Baba Latief-ud-din

Another disciple of Sheikh-ul-Alam who made the Rishi order popular was Baba Latief-ud-din Reshi. It is said that after he enrolled himself as one of the disciples of the Sheikh, the latter asked him what he had achieved up to that time. Latief-ud-din replied wealth.

The Sheikh asked did your father also achieve it. He replied, yes he did it. The Sheikh then asked for whom he left it. Latief-ud-din replied, for me. Why he didn’t take it with him, asked the Sheikh. He replied, it was not worth taking. The Sheikh remarked he was not wise; he accumulated something he could not take with him. The wise man strives for something worth taking when he dies. As already pointed out Latief-ud-din was a rich man, thus Sheikh –ul-Alam wanted to impress upon him that worldly goods were of no use for one on the path to god Latief-ud-din after serving Sheikh for some time was asked to settle down in Uttar and was entrusted with two newly enrolled Rishis Pir Baaz and Sharief Ashwar. Baba Latief-ud-din like many other Rishis at first use to eat upal hakh (a wild vegetable) but when he migrated to Uttar he lived on another wild vegetable known as kanchan which was even more bitter than upal hakh. Once Baba noticed that, Sharief always brought green herbs while Pir Baaz used to bring dry ones. Baba Latief-ud-din then asked Pir Baaz why he used to bring dry herbs. He replied for two reasons; firstly that when one cuts the green herbs they start bleeding, secondly that when they are boiled, they cry. “ why do you kill and burn us ?” Baba Latief-ud-din was moved by this argument of his disciple and he gave up eating all kinds of green herbs as he believed that he was destroying another life to keep himself alive. Towards the end of his life Baba Latief-ud-din moved from Uttar to Poshkar because at Uttar people in large numbers use to come to him and asked for his blessings. In Poshkar he used to meditate in a far off Cave like his master. The cave and the meadow around it are known as Baba Marg. It was in this Cave at Poshkar that he breathed his last. The disciples of Baba were not able to reach the cave to collect his body for burial. The Baba’s body, wrapped in a shroud, flew from the cave to Poshkar to land where the tomb exists. The annual Urs of Baba Latief-ud-din is celebrated in February every year.