van Ross
Why do we hold saffron, maroon, white, black, brown, or—for that matter—any other colour in reverence? Because,…holy men drape themselves in these colours. It is associated with piety…with holiness. It is associated with people we look up to for guidance…to show us the way.
A few years ago, I was traveling by a local bus one day. An elderly sadhu boarded the bus. Sheathed in a saffron robe with an angocha hanging from his shoulder, the sadhu had a glowing face framed by grey matted hair and a flowing beard that could belong only to a pious man. He sat next to me and slid the window open.
The sadhu seemed to enjoy the breeze that blew in through the window and soon seemed to slip into a meditative snooze. Along with the breeze, came a flurry of chewed betel leaves and leftovers of betel nuts and condiments spat by the young man sitting in front of him. The sadhu wiped off the stuff with his angocha.
After a few minutes, a second installment of the stuff landed on the sadhu’s cheek.
Again, he wiped his face. But, that was not the end. A third installment of the grub landed on the sadhu’s cheek after a little while. Again, he wiped off the stuff. He didn’t seem to mind it. But, I was offended beyond measure.
So, I pointed to the boy sitting in front of him and asked the sadhu: “Why don’t you take him to task?”
The sadhu responded to my question with a benign smile. “Son, he doesn’t know that the betel he is spitting is landing on my face. Do you think he would do that if he knew what is happening?”
I was floored. People say it is because of the good deeds of a small percentage of people on earth that God is still preserving this planet. And, I felt that it is because of benign souls like this holy man that we treat saffron or clothes of any other colour associated with holy men with such reverence.
