Salutions to Ganesh !
Glory be to the Lord of Rukmini
Who moves about on the banks of the Chandrabhaga.
Oh my Lord! Please hold your graceful hand
On my head in benediction.
You are the lord of lords.
Why do you want to make a fool of me?
Burns away my sins,
Let me be in a jovial mood
To pray to you often and
To sing your glories.
If you won’t do this,
They blame You.
Those who are great
Do not let their honour get tarnished.
After the day when Maharaj
Entered samadhi,
People thought that Shegaon
Was forlorn, and that
Maharaj, who was the
Glorious sun of knowledge
Had set and that
Shegaon was now lost in the dust.
If the ocean becomes dry
And the blossom of a tree drops down,
Will they not look miserable?
Who will now go to Shegaon,
And for what ?
If there is no idol in a temple
Who will bedeck only the door with garlands?
People were saying so,
But they were all wrong.
The divine flame
Continued to glow in Shegaon.
Those who believe this
Are amply rewarded.
They get a vision of Maharaj
When they visit the place,
And their desires are fulfilled.
There was one Ganpat Kothade,
An agent of Rally & Co. in Shegaon.
He used to come to math daily
And used to recite stotras
Before the samadhi.
Once on the eve of dasara,
Ganpat thought of performing an abhisheka
On the samadhi and of feeding Brahmins.
He came home and sent provisions.
For the feast, to the math.
Ganpat’s wife said to him,
"Why are you so extravagant?
Tomorrow is Vijayadashami,
Should not you purchase
New clothes and ornaments
For your wife and children?
A man should earn and save money
And should not waste it over such things
As abhisheka and feeding of the Brahmins."
Ganpat did not like what his wife said
He said to her, "It is better to earn
Religious merit than to earn and save
And spend for wife and children."
That night Maharaj appeared
Before Ganpat’s wife in a dream.
Maharaj said to her,
"Do not go against your husband.
Discriminate between what is real
And what is unreal.
Money, food and good clothing
Won’t last long. What is lasting
Is man’s good and benevolent action.
Money spent in feeding others
Is not wasted.
It cuts asunder the knots
Of wordly bondage.
So, please, do not come in the way
Of the holy intension of your husband."
So, saying, Maharaj disappeared.
Next day the wife told her husband
What she saw in the dream.
Ganpat said to his wife,
"Look, our children, our property
Belongs to Maharaj. We need not worry."
There was one Laxman Hari Janjal.
Once he had been to Bombay
He was in a very unhappy mood,
And was much worried.
On the railway platform at V.T.
He saw a tall sadhu
With hands reaching to his knees.
The paramhansa sadhu came
Towards Laxman and said to him,
"You are disciple of Gajanan,
Why do you get despaired"
Did you not feed 400 men
On the anniversary day of Maharaj’a maha samadhi?
Don’t you remember that Gopalrao Pethkar
And Bapat had been there
In spite of the fact that Bapat
Had lost his son?
Gajanan had appeared in their dreams
And had advised them to participate
In the anniversary function."
Laxman was surprised
At these statements.
But ere he could do anything
The sadhu disappeared.
Laxman came home
And all his worries left him.
One Madhao Martand Joshi
A revenue officer
Had been to Kalamb
For measuring some land.
At the close of the day,
He desired to go to Shegaon
And have the darshan of samadhi.
He asked his peon
To yoke the canopied bullock-cart.
The peon said that clouds
Were gathering in the sky
And that it would rain heavily.
The river Man would be in spate.
Madhao said to him,
"Today is Thursday and
Nothing should discourage us
From going for the darshan of Maharaj.
We shall cross the river
Ere it rains."
They started and
Soon reached upto the river Man.
The bullock-cart was pressed into
The stream and ere it could reach the other bank
Water-level in the river rose.
It thundered with lightning,
The wind blew hard,
And both these men lost their nerve.
The peon said, "We are lost!
We shall die now and
Will be carried away to the ocean
By this turbulent stream."
Madhao was all prayers.
He sincerely prayed to Maharaj
Both closed their eyes.
The driver threw away the cords
With which the bullocks were held.
After a few seconds,
When they opened their eyes
They found themselves
On the other bank of the river,
On the way to Shegaon.
They came to the math
And bowed before the samadhi
And witnessed the procession of the palanquin
In the night.
Here is another story
Of Yadao Ganesh Subhedar of Hingani.
He was a trader in cotton.
In one year he suffered a loss
Of ten thousand rupees,
He was, therefore, worried.
Once he came to Wardha
And was sitting in a verandah
Of Vinayak Asirkar.
A beggar stood before him
He was dressed in the local fashion
And had a laced-cap.
He held a long stick in his hand
And his body was shaking
Due to old age.
When the bagger begged,
Yadao asked him to move on
And not to bother him
At that hour of the evening
But the beggar climbed up the steps
And entered the verandah
And forcibly sat near Yadao.
Yadao looked into the eyes of the beggar
And was puzzled.
The beggar’s eyes were as bright
As those of Maharaj of Shegaon.
But Yadao knew that Maharaj was no more
And would not now be seen
By his mortal eyes anymore.
Yadao, however, did not take trouble
Of pondering over the matter
And gave a couple of pices
To the beggar whereupon
The beggar asked for rupees.
The beggar said "You have been
Promising to give me enough
And seldom have you kept your word.
Did not you suffer a loss
Of ten thousand rupees?
Come on, give me whatever
You have in your pocket."
Yadao gave a few more rupees
And the beggar asked for more.
At last Yadao gave
Whatever he had,
Then the beggar said,
"Why do you entertain doubts
About Gajanan.
Remove your clothes
And stand before me.
Let me caress you.
All you worries would leave you."
The beggar caressed him lovingly.
When he was doing so,
Asirkar entered the verandah
From within the house.
The beggar then hurried away.
Yadao tried to follow him
But there was no trace to him.
Yadao then thought
That the beggar was no other
Than Maharaj.
The next day, carts loaded with cotton
Came to the market yard
Yadao got a good price
For his cotton and all the previous
Loss was wiped out.
Yadao had no doubt now
Regarding the identity of Maharaj.
Once Rajaram Kavar, the doctor
Was transferred from Khamgaon to Telhara.
He hired a bullock-cart
Which belonged to one in Telhara.
On his way he got down in Shegaon
And after the darshan of samadhi,
Desired to proceed further
Balabhau persuaded him
To stay overnight,
As due to vyatipat it was not advisable
To travel during the night.
But Kavar was keen
On proceeding to the new station.
The cart-man yoked the cart
And Kawar, the doctor proceeded to
The new station with the family.
They lost the way and
The cart came to a lake
And stopped. The way could not be seen.
The doctor got cross with the cart-man
The cart-man was baffled
As he could not find the usual way.
In fact he was a habitual
Traveller by that way.
And there was no chance
Of his losing the way.
After they waited long,
Doctor heard the jingling of bells
Of another cart.
He asked the cart-man
To follow the sound of bells.
The cart-man let cart follow it
And after some time
They found themselves
Within the precincts of Shegaon.
The doctor asked the cart-man
To take the cart to the math.
Balabhau knew
That Maharaj did not
Allow the doctor
To go an inauspicious day.
The doctor took Prasad next day
And proceeded to Telhara.
Ratansa Bhavasar
Had a son named Dinkar who had rickets.
The son became very emaciated
And the medicine was of no avail.
The disease was in its last stage.
Ratansa then took the son
And placed him at the door of the samadhi.
He sincerely prayed to Maharaj
And solemnly decided
To distribute Prasad worth five rupees.
He praised Maharaj and said
"You cast your glance at my son,
There is nectar in your eyes.
I am sure, if you will, my son will revive."
After some time the child,
Who was motionless so far,
Began to move limbs,
in a few days, Dinkar regained his health.
If you seek anything
At the feet of Maharaj
With sincere devotion,
You are bound to get it.
ChandraBhaga, daughter of Ramachandra Patil
Returned to her parents for maternity
From in-laws of Ladegaon.
After the delivery, she was attacked by navajwara.
It lasted for nine days
And made her very weak.
She continued to be ill
In spite of treatment by reputed doctors.
At last Ramachandra Patil
Suspended all medicines
But administered her the angara or holy ashes.
It worked. She recovered completely.
Faith and devotion
Can work miracles.
Janaki, wife of Ramachandra Patil
Suffered from reheumatism
Medicines would give her temporary relief,
But again the disease
Would flare up.
Many persons offered themselves to cure her
And took enough money from Patil,
But to no purpose,
He at last advised her
To visit the samadhi every day
This cured her within a few days.
When Balabhau expired
And his soul reached vaikuntha
Narayan had a dream.
He was residing in Nandura.
Maharaj came into his dream
And advised him to proceed to Shegaon
For the service of people.
Narayan served people
It is very difficult
To know the live of Gajanan
In its true perspective.
It is well-nigh impossible
For me to pen all the miracles.
I have noted what Maharaj
Wanted me to note.
It is he who caused me
To commit to writing these few events of his life.
The next chapter
Would verily shine
As the golden top of a temple.
Let this be offered to Hari and Hara !
END OF CHAPTER TWENTY