Doctor’s drugs, only ashram food

“I had tuberculosis and was told that if I ate at the ashram, prayed, participated in the satsang and took medicine, I would be able to work again,” said Bijnor’s Surjeet Sharma, 45, now in the hospital with a fractured arm.

A bus of devotees, with illnesses from tuberculosis to skin disease, would visit the hospital almost every day until about six months ago. “The ashram would take medicines from us,” said Rajan Chandna, the hospital’s licensed chemist. “Every day an ashram employee would come with devotees, and once doctors had drawn up a prescription, I would provide medicines at a concession,” he said. “The ashram insisted they not eat anything outside the ashram.  For any patient admitted to the hospital, a man would come with food cooked at the ashram. Patients told me it was because the prasad and bhog kept them healthy.

“The ashram paid in Rs 10 notes. I still provide them medicines, but it has been infrequent for the last six months.”