Who is a Saint?
A saint should never be judged by his external appearance, such as the clothes he wears, the style of living he adopts, and so on. There is no standard that can be considered the norm. You may find a saint wearing coat and trousers, and a demon dressed in the garb of an ascetic. In fact, we have historical evidence that 90% of saints were family men and did not wear the saffron robes of a renunciate. However, in this current age people believe that unless a person wears saffron clothes that he cannot be a saint. This widespread misconception has been adopted by fraudsters to take full advantage of the public. Let us now consider the following that refutes what is a widely held, but false notion.
The saint Prahlada ruled as a monarch for thousands of years. Dhruv, Vibhishana, Sugriv, Janak, Ambarisha and others all ruled as kings. The gopis, whose foot dust is sought-after by the creator, Brahma, led ordinary household lives. They were illiterate village women who had husbands and raised children. Kabir, Tukaram, and others belonged to the same category. Throughout history there has never been a standard dress code for renunciates. Some wore saffron, others yellow and some white, and so on. Even within these different colours there would have been variations in the shades. Therefore, using the colour of a person’s clothing as criterion for determining the saintliness of the wearer is ridiculous.
Another point that needs to be carefully noted is that a genuine saint never grants material boons. Nowadays, however, imposters have adopted the technique of granting boons to attract followers and win favour. They know that people in family life have many worldly desires, and that these desires are often fulfilled due to their own destiny. So, these imposters involve themselves in a game of chance, by offering false blessings to people. If a person’s desire is fulfilled, then he will think that it was due to the blessing he received and will tell all and sundry that this is so. In this way, cheaters in the guise of saints dupe people for their own self-gratification.
Just think, a saint is a person who has realised the transitory nature of the world and has renounced it to attain God. Why would such a person bless someone with the very things he himself has renounced? The one who does should be classified as a demon.
It is unfortunate enough that we have forgotten God being intoxicated by material acquisitions, but to make things even worse, these imposters in the garb of saints pretend to be capable of granting material boons and mislead us even more. In conclusion, we should remember that a saint will always advise us to earn spiritual wealth and not material wealth.
Spirituality in Daily Living, Vol. 4, p.64–67
Vedic knowledge revealed by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj and presented by Dr Vishakha Tripathi, president of Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat.
https://www.jkpliterature.org.in/
https://www.jkpliterature.org.in/spirituality-in-daily-living-4
