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Chapter - 10

Shri Ganeshayanamah! O Poorna-Brahma of Pandharpur, You are a shelter for pious people. Please do not send me away from your feet. O Narayana, do not disown this Dasganu nor think of my sins. I know that there is no Punya to my credit and as such I don’t deserve to come to you. lnspite of it please accept and oblige me like that holy Godavari does to the small nalas entering her. Please do like that and save me from all grief and sins. You are all powerful and if You wish, can do anything. Even a pauper becomes rich by Your blessings. Once Shri Gajanan Maharaj went to Amravati and stayed with Shri Atmaram Bhikaji at his house. This Atmaram, Kayastha Prabhu by caste, was a big officer at Amravati. He was a well-behaved, pious man who loved and respected saints very much. Shri Maharaj went to him and Shri Atmaram worshipped him with full devotion. Bathed him with hot water and applied Chandan paste to his body. He also offered him silk bordered Dhoti of Umred and applied Keshari Tilak on his forehead. Then he garlanded Shri Maharaj, gave an offering of many sweet dishes and a Dakshina of one hundred rupees, followed by an Aarti, which was scented by Agarbathis and placed flowers on His head. Atmaram did all this with great love and devotion. People of Amravati came in great number to get a glimpse of Shri Maharaj. Everybody wished to take Shri Maharaj to his house for worship. Though many desired so, only a few could get that favour, as it requires a lot of Punya to one’s credit to feel the presence of the holy feet of the saint in their house. Whosoever had that Punya to their credit, Shri Maharaj went to their houses. The saint understands everything by His divine power. There was one leading pleader at Amravati by the name of Ganesh Shri Krishna Khaparde alias Dadasaheb. He was a pious Shukla Yajurvedi Brahman, at whose request Shri Maharaj went to him and accepted his worship. There was one Ganeshappa, a Lingayat Wani who had a devoted wife by name Chandrabhai. She said to her husband that the saint must somehow be taken to their house and asked him to request Shri Maharaj accordingly. She said, “If our minds are pious enough then our house will be graced by Shri Maharaj because God always helps his devotees. Ganeshappa said that it was foolish on her part to think so, as it requires a lot of recommendation from influential people to arrange the saint’s visit. He further reminded her of the troubles Shri Khaparde had to face in order to invite the saint to his house and in view of that wished her not to press the matter any more. But Chandrabai said, “I don’t agree with you. My mind says that he will come to our house. You know that saints have special affection for the poor. So just request him to come to us.” Inspite of her constant urging, Appa could not gather enough courage to invite Shri Maharaj to his house. But Shri Maharaj read their minds and eventually said, “I wish to come to your house. Tell me how far it is from here. You should not hesitate to open your mind before me.” Hearing this Ganesh Appa’s happiness knew no bounds. He took Shri Maharaj to his house and reverently worshipped him. Appa offered all his belongings at the feet of Shri Maharaj. Many such Pujas were offered to Shri Maharaj at Amravati and for every such puja one particular gentleman was present. He was a nephew of Shri Atmaram Bhikaji and a Telegraphist in a post office at Bombay. His name was Balabhau and he had come to Amravati on a leave from his job place, to see his maternal uncle. He felt great attached to Shri Maharaj which is why he did not wish to leave him or Shegaon. He started thinking that it is better to renounce the family life as it was purely transient. This thinking made him desire to stay with Shri Maharaj. He thought - “who will reject the nectar and take to poison? “ That is why he attended all Pujas at Amravati with no other reason behind it. After some days Shri Maharaj returned to Shegaon and went straight to Mote’s temple instead of the garden where he formerly stayed. To the east of this temple there was a vacant plot of land. Shri Maharaj went and sat there. Krishna Patil got the news of the arrival of Shri Maharaj and also of his having abandoned the former place in his garden. So be came rushing to Shri Maharaj, prostrated at His feet and sat with bowed head before Him. Tears started coming from his eyes and the clothes on his chest got wet. Shri Maharaj said, “Why are you weeping? What is the grief? Tell me immediately. Patil, with folded hands asked Him the reason for leaving the garden and said,” What is that unpardonable offence committed by me? O learned one. I am your child, tell me the reason, this land where You are sitting belongs to one Mali and he is of Deshmukh group. Please do not stay here. If You like to come to my house, I will vacate it for You. Let me tell You that I can sacrifice everything to get You.” All Patil brothers knew about this and they too came to request Shri Maharaj to stay with any of them. Shri Maharaj said “My coming to this place for stay is in your interest, and you will realize it later on. So don’t ask anything now.” I assure you that the dispute between you two (Patil & Deshmukh) will be settled amicably. All the executive Officers in the world have one defect about them, and that is, they fail to foresee the consequences of their actions. Now you do one thing, go and bring Bankatlal. He was not angry at my leaving his house. You go and ask him why he was comfortable about the fact that I left his home. My Blessings are always with you and will always be so in the future. Later Bankatlal arrived at the scene and said, “Please don’t take Him back to the garden against His wish, Remember that I did nothing to obstruct Him when He went away from my house. We are all His children and His love is the same for each and every one of us. Sakharam Asolkar is generous at heart and, I think he will not hesitate to give this land to Shri Maharaj. Once he gives the land, our further planning will enable all of us to come together” Thus there was compromise and a ‘Math’ was built for Shri Maharaj, with great efforts by Parashram Saoji. Shri Maharaj had four deeply devoted devotees with him, Bhaskar, Balabhau, Pitamber, Ganesh Appa of Amravati and Ramchandra Gurav also who was with them. They were like five Pandavas and Shri Maharaj was the “Shri Hari” amongst them. Balabhau, felt completely detached from the worldly life and cared least about being late to report to his job on time. He frequently received letters from his work place asking him to return to work immediately; however he paid no head to it. Bhaskar finally had a talk with Maharaj and said to him, “Gurudeo, this Balabhau is not leaving us simply because he gets a lot of Pedhas (Sweets) as long as he is here. I am afraid that he will leave this place only when he receives a good beating at your hands. The only way to tame a monkey is to thrash it real hard with a stick the same way that big mountains can be threatened by thunderbolts.” Once Bala Bhau was driven out against his wish, but he returned back to Maharaj having resigned from his service. At that time Bhaskar said to him in an agitated tone, “Why are you troubling us by frequently visiting this place like a shameless bullock keeps returning to the green pastures? Only those who have renounced everything in life can rightly visit this place so frequently.” Shri Maharaj did not like this egoistic talk of Bhaskar and so decided to remove his ignorance. Maharaj did as follows. There was a big umbrella in the hands of a gentleman sitting nearby. Shri Maharaj took hold of that umbrella and beat Bala bhau till it broke. He continued the beating by means of a cane. People that were around got scared and some of them ran away, but Balabhau was lying still before Shri Maharaj. Many thought that he must have died owing to such beating and even Bhaskar now got worried about what was happening, but did not dare to say anything to Shri Maharaj. That cane also broke by the merciless beating. Then Maharaj started trampling Bala bhau with both His feet like a potter trampling the mud. While this was going on, some of the disciples went to call the devotees whom Shri Maharaj loved the most. Bankatlal and Krishnaji came running to the temple but they too could not dare restrict Shri Maharaj from what he was doing. At last Bankatlal, most hesitantly, requested Shri Maharaj to stop beating Balabhau, saying that he too was his devotee. At that Shri Maharaj laughed and said, “You are speaking something irrelevant. I have not beaten or trampled Balabhau. You can see yourself and examine his body. O, my dear Balabhau, get up and show your body to these people.” So Balabhau got up and people examined his body carefully. There was no trace of beating on it. He was happier then ever before. With this incidence Shri Maharaj proved the authority and greatness of Balabhau’s devotion to Bhaskar, who thereafter treated Balabhau with due respect. Gold is treated with acid test, and if it sustains it only then it is accepted as an object of value. There was a man named Sukhlal Agarwal at Balapur who owned a wicked cow. She used to wander in the town trampling and hurting people by the means of her horns. She would enter any shop eat grains to her hearts content and then pushed and spilled the remaining on road. She even kicked oil and ghee containers thereby spilling the contents on the road. If tied down at home, she snapped the rope and broke the chains. She behaved like a tiger and the people of Balapur got fed up with her nuisance. She was not getting pregnant and never remained indoors. Many folks advised Sukhlal to hand her over to a butcher or get her shot down by a bullet. He permitted them to do whatever they liked to her. One Muslim man once tried to kill her by gun, but some how she seemed to have gotten some warning about it and so she attacked and threw him away by her horns. Sukhlal then took her and abandoned her in another village but she returned back to Balapur again. Somebody then remembered the fact that it was Shri Gajanan Maharaj who had tamed Govind bua’s horse, and so advised Sukhlal to take her to Shegaon and offer her to Shri Maharaj, thereby serving dual purpose of getting rid of her and obtain Punya for giving a gift to a saint. All liked the idea, but their attempts to catch her failed every time. Then they kept a heap of green grass and some cottonseed on an open ground. As the cow rushed to eat it, 10-15 people surrounded and trapped her by ropes. Then she was lifted and tied on a bullock-cart with iron chains and brought to Shegaon for giving her to Shri Maharaj. As Shegaon was nearing, there appeared a significant change in her behaviour, and when brought before Shri Maharaj, she appeared to be an extremely tame creature. With tears in her eyes, she looked at Shri Maharaj. Thereupon Shri Maharaj said. “it is your foolishness to have tied and tortured a poor cow like this. Her neck, horns and legs are tied with rope and chains. Such type of “Bandobast” is all right for a tiger but not for a poor cow like this. You fools! you should know that this is a cow, a mother of all, and by tying her like this you have committed a sin. Release her at once, she will not trouble anybody.” However, no one dare go close to her. Maharaj, with his sacred hands released her of all the restraining chains and ropes. As Soon as she was free the cow came down, folded her fore-legs and with bowed head went round him three times and started rubbing his feet by her tongue. All the people saw this miracle and were surprised. Shri Maharaj said to the cow, O cow, do not trouble anybody hereafter and don’t leave this place at all.” When this happened all people raised cheers in praise of Shri Maharaj. Since then She was never tied by any rope and became a wise cow. Even today her progeny exists in Shegaon. This incidence shows that whatever is said by the saints always comes true. Now read the story of Laxman Ghude. He was a rich Brahman of Karanja and had some disease of the stomach for which he had taken lot of treatment spending much money but to no effect. Hearing the fame of Shri Gajanan Maharaj, came to Shegaon with his wife. The ailment was so acute that he could not even walk and so 2-3 persons lifted and brought him to the “Math”. He was not able even to bend his body to bow before Shri Maharaj. His wife bowed and begged for the health of her husband. She said, “O Maharaj, I am like a daughter to you and request to cure my husband from the agonies of the disease. When nectar is present the death must go away kindly save my husband.” At that time Shri Maharaj was eating a mango and he threw the same at Laxman's wife crying. “Now go and feed this mango to your husband. It will cure him of disease, you are a good devoted wife to him.” Then he kept quiet and started smoking his pipe. Since the lady was still sitting there Bhaskar said, “O Lady, Now do not sit here, Take your husband back to Karanja and feed him the “Prasad” of mango given to you by Shri Maharaj. As soon as he eats the mango it will cure his ailment.” She returned to Karanja with her husband and fed that mango to Laxman. When this couple reached Karanja, people started asking her as to what had happened at Shegaon. She told all the details and also about the “prasad” mango which she had fed to Laxman. There upon the doctors said that it was wrong for Laxman to eat mango as it would aggravate the ailment of the stomach. They pointed out that great Vaidyas like Mahaonid, Sushrut, Nighant and Sharangdhar clearly stated in their writings that the mango is a prohibited fruit for stomach ailment. They further said that if she had eaten the “Prasad”, instead of her husband, her “Punya” would have been useful for curing Laxman. Everybody started criticizing her for what she had done. But a miracle happened. Laxman suddenly excreted stools and his stomach became soft. Gradually he recovered completely. His ailment passed away through the stools. Doctors can’t help when things are beyond nature, because at such times only the blessings of God and the saints are useful. When Laxman was fully recovered, he went to Shegaon and respectfully invited Shri Maharaj to his house, saying “Please purify my house by the touch of your feet.” Shri Maharaj was reluctant, but Laxman requested again and again and at last Shri Maharaj agreed. Shri Maharaj went to Karanja along with Shankar, Bhau and Pitamber. Laxman very warmly received Shri Maharaj at his house and performed his detailed Puja. As for the Dakshina (offering) he said, “Maharaj, every thing that belongs to me is yours, so who am I to give you anything?” Saying so, he placed some money in a plate and offered it to Shri Maharaj. Having looked at that Maharaj said, “When you say that you possess nothing, then wherefrom have you brought these rupees? Laxman don’t try to trick me by your hypocrisy. Since you have given me everything of yours, open all the doors and throw away the locks.” Laxman kept quiet. But Shri Maharaj insisted upon his opening the safe. Hesitatingly, Laxman opened the locks of his safe, sat at its door and asked Shri Maharaj to take whatever he liked from it. Though he said this, he was not that honest or sincere from his mind. Shri Maharaj could understand his hypocrisy. An actor cannot keep up his disguise for long. A bitter fruit appears fine from outside but inside of it there is nothing but bitterness. Saints are never happy at the house of hypocrites, so Shri Maharaj left Laxman’s house without eating anything. He did not care for Laxrnan’s house or his money as He was the ocean of renunciation himself. He only wanted to find the truth in what Laxman had said, and when found his falsehood, He just left the place and while leaving said. “You are most selfish, trying to own everything. Now get ready to face its consequences. I had come to bless you and give you double of what you have, but it appears that you are not destined to get it.” It proved true and within six months of the above mentioned incident, Laxman lost everything and was reduced to a beggar’s state. By this incident, Shri Maharaj wanted to show that one should not be insincere and dishonest in “parmarth”. Shri Maharaj was Chintamani i.e. capable of getting anything and as such did rot care for the pebbles of Laxman. Can aluminium decorate the God? May all devotees listen to this Gajanan Vijay Katha for their own good. SHUBHAM BHAVATU Obeisance to the “Har and Hari” Here end of Chapter Tenth

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