“It is not a matter of pride for them (lepers), but it is a distinguished honour for us, that they have provided us an opportunity to serve them”. Such are the golden thoughts that speak about humility of the man, who dedicated some of the best years of his life serving the untouched, needy and the poor. Ashish Gautam, aka Ashish Bhaiya Ji, as the world fondly calls him, was born in a modest rural family in hamirpur (U.P.). However, he was no ordinary person but a man with a vision to change the world that we live in.

From his early childhood, he was attracted towards spiritualism and philosophy. While pursuing his studies at allahabad university, he was deeply motivated by teachings of swami vivekananda and decided to follow the path of self-realisation. During his studies, he encountered several religious organizations including rss , but his restless mind forced him to seek peace at himalayas.

He meditated there for several years to reach the path of salvation. He was destined to serve the humanity and realised that he could serve the god by helping the poor, deprived and the needy. The philanthropic quest finally landed him at haridwar , on the auspicious banks of river ganges. He saw the most miserable and detested people, who resided in temporary hutments in chandighat, a stone throw away from har-ki-paudi . It was a colony of lepers!

Bhaiya sought shelter from one of sadhus in the chandighat and started dressing the wounds of these lepers. Soon, several of his colleagues followed him in this noble cause and there was large team of volunteers to support him. People affirmed their interests and started providing charities and funds for the medicine and building up the necessary structure. The small makeshift medical facility, samidha (the offerings in a yagna), laid the foundation stone of the present day “divya prem sewa mission”.

“I never had any success criteria in my mind, when starting this mission. The sole purpose was the service of the lepers. I simply could not withstand the agony of these lepers, with one wounded person dressing the other bleeding person. My friends and family initially cautioned me about serving these people and suggested that i might catch the disease myself. However, see, i am perfectly healthy, which disproves this popular myth. Perhaps, the biggest success that this mission has achieved is that politicians, journalists, students, spiritual leaders, government officials, etc. Now visit this ashram without fear. The attitude of the society is changing towards the lepers”, says Ashish.

It was his sheer passion that he was committed to serve the society and was successful in his mission. Samidha is now a full-fledged medical facility for the lepers. It provides free medical care to lepers and other needy people in the nearby areas.

Bhaiya Ji’s Journey to Chandighat

Upon his return from himalayas, in late 90s, bhaiya was searching for the right approach for his philanthropic goals. He wanted to seek god by serving the needy, but didn’t know what he should exactly do?

Being a devout hindu, he frequently visited haridwar, a famous hindu pilgrimage. Few supporters of bhaiya polled in a sum of rs. 20,000 and constructed one of the rooms in rani sati dharamshala in his name. Meanwhile, he went to attend one of the meetings at ayodha, where 20-30 like-minded people brainstormed that what should they do to serve the society.

When bhaiya returned to haridwar, he was shocked to find to find a lock on his room at the dharamshala. It was probably let out to some other person by the manager of the dharamshala. Being a shy guy, he couldn’t mutter the courage to fight out with the landlady and simply walked out of the place, thinking that god had some other plans for him.

It was late evening and he saw a small temple beneath the najibabad over bridge. He approached the caretaker (sadhu) of the temple, who gladly granted him a temporary accommodation. Bhaiya then started dressing lepers in the nearby area. When the news reached back home about his dislodgement, his colleagues came rushing forward to help him. With a small sum of rs.500, they bought a dilapidated hut and literally moved it to a location nearby the temple.

Bhaiya and his team, also managed to convince a final year medical student, dr. nitin agarwal, from rishikul medical college to sit at their primitive dispensary for a couple of hours daily. The people now realized that these boys are not fly by night operators and started trusting them. Soon, the lepers and other poor people started flowing in for the want of medical care.