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The great Hindi poet, Sumitranandan Pant, once asked me: who in the vast sky of Indian religion are
the twelve people, who in my opinion are the brightest shining stars? I gave him this list: Krishna,
Patanjali, Buddha, Mahavira, Nagarjuna, Shankara, Gorakh, Kabir, Nanak, Meera, Ramakrishna
and Krishnamurti. Sumitranandan Pant closed his eyes and slipped into thought…..
Making a list is not easy , because the Indian sky is filled with so many stars! Who to cut, who to
include?… Sumitranandan was a lovely man – extremely soft, extremely sweet – feminine. Even
in old age a freshness remained on his face – just as it should remain – he had become more and
more beautiful.
I began to read the expressions appearing and disappearing on his face: it was difficult for him too.
Some names, which should naturally be included, were not there. Rama’s name was missing! He
opened his eyes and said to me: ”You have excluded Rama!”
I said: ”If I am allowed to choose only twelve; many names will have to be cut. So I have chosen
those twelve people who have made some original contribution. Rama has made no original
contribution, Krishna has. This is why Hindus call Krishna a complete incarnation, but not Rama.”
He asked me further, ”Next, could you give me seven names?” Now the question had become more
difficult!
I gave him seven names: Krishna, Patanjali, Buddha, Mahavira, Shankara, Gorakh and Kabir.
He said: ”The five you have deleted, on what basis did you drop them?”