At the age of 103, he tends his plants and teaches lessons on the Hindu text, the Ramayana at the Vishnu Mandir, Nolan Street, Felicity, every Saturday from 2 pm to 5 pm. No one would ever imagine that Sadhu Heera Dass, of 14 Caroni Savannah Road, Charlieville, was born on February 14, 1913.
In an interview with the Sunday Guardian, Dass said: “I live life to its fullest, and I have no regrets. I look forward to several more years of healthy life and living unperturbed by the intervention of death.” He vividly recalled verses from several of the major Hindu religious texts and the Bhagvad Gita with confidence.
His father, Chharoo, and mother, Bhagwanti, were indentured labourers from Uttar Pradesh, India, who came to T&T in 1908 in the ship called Indus, and were assigned to work at the Woodford Lodge Estate. When his late parents came to Trinidad, they became ardent followers of the Kabir Panth faith.
Dass was born in Endeavour Lands, Chaguanas, and then moved to Tahadille Road, Charlieville, for approximately 45 years. He now lives at his present address, Caroni Savannah Road, with one of his sons. He said that at the age of six, he was initiated into the Kabir Panth faith by Satguru Mahant Kedar Baba, who was an indentured labourer assigned to the La Vega Estate. His temple still stands at Siewdass Road, Freeport.
Dass said: “I was one of four children, and my siblings were Mungroo, Dhanarajie and Dhanbassi. “I was the third child and have survived all of them. I was married to Sarandaye, who lived at Pointe-a-Pierre before our marriage, but she died in 1984,” he said. Their marriage brought forth 13 children, ten boys and three girls. Four of his children are now deceased, and those alive include Hemraj, Bholan, Hulace, Krishna, Kesari, Sookdayah, Dolly and Sukhiyah.
Dass was self-employed as he planted sugar cane, rice and vegetables, both for the market and home consumption. “I first owned a bull-cart and later bought a tractor.” Dass recalled that he was a founding member of a Ramayan group with the Jagnarine family in Chandernagore for about 35 years.
In addition to his lecture sessions, which he still maintains, he also conducted Ramayana services at the Charlieville Hindu Temple every Thursday evening for 12 years. As a devout member of the Kabir Panth religion, he attends service at the Kedar Baba Temple, Siewdass Road, Freeport, which is officiated by Mahant Deochand Dass, his guru.
“My longevity has its source in that I am full-fledged vegetarian all my life, ever since ah know mehself. I never had any dull moments in my life as I prayed and lived a strict, peaceful and religious life. “Never do any bad thing to anyone including animals, as we are all children of the One Supreme Being.”
His hobbies include attending to satsangs and chowkas (religious services) and because of this, he never had a dull moment in life. He is the recipient of several awards over the years for both his religious and community activities, but the two which remain close to his heart are the ones which the Kabir Panth Association presented to him on his 100th birthday and more recently, the Caparo Hindu Organisation to mark the 170th Indian Arrival Day.
Asked about the role of religion in one’s life, Dass said that “religion does not save anyone from the wrath of punishment, but one has to save oneself and this can only be achieved if one adheres to the teachers of the great spiritual masters and the scores of religious texts over the period of thousands of years.
“There is hope for our country, despite the crimes, lawlessness, greed, hate and anger. We all have to learn this basic fact that we are all children of the same God. “Practice what one preaches, live with noble thoughts and spread peace and respect at all times. Trinidad and Tobago remains a blessed nation.”
He believes that people today, youth included, have to go back to their God, whether one is a Hindu, Muslim or Christian. “I believe in the supremacy of One Being who is the master of all, and who controls all our actions in the cosmos of time and space,” he said.