Salutations to Ganesh !
Oh Shri Hari, you are the most auspicious.
All that is inauspicious
Vanishes instantly, when you shower
Your grace.
This is what all the sages have been saying.
So I beseech you,
Please shower your grace on me.
Please let not sages
Be proved false.
I am your child
Who knows nothing.
Won’t you remove all my shortcoming?
Once Maharaj along with others
Went to an orchard,
Where Bankatlal had grown maize.
The party wanted to enjoy roasted corn.
There was a well in the orchard,
So deep and cool!
There was a well in the orchard, so deep and cool!
There was a cool shade of tall tamarind trees.
Cow-dung cakes were brought
And arrangement was made
To roast the ears of corns.
About ten such agatis were made.
When fire was ignited,
Clouds of smoke rose up.
There were large honey-combs
Hanging up on the tamarind trees.
The wild bees with fiery stings got disturbed.
They attacked in thousands
All those who were there.
So, leaving all the ears of corn,
Every one except Maharaj,
Fled away, covering their faces
With coarse blankets,
Or dhotis or other garments.
Every one wanted to save himself.
For is there anything more precious to anyone
Than one’s own life?
But Maharaj did not stir.
He was in a deep contemplation.
What was he thinking about?
He was saying to himself,
"Have these wild bees any existence
Of their own?
Are not they part and parcel
Of the Universal Self?
I am the bees,
I am the large honeycomb,
I am the luscious ears of corn.
I am the eater and the eaten."
The bees covered Maharaj completely.
Not an inch of the skin could be seen.
Think of the innumerable stings
Planted in the delicate skin of Maharaj!
But Maharaj was all joy.
A couple of hours passed.
Bankatlal who had also run away
Was overwhelmed with sorrow.
He blamed himself
For having brought Maharaj
To the orchard.
"What a terrible pain
Have I inflicted on Maharaj!"
Said he. So saying, he returned
To the orchard. He was the first one
Who dared to return.
Maharaj was pleased with him.
Bankat was only devotee
Who at last cared to save Maharaj
From the deadly bees.
Seeing him approach,
Maharaj talked with the bees
And asked them to get away
And not to sting Banket.
So all the bees left Maharaj
And went back to their combs.
When everything was clear,
Maharaj said to Bankat,
"You have really given a good feast
By offering this humble body
To the wild bees.
When those poisonous bees
Attacked me, all those devotees
Who love rich feasts
Ran away from me.
Oh, Bankat think of this.
No one comes to your rescue
When calamities befall.
God is the only succour
When you are helpless."
Bankatlal was embarrassed.
He thought to himself ¾
"Had I not brought him here
To feast on the roasted corn,
This painful event would not have occurred.
Verily I am the most sinful person."
He wept bitterly when he looked
At Maharaj who had severe rashes
All over his body.
Bankatlal sent for a goldsmith
Who came with pincers
For picking out the broken stings of the bees,
Out of the delicate skin of Maharaj.
Maharaj said to Bankat,
"Oh Bankat, why do you worry?
The bees did not harm me.
Why, are they anyway different from me?
Are not these all, froms of satchidananda?
Can water harm water itself?"
Bankatlal had no answer.
He sat silently before Maharaj.
The goldsmith came there with pincers
And began to search for the broken stings.
Nowhere could he find a trace of stings.
After some time,
Maharaj held up his breath
And Meditated,
And all the innumerable broken stings
Popped out all over the body.
Men who saw this strange happening
Were convinced that
Maharaj was no ordinary saint.
Once Maharaj went to Akot
To see Narasinhaji whom he regarded as brother ¾
Narasinhaji ¾ a disciple of Kotashya Alli.
Narasinhaji was a great devotee.
He worshipped Vitthal.
Akot is a place about 70 km.
North-east of Shegaon.
Narasinhaji stayed in a forest
Very near Akot.
This was a deep forest
Of neem, peepal and anjani trees.
There were thickets of many creepers
Often frequented by snake and
oOher reptiles.
Narasinhaji always preferred
Silence of a deep forest.
When Maharaj went to see him,
Narasinhaji was pleased.
It was almost a meeting of Hari and Hara.
Or of Vasishtha and Parashara.
Or rather of Kohinoor and Kaustubha.
Or of Eagle and Hanuman.
Both the saints embraced each other
And sat together for a heart to heart talk.
Maharaj said to Narasinhaji, ¾
"You have done well,
You have a life of a householder.
I have abandoned that life
And I followed yoga.
When I gain some powers
It is very difficult for me to hide them.
I have to assume the grab of a mad man.
The scriptures say
That there are three ways ¾
Karma, Bhakti and Yoga,
Although they all lead to the same goal.
Outwardly these ways
Appear different.
If a yogi would take pride
In his yogakriya
How will he know the Truth?
Yogi must remain
Unattached to the yogakriya.
Similarly, one who is a householder
Must remain unattached
To his wife and children.
A flint is in the bed of a river.
But it is impervious.
Water does not enter it.
One must remain in this world
Perfectly unattached
And one must remember God
Who is Sat Chit and Ananda.
With this conscience,
What difference would be there
In you, me and God?
Are not they one and the same?"
Narasinha Baba was pleased
With his brother ¾ Maharaj
And said, "Oh brother,
You have done me a great favour.
What you say is true.
This world of duality
Is uncertain and
Evanescent like a mid-day shadow.
Who can treat it as real?
What you say is true.
I shall abide by your advice.
I wish we meet each other as often.
Am I not your younger brother?
I am here in Akot
Waiting for you even as
Bharata in Nandigrama.
It is not very difficult for you
To come and see me anytime
As you have the yogic powers.
A yogi can run on water
Without getting his feet wet.
A yogi can really go round
The world within the blink of an eye."
So both the sadhus
Spent the night
Talking heart to heart,
Such in the case when true sadhus meet.
But when two hypocrites meet
Only angry words are hurled
At each other with spiteful hatred.
The hypocrites are crazy for money.
Never seek their favour,
They are bound to sink you down
Even as a broken boat.
A hypocrite may have a band of followers
To make a loud propaganda.
But be careful and avoid such hypocrites.
All that glitters is not gold.
Do not go after a big organization.
Do not go after the bookish learning.
The real greatness of a sage
Lies in his experience of the Truth.
When people came to know
That Gajanan Maharaj was
In Akot to see Narasinha Baba,
They all hurried to the forest
With coconuts in their hands.
They said to each other,
"Make haste. Let us go and
See this holy duet.
This is verily the meeting of Ganga and Goda
In this forest of Akot.
Let us go to this Prayaga.
And have a dip in the
Holy confluence."
But Gajanan Maharaj
Was gone ere the people
Could reach the place.
Once again Gajanan Maharaj
Left Shegaon and came to Shivar ¾
a small place in
Taluq Daryapur.
Brajabhushan,
a debvotee of the Sun God,
Lived there.
He was an erudite person
Who lived on the banks of
Chandrabhaga ¾ a small tributory
Of Payoshni of Purna.
Brajabhushan bathed early in the morning
And worshipped the Sun.
Maharaj wanted to favour him.
Maharaj came and sat in the sands
Of Chandrabhaga.
Early in the morning
When the sky went crimson
And cocks crew
And chataka and bharadwaj f
Flew towards the east
To pay respects to the Sun,
In that auspicious morning
Maharaj sat steady in the sand
And his disciples sat around him
Even as the rays of the Sun.
Brajabhushan took a dip into the river
And offered oblations to the Sun.
Brajabhushan, when he glanced at Maharaj,
As resplendent as the Sun,
He came towards him,
And offered oblations to him
And washed his feet
And went round him,
Repeating the various names of the Sun.
Brajabhushan was convinced
That Maharaj had come there
To bless him, and that he
Was none else than the Sun.
He eulogized him
And fell at his feet with deep reverence.
Maharaj placed his hand on him
And blessed him and said,
"Oh Brajabhushan, carry on
Your worship, do not give up your path of Karma,
But do not get attached.
If you will not aspire for the fruits of actions,
Krishna, the Blue One, will come and meet you.
Go home now. I shall meet you always
Whenever you would think of me."
So saying, Maharaj gave him
A piece of coconut and bade him go home.
Maharaj returned to Shegaon
which was the same of Shivagaon.
In the days gone by,
There were seventeen Patils ¾
The village headmen.
Maharaj often went away
To visit place ¾ Akot, Akola
Or Malkapur or any such place.
Once, in the month of Shravan.
There was the annual festival
In the temple of Hanuman.
The Patils were great devotees
Of Hanuman. The festival used to last
For a month.
There used to be abhishek,
The reading of scriptures, Kirtans and bhajans
And distribution of food to
One and all.
Khandu Patil was the chief figure
In this festival of Hanuman.
So Maharaj came to see the
Hanuman festival.
He told Bankatlal that he would
Stay in the temple
And that Bankatlal should not mind.
The mendicants and sanyasins
Should not stay with householders
For long. So Maharaj said that
He would visit Bankatlal
Only when invited.
All the great sages
Shankaracharya, Macchindra,
Jalandhara ¾ all of them stayed
Away from householders and
Under trees in forest.
Ramadas, the revered guru of
Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire
Did not stay in a palace with Shivaji.
Ramadas preferred to stay
In Sajjangarh.
So at last, Bankatlal
Agreed and allowed Maharaj
To stay in the temple.
Bhaskar Patil was very happy
To receive Maharaj in the temple.
Bhaskar stayed with Maharaj
And served him faithfully.
Let this composition of Dasaganu
Shows the right path to the devotees.
END OF CHAPTER SIX