The school education came to an end in due course of time. Now it was time for college. Tirthram took admission in a college of Lahore University. There he lived in a rented room. He continued to write to his guru even from Lahore.
On the average he wrote two letters a week. Thus during a period of twelve years the guru received 1100 letters from his devoted disciple. The letters have been preserved for the posterity.
The way he had addressed to his guru in those letters speaks volumes of the reverence he had grown for Dhannaram Bhagat. And it reveals his spirit of inborn humility.
The room of the house Tirthram had rented belonged to one Mahipatrai Misir. The room was not in good condition. Infact it was in decrepit state.
The roof was cracked at several places. The walls had big holes. Whenever it rained the water flooded the room from several breaches. During winters the icy winds blew in which made Tirthram shiver all the time. Summers brought it sun light and hot air making the boy sweat so profusely as if he were in a steam room.
But Tirthram loved that room inspite of all those discomforts because it was very quiet. No noise invaded the room and his peaceful privacy. The reason for that was that the house was situated outside the city at a lonely site. He could study in the room for long hours without any disturbance. That was most important to him. Besides the isolation allowed and encouraged his spiritual evolution.
One night, Tirthram came to his room from an outing. He heard a rustling sound as soon as he opened the door. He lighted the lamp without getting scared or becoming panicky.
A snake was creeping down the wall. He watched it calmly. When it went out of his room he, opened up his book and began to read. He made no fuss about the deadly visitor to his room. He had developed remarkable equanimity even at that stage of his life.
Tirthram was not getting any financial help from his father. He was brilliant in studies. Some students began to get tutored by him in his room and they paid some money for his effort.
Sometimes relatives also remitted him small amounts to help out. So, he had become very careful about his money. The room, college, books, ink, pen, paper, oil for lamp etc cost money. Whatever money was left after the above expenses went into buying food. Sometimes he had no money for food. He would do with a few glasses of water on such times. But he always remained cheerful and didn’t complain or get upset. His room was his heaven. Nothing else mattered. He had evolved a unique capacity to be at peace with himself whatever the outside factors.
Once he got a letter from his guru who had written—‘Dear Tirthram. Come to me during your vacation. Take a break and we shall talk as well.’
Tirthram replied—‘Respected guru sir, the study is my home and rest. Today’s hard work is tomorrow’s rest, so I believe. The studying is hard toil. I can’t afford to waste any time because the time is precious. The education needs all the time I have. But don’t worry. I won’t work too hard to fall ill. I just need your blessings and good wishes to become educated.’
Yours faithfully,
Tirthram Goswami’
The college was far off from the house he lived. Tirthram had to walk quite a distance. He developed the habit of reading while walking to put the travel time to productive use.
Often he could not afford some books. Then, he would borrow from his classmates and do a quick read.
He stood first in the Inter exam. The college rewarded him with scholarship. He only had a Kurta, pyjama and a hanky. For sleeping he had a durrie and a blanket. That accounted for his entire clothing and bedding.
Several students of well-to-do families studied in that college who would sport costly dresses with everyday changes. Tirthram nonchallantly wore the same pair of Kurta and Pyjama every day.
Even in Lahore he visited temple everyday.
One day, when he came out of the temple, one of his shoe was missing. He looked around for it but could not find.
The priest suggested, “There is a shoe in that corner. You can use it if it is the right one.”
Tirthram accepted the offer and came back to his room in that unmatching pair.
The next day, he went to the college in that odd pair of shoes. The other students could not help laughing at him.
It did not disturb Tirthram. He was unfazed.
One of the boys walked up to him and remarked, “You do amazing things, Tirthram.”
“Amazing! I never knew that. Tell me what?”…Tirthram innocently responded.
“Come on, look at your feet. You are wearing an unmatching pair of shoes.”
“So, what is funny about it? Our feet are not alike,” Tirthram said with a smile and added, “See, one foot is right and the another is left. Even the fingers are not alike. All ten have different sizes and shapes. So, why worry about the shape of the shoes? Their job is to protect our feet. Otherwise we don’t need them. Do we?”
That silenced the boys.
And that incident brought out a fact that Tirthram was no ordinary kid, a simple simon wrapped in worn out Kurta-pyjama as the others had taken him to be.
The students started showing respect to him although they could not decide what sort of genius he was.
One day, Tirthram fell ill. He suffered in his room for three days and could not go to the college. The students started missing him badly.
On the third day all the classmates of Tirthram trooped into his room to find out the reason of his absence. They were shocked to see Tirthram suffering from fever. The room was damp and dark. Cold winds were blowing in and he was lying on the durrie covered in a blanket. His whole body was shivering like a vibrator. Tirthram had not eaten a morsel for three days. The classmates felt sorry for him.
They brought in the local vaid and the medicine was administered to him. The food and some fruits were also arranged for.
The following day the students met the principal and informed him about the illness of Tirthram.
They said, “The poor boy is in bad state. His room is damp like a sponge and he lies there in sick condition. We beg you to get him transferred to the hostel. We will bear all the expenses for that.”
The principal was pleased to see the concern of the students for their classmate.
He said, “I am glad to see how much you care for one another. That is the quality of good human being. I am proud of you boys. You need not worry any more. Tirthram will be accommodated in the hostel free of cost.”
After recovering from illness Tirthram was shifted to the hostel. It saved him all the travel time.
He devoted all the time saved in helping out the weak students in their studies.
One day his father, Hirananda dropped in the hostel. He was not in favour of his son continuing with the studies. He wanted his son to look for some job and bear the burden of the expenses of the family. Tirthram was by then supposed to become a family man.
Infact, Tirthram had been married to the daughter of Pundit Ram Chandra when he was only ten years old. In those days child marriages were the order of the day in the traditional families.
Ram Chandra was a resident of Veroke village in Gujranwala district.
Tirthram had no interest in starting a family at that age. He wanted to study further. He feared that getting involved with wife would ruin his chances of getting proper education.
He tried to reasons with his father.
The father did not agree. He got angry with his son and tried to force the issue with a threat, “I am sending your wife here to live with your tomorrow itself. I can no more feed her.”
But Tirthram stood his ground.
The father carried out his threat. He sent the girl to her student husband at Lahore.
Now Tirthram faced a huge problem but he did not panic. He decided to deal with the situation positively. He rented a small house and began tutoring some children to earn money for the upkeep of his family. The young couple started the new life in difficult conditions.
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