Fascinated by Vedanta, practice Yoga since the age of 10 – Mr M

Ahmedabad

Social Reformer, Spiritual Guide and Educationalist Mr M, who has taken up a 8100 km long on foot tour ‘Walk of Hope’ from Kanyakumari to Kashmir today said that despite being a born muslim he was fascinated with the teachings of Vedanta and did practice yoga almost every day since the age of 10 years.

Addressing a press conference here Mr. M said he was born in a muslim family in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and his initial name was Mumtaz Ali Khan. Later he went to the Himalaya at the age of 19, meeting saints and sages, eventually gaining his spiritual fulfillment under the guidance of Maheshwarnath Babaji, a saint of Nath Sampradya (Nath sect) who gave him the new diksha name of Madhukar Nath.

‘Now I prefer to be called just M as it is the initial letter of not only Mumtaz and Madhukar but also Manav (human being). I am much like Kabir. Even before my encounter with the Himalaya, the home of mesmerizing snow scenery and saints, I had been practicing yoga since the age of 10, thirty minutes every day and the practice is continued till date and is perhaps the main reason behind my fitness at the age of 66. I have read many scriptures but never seen something like Vedanta,’ he said.

To a query he said that he has not intentionally left out places like Aligarh Muslim University and Darul Uloom in Deoband in Uttar Pradesh from his itinerary and would try to reschedule his on foot tour to include them. ‘ I am walking since January 12 from Kanyakumari and have so far covered 3600 km through four states including Gujarat. I have plans to cover 4500 km before reaching Srinagar in April next year. After Gujarat, the walk will cover Madhya Pradesh in almost three months and will move to Uttar Pradesh next where I will be attending the centenary celebrations of the Benaras Hindu University (BHU). After that Delhi would be the next destination where I will stay for 10 days and then through Haryana and Punjab try to reach Kashmir.’

He said that during his exploratory journey so far he was receiving very positive over all response and good support from Muslim community as well. ‘ In Kerala’s Mallapuram (a muslim dominant place), I was accorded very warm welcome even though the administration was not sure of it and had put bomb disposal squad on alert for my program,’ he said.

To a question regarding the recent violence in Gujarat, Mr. M said, ‘Violence and damaging the public property was not an answer to any thing. Talk is the only way out. If we damage public property and burning buses we are damaging our own thing. Through talks the solution might not be reached in a day but it is the only way to find it not the violence,’ he said in an unmentioned reference to the violent agitation of the Patidar Anamat Aandolan Samiti (PAAS) demanding OBC quota for politically strong Patel community in Gujarat.

Mr. M said that his trip was an exploratory one to understand why people living together suddenly become hostile to each other and what can be done to avert this tendency. ‘ After completion of my walk of hope I would try to take up more such walks in other countries too if at all I am allowed to do so,’ he said.

He said that he never aspires to enter politics.

Mr. M’s walk of hope with 60 to 70 permanent followers entered Gujarat on August 8 and reached here on September 5. He would move to Godhara now where he would stay for two days and later enter MP through bordering Jhabua.

– DeshGujarat