IN TIME AND IN ETERNITY:
ORIGIN BY BHAGAVAN SRI BHARADWAJA.(THE SUPREME MASTER )
We have already noted the fact
that Shri Swami Samarth stayed in the house of Cholappa for quite some time.
Afterwards he stayed for sometime in the royal palace. However, Cholappa
cherished a deep feeling that the mortal remains of the Master after his
niryana should be enshrined in his own house. Though he never expressed his
desire to the Swami, Cholappa perhaps believed that the Swami ho graced house with his stay for so long would not disappoint him inthis respect.So,in one corner of his house he dug a pit in the floor in which to interthe Swami's body when he casts it off.The same day,as though to answer Cholappa's silent designs, The Swami happened to pass by
his house. On the way he paused a little and looking at the house asked Cholappa
why it was dug. Cholappa hesitated to put his thoughts out verbally and so kept
quiet. The Swami smiled and said, “I shall put you in that first. I shall not
leave (the earthly abode) soon.”
A few weeks after,one day, the
Swami spoke to Cholappa in a strange mood of abstraction. ‘Son! We are about to
embark on a long journey. Would you serve me?’ Cholappa bowed in a silent
affirmation.
Nearly a year before the Swami’s
niryana, he threw numerous hints to his devotees regarding the coming event.
Firstly, he stopped sleeping on the soft bed. He got it rolled up and secured
on a tree.Sometimes, when his devotees were waving lighted camphor in front of
him in arati, the swami used to hold it up in the middle of it and throw the
burning camphor on the ground. One day the Swami five hundred dung cakes
through Bavdekar and got them carefully piled up over Siva lingas and set fire
to them. When they were burning the swami got five seers each of date, rice,
fruits and flower-garlands thrown in the fire. This took place in the mutt of a
zangam sadhu.The sadhu was wild to
see the Swami spoiling the Sivalingas that he established in the mutt, and
rushed to punish him. But as he approached the Swami he could not do anything
more than shout a little. The Swami did not pay the least attention to the
sadhu’s cries. The next day he got the ashes of the burnt out fire removed by
the devotee Bhujang.
To the wonder of the zangam
sadhu, in spite of fire, the lingas were quite good. Perhaps, through this leela
(miracle) the Swami signified to all that the destruction of his physical frame
would not in any way affect his existence and power even as the Siva lingas
remained unaffected by the fire.
One day the Swami visited the
house of one Tatya Subedar.As usual some of his devotees accompanied him.The
Swami ordered one of them to remove the big stone bowl which was intended to
house the tulasi plant to the distant tank, near the temple of Muraleedhar,
to be thrown into it. Further the Swami himself accompanied the man that
carried the bowl into the tank. When it was left in the water, the Swami asked all
the devotees to cry loudly producing the sound “Bum Bum.” This gesture stands
for bereavement.Then the Swami ordered Bavdekar to return to his native place
Barsi, and when he left, the Swami handed over all his playthings to one
devotee and wanted them to be given to Bavdekar.
Eight days prior to his niryana the Master
asked his devotees to chant the divine name. Siva Hara Sankara, Namami Sankara,
Siva Sankara Sambho, Hey Girijapathi Bhavanisankara Siva Sankara Sambho, and he
also joined them in the singing. That was the only occasion when the devotees
heard the Master singing the divine name.
During the last four or five days
of his mortal existence the Swami stated playing in a novel manner, by raising
small tombs with small pebbles.
On the day the Swami returned
from the house of Tatya Subedar he had slight temperature and seemed to have
recovered after a little rest. But soon the fever reappeared and he stayed in a
mangrove for four days.The fever went on rising .The Swami stopped taking his
meal.A devotee by name Sakharam Lakhande sought the permission of the Swami to
cnarry him in a palanquin to His favourite spot at Akkalkot namely the big banyan tree. The Swami nodded in assent and accordingly, he was placed under
His beloved banyan. The Master’s condition deteriorated fast. But the Swami
started going through all His daily routine like daily bath with meticulous
care, as though He was perfectly healthy. He never allowed anyone to approach
Him unless it was absolutely necessary. Sundarabai was the only devotee that
served Him till His last moment. No one had the courage even to request the
Swami to take His food. At last all the devotees expressed their wish to the
Swami through Sundarabai. The Swami agreed to take only two small spoonfuls of
food. While feeding Him Sundarabai asked, “When are you going to be healthy,
Swami?”The master replied in a quiet voice, “There is no question of my
recovering health any more. It is time for me to return to my original abode.”Sundarabai
was stunned to hear those words. Many doctors from all parts of the country
rushed to Akkalkot to try their best to keep the light of the Master’s life
burning. But the Master never allowed then to administer any of their medicines.
When his devotees pleaded with Him piteously to take the medicine. He swallowed
a little of it please them. But in a few moments it again came out of His
mouth. Once more Sundarabai asked Him, “Swami, when are you going to be hale
and healthy again?” The Master smiled and said, “When the mountains would
speak!” However, some readers feel that the statement meant, “When demonic
deeds stand frighteningly in the way of humanity.” Perhaps He meant that he
would reappear whenever great yogis who are established in yoga ‘firm as
mountains’, pray to Him to manifest Himself for the uplift of mankind. When
another devotee,Sreepad Bhatt put the same question to Him, the Swami replied
,“When Pandharpur would burn.” Some readers take this statement to mean,“When
the hearts of saints, sadhus and devotees would start weeping owing to the
demonic deeds of the wicked.” Perhaps it would mean that He would reappear when
dharma and spiritual knowledge are in danger of being annihilated.
The devotees realised that the
Swami’s end was near. One after another they bowed to Him and sought His final
message. The Swami said to Sreepada Bhatt, “Go and dig at the roots of the
banyan.” “Digging at the roots” meant the performance of tapas. He told
Ganpath Rao, “Stay in that same temple.” To Balappa He said, “Go and live under the audumbar (fig) tree!”
which meant that he should attend to his spiritual mission .To the rest of the
devotees He said, “ Tread the path of your ancestors.”Then the Master Himself
recited the famous verse (sloka number 22) from the ninth chapter of the Bhagavat
Geetha which runs thus:-
“For those men who worship Me alone, thinking
of no other, for those ever- united, I secure what is not already possessed and
preserve what they already possessed.” (Shri Swami Sivananda’s translation).
It was the month of chaitra
(April- May) in the year 1878, the thirteenth day of the dark- half of lunar
month (May 8).The Swami took just a spoonful of food at the request of His devotees.
He took the betel- nut which Balappa gave Him. When the Master stretched
Himself on the bed all the devotees kept looking at him pathetically. One of
them asked the Master whether all the devotees should perform anushatan
(special religious performances). The Master replied, “Anushatan is not necessary;
just release a cow and its calf that will do! Accordingly, a cow and its calf
in the cattle shed were untied and left free. At once the cow and its calf ran
into the Swami, circumbulated his bed, touched his holy feet with their heads,
and returned to their cattle shed to grace! Then the Swami spoke, “Meena (Pisces)
is my rasi (Lunar mansion in the astrological chart).” Then he asked someone
whether the planet Saturn was in that zodiacal sign at that time and
ascertained it. On that holy occasion al the devotees gave daanas (offerings to the Brahmins and the poor).One of them asked
the Swami, “Do you like to give any daana?” The Swami replied, “You may give if
you like.” (It must be mentioned that on the previous day the Swami got a shawl
worth Rs 350/- dipped in water and presented it to a Brahmin by name Ramasastri
Avadhani). The Swami added, “What do I have that I can give? I have only a cod –piece.
Even that is not my own and I will have to leave that too very soon.”
One of the devotees said, “Swami,
here it is very cold. Shall we take you into the house?” “No”, the Master replied, “I must
go and merge in this tree.” (Here we must remember that when His devotees asked
Him about His caste and parentage, the Swami long ago replied, “The Original
Purusha- the origin of the First Cause, the Banyan Tree, and Dattanagar).”
Even while the devotees were
looking on, the peace, radiance and intensity of the Swami’s looks greatly increased.
The Swami asked them to help him to a sitting position. Sreepada Bhatt helped
him to sit up. The Swami said, “No one should weep. I shall always be present
in all places. I shall respond to every call.” The Swami sat in the lotus
posture and at once merged his spirit in the Infinite. The closed eyes remained
still. Three white specks came out of his mouth. His face was full of life. Infect
all the devotees were hoping that their beloved Master would open his eyes to
cast his look of grace at them. Some of the devotees strengthened their hearts
with the parting instruction of the Swami; They took the event with equanimity.
But many of them broke down wailing, beating their breasts and rolling on the
ground and, some of them even fell unconscious.
The Rajah of Akkalkot took the
body of the Swami around the town in a royal procession The procession stopped
for a moment just in front of Cholappa’s house. The body was enshrined under
the banyan tree which was dear to him.
Saints do not die.They attain
immortality and can reappear in flesh and blood. Christ demonstrated it and so
did the Swami!
Later Balappa who was very close
to the Swami could not bear the sight of his Samadhi (tomb).He wept for days on
end and gave up taking food. On the third day the Swami reappeared to him in
flesh and blood! Balappa could not believe his own eyes. But the long hands,the kamandala(a saint’s water pot),padukas, his penetrating look were all
unmistakable. Balappa touched his feet in reverence. The Swami raised him up
with his own hands and said, “I have given you my padukas.I am there in your mutt
in the form of Absolute Consciousness. I love to receive your services there in
that form.” The Swami vanished as suddenly as He appeared!
Long before His niryana, the
Master promised a jagirdar of Neelgaon, by name Bhau Saheb that He would visit
his house some time, and poor Bhau Saheb was not yet aware that the Swami had
attained niryana! On the fifth day after the Swami’s Samadhi, Bhau Saheb, who
was sitting in his house received the news that the Master came to Neelegoan
along with his devotees. At once he and his family went and took his darshan.
The Jagirdar invited the Swami to grace his house. The Swami said, “I shall
come some other time, not now.”The jagirdar and his family went
home and, after lunch, again came to spend the rest of the day in the holy company
of the Master. But there was no trace of him anywhere. In great wonder he
searched everywhere in the village and sent a messenger to Akkalkot to find out
the matter. But even before the messenger returned, the Swami appeared at Bhau
Saheb’s house. The jagirdar requested him to dine in his house. The Swami
smiled in reply and in few moments, vanished into thin air! A little later the
messenger returned from Akkalkot and told Bhau Saheb that Shri Swami Samarth
took Samadhi five days earlier. The jagirdar’s wonder knew no bounds.
Even today Shri Swami Samarth
appears to His ardent devotees and He answers all prayers and petitions
instantaneously. May He bless all!
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PARIPRASNA: ORIGIN BY BHAGAVAN SRI BHARADWAJA
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