Mohan Das, better known today as Lotan Baba (the ‘rolling saint’), is an Indian holy man who has a unique way of promoting peace. He travels by rolling his body along the ground at a speed of about 8 miles per day, and claims to have covered nearly 20,000 miles in total, rolling through the cities of India and beyond — including London.
Leaving home at 12 years old to become a mystic holy man, Mohan Das later gained fame by choosing to do penance by standing perfectly still on the same spot under a banyan tree for 7 years and eating only grass. He says his mission is to promote ‘world peace and eternal salvation’.
Mohan Das believes that God whispers to him while he is rolling. He claims that although it makes his head spin, God encourages him to keep going — and protects him from oncoming traffic. He is assisted by a team of helpers who sweep the streets ahead of him. Often he has to stop rolling to help a sick person — many in India believe he is a saint and has healing powers from God. Once, as he tried to roll into Pakistan, he was refused entry because he did not have a passport. However, he was allowed to stay at the Sikh temple in Amritsar.
On Tuesday 9 August 1994, people in London were amazed when the famous ‘rolling saint’ came rolling out of Victoria Station, down Grosvenor Road and into Battersea Park — all the time smoking cigarettes (a habit he can’t give up).
He once said, ‘When I was rolling, I felt that each turn of my body was like the earth rolling in the universe.’ He has another motive for rolling, apart from world peace. As he said on his visit to London, ‘My only wish now is for my feat to be recorded in the Guinness World Records!’ He now holds a record for longest rolling at about 15,845 kilometres.
Saint or fake? What do you think?