It was first visit of an elevated saint (Shankaracharya) to Rastrapati Bhavan. Since President, Dr Kalam wanted to give due honour to the saint, he called me (I was comptroller in 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?' I said, sir, you will make saint honour above president. He smiled. He didn't say anything. Then 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." He again asked me, "what will happen if I make him sit on my sofa seat?" I again said sir, you will make saint's honour above president. Again he smiled and didn't give me any direction.
After thirty minutes, when saint was to come, few seconds before, to my surprise, I saw Dr Kalam, standing behind me at the gate. I immediately went behind. 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. When I was spreading Saints seat (tiger skin asan) on the visitors sofa which we had discussed, he directed me to put the same on his 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, get blessed by the saints spiritual power so that who ever sits here later also gets the Saints blessings".* I admired my spiritual guru Kalam's these words and said "Sir, you are not only a scientist but also a *saint in disguise too."* As usual he gave his meaningful smile. Lt Col Ashok Kini H, SM, VSM Former Comptroller to Then President Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. #NamoSaintKalam -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/2CA4C7B9-D321-40BD-A9A3-072981C7A5BF%40gmail.com.
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