There was a time when Shri Babaji Maharaj was travelling by train from Nabha to Simla. He had a steel trunk with himself in which he was carrying his clothes. The train stopped at Rajpura railway station, where Shri Babaji Maharaj had to board another train, which was waiting on a second platform. Shri Babaji Maharaj looked at his trunk. He had to carry the trunk from his train to the other train after crossing the platform.
Shri Babaji found that the trunk was too heavy for him to lift. He placed it on the platform and began to look for someone he could call for help. In the small hours of the morning there was not a single coolie in sight. Shri Babaji Maharaj spotted a well-dressed man walking briskly on the platform, and he called out to him: “Bhai Sahib! O Brother! Can you help me, please?
The man stopped. And Shri Babaji Maharaj said to him: Can you carry this trunk for me across the platform from this train to that other train? I am afraid I cannot lift it as it is too heavy for me!
The man at once flared up and shouted at Shri Babaji Maharaj: What do you think I am – a coolie?
Shri Babaji Maharaj said: “No, no, I never called you a coolie! On the contrary I called you my brother! After all, do we all not have the same Father and are we not His children? That would make us all brothers. And surely there is no shame in one brother carrying the load of another!
The man was in no mood to be placated and said angrily: “I am sorry I cannot carry your trunk!
Shri Babaji Maharaj thereupon placed the key of the trunk on the trunk itself, and said to the man: “You say that carrying my trunk will make you a coolie. But this is now your trunk, and here is the key! You can take it wherever you like! Surely you will not become a coolie by carrying your own trunk!
And saying this, Shri Babaji Maharaj left the trunk where it was, and walked away. He walked across the platform and sat in the other train. The man was filled with astonishment. He picked up the trunk and ran after Shri Babaji Maharaj, and, placing the trunk before him, touched his feet and begged for his forgiveness, saying: “I will carry the trunk wherever you ask me! You have given me enlightenment!
Shri Babaji Maharaj would often say:
Bani aadam aazaaye yak deegarand
Ke dar aafreenash za yak jauharand
Man is but a part of man,
For their birth is of one essence