Anju Khanna, Tara Jauhar and Kurban Bhai

“Let us offer our work to the Divine; this is the sure means of progressing.
Go and prepare yourself and the best preparation is to be useful to the Divine's work.”

—The Mother

Dr. Kurban Hussain, affectionately known as Kurban Bhai, was a living expression of these words of The Mother. His was a remarkable journey—from humble beginnings and hardship, through work and responsibility towards his family, to a life of spiritual seeking and, ultimately, of dedicated service to others.

He was born into a poor family in Mahuva, Gujarat, and was brought to Pune by his maternal uncle when he was around seven or eight years old. Life in the city began with hardship. As a young boy, he took up menial jobs to make ends meet. He later began transporting pieces of cloth by bicycle, earning money for each delivery.

Slowly, through hard work, diligence and an instinct for enterprise, he built a life for himself. He established a warehouse for storing cloth and eventually opened a ready-made garments shop.

But whatever success came to him was never used only for himself.

Although he remained unmarried, he took responsibility for his family. He helped arrange the marriages and settle the lives of his unmarried sisters and supported his brothers. Only after he felt that these family responsibilities had been fulfilled did he tell his family that he had received a call from the Divine and needed to go in search of the Divine.

He handed over his shop to his brother and left.

His search took him across the country—to hills and mountains, ashrams and saints—as he sought the spiritual direction he felt called towards.

Eventually, that journey brought him to Sri Aurobindo and The Mother at Pondicherry.

There he found a spiritual home, and a new chapter of his life began.

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry entrusted Kurban Bhai with its land at Talla Ramgarh in the Kumaon hills, including Madhuban. What was placed in his hands was not merely a piece of land, but a responsibility—an amanat entrusted to his care.

For the next 45 years, Kurban Bhai devoted himself to the place.

With extraordinary sincerity, hard work and considerable business acumen, he transformed what had been a loss-making venture into a flourishing one. The land gradually became a prosperous fruit orchard, producing pears, peaches, plums and other fruits. He also developed beekeeping there.

But Kurban Bhai's relationship with Madhuban went far beyond cultivation.

At one point, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry wanted to sell the property. Kurban Bhai did not want the land he had spent decades nurturing to simply pass into private hands. He therefore approached his family and persuaded them to form a trust and purchase Madhuban from them, with the larger vision that the place could be preserved as a centre dedicated to Sri Aurobindo and made available to people seeking a place for spiritual practice.

His dream was not merely to preserve an orchard.

He wanted Madhuban to become a place where people from across India and around the world could come, stay, practise their Sadhana, experience the beauty and silence of the Himalayas, and deepen their inner journey.

For decades, he continued to shape the place towards that vision.

Alongside the orchard, he developed and supported activities that brought service into the life of Madhuban—sewing, arts and crafts, a computer centre, a dispensary and a guest house, among others.

And his generosity was not confined to organised activities.

People who lived and worked around Madhuban remember Kurban Bhai for the help he extended from his own pocket, quietly and without asking questions. If someone came to him in genuine need, they rarely went away empty-handed.

Someone who needed money for a child's school fees.

Another who needed help with a daughter's wedding.

Someone else who had suffered a bereavement and needed assistance with funeral expenses.

He helped families when they were in difficulty, often without ceremony or publicity. His generosity was personal, immediate and deeply human. People there still remember him for it.

This was perhaps the most natural expression of the philosophy that eventually came to define his life.

By the time he grew older, Kurban Bhai became increasingly concerned about the future of Madhuban—the “Amanat” he had guarded for so many years.

He wanted to feel secure that the place would remain in the right hands and continue to serve the purpose for which he had devoted his life to it. He therefore approached the Sri Aurobindo Ashram–Delhi Branch and entrusted Madhuban to its care.

The property was eventually donated to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram–Delhi Branch Trust in 2003.

For Kurban Bhai, this was not simply the transfer of a valuable property.

It was the completion of a responsibility.

For 45 years he had worked to nurture the land, make it productive, preserve it and shape it into a place where others could seek something beyond the material world. Having done so, he was able to let it go.

The man who had once built a business for himself had spent his later life building something for others—and then giving it away.

His journey did not end with Madhuban.

After entrusting the place to the Delhi Ashram, Kurban Bhai moved to Rishikesh, to the banks of Mother Ganga, seeking to intensify his own spiritual practice.

And once again, personal Sadhana and service went hand in hand.

He established the Guru Kripa Trust, through which welfare and healthcare activities were undertaken for poor and needy people. For around fifteen years, he himself ran a homeopathic dispensary, providing consultation and medicines to underprivileged people. Even when he eventually stepped away, he made sure that this work would continue in good hands. He entrusted its care to his best friend, Dr. Tarun Baveja, whom he appointed as its advisor and custodian.

Kurban Bhai himself used the word “Khadim” to describe what he was.

Khadim Kurban — Sacrificing servant of the Divine.

For him, service to human beings was service to the Divine: Nar Seva is Narayan Seva, Kurban Bhai always said and believed.

He carried a small piece of saffron cloth in his pocket as a reminder to himself of the renunciation of ego. He spent much of his time in silent remembrance, chanting the mantra:

“Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare,
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.”

He also deliberately limited his speech and observed periods of silence. He explained that a servant must first listen in order to understand the needs of those he wishes to serve. Unnecessary talk, discussion and debate, he felt, consumed energy that could instead be used in the service of the Divine.

His simplicity extended to his daily life.

For the last several decades of his life, he followed a restrained diet, eating only modestly and consciously. He believed that unnecessary eating consumed vital energy that could instead be directed towards his spiritual purpose and service.

He maintained a disciplined physical and inner routine as well. An hour of exercise every day, together with asanas and pranayama, remained part of his life even into his ninth decade. He studied the scriptures and practised meditation.

Yet perhaps what those around him noticed most was not his discipline, but his peacefulness and happiness.

He seemed to possess a contentment that did not depend upon material circumstances. After a life that had included hardship, responsibility, enterprise, renunciation, spiritual seeking and decades of service, he appeared to have very little left to prove to the world.

The different chapters of his life seem, in retrospect, to converge into one direction: the boy who knew poverty, the young man who worked to survive, the family man who fulfilled his responsibilities, the businessman who learned to create and sustain, the seeker who left everything behind in search of the Divine, the cultivator who nurtured the land, and finally the Khadim who gave himself to the service of others.

He was also a practising Muslim, and his spiritual association with Sri Aurobindo and The Mother is a beautiful reminder that genuine spiritual seeking can cross the boundaries that human beings so often create between traditions. He remained rooted in his own faith while finding deep meaning in the spiritual vision of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

In his final days, those close to him recall an extraordinary sense of completion.

A few days before leaving his body on 29 August, he told people around him that he was preparing to take Samadhi. He said that he was the happiest person on Earth, that God had given him everything, and that he had completed his work on earth.

There is something deeply moving in those words.

After nine decades, perhaps Kurban Bhai felt that the work entrusted to him had been completed.

The child who had once transported cloth on a bicycle had travelled a very long way.

He built a business, but did not live for wealth.

He cared for land, but did not cling to it.

He created an orchard, and then gave it away.

He served people, often quietly and from his own pocket.

He sought the Divine, and found his spiritual home in the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

And through it all, he chose to see himself not as an owner, but as a Khadim—a servant.

Perhaps that is the most fitting way to remember Kurban Bhai.

Not simply as a doctor, a businessman, a cultivator, a spiritual seeker or a philanthropist, but as a man who gradually moved away from having towards giving, from self towards service, and from possession towards trust.

The orchard he nurtured continues to bear fruit.

The place he protected continues to welcome people.

The work he supported continues in different forms.

And the people whom he helped carry the memory of his generosity.

He created something beautiful, cared for it deeply, and when the time came, placed it in the hands of others.

That is the legacy of Kurban Bhai.

A life lived as Khadim.

A life in which service became Sadhana.

And perhaps, in the end, a life that had found exactly what it had set out to seek.

Om Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.