Charan Das

(A Bania Saint)

Charan Das was a famous Bania saint of Delhi. Banias are always greedy. They are the Shylocks of India. God lives at a long distance from them because their minds are on the money in the iron safe. But some rare spiritual gems like Charan Das came out from amongst these people also to elevate the community. Charan Das became so famous for his sanctity and miraculous powers that even the Moghul Emperor, Shahjahan was attracted towards him. One day Shahjahan sent a few baskets of filth covered with a coating of sweetmeats on the top just to test Charan Das. Charan Das knew beforehand through Divya Drishti the mentality of Shahjahan. He asked the servant who had brought the basket to remove the cover. The filth was all turned into beautiful, delicious sweetmeats of different varieties. All these were distributed amongst the people. Charan Das sent back one basket to Shahjahan as Prasad. Shahjahan was quite astonished. He felt he had never tasted sweetmeats of this kind. He at once sent for Charan Das. He paid Charan Das due respects and gave him a free plot of land. Bhakti-Sagar is a valuable book written by Charan Das. It is in Hindi. The people of U. P. like this book very much.