The most ardent disciple of
Akkalkot Niwasi Shree Swami Samarth.
Table
of Contents
Preface
Early days
Journey to
Pandharpur & meeting with Vithoba
Goddess
Saptashringee
Family
responsibilities & Business
The Baroda
Vegetable Market
Meeting with
the Ruler of Gwalior
Marriage
Art of
Alchemy & wealth
Sarcastic
remarks of a Saint & the search of Sadguru
Akkalkot
Niwasi Shree Swami Samarth
The Cobra
The Narmada
Parikrama
The Tiger
Trishulpani
forest
Shree
Beedkar Maharaj takes on the Piles illness from a Brahmin
Trishulpani
forest…again
Post
Parikrama
Banaras
& Prayag Yatra
At the Kumbh
Mela
Gaya Yatra
Journey to
Audumber & Narsobawadi
Journey to
Dehu & Alandi
An Avadhoot
appears in front of Shree Beedkar Maharaj
Back to Pune
& Daily routine
The British
Soldier
“Why me
alone, I can take you with me and jump down”
Deteriorating
Health & Plague
Daily life
at Shaniwarpeth
His
Teachings & Wisdom
Temple in
Nashik
Aaisaheb and
her final days
Mahasamadhi
Swaroop
Sampradaya
Picture of
Sow. Janakibai
Glossary
Temple
Information
References
Akkalkot Niwasi
Shree Swami Samarth Maharaj wished that the unique school of theosophy viz. Swaroop Sampradaya32
be propagated once again enthusiastically and hence designated his most ardent
and able disciple, Shree Sadguru Ramanand Beedkar Maharaj to establish a
hermitage in Pune City , Maharashtra State.
Shree
Sadguru Ramanand Beedkar Maharaj was born on November 22, 1839 in a rich family of Shri Balavantrai and Gangutai and was
named as Ramanand. His father was working as Chieftain under British rule.
At the tender age of seven, he lost
his father. The then British rulers offered a pension of two hundred rupees to
his mother; who declined to accept it on the grounds of self-respect and her
resolve not to subsist on the help of foreigners.
In his childhood, he went alone on a
pilgrimage to Pandharpur3 . Though there was the hustle and bustle
of the crowd, it was no less than the Almighty Himself assuming the form of a
Badawa (a member of the establishment of the Brahmins entertained at the temple
of Vithoba at Pandharpur for the service of idol) who guided him and put him
straight at the feet of the idol of the deity in the Gabhara30
When he had gone to Goddess
Saptashringee at the Saptashringee, Nasik District, Maharashtra State, Western
India, the Veeda10
which was kept in the mouth of the idol of the Goddess as an offering, suddenly
fell in his hands indicating great favour of that Goddess rarely experienced.
After his father passed away the family fortune started
dwindling and hence immediately after his schooling, he started trading. He
earned good reputation in diamond valuation as well as in the trade of gold,
silver, precious stones and also scents and perfumes. To gather immense wealth,
he travelled crazily in search of yogis [transcendentalists] who could teach
him techniques to amass wealth. From one such person, he learnt the practices
of the much-desired Art of Alchemy51 and thus became
immensely wealthy. He relished the wealth and enjoyed every pleasure one can
imagine. However, ultimately he was disillusioned with material comforts. He
yearned for spiritual development and did Upasana31 with Hanuman as
his Lord of the Heart. He was guided by Hanuman to seek the blessings of Shree
Swami Samarth of Akkalkot.
In the very first meeting, Shree
Swami Samarth tested him by a show of his fiery temper. Shree Beedkar Maharaj
became an ardent devotee of Shree Swami Samarth and took regular pilgrimages to
Akkalkot. On his third visit, when he was massaging the feet of Shree Swami
Samarth at night, a dark poisonous cobra emerged out of Shree Swami Samarth's
knee and started hissing at Shree Beedkar Maharaj. However, Shree Beedkar
Maharaj courageously continued his service. The next moment Shree Swami Samarth
Maharaj got up and slapped Shree Beedkar Maharaj. With this slap, Shree Beedkar
Maharaj instantly passed into trance and entered Samadhi20
which, lasted for 12 hours. Since the very moment, he experienced himself
totally detached from worldly matters. Shree Beedkar Maharaj thus attained Vairagya21.
Shree Swami Samarth ordered him to
undertake Narmada Parikrama, an arduous circular pilgrimage of the entire route
of the river Narmada. With only two pieces of panchas
(cloth) on his body, he took up this pilgrimage. During this pilgrimage he
faced extremely tanning conditions in terms of severe cold, burning hot sun,
continuous bare foot walk on the sand, no food or water for 45 days etc. But it
helped him to destroy his body identification. Further, during this extensive
travel he enlightened many devotees. Finally after 21/2 years of
highly eventful pilgrimage, he returned to Pune where he stayed for most of the
part of his life.
In obedience to the order of Shree
Swami Samarth, Shree Beedkar Maharaj set up a Muth29 in Pune and
worked towards spreading of Swaroop Sampradaya. He enriched many seekers of
self with spiritual experiences of a very high order. He spread the spiritual
lore with the help of a few ardent disciples like Anna Maharaj Bahutale and
Mukundrao Moghe. He blessed Shree Sadguru Baba Maharaj alias Shree Raosaheb
Sahasrabuddhe with his grace by placing his hand on the latter’s head and
entrusted to him the task of continuing the tradition of Swaroop Sampradaya.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj propagated
spiritualism for the upliftment of his Devotees through simple teachings such
as "alertness
in day to day material life is the first step towards the goal of spiritualism".
Shree Swami Samarth had warned him
thus, "Ramya (Ramanand) serving food
to somebody unless he is hungry, will fail to serve any purpose. The food will
be wasted". There upon Shree Beedkar Maharaj said, "Anybody can feed a hungry person".
It was with such magnanimity that he distributed freely amongst his devotees
the wealth of spiritualism. Never would he feel tired of preaching.
He used to say, "People shouldn't take to treachery
or perfidy for the sake of material gains. Only by the truthfulness and
following principles of the Hindu religion, can a person get earthly and
heavenly gains."
"One can recover the material losses by putting in
more efforts and doing more work but one can never recover the loss due to
corruption of one's character, values and religious principles and when such
loss occurs the downfall of the society as a whole, is imminent.”
He used to assure his disciples
"Just as the
cow-dung fallen on the earth, bound to lift some earth with it; you too, who
have taken my refuge, shall definitely achieve some spiritual development "
(depending upon individual capacities).
In 1913, he attained Mahasamadhi in Pune. Amongst his
disciples the most noteworthy was Shree Baba Maharaj Sahasrabuddhe.
|| Swami
Samarth ||
The greatest of the disciples, of Shree
Akkalkot Swami Samarth, who enjoyed the worldly pleasures to the utmost degree,
but who made a complete reversal and attained the highest and the most
excellent place in the field of Divine Truth, such a well determined, daring,
unyielding, unparalleled and remarkable Shree Ramchandra Balawant Beedkar
Maharaj (Ramanand Beedkar) was born on 22nd day of November 1839, to
the couple, Shri Balawantrao and Gangubai.
He had four elder sisters and one elder brother.
The youngest Ramchandra known as Shree Beedkar Maharaj later on, was the
darling of his father. Because of this excessive fondling, he was not sent to
school till the age of seven years by his father. But his father had taught
him with affection, all the alphabets, arithmetical Rules and oral accounting
etc. Thus Ramchandra was brought up in a well-to-do and a wealthy way of life
by his father, who was also working as one of the trusted ones under the
wealthy Peshwai of Pune.
Unfortunately, very soon he lost his father and
his elder brother forsook the house on the thirteenth day after the death of
his father. Surprisingly, even the cow whose milk Shree Beedkar Maharaj used
to drink directly from the cow’s nipple, also disappeared on the thirteenth
day.
Under such strange and difficult circumstances,
his mother Gangubai managed to look after the family. She enrolled him in the Marathi School.
Fair complexioned with bright lustrous eyes and
charming body stature, Shree Beedkar Maharaj used to normally attract everybody’s
attention and especially that of Dr. Ganapatrao, who was so much impressed that
he kept this boy in his house assuring that this boy would be useful in future
for acting in dramas. But later on the clear thoughts, vigorous behaviour and
firm replies of Shree Beedkar Maharaj did not serve the main purpose of Dr.
Ganapatrao and he was very much disappointed.
Later on, one gentleman Shri Trimbakrao Kibe,
took Shree Beedkar Maharaj to his house for education purpose. But Shri
Trimbakrao found that Shree Beedkar Maharaj had no interest in studies and
hence he was entrusted with the purchases of Karavya. In this business, Shree
Beedkar Maharaj earned a profit of about fifty rupees and with this money he
started money-lending business. On account of his shrewd and inquisitive
nature as well as his strong liking for business, Shree Maharaj simultaneously
started the business of commission agent along with money lending
business.
Wearing a Vasudev Cap1 and underwear,
Shree Beedkar Maharaj, from childhood, was in the regular habit of visiting
temples at Belbaugh and Tulsibaug2. He had an inordinate attraction
towards God. In a particular year, he and his friends as planned, began their
journey to go to Pandharpur3 on foot along with the palakhi4.
But after walking for five to six miles, his friends got tired and refused to
go ahead in spite of the repeated persuasion by Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
Ultimately, Shree Beedkar Maharaj arranged to send his friends back in a
bullock cart and in that young age he continued his journey alone on foot along
with the pilgrims and finally reached Pandharpur.
Inside
the temple as well as outside of Lord Vithoba, there was a big crowd of the Pilgrims.
By seeing that big crowd, he felt that he would not be able to get the Divine
sight of Lord Vithoba and this very thought suddenly made him cry. At this
time, a miracle took place and a dark complexioned worthless old man came near
this young Shree Beedkar Maharaj and took him by hand inside the temple very
near to the idol of Lord Vithoba. Not only this, the same old man took out one
of the garlands from the neck of Lord Vithoba and put the same around the neck
of this young Shree Beedkar Maharaj and then this old man took Shree Beedkar
Maharaj out of the temple in the open space and left him there. That old man
was known by the name Vitthal Badawa5 and he disappeared after
this. He was none else than Lord Vithoba himself who had come to the rescue of
this young Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
After returning to Pune from Pandharpur, as he
desired to study English in a school, he came to the city Dhule6
along with a friend. At Dhule, the school told him that a letter would be
required from the parents for getting admission to the English School. On hearing this, Shree Beedkar Maharaj was disappointed
and gave up the idea of English Education altogether and both he and his
friend, planned to go to Saptashringee7.
Goddess Saptashringee blessed him
with a Divine Vision in a dream and advised him to give up the friendship with
his friend and return to Pune. His friend refused to leave the place insisting
for the Divine Vision in his dream also and to his surprise his dhotee8
caught fire during his sleep all of a sudden. By seeing this incident he
suspected his friend Shree Beedkar Maharaj to be the cause and hence decided to
continue staying there. But on the third day, Goddess Saptashringee came in
his dream and angrily ordered him to go back since his purpose would not be
fulfilled.
Due to this incident his friend left
the place for Pune leaving behind Shree Beedkar Maharaj without giving Shree
Beedkar Maharaj any money for his expenses. Thus Shree Beedkar Maharaj was
left alone without any money. Fortunately he was helped by a sanyasi9
at Saptashringee.
While
Shree Beedkar Maharaj was at Saptashringee, a miracle took place. One night he
had been to Goddess Saptashringee for blessings. As per the custom, trayodashguni
veeda10 was placed in the mouth of Goddess Saptashringee. No
sooner Shree Beedkar Maharaj stood with folded hands before the Goddess for her
blessings, the Veeda fell down. It was a miracle since this Veeda never fell before
in the past. The devotees standing there clapped their hands for this miracle
and respected Shree Beedkar Maharaj saying “ You are a great devotee and the
Goddess has blessed you.” So saying the devotees presented that Veeda to
Shree Beedkar Maharaj, who accepted the same with great devotion. Later on, as
per the advice of the Goddess, Shree Beedkar Maharaj returned to Pune.
After the disappearance of his elder bother,
Shree Beedkar Maharaj had to shoulder all the responsibilities of the family. Since
he was not earning enough money by doing some small jobs in the local Court, he
took some loan and started money lending business. Due to the shortage
of funds he left this business and started working in a perfume shop. There he
learnt a lot about the perfumes. Based on his ingenuity, hard work, patience
and firmness he started his own perfume business as well as money lending
business and his fate and good fortune supported him fully.
Once he purchased old copper and brass vessels,
belonging to the old mansions of Peshwas, for only Rs.150/-. By his great
fortune, he got one Samai11 made of Gold containing diamonds and
rubies in the hollow portion of the Samai.
In spite of getting so much of wealth he did not
give up his business. He had a remarkable gift of examining precious stones.
For business purpose he had toured the entire Maharashtra and this increased his versatility and shrewdness. He used
to normally wear clean and attractive dress like a costly upper jacket, silk
kerchief bordered with gold thread work covering the head, ear adorned with ear
ornaments, silk dhotee, silk upper garment (loosely worn) and Puneri Shoes12.
Such
an attractive dress normally worn by Shree Beedkar Maharaj along with his sweet
and penetrating speech, not only used to enliven his impressive personality but
also used to create a striking impression on others. His business was normally
with wealthy people and he used to get enough profit and at the same time get acquainted
with rich people.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj was a great devotee of
Hanuman13. On account of his firm faith in the Hindu religion, he
used to carry on properly all the family duties and traditions, festivals,
ceremonial dinners to the Brahmins14 and loud recital of Vedic
hymns. Shree Beedkar Maharaj had an excellent art of maintaining oneness
amongst all his relatives and family members. He had also a fine taste in
purchasing the best of the things as well as rare articles. He was very careful
to see that all these best of the things & rare articles should be
available to all his family members. As per him, the greediness and the
jealousy were the basic cause of any family feud. Shree Beedkar Maharaj used
to advise everybody that the angry passions of the relatives always would sow
the seed for sorrow in the family.
It would be a great surprise if such an
ingenious person were not dear to his mother. Even Shree Beedkar Maharaj was
devoted to his mother to the utmost degree. He always used to say that “you
would be successful in all your works provided you keep your parents happy”.
The Baroda Vegetable Market
In spite of possessing such remarkable good
qualities, merely by keeping bad company in young age and also due to his
excessive greediness for wealth, Shree Beedkar Maharaj got himself entangled
with lustful women. This fascination to lustful women always takes a person
towards one’s destruction. The condition of Shree Beedkar Maharaj also became
like this. Except for his mother, he was not afraid of anybody. Slowly and steadily,
his growing lust in the weaker sex decreased his attention in his business and
his financial condition started deteriorating. His own relatives humiliated
Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
Ultimately
he got disgusted and he went to the then Baroda state. He desired to meet the ruler of the then, Baroda State, in person. But it was extremely difficult to have direct access
with the ruler of the Baroda State, so he thought of a plan. He met all the agents of the
vegetable market and he himself started purchasing all the vegetables available
in the market. He did this for three days, when the ruler of the Baroda State heard about this incident, he wanted to personally see
this eccentric person who used to purchase all the vegetables available in the
market and so he sent his car to bring this eccentric person.
Wearing
an expensive outfit, Shree Beedkar Maharaj put up a grand appearance before the
ruler of the Baroda State. After the personal meeting with the ruler, he frankly
expressed his main purpose for doing this eccentric feat. The ruler of Baroda
was extremely happy at the shrewdness, oratory and courage of Shree Beedkar
Maharaj and gave an order not only to supply first grade ration items to Shree Beedkar
Maharaj but also purchased all the perfume items available with him.
After this, Shree Beedkar Maharaj desired to
meet the ruler of the then Gwalior State and he went to Gwalior. At Gwalior Station, by using shrewdness
and good judgment, he kept all his boxes containing incense sticks and perfumes
at the station and managed to get a special sanction for paying taxes in part,
whenever the boxes were being taken out from the station and thereby saved
money.
Again for a personal meeting with the ruler of Gwalior, he planned for a feat to attract
the attention of the ruler just as he did at Baroda. There was one open ground (Gorakhi Maidan) in front of
the palace of the ruler of Gwalior. He
took three boxes of incense sticks and started burning them in the evening.
The fragrance from the incense sticks spread everywhere and reached up to the
palace. The ruler was surprised and sent for Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Shree
Beedkar Maharaj entered the palace and stood before the ruler and after paying
due respect he said, “I am coming from Beed. My noble ancestors had served
under this Government and in the honour of your Majesty, I have burnt all these
incense sticks”. By hearing this penetrating reply, the ruler of Gwalior was very much pleased and
sanctioned not only a first grade ration to Shree Beedkar Maharaj but also
arranged to purchase all the boxes of incense sticks and perfume from him.
Thus Shree Beedkar Maharaj started getting a lot
of respect and gifts from the royal court and this irritated a number of
mischievous people in Gwalior. In order to lower his respect in
the eyes of the ruler of Gwalior, these people hatched a plan and
invited Shree Beedkar Maharaj for a feat and fed him opium and other
intoxicating things in his food. But Shree Beedkar Maharaj was saved from this
danger and by his skill and cleverness he exposed this secret plan of these
mischievous people in the royal court. Pleased by this, the ruler favoured him with
more gifts.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj also earned a lot of
respect and gifts by his cleverness and skill from the royal courts of Jaipur,
Satara and Akkalkot. He also managed to sell a lot of his goods of perfumes
and incense sticks in these royal courts.
At
the age of 21, his mother got him married to a girl Rangubai, the daughter of
Ramji Appaji Patil of Kedgaon25, near Nagar District. He had a
daughter and when she grew up and was of marriageable age, he got her married
to Raghunathrao Jaykrishnanaro Deshmukh Raje, the ruler of Raver26
of the then Khandesh State. After the birth of a daughter (grand daughter of
Shree Beedkar Maharaj) this daughter of Shree Beedkar Maharaj left this world.
This grand daugher was married to Jahagirdar Hingane, of Chandori town of Nasik District.
On account of the close association of a number
of royal courts of different states, Shree Beedkar Maharaj got enough wealth
but it also increased his addiction to the vices and this in turn brought down
his financial position. To earn more money he tried to get favors from saints,
mendicants, fakir16 and avalia17. He met one such Avalia
in Kalyan27 and the Avalia taught Shree Beedkar Maharaj the art of
alchemy (the art of transforming base metal into gold). By utilizing this art
of alchemy, Shree Beedkar Maharaj earned abundant wealth up to the age of 35
years, and with that wealth, he enjoyed all the pleasures to the utmost
degree. Even then, he was never satisfied. He wanted to amass still more
wealth, for which, he went to the holy place Rishikesh near Haridwaar, Uttar
Pradesh in search of the Avalia.
At
Rishikesh, he came across one saint and Shree Beedkar Maharaj started visiting
the saint regularly but he was not satisfied with the philosophy of the saint.
The saint addressed Shree Beedkar Maharaj in the presence of a number of
people. “You have to accept asceticism otherwise you cannot achieve
anything. You are enjoying all the pleasures of your life to the utmost
degree. But you are not still fit for achieving the life’s highest truth, that
is, the Divine Truth”.
The sarcastic remarks of the saint touched the
heart of this strong minded as well as firmly resolved Beedkar Maharaj, and he
took a vow in the presence of the people present there, that he would put an
end to his voluptuous life and achieve the life’s highest truth, that is, the
Divine Truth and he left that place with doggedness and strong will, hoping to
get the blessings from that same saint one day. But he became restless and
could not think of any immediate step. Ultimately, he started worshipping his
family deity, Hanuman (Monkey God) rigorously. Pleased by his strong devotion,
one day, Hanuman blessed him, with a vision in a dream, advising him to go to
Akkalkot to take the blessings from Shree Swami Samarth (Incarnation of Lord
Dattatreya) and Shree Beedkar Maharaj left for Akkalkot, a holy place located
in Solapur District, Maharashtra State.
In Akkalkot he put himself up in the house of
Shri Appasaheb Sherkhane. He was so much determined that he took a vow not to
accept any food without taking the blessings from Shree Swami Samarth. Just at
that time, Shree Swami Samarth had gone to the palace of the then ruler of
Akkalkot and there was no possibility of his coming out of the palace at least
for the next fifteen days. Shree Beedkar Maharaj was not ready to break his
vow. He carried out severe fasting for two days. In the palace, Shree Swami
Samarth started uproar, saying “You are imprisoning me! My devotees are facing
difficulties as they are not getting my blessings”.
So saying with an uproar, Shree Swami Samarth,
jumped from the wall of the palace and came out of the palace, possibly only for
the sake of Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
When Shree Beedkar Maharaj came to know about
this, he took a bath and taking all the pooja sahitya18 went
to Shree Swami Samarth and offered his worship and surrendered himself at the
feet of Shree Swami Samarth, for his blessings. Shree Swamiji asked him “Why
are you bowing at my feet?” Shree Beedkar Maharaj replied appropriately “I want
a very firm foundation (I want your full blessing)”. Shree Swami Samarth
pointed his finger to the deer skin and said “See there”. Shree Beedkar
Maharaj did not understand properly the purpose of showing deer’s skin and
said, “I am ignorant”. By hearing this, Shree Swami Samarth became very angry
and started abusing Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Other devotees present there became
nervous but Shree Beedkar Maharaj stood there with steadfastness and patience
without getting nervous by the abuses. At the end, Swami Samarth said, “Now
you go from here. Your work is done (You are blessed fully)”.
As
per the orders of Shree Swami Samarth, Shree Beedkar Maharaj returned to Pune
and started repeating continuously the words “Sadgururaj Mauli”19. Next
year when Shree Beedkar Maharaj went to Akkalkot for taking blessings, Shree
Swami Samarth said, “The seed you have sown has grown into a mango tree.
Mangoes are getting ripe. When mangoes are fully ripe, your aim will be
fulfilled”. After one year again (third year) Shree Beedkar Maharaj went to
Akkalkot and started rendering devotional service at the feet of Shree Swami
Samarth.
He remained there and continued his
service at night by slow massage of the legs of Shree Swami Samarth. This went
on throughout night but Shree Swami Samarth did not tell him to stop this
massage even till the morning. But then, suddenly, a miracle took place. A
cobra appeared in between the knees of Shree Swami Samarth. The cobra raised
its hood and started hissing at Shree Beedkar Maharaj. This was a testing time
of his virtue and courage. He fully succeeded in the test and Shree Swami
Samarth blessed him fully and roared “You monstrous fellow, go away from
here “and Shree Swami Samarth slapped Shree Beedkar Maharaj. With this
slap, Shree Beedkar Maharaj instantly passed into a trance and entered Samadhi20,
which lasted for 12 hours. Since the very moment, he experienced himself
totally detached from worldly matters. Shree Beedkar Maharaj thus attained Vairagya21.
He
regained consciousness only on the next day morning and he was so much
delighted that it was inexpressible by words. Shree Swami Samarth ordered Shree
Beedkar Maharaj to give a ceremonious dinner to a thousand Brahmins. He had
absolutely no money left with him to comply with his Guru's order. Hence to earn
money, he went on a horseback to sell his perfumes. Unfortunately in an
accident the Horse fell down and the only box containing perfume bottles fell
down and broke completely. Shree Beedkar Maharaj managed to keep himself very
calm.
Shri Shrinivasrao was the
administrator of the ruler of the then Akkalkot State, and through him Shree Beedkar
Maharaj got the financial assistance for the ceremonial dinner to thousand
Brahmins and thus he could fulfil the command of Shree Swami Samarth. Further,
Shree Swami Samarth said to Shree Beedkar Maharaj “You have given the dinner
but still the dakshina22 is pending. As dakshina to me, you have to
immediately stop the business of medicinal roots as well as the business of
converting base metal into gold”. Shree Beedkar Maharaj bowed and agreed to
follow the command. Then he said “I promise that I will not do this business.
But I will teach this art to my associates". But due to this wish of Shree
Swami Samarth, Shree Beedkar Maharaj did not succeed in continuing this
business through any of his associates. Regarding the principle of Paramartha23,
Shree Swami Samarth said, “Unless a man is hungry, do not feed him any food as
it will not get digested”. There upon Shree Beedkar Maharaj said, "Anybody can feed a hungry person".
It was with such magnanimity that he distributed freely amongst his devotees
the wealth of spiritualism. Never would he feel tired of preaching
Shree
Beedkar Maharaj prepared a special perfume ashtagandha24 for the
ruler of Akkalkot by using the perfume available in the broken bottles. The
ruler was very much impressed by the ashtagandha perfume and paid a good price
to Shree Beedkar Maharaj, who in turn utilized that amount, to pay back the
loan money, taken for giving the ceremonial dinner to a thousand Brahmins.
A person who was deeply absorbed in
enjoying all the possible worldly pleasures of life throughout, now gets
completely altered, to change his course of life as well as struggles, to get
the full blessings from a great preceptor, like Shree Swami Samarth the
incarnation of Lord Dattatreya. He further passes his life in the continuous
singing of the hymns, in the praise of Shree Swami Samarth. This is nothing
else but a great miracle, which possibly occurred, due to the accumulated
religious merit in a number of previous births, of that person. That person was
none else than Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
The Narmada Parikrama28
As
per the command of Shree Swami Samarth, Shree Beedkar Maharaj started for the Narmada
Parikrama. With only two short dhotees, one for wearing and other for putting
on the shoulder, he started his Parikrama, from Southern river bank. “Would I
come across any great yogi (sage) on the way? Would there be any miracle on
the way? What is my destiny? “. With these thoughts, Shree Beedkar Maharaj
reached Bharuch Gujarath State.
On his way, Shree Beedkar Maharaj,
met one hot-tempered ascetic (Gosavi), who was staying on a hillock. Though
Shree Beedkar Maharaj was on empty stomach for two days, the Gosavi (ascetic)
sent him to fetch water in a large earthen pitcher, in the hot sun, from the
river Narmada. In the extreme noon heat, with
the feet burning due to hot sand and stricken by acute hunger, Shree Beedkar
Maharaj started invoking the name of his preceptor, Shree Swami Samarth, and
he filled up the pitcher. But due to excessive fatigue and heat, he felt giddy
and fell down and the pitcher broke down. Shree Beedkar Maharaj, felt so sorry
that he continued to invoke the name of his sadguru (preceptor), Shree Swami
Samarth. At exactly the same time in the hermitage of Gosavi (ascetic), a
miracle took place. The idol of Lord Krishna, itself grew in size and started
trembling. By seeing this miracle, the Gosavi (ascetic) realized his mistake
and went out in search of Shree Beedkar Maharaj and brought him to his
hermitage. The Gosavi was a devotee of Lord Krishna and he believed totally in
Sagunopasana (worshipping God as Form). Shree Beedkar Maharaj convinced the
Gosavi that the God with attributes (Sagun) and without attributes (Nirgun) is
the same, as there is only one Supreme Lord without any attributes and further
he also gave the Gosavi, the secrets of meditation. He also advised the
Gosavi, to give all help to the people, who come for Parikrama of the Narmada River and went ahead on his journey.
After sometime, he reached the hermitage of
Fattargeerbua (Yogi) who was under a wrong impression that he himself was a
great yogi. This Fattargeerbua was totally absorbed in matters like hermitage,
disciple’s reverence, and ego etc. Shree Beedkar Maharaj took the unlit giant
smoking pipe, which was the pride of the Fattargeerbua, and in the name of his
sadguru, Shree Swami Samarth, took a deep breath and kindled the smoking pipe
successfully and thereby won the confidence of the yogi. After this, Shree
Beedkar Maharaj sat in deep meditation whole day, in the temple shrine of the
Sadguru (preceptor) of Shree Fattargeerbua. One day, Shree Fattargeerbua got a
visionary insight and after confirmation of the fact, offered his obeisance to
Shree Beedkar Maharaj as a guru, just like his own sadguru. This incident shed
down the ego of Shree Fattargeerbua and Shree Beedkar Maharaj gave him the
advice “If you go after siddhi33, the illusion of ignorance
will shield the true knowledge. Your main aim should be to keep your own mind
firm and steady and under control”. So advising, Shree Beedkar Maharaj continued
his journey.
While going through the dense forest, due to
thick darkness, he was not able to locate the road for his further journey.
Groping here and there in darkness, while he was invoking the name of his
sadguru Shree Swami Samarth, he got a piece of small rusted iron. With the
help of that iron piece, he kindled fire and sat for meditation. At some
distance from the fireplace, he saw one tiger sitting in the form of death.
Maintaining his presence of mind, looking at the tiger audaciously, he started
continuously invoking the name of his sadguru Shree Swami Samarth. Surprisingly
the tiger went away. The eyes of Shree Beedkar Maharaj started oozing tears on
account of his sadguru’s affection towards him.
In the morning, when he started walking ahead in
the forest, he came to a broken border of the river Narmada. As he was very thirsty, he jumped
from the border in the sand and quenched his thirst by drinking enough Narmada river water. Then he started
walking ahead in the sand along the river border, towards the source of the river.
After traversing about half a kilometre, he came to a dense cluster of trees
and he got a wonderful surprise as he saw human footprints double the size of
his own foot prints imprinted in the sand. Following these footprints, he came
to a cave and entered the same. After walking ahead inside the cave, he came
across an open space, enclosed by a fence and the clean road inside was
decorated by bowers (creepers) of fragrant flowers on both sides.
Walking
along that road he came to the main gate and he was terrified to find the same
tiger sitting there with closed eyes. Then Shree Beedkar Maharaj realised that
this was entirely the play of his sadguru, Shree Swami Samarth and he
surrendered himself with full heart at the feet of his sadguru Shree Swami
Samarth. To his great surprise, he saw his sadguru (preceptor) Shree Swami
Samarth himself in the place of the said tiger. He washed the feet of his
sadguru Shree Swami Samarth, with his tears of joy. Then Shree Swami Samarth
said “My son, you need not be afraid.”
Shree
Beedkar Maharaj became fearless, by the visionary sight of his sadguru Shree
Swami Samarth and went ahead. He came to a naturally beautiful and charming
hermitage. He entered the hermitage and saw an old yogi (ascetic) with a mass
of matted hair on the head, wearing tiger skin and twice the size of Shree
Beedkar Maharaj, deeply absorbed in meditation. Shree Beedkar Maharaj paid
obeisance to that great yogi, and appealed to him for the refutation of his
diversity of sentiments.
The great yogi, with love, gave the
obvious interpretation of the actual accomplishment of the human birth and also
the principle of absorption into the essence of union (Brahma), to Shree
Beedkar Maharaj. The yogi also gave one root burnt in the fire, to Shree
Beedkar Maharaj. By eating this root, a yogi can continue for eight days
without food.
By the grace of this great yogi,
Shree Beedkar Maharaj completed the Parikrama of Narmada River and reached the
main road. By this main road he came to the hermitage of Shree Sane Swami.
Shree Sane Swami had the full knowledge of preparing Haritali Bhasm (ashes) as
well as the knowledge of accomplishment of speech. With Haritali Bhasma, he was
able to cure any disease,. He was more popular as a physician, than a saint.
His procedure of taking bath was simply splendid. His garb was that of a saint
but he had no asceticism. By seeing this, Shree Beedkar Maharaj explained to
Shree Sane Swami, the actual ideals of asceticism. For the satisfaction of
Shree Sane Swami and also to change his tendency, Shree Beedkar Maharaj jumped
into the deep part of the river filled with crocodiles. As he had the full support
of his Sadguru Shree Swami Samarth, he came out of the river, without any
scratch. By seeing this adventure of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, Shree Sane Swami
completely lost his attachment to his body.
During the Parikrama, he gave advice
to saints as well as mendicants, whoever came across him, on the way, regarding
the realization of the self as well as that of asceticism and then proceeded
ahead on his journey.
In this stage of journey while
traversing through the Trishulpani forest, Shree Beedkar Maharaj had to undergo
a lot of obstacles. It was impossible for him to go ahead. Ultimately he
started invoking continuously the name of his sadguru Shree Swami Samarth, and
surrendered himself at the feet of his sadguru with an appeal, for the successful
completion of the Parikrama of the Narmada River. In the morning, Mata (mother) Narmada in the form of a milkmaid, came
there and offered him a pot of milk. No sooner he drank that milk, all his
pains disappeared. He started feeling very fresh. He bowed himself before the
milkmaid and went ahead. On the way a hypocritical ascetic stopped him with a
sword, raised to strike him. But to the great surprise of that hypocritical
ascetic, the sword became blunt by the mere sight of Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
In the next stage of the journey, he
met one great yogi by name Shree Vitthal Chaitanya, who helped Shree Beedkar
Maharaj as a road guide, in his further journey. Shree Vitthal Chaitanya, also
taught Shree Beedkar Maharaj, the art of overcoming the effects of heat and
cold by Yoga.
In the next stage of the journey,
the rich and generous people who normally used to help the travellers of Narmada River with useful things, met Shree Beedkar Maharaj, and gave
him the wooden slippers and a drinking vessel, made from a Kamandalu (gourd).
It was only due to the repeated insistence by the donor that Shree Beedkar
Maharaj accepted the same. By seeing this unselfish nature of Shree Beedkar
Maharaj, the rich people spread his fame everywhere. This was the testing time
for Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Instead of earning name and fame, by remaining in
public, he decided to stay alone for the sake of God, and he left that place at
night and arrived on the other side of the Narmada river bank near Bharuch. Just as the strong perfume of the Musk cannot
remain hidden for long, similarly the fame of Shree Beedkar Maharaj spread
everwhere.
One Gujarathi Brahmin who was fed up
with life as he was severely afflicted by piles, had started from home to
commit suicide in the Narmada River, but on the way by his great fortune, he went for the
blessings of Shree Beedkar Maharaj and the Brahmin completely surrendered
himself at his feet. Shree Beedkar Maharaj, advised the Brahmin “committing
suicide is a great sin. You have to patiently endure the pains and pleasures
allotted by destiny. You surrender yourself at the feet of the Supreme Lord for
reducing the pain”. But the Brahmin who was totally fed up with severe pile
illness, did not leave the feet of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, who mentally prayed
“Instead of utilizing the super human power , wasting one’s religious merit
and losing one’s virtue ,let me personally take this illness as well as pain
but the Brahmin be cured.” No sooner, Shree Beedkar Maharaj mentally took a
decision as above, the Brahmin started feeling better but Shree Beedkar
Maharaj personally had to endure this illness all his life.
To
escape from public annoyance, Shree Beedkar Maharaj again entered the Trishulpani
forest. In the forest Shree Beedkar Maharaj was saved from becoming a prey of a
huge python by a Bhil tribe. Again while proceeding ahead in the forest , a
wolf started following him and he was compelled to go ahead in the same
direction and finally he reached one of the banks of river Narmada, near a village (The bank of the
river is used by village people to fetch water or for washing clothes etc). At
this place Narmada Mata (mother Narmada ) appeared in the form of a beautiful lady and tested Shree Beedkar
Maharaj by trying to distract his mind. But due to the kind grace of his
sadguru Shree Swami Samarth, he totally remained calm without distraction and
successfully stood the test.
After this, again he entered the
Trishulpani forest and proceeded ahead and reached a very charming place called
Shatadhara. In the deep part of the river Narmada at Shatadhara, one can find different types of ‘arrows’. Due to the
obstinacy of a poor devotee, Shree Beedkar Maharaj jumped into the deep part of
the river Narmada, took out an arrow known as
Chandrasekhar and gave it to the poor devotee. Afterwards when Shree Beedkar
Maharaj came to a dharmashala34 for resting, a Kanoj brahmin lady
saint, who had attained the final stage in ascetism by severe penance, came to
him for his blessings and Shree Beedkar Maharaj happily blessed her with
anugraha (initiation).
When Shree Beedkar Maharaj was at Maheshwar (a
village located on the route of Narmada river), he got the sorrowful news about the Mahasamadhi (the last
conscious communion with God) taken by his sadguru Shree Swami Samarth. Through
a visionary insight, his sadguru ordered him to complete the circumambulation
of Narmada River, up to Omkar, which was the starting point of his journey.
This Omkar island, located in Narmada river
is a holy place having one of the twelve famous Lingam (the symbol of Lord
Shiva) of Hindu God, Lord Shiva.
Hence forgetting all the sorrow, he
proceeded ahead and came to a Muth (temple shrine) of an ascetic, at a place
known as Pantha. The Muth was occupied by a lone yogi35, a Mathadhipati36
and the seat of his Guru (preceptor) which was being worshipped by them. Shree
Beedkar Maharaj was told, that no worthy person as yet, had come there who
could occupy the seat of his Guru. Shree Beedkar Maharaj went and sat on that
seat and started meditating and started enjoying in-expressible bliss. Shree
Beedkar Maharaj stayed in the Muth at Pantha for few days but there also more people
started crowding the Muth for his blessings. Hence one night he suddenly left
that Muth and proceeded towards his destination Omkar Island.
As he had no money, the boatman
refused to take him in the boat for crossing the Narmada River. Hence Shree Maharaj dared to walk
in the water across the river. Seeing this bold act, the boatman changed his
mind and gave the boat ride to Shree Beedkar Maharaj. A person in the boat recognized
his true identity and he was very honoured, by all the other people, in the
boat. After reaching the Omkar Island, he went inside the temple of Lord Shiva and sat for meditation in the room
of Shree Janakidas Maharaj. At that time one Panchmukhi Nag (a cobra
with five hoods) appeared before him and blessed him. The Mathadhipati of the
Pantha Muth also came to Omkar Island in search of Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
All the yogi’s present on the island,
asked for meals from Shree Beedkar Maharaj. This time also, Mother Narmada came
to his help and gave him a golden bangle for the expenses of the meals. All the
ascetics were very happy after accepting the sumptuous meals. Thus Shree
Beedkar Maharaj successfully completed his Parikrama.
In the meantime ‘Aaisaheb’ (his
wife, Smt. Janakibai) was not aware of this programme undertaken by her husband.
So she got worried. She searched for him everywhere, including the Gosavi
Muth. Since she did not get any information about his whereabouts, she got very
much upset and finally, she started the devotional service of her deity, Lord
Vithoba (another form of Lord Krishna) and Goddess Rukminidevi. She prayed day
and night. By this continuous service, Lord Vithoba was pleased and blessed Smt.
Janakibai by a visionary insight. Thus, Aaisaheb came to know from this
visionary insight that Shree Beedkar Maharaj was at Omkar Island. She immediately proceeded there. She was extremely happy
to join Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
After completing successfully the Parikrama
of Narmada river, Shree Beedkar Maharaj came to Pune, He was staying at Kasaba
Peth. He was very much beyond the condition of even thinking of doing any
business for his daily maintenance or his future. Whatever conditions
available, he used to be content with his life and devote all his time in the
service of God. No sooner, the accumulated wealth with him was over, the near
and dear ones left him and stopped coming to his house. By observing Shree
Beedkar Maharaj doing nothing for his daily maintenance and giving away to
public whatever available in his house, as well as leading a personal life
without any demands from anybody, the common public started calling him a crazy
man. There were only few people knowing the true personality of Shree Beedkar
Maharaj. On the contrary there were a number of mischievous people who took
pleasure in calling him mad, vilifying him, and bringing disgrace to him, out
of jealousy. To specifically mention in this mischievous group were one
landlord Shri Thosar and one pensioner by name Shri Waknis, under the guise of
politeness, used to vilify Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Inspite of their attempts for
his vilification, Shree Beedkar Maharaj never uttered a single word of
objection and continued his unflinching devotion in the service of God. Just
like the fragrance of a flower on blooming, cannot be concealed and spreads
automatically in all directions, so also the true personality of Shree Beedkar
Maharaj which remained hidden from the publicity of fame and popularity, was
being recognized by other yogis.
Shri Beedkar Maharaj used to go
daily and sit in the Someshwer temple (temple of Lord Shiva) for half an hour to one hour. One
day a lustrous dark coloured great ascetic, who can play flute with sweet
tunes, had come to the Someshwar temple. This great ascetic recognised the true
personality of Shree Beedkar Maharaj and asked him not only to sit near him but
also allowed him to use his small smoking pipe (chilim). Further, this great
ascetic informed other ascetics present in the temple, regarding the true
personality and worthiness of Shree Beedkar Maharaj. All the ascetics present
there, got the personal experience about the divinity & worthiness of Shree
Beedkar Maharaj.
The mischievous pair, Shri Thosar
and Shri Waknis, did not change their opinion. On the contrary, both used to
come to Shree Beedkar Maharaj and trouble him. They used to start some
unnecessary idle chat on any subject and then introduce Shree Beedkar Maharaj
to some religious heads of the village for discussion, with the main purpose of
enjoying the fun indirectly. Interestingly as a result of these discussions,
many credulous religious minded people got benefited. And further due to the
grace of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, some of their works, surprisingly used to get
completed, and these people started to look after the welfare of Shree Beedkar
Maharaj.
One Shree Martandmama was behaving
like a great yogi with just oral knowledge of yoga, without any deep practical
knowledge. Shri Martandmama could not stabilise his sitting posture even for
half an hour, when the same could be successfully done instantly, by Shri
Beedkar Maharaj. Thereby Shree Martandmama learnt about his drawbacks and later
on Shree Beedkar Maharaj and Martandmama became good friends.
Banaras & Prayag Yatra
Shri Shastribua was a neighbour of
Shree Beedkar Maharaj, at Kasaba Peth; Pune. He was good at oratory but he used
to hate the fully realized saint like Shree Beedkar Maharaj. He was an
astrologer by profession. Shree Beedkar Maharaj sometimes used to point out
some of the wrong astrological predictions made by Shree Shastribua. This was
of course not appreciated by Shree Shastribua. Once, when Shri Shastribua was
camping in the house of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, he started to test Shree Beedkar
Maharaj by saying that Shree Beedkar Maharaj can maintain his livelihood only because
he was settled down in Pune and as such the real test would be if he could
survive outside of Pune. So Shri Shastribua planned Banaras pilgrimage for Shree Beedkar
Maharaj.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj with
insufficient funds, successfully completed the pilgrimage of Banaras along with his wife and Shri
Shastribua. During the pilgrimage, he was helped by the Supreme Lord off and
on, either in the disguise of a friend or a rich man, and thus the urgent needs
of Shree Beedkar Maharaj were met.
During the Journey a rich man, who
had bet money on speculation, had approached Shree Beedkar Maharaj, with the
hope of not losing his money in the speculation. The rich man was rendered
valuable advice, worth remembering by Shree Beedkar Maharaj, who said. “Instead
of offering your prayers to a man, you should surrender yourself to that Supreme
Lord. If you keep unflinching faith in the Supreme Lord, he will certainly get
your work done. You will get the fruits as per your own actions. God always dwells
in your heart in wakeful condition. God always comes to know even about your
secret deeds and you will get your fruits accordingly. If at all God or saint
does something in your life; it is that they just give you sadbuddhi (good
sense). Since you do not know the predominance of your destiny you should go on
doing your actions”.
“If one takes a vow or does
penance or religious meditation with the intention of committing some theft or
destroying somebody then one might probably get success. But one should not
forget that it would also be a start of one’s own destruction too “.
After staying in the company of
Shree Beedkar Maharaj and by listening to his wisdom talk, which changes the
tendency of one’s nature and also by seeing the actual miracles performed by
Shree Beedkar Maharaj and by eating the sacred food, there was a complete
change over in the nature of Shri Shastribua. Shree Shastribua later on
requested the forgiveness from Shree Beedkar Maharaj. After being forgiven,
Shri Shastribua returned to his own home.
In Banaras Shree Beedkar Maharaj was totally confined to his room
since he was suffering from indigestion and piles. Only his wife (Aaisaheb) could
go out and take holy bath in river Ganga,
visit the temple and comeback.
The time taken by planet Guru
(Jupiter), to travel from the sign of Aquarius to the sign of Pisces is
considered as the period of pilgrimage for Kumbhmela fair. During this period,
saints, ascetics, mendicants, come from different parts of India and abroad to take holy bath in
river Ganga.
When Shree Beedkar Maharaj was in Banaras, this Kumbh Mela took place in the
holy city Prayag. In this fair a very old and great yogi had come from a holy
place Rishikesh. Shree Beedkar Maharaj desired to pay obeisance to this great
yogi. There was too big a crowd between Shree Beedkar Maharaj and the Great
Yogi. But It so happened that the yogi himself came there, finding his way in
the thick crowd towards Shree Beedkar Maharaj and told Shree Beedkar Maharaj,
to accompany him. Only a true yogi can recognize another great yogi.
After completing the Kumbh Mela fair
in Prayag, Shree Beedkar Maharaj put himself up in an old mansion, at a place
called Brahmaghat. Another learned Brahmin by name Shri Pandurang Shastri
Bhadkamkar, was also staying in the same mansion. After seeing his faith and
devotion, Shree Beedkar Maharaj was pleased with him. . Shree Beedkar Maharaj
showered his grace on Shree Pandurang Shashtri and helped him experience self-realization.
Once, Shree Krishnanand Swami met
Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Both had a debate on a subject, regarding the action to
be taken when an animal gets the human body.. Shree Krishnanand Swami said ”One
should overcome the delusion from the mind and feel that God is in one’s heart
and soul (Aham Brahmasmi). Shri Beedkar Maharaj gave a most poignant and
practical reply to him “If you simply say rice rice, it would not
satisfy your hunger. Practically you have to cook rice and eat. Only then, your
tongue would tell about the taste. Once the rice goes in the stomach, it would
quench one’s hunger. This in turn would bring the look of satisfaction on your
face.”
Gaya Yatra
After completing the pilgrimage of Banaras and Prayag, he proceeded to another
holy place, Gaya. Here, Shree Maharaj predicted a
rich resident’s wish of getting married for a third time, and this convinced
the rich resident that Shree Beedkar Maharaj, was a Siddha Purush (fully
realized Saint)
During his stay at Gaya, he came across an enchanter who used to get
intoxicated and compel his disciples to undergo different types of
intoxication. Once the enchanter gave a smoking pipe with highly intoxicating
chandol herb, to Shree Beedkar Maharaj, with the intention of humiliating Shree
Beedkar Maharaj. But to the great surprise of the enchanter, Shree Beedkar
Maharaj was not affected at all by this heavily intoxicated smoking pipe and
instead, he went into deep meditation for hours together. By seeing this, the
enchanter surrendered himself to Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Shree Beedkar Maharaj advised
him as follows ”Every living being struggles for happiness. But while
struggling for one’s happiness, one should take care to see that no adverse
effect is being caused to others. There is no difference in the outward
condition of a person, fully drunk and other person sleeping peacefully. But
inwardly, the case of the first one shows ignorance, and the second one, shows
knowledge. It is true that the gunas39, tamo guna (ignorance) and
satva guna (wisdom), look similar from the point of view of happiness. But the
fact is that the ignorance attribute which is based on inertia, takes you
downwards, towards your own ruin or deterioration, whereas the wisdom attribute
based on knowledge, takes you upward, towards the gate of emancipation or the
freedom from the cycle of death and rebirth. This you should not forget”. By
listening to this valuable advice of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, the enchanter was
spiritually uplifted and attained emancipation. He confessed to his fault, and
totally surrendered to Beedkar Maharaj.
At Gaya, Shree Beedkar Maharaj personally offered balls of rice to
the manes (the spirits of the dead), at the feet of Lord Vishnu. After
completing successfully the pilgrimage of the three holy places, Banaras, Prayag and Gaya, Shree Beedkar Maharaj proceeded to Audumber and
Narsobawadi (in Maharashtra State) the holy places, of Lord Dattatreya.
In Audumber, he stayed in the
dharmashala34, of Shri Bapat, along with his wife Aaisaheb. Though
Shree Beedkar Maharaj had attained self-realization, his garb did not indicate
him being a saint. Since he was accompanied by his wife Aaisaheb, people were
unable to know his true identity and on the contrary they used to ridicule him..
But the temple worshipper got visionary insight about him and through this
worshipper, people came to know about the greatness of, Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
Even then people who had gained half
the spiritual knowledge, used to come there, to test Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Since
Shree Beedkar Maharaj was already having intuitive knowledge, he used to already
know about the real motive of the people coming there, and used to expose them
openly.
In Audumber, there was a person called
Pangale Shastri, who used to perform various religious ceremonials to obtain Siddhis33.
When he met Shree Beedkar Maharaj, he was pulled up by Shree Beedkar Maharaj
who advised Shastriji “In a holy place like this, by muttering sacred hymns and
obtaining a mean type of siddhi, for the benefit of monetary gains, for gratification
of the senses and for the establishment of greatness, was a sure way to hell
and ultimately, you would writhe with pain due to worms in your mouth”. This
piercing advice of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, sorely affected Shri Shastriji. But
he did not change his principles. He became a very rich man on the strength of
his siddhi. But within a few days he became sick, due to indigestion and he
really experienced the writhing of worms in his mouth. Ultimately, he again
went to Shree Beedkar Maharaj and totally surrendered to him.
After staying in Audumber for two
months, Shree Beedkar Maharaj proceeded to the holy place-Narsobawadi. From
there he then proceeded to holy places, Ambabai (Kolhapur Dist.), and Jyotiba,
nearby. At Jyotiba, Lord Jyotiba (Lord Shiva) personally appeared before
Aaisaheb, the wife of Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Further as per the request of Shri
Khatyal, the temple worshipper of Lord Jyotiba, Shree Beedkar Maharaj gave him spiritual
advice and showed him the path of virtue.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj, wanted to
check up the effectiveness of the holy places, Dehu and Alandi (Pune Dist), so he
again left his house and started for his journey with only two dhotee8.
It appeared as though his welfare
was totally dependent on God himself. This was evident from the fact that
different people got visionary insight at different times, for making advance
arrangement for his stay and food etc. This clearly shows the extent of
graciousness of the Lord, to those who have sought his shelter.
In Alandi also saint Shree
Dnyaneshwar Maharaj, gave visionary insight to a Brahmin and arranged for the complete
hospitality of Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
Here an interesting incident took
place. Saint Shree Dnyaneshwar Maharaj sent a beautiful lady, in the service of
Shree Beedkar Maharaj to test his divine nature, acquired by penances as well
as his fortitude and moral endurance. Shree Beedkar Maharaj, who was above all
worldly pleasures and who was one with Parabrahma42, passed this
test.
Next day before leaving for the holy
place Dehu, Shree Beedkar Maharaj went to meet the Saint Shree Narsimha
Saraswati Maharaj in Alandi, to pay obeisance.. Both of them had a conversation
about the subject Parmarth23.
When Shree Beedkar Maharaj, arrived
in the holy place Dehu it was a day prior to Gokulashtami43. The
people of Dehu were preparing for observing fast on the Gokulashtami day and as
such nobody paid any attention to Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Hence he did not get
any food to eat, but at about midnight, a
householder brought and gave him one vati (small cup) full of Prasad44.
On the following day, he visited the
grand but ancient temple of Lord Shiva, situated at the foot of Bhalchandra Hill. As he was about
to go inside the innermost part of the temple, where the idols of deities are
kept, and give a bath & offer nirgudi leaves to the idol of Lord Shiva, a Cobra,
appeared before him and blessed him. With this blessing, he entered the
innermost part of the temple, with confidence and worshipped Lord Shiva.
Here also, in and around the Temple there was no sign of anyone either
visiting this temple or cleaning the surroundings or worshipping the idol of
Lord Shiva, but still he found a pillar of man’s height, standing in the corner
of the innermost part of this temple. On the pillar, there was an earthen pot,
containing an oil bottle, matchbox, a small rice bag, a small flour bag, a
small pipe, two small vessels, a small culinary pot, a small ladle, and even a
small money bag. He was very much surprised to find these items arranged
properly in the pot, probably by Lord Shiva, entirely for his use. He cleaned
the temple, then lighted an oil lamp, and made the temple lustrous. Then he
worshipped the idol of Lord Shiva, offered food and sat before Lord Shiva,
meditating. Here at midnight, a miracle took place and Lord
Shiva and Goddess Parvati, appeared before Shree Beedkar Maharaj, and blessed
him.
He climbed the Bhalchandra Hill
alone, though it was very difficult to climb as it was infested by tigers. He
went to the spot previously occupied by the saint Shree Tukaram Maharaj and sat
there for meditation. On the third day an Avadhoot (an incarnation of three
headed God Dattatreya) with a Trishul45 in hand, appeared before
Shree Beedkar Maharaj and spoke to him “I am the ultimate of all yogas46.
I am the Omnipresent and Omniscient. I am the Supreme Living Entity of all the
living entities. I alone am maintaining all life. The saints like Shree
Dnyaneshwar Maharaj and Shree Tukaram Maharaj also had realised, that there was
no separate existence. Hence instead of persisting here please depart from this
place”.
As per this command of the Avadhoot,
Shree Beedkar Maharaj left the Bhalchandra Hill and went to Bhandara Hill and
then came to Dehu. From Dehu, he went to Chinchwad in Pune and visited the
temple shrine of Shree Morya Gosavi, took the blessings and then took rest in
the same temple-shrine. Shree Ganapatrao Maharaj, the person in charge of the
temple-shrine, made all the arrangement for the stay of Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
After Chinchwad, Shree Beedkar Maharaj returned to Pune.
Due to the deteriorating financial
condition, Shree Beedkar Maharaj was indirectly benefited in a big way, as all
his relatives as well as his friends, stopped visiting his house and Shree
Beedkar Maharaj could calmly concentrate on deep meditation .
His daily routine was to sleep after
11.p.m. at night and not to come out of the room till 11.a.m. in the morning.
He was following this routine very strictly since he did not want any hindrance
in his deep meditation. The wife of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, though, she was
affectionate, straightforward, frank and generous, was stubborn with desire for
riches. Because of her constant teasing nature, he got so much disturbed that
he finally sold his own house, to maintain his family.
As Shree Beedkar Maharaj used to get
himself absorbed in deep meditation day and night, his wife was getting very angry
about him, on account of the shortage of money in the house. His wife Smt.
Janakibai (Aaisaheb) did not come to know about the greatness of her husband
till her death, as she could not realize the true identity of Shree Beedkar
Maharaj.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj, who was
always busy enjoying Supreme bliss, did not like that his unsought conduct
should burden other people. So he decided to make at least one trip in a year
for selling perfumes. He used to start on Kojagiri47, full
moon day, for selling his perfumes and return home only on Narak Chaturdashi48
day. He did this business till 1896, purely for shouldering family
responsibility. But that year a miracle took place. The empty perfume bottles
kept in the box, were found to be spontaneously filled up with perfume. It was
a great miracle, and he thought “He who fills my bottles with perfume, would he
neglect me even if I sit at home?” With this thought from that day onwards,
Shree Beedkar Maharaj decided to stop his business.
After 1896 onwards, the livelihood
of Shree Beedkar Maharaj was being looked after by the Supreme Lord. During
the year 1896, the epidemics of the plague spread every where in Pune, which
was at the time, under British Rule. The British soldiers used to go from door
to door to check for any plague patients. But Shree Beedkar Maharaj used to
stop these soldiers from entering the house, by uttering loudly in broken
English “Temple, God, Cooking room”. By hearing
these words, the British soldiers used to turn back from the door of his house.
Once due to an anonymous complaint,
from public, a British soldier came to his house for inspection and he started
going inside without caring for the objections raised by Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj tried to stop him by force and the soldier slipped and
fell down on the staircase. His leg was injured. The people in his locality
were happy that Shree Beedkar Maharaj would now be arrested and taken away. On
the contrary the injured soldier was scolded upon by the British
officer-in-charge for entering the house of Shree Beedkar Maharaj. This
surprising event took place due to the strong impression made by the brilliant
speech of Shree Beedkar Maharaj on the British officer-in-charge.
Afterwards, Shree Beedkar Maharaj
went to Saptashringee hill where the temple of Goddess
Saptashringee is
located. There he met his fellow student a great yogi who had attained
perfection, Shree Sadanand Swamy. On the eastern side of the Saptashringee
hill, there was a frightful broken cliff (a high steep rock) located on a great
height and called as sheetkhada. It was an existent custom that to avert
a great calamity in one’s life, one takes a vow to jump down, risking one’s
life, from this frightful cliff. Shree Sadanand Swamy while chit-chatting,
asked Shree Beedkar Maharaj “Would you be able to jump down from this cliff?”
Shree Beedkar Maharaj replied “Why me alone, I can take you with me and
jump down.” By saying so, Shree Beedkar Maharaj grasped the hand of Shree
Sadanand Swamy and jumped down from the cliff. It was safely done except for
the minor sprain, in their legs. Shree Sadanand Swamy remarked “I was totally
insignificant before you.”
From Saptashringee, Shree Beedkar
Maharaj returned to Pune and changed his residence from Kasaba Peth to
Shukrawar Peth and took a place on rental, in Galimkar Mansion.
As the piles problem became more
severe, Shree Beedkar Maharaj was brought to Thane (Mumbai) for treatment, by Shri
Balawantrao, who was rendering personal service in his sickness. There was no
improvement by the medicines. Finally, Shree Beedkar Maharaj stopped all the
medicines and continued the treatment only by drinking buttermilk for one week.
As a result of this treatment, the lump, which had formed in the groin, due to
the plague, burst open on its own. This was a clear indication, of the
fearlessness, self-confidence and the control of body and mind of Shree Beedkar
Maharaj. After recovery Shree Beedkar Maharaj returned to Pune.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj used to fall
sick very often. To render personal service to Shree Beedkar Maharaj, Shri
Balwantrao Bhagwat used to come to Pune now and then. The relatives and known
people of Shri Balwantrao also started visiting the house of Shree Beedkar
Maharaj. When the disturbance from the visiting crowd became intolerable, Shree
Beedkar Maharaj used to put up a fierce external appearance and start uttering
abuses to the people, so that people avoid coming to him. Even then when the
friends of Shri Balwantrao came to meet him, they would expect milk, tea, maize
spikes, groundnuts, cucumbers, figs, mangoes, etc. For all this money was needed.
When Shri Balwantrao used to prepare
the list of items to be brought, Shree Beedkar Maharaj used to put his hand
below the mattress and take out the required money. Once Shree Balwantrao made
sure that there was no money below the mattress, but when the time came for him
to buy groceries, Shree Beedkar Maharaj as usual, put his hand below the
Mattress and gave him the right amount to buy the required groceries. Shri
Balwantrao never understood the source of this money and used to get very much
surprised. This was just a tiny fraction of the superhuman powers that Shree
Beedkar Maharaj had and utilized it nearly for two years.
Shri Balwantrao went to different
places and tried to attain superhuman power (siddhi), just like Shree Beedkar
Maharaj, but did not succeed. Later on Shree Beedkar Maharaj advised him “with
determination, love and with full attention, carry on meditation. With
practice, you can achieve the object. You have to always try to acquire the
fruits by unflinching faith.”
After this Shri Balwantrao went to
Thane (Mumbai) without the approval of Shree Beedkar Maharaj and died there due
to plague. Shree Beedkar Maharaj was under severe shock but this itself was the
testing time for his endurance. Actually he had become very weak, due to the
severity of the piles. His wife, (Aaisaheb) suffered from plague and became
deaf and very weak which added to his misery.
Further, Dr. Narayanrao Ranade, who
used to come to him regularly, also suffered from plague. But Shree Beedkar
Maharaj instead of admitting Dr Narayanrao to the plague Hospital, served him
personally & thoroughly, even by feeding him with sweet dishes, like kheer
and shira. Later, due to the kind grace of Shree Beedkar Maharaj,Dr. Narayanrao
Ranade was saved from the jaws of death.
Though Shree Beedkar Maharaj was
suffering, under these traditional circumstances of calamities, the Supreme
Lord was fully supporting him and somebody always used to come with the
necessities, required for his day to day welfare. On account of the ill-health
of his wife, Shree Beedkar Maharaj took her to a village Shirdona, for a change
of climate. In Shirdona, he came across a great devotee of Lord Ganesh, Shree
Damodar Balawant Bahutule alias Anna Maharaj, who was also a great celibate from
the beginning. Right from the year 1903 Shree Anna Maharaj came and stayed with
Shree Beedkar Maharaj to render personal service, to Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
Before taking Mahasamadhi (the last conscious communion with God) Shree Beedkar
Maharaj nominated Shree Anna Maharaj ,to take his place. Shree Anna Maharaj
looked after the seat of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, with great devotion for twelve
years.
From the village Shirdona, Shree
Beedkar Maharaj, proceeded to another holy place Bhimashankar and from
Bhimashankar, he came back to Pune and again changed his residence.
So during the year 1903 onwards, he
started staying in a newly purchased house with sr.no 191, in Shaniwarpeth.
There was a small temple of Lord Shiva, in the house. Shree Beedkar Maharaj also installed the
photographs of Lord Dattatreya, Hanuman (Monkey-God), Shree Akkalkot Swami
Samarth, Shree Narsimha swami as well as the photographs of saints like Shree
Dnyaneshwar Maharaj, Shree Ramdas Swami, and Shree Narsimha Saraswati. Along
with these photographs, there were also photographs of Shree Beedkar Maharaj,
as well as that of Aaisaheb. Shree Beedkar Maharaj started the daily ritual of
garlanding all the photographs, along with that of his family deities. One day,
the florist did not come with the flowers and to avoid any break in the daily
ritual of garlanding the photographs, Shree Beedkar Maharaj personally went to
the flower market and brought the flowers.
After coming to this new house,
there was some improvement, in the health, of Shree Beedkar Maharaj. The daily
time, to meet him and take his blessing, was fixed between 12.00 noon to 2.30pm
and 5.00pm to 11.00pm. During this period, the devotees
used to come for his blessings.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj used to start
extensive conversation with devotees, on any subject giving all details about
the subject. The very fact that Shree Beedkar Maharaj, could talk continuously
for nearly ten hours on any subject, giving full details, was nothing but a
divine miracle. The memory power of Shree Beedkar Maharaj was so strong, that
nobody could compete with him, in conversation on any topic.
A number of devotees used to take
benefit of these conversations. Some devotees who used to pass mischievous
pranks, at the cost of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, had to shamefully return due to
the effect of the harsh language used by Shree Beedkar Maharaj, in order to
expose them.
Smt. Godutai Ketkar was one of the
devotees, of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, with boundless faith. She came to him with
her grandson, who was on death bed. But Shree Beedkar Maharaj gave her a
mouthful of harsh words. Even then, she did not lose her faith and confidence
in him. She remained calm. In the evening, her grandson started improving In
health. In fact, the harsh words, spoken by Shree Beedkar Maharaj, became
blessings for the grandson. Shree Beedkar Maharaj considered publicity and
fame as a hindrance in spiritual life and so always wanted to avoid it. Hence,
he used to utter abuses and behave like a mad person, or a devil, so that
people avoid coming to him.
Keeping oneself in contact of this
world is itself one’s fate, which one should personally endure and finish.. These
were the golden words of Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Someone once asked him “When
you have the power, to do or undo things, why don’t you break the bad habits of
that obstinate person, in front of you?”. For that Shree Beedkar Maharaj
replied as follows “To the utmost degree, I have experienced the pleasure, as
well as the pain. I was simply possessed by egoism after I realized the power,
to do and undo things. By using this power, I have cured the illness of many
persons. I have accomplished the most impossible deeds. But now that my egoism
had been totally burnt and reduced to ashes, the question of my egoism
sprouting again, does not arise. My egoism had been totally surrendered at the
feet of my sadguru Shree Swami Samarth. Hence I do not have any authority over
my egoism”.
Since Shree Beedkar Maharaj had
attained the highest goal in the spiritual field, he always used to give a firm
advice to his devotees, who come to him for blessings. He used to say
“Everything is in your hands. Things would only happen, as per your devotion”
For the people with pride who come
and stay in his house, to render personal service to him, normally used to get
a rough treatment, with harsh words from him, just like a wasp, start stinging
its larva, and does not lose, the opportunity, to give its own form. The main
purpose of reprimanding the personnel staff by Shree Beedkar Maharaj, was to
reduce their egoism, and thus purify their minds. But in fact, there used to be
pure love in his mind towards his staff.
As per the golden words of Shree
Beedkar Maharaj just as one pays keen attention in one’s day to day
transactions, if one diverts, the same keen attention towards Divine Truth,
then the attainment of Divine Truth, would not be impossible. Because of this
external attitude of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, one would not know his true identity,
unless one comes in his close association.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj ordered Shree
Vishnupant Samarth, his brother Nath, and Gautam Shastri, to build a temple of Lord Dattatreya, in Nasik town and start rendering daily
service to Lord Dattatreya. This group started the work but realized afterwards
the hurdles in raising the donations, for building the temple. The main purpose
of Shree Beedkar Maharaj for ordering this group to build the temple, was to
reduce their egoism and awaken their self-confidence and strengthen their
faith.
After completion of the temple
building, Shri Vishnupant, personally brought Shree Beedkar Maharaj, for
celebrating the first anniversary festival of the birthday of Lord Dattatreya. A
number of hurdles cropped up during the celebration, but in time, all the
difficulties used to get solved easily. Not only did the loan taken for the
building of the temple got completely paid up, but there was also a credit of
rupees twenty-five, with the temple. All these miracles, took place only on
account of the Divine blessings of Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
During this period Saints like,
Shree Jangali Maharaj from Pune, Shree Bangali Mantrik and Shree Gopalbua from
Nasik, all respected Shree Beedkar Maharaj, as a fully realized saint (yogi).Also
Shri Beedkar Maharaj used to pay profound reverence to the great saints from
Maharashtra state during that period, like Shree Gajanan Maharaj (from
Shegaon), Shree Nanak Maharaj (from Sonagar), Shree Khalamma (from Bhusaval),
Shree Dhondibua(from palaos), Shree Saibaba (from Shirdi), Shree Gopalbua,
Shree Gangubai, Shree Avadhootbua and Shree Maulabua (all from Nasik), Shree
Jahagirdar (fromTrimbak) etc. Shree Beedkar Maharaj also used to advise his
devotees to take blessings from these great saints.
After returning from Nasik, Shree Beedkar Maharaj once again
changed his life style. He started playing the game of chess. Even though he
was playing the game he always used to educate the people around him including
the devotees as well as the personal staff, to reduce their egoism, purify
their minds and awaken their self confidence, while also strengthening their
faith.
The wife of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, Aaisaheb,
never realized the true identity of the saintliness of Shree Beedkar Maharaj,
till her death. But she strictly observed the principles of a chaste and
dutiful wife, as per the Hindu system till the end. She was very much
painstaking, affectionate, and that is why people used to call her by the name
“Aaisaheb”. After getting affected by plague, health of Aaisaheb had
deteriorated and she had vowed that she would leave this mundane world, earlier
to her husband, Shree Beedkar Maharaj. She was a real devotee of Lord Vithoba and
Goddess Rukminidevi. She had profound trust in the Hindu customs, viz. God
worship, pilgrimage, charitable acts, family duties, family traditions, feeding
thousand Brahmins etc, and she carried out all these customs, during her life
time.
As per her vow, she left this
mundane world on Monday evening Shravan Shuddha Shashthi year 1833, as per
Hindu calendar, and July or August 1912, as per English calendar, due to
typhoid fever, and earlier to Shree Beedkar Maharaj. Even during this period,
Shree Beedkar Maharaj was always in the ever blissful state of God
consciousness. He performed all the last rites of his wife, Aaisaheb, through
Shree Anna Maharaj (Shree Damodar Balawant Bahutule) who was staying with them
at the time and who was always treated as her son, by Aaisaheb.
After
the expiry of Aaisaheb, Shree Beedkar Maharaj used to say”My time is also
limited now”. Six months prior to this, he had given up his evening meal.
Two days prior to his departure from this mundane world, he prepared his last
will. His devotees very close to him, got visionary insight foretelling about
the departure of Shree Beedkar Maharaj from this mundane world.
After Dasnavami day (the birthday of
saint Shree Ramdas), Shree Beedkar Maharaj‘s fever began rising. To add to
this, he was still more perturbed by the severe piles problem. On the Shivratri49day
he began vomitting, and his illness became more severe. In spite of this severe
illness, he always used to give advice to the devotees, close to him and
present there, about the duties to be performed and the manners of good
behaviour etc. In the end, he used to say, “All of you please go away from
here. Let me endure my fate”. From Monday evening onwards, he started getting urinary
problems. While enduring his fate, he used to utter “Ambe, Ambe, Sadguru,
Sadguru”. At night, after 10.45 p.m.
onwards, he did not speak a single word. He concentrated his sight in the
centre of the eye brows.
On Tuesday, 1st April 1913 (Falgun Vadya Dashami Shake 1834 as
per Hindu Calendar), Shree Beedkar Maharaj, took Mahasamadhi. He had not made any
preparation for his Samadhi, as he used to say “After death what difference
does it make, whether this body is burnt to ashes or buried in the ground”. On
account of this remark his body was cremated as per the Hindu rites.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj was a much-loved disciple, and
an ardent devotee of Shree Akkalkot Swami Samarth. He endured his fate without
any grumbling, till the end. He always used to explain the key secrets of life
to the people around him, including the devotees and personal staff and
persuade them to shed their egoism, purify their minds, awaken their self
confidence and strengthen their faith. He completely surrendered his self, and
became one with the universal Soul, also known as Eternal Element, the Supreme
Entity or the Supreme Almighty. To surrender one’s self to the Supreme Almighty
and become one with it, was the highest stage of devotion and thus Shree
Beedkar Maharaj attained eternal bliss.
His human body which was constituted of five great
elements i.e. earth, water, fire, air and ether, got finally merged in those
five elements.
It is still experienced that the devotees who pray
him with unadulterated dedication receive his full blessings.
-------------------
(Wife of Shree Beedkar
Maharaj)
1 Vasudev
Cap Special type of cap worn by mendicants
2 Tulsibaug
& Belbaug Places
in Pune city
3 Pandharpur A
holy place in Maharashtra famous for the
Deity Vithoba
4 Palakhi Palanquin
carrying the idol of Lord Vithoba who is
the Incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
5 Badawa Worshipper
priest of the deity Vithoba.
6 Dhule A
city in the State of Maharashtra.
7 Saptashringee
A place located in Nasik
– Maharashtra State.
8 Dhotee The
traditional Indian cotton trouser.
9 Sanyasi Ascetic.
10
Veeda Roll
of betel leaves with thirteen constituents
including
Saffron and musk.
11 Samai Upright
metal lamp stand.
12 Puneri Shoes Special
type of shoes made in Pune,
Maharashtra.
13 Hanuman Monkey
God. As per Hindu religion
Hanuman was a great devotee of Lord Rama – the incarnation
of Lord Vishnu.
14 Brahmins The
traditional higher caste wherein the person
is a expert in the knowledge of Veda's & other Vedic texts.
15
Jahagirdaar Holder
of Govt. land.
16
Fakir A
Muslim mendicant.
17
Avalia A
man absorbed in contemplation.
18
Pooja Sahitya Materials
and objects needed to worship a
deity.
19
Sadgururaj Mauli A
good preceptor is looked upon as a mother.
20
Samadhi Superconscious
experience.
21 Vairagya Non-attachment for worldly pleasures.
22 Dakshina Money
given to the Brahmin as fees as per the
Hindu custom.
23 Paramartha The
highest and the most excellent object
Viz. The attainment and enjoyment of
the
Divine Nature.
24 Ashthagandha A
mixture of a variety of perfumes.
Normally 8 different kinds of
perfumes.
25
Kedgaon Near
Nagar District, Maharashtra State.
26
Raver The
then Khandesh State,
Now in Maharashtra
state.
27
Kalyan Place in Maharashtra state.
28
Parikrama Pradakshina
- Circumambulation.
29
Muth Temple-shrine.
30 Gabhara The
innermost room in a temple where the idol
of the deity is installed).
31 Upasana Worship
32 Swaroop Sampradaya A
sect, wherein the aspirant concentrates on
viewing the ‘Atman’ – the soul
33 Siddhi Superhuman
power gained by awakening the
Kundalini.
34 Dharmashala A
charitable institution meant for
accommodation of travellers
35 Yogi Ascetic
36 Mathadhipati Head
of the Temple Shrine
37 Mela Fair
- Social Gathering
38 Siddha
Purush Fully realized Saint. A Saint who has reached
the pinnacle of spirituality.
A
person who is ONE with God.
39 Gunas Attributes
40 Tamo
Guna Ignorance Attribute
41 Satva
Guna Wisdom Attribute
42 Parabrahma Almighty
God
43 Gokulasthami The
birth day of Lord Krishna. It is celebrated
on the twenty third
day of Shravan month as per Hindu calendar, and August
month as per English calendar
44 Prasad Food
offered to deity.
45 Trishul The
trident of Lord Shiva.
46 Yoga Yoga
means concentrating the mind upon the
Supreme Lord by controlling the ever
disturbing senses.
47 Kojagiri The
Full Moon night spent in,the month of
Ashwin as per Hindu Calendar and October.
Or November as per English Calendar.
48 Narak
Chaturdashi This comes on the fourteenth day of the
second fortnight of Ashwin month, as per Hindu Calendar and
October or November month, as per English calendar.
49 Shivratri The
night of the fourteenth day of second
fortnight of a month.
50 Mahasamadhi The
last conscious communion with God
51 Alchemy The
art of converting base metals into Gold.
Temple Information
Shree Sadguru
Baba Maharaj Sahasrabuddhe Samadhi Mandir
&
Shree Sadguru Digambardas Maharaj
Samadhi Mandir
937 / D, Chatushrungi Road,
Near Dnyaneshwar Paduka Chowk,
Shivajinagar,
PUNE
Pin Code : 411 016.
Maharashtra
State
INDIA
Phone : 020-5655021
Timings : 06.30
A.M. to 11.00 A.M. and 03.30
P.M. to 06.00 P.M. (IST)
Akkalkot-Niwasi
Shree Swami Samarth Mandir
Shree Swami
Samarth Nagar,
Off Four Bunglows,
Andheri (West),
MUMBAI
Pin Code : 400 053
Maharashtra
State
INDIA
Phone : 022 - 633 30 30
Timings : 06.00
A.M. to 11.00 A.M. and 04.00
P.M. to 09.00 P.M. (IST).
Shree
Shiv-Samarth Gad and Temple Campus
Shree Kshetra
Dervan,
Tal. Chiplun,
Dist. RATNAGIRI
Pin Code : 415 606
Maharashtra
State
INDIA
Phone : 02355-34049
Timings : Gad - 08.00 A.M. to 06.00 P.M. (IST)
Temples - 08.00 A.M. to 12.00 Noon and 02.00 P.M. to 06.00 P.M. (IST)
Shree Kshetra Dervan - located on Durgawadi road, 3 kms. from Savarde. Savarde
- a village on Mumbai - Goa highway, 16 Kms. from Chiplun
1. Shri Sadguru Ramanand Beedkar Maharaj Yanche
Charitra
Author: Late Lakshaman
Ganesh Bapat
