Reminiscences

ShriMaharaj was in Sajjangad to pay respects to Shri Samartha. A well-to-do but childless landlord who had his manor and farms in the shadow of the hill approached ShriMaharaj with a supplication that he may be blessed with a son to inherit the handsome estate. The following conversation took place:

ShriMaharaj ——You live right in the jurisdiction of Shri Samartha, and it is therefore proper that you ad­dress your supplication to Shri Samartha himself. Don't you think he has the power to grant it if he mean to Supplicant ———I agree.

ShriMaharaj -—— Then this is what I suggest: You and your wife should visit this Samadhi every day after the daily ablution, for a year. Stand before Shri Samartha with folded hands and pray thus:' We are happy and prosper­ous, by your grace; all that we want to complete our hap­piness is a son to inherit this estate. Please bless us, we pray, with a son if it is in our ultimate interest.' Do this daily for a year. If, during the year to follow, you are blessed with a son, treat him as the gift of Shri Samartha. If oth­erwise, your may conclude that it is not in your interest to have one, In either case, you will have a peaceful mind ready to accept either result calmly and cheerfully.

As luck would have it, the pair was eventually blessed with a son.

Reminiscences

A headmaster was a disciple of Kumbharaswami. He used to observe the practice of worship with great punctiliousness. Every day he used to get up well before daybreak, and completing his ablution etc., exactly at sun­rise he used to perform his guru's aarati. Observance of this practice went on year after year. Once he had fever. The temperature rose to 104 °F (40° c ). His family pressed him to perform aarati without performing the daily ablu­tion. But he would not listen. Immediately there after he covered himself and lay in bed. He fell asleep, there was a great deal of sweating, and his fever completely disap­peared. After this he happened to meet ShriMaharaj.

Complimenting him on his determination to observe the practice at all costs, ShriMaharaj said, "The disciplinary practices for the body are contingent upon the body's con­dition. Worship is mainly an affair of the mind. The pur­pose of a disciplinary practice is to mould and discipline the body and the mind. Till today you have observed the restrictions on the body. Now it is essential not to be bound down by the restrictions, and to go beyond them. It affects one vitally to break a practice one has preserved at all costs, but the root of this is in the subtle pride dwelling within. The subtle pride is, 'I have done this till today', therefore one feels bad that, 'I cannot do it now'. As a mat­ter of fact, whatever was done till today could succeed only because the sadguru got it done; the true doership is that of the sadguru. It is a mistake to take to oneself the credit of doership. One should exercise caution that some­thing does not fail to be done out of laziness, but if some­thing cannot be done because of the body becoming inca­pable, one should not be adamant about doing it. There should be total surrender. One should put an end to one's separate existence. By saying, 'whether it is done or not, either of it is his will', one also retains an awareness of him." After telling him this much, ShriMaharaj said, to him, "Do not forget that I am telling you all this in the name of your guru.'

Reminiscences

A person chanting nama complained to ShriMaharaj that he had a headache whenever he sat down to do it. ShriMaharaj expressed surprise, because actually namasmarana should bring calm to even a disturbed mind, and asked if nama was chanted as advised by the initiator. ' No,' said the person; ' he had asked me just to chant nama; but evidently it couldn't be so simple, so, as I had read in some books, I adopted the padmasana pose and fixed my gaze on the tip of the nose.' ShriMaharaj advised him to do nothing beyond what the initiator had asked him to. Very soon his headache stopped. ShriMaharaj explained this by saying that the initiator knows the disciple's capacity, to which he adapts his in­struction; so one should do neither more nor less.

Reminiscences

A gentleman had extreme fondness for meeting saints and Sadhakas. His luck too was such that he came to meet several saintly men, and he also obtained the benefit of close companionship of some of them. He also used to meet ShriMaharaj very often. During one such visit he narrated which saintly men he had met, and how and when, and how they took him under their fold. On listening to it ShriMaharaj calmly said, 'In that case you must have ob­tained initiation from one of these saintly persons !' The gentleman replied in the negative. Then ShriMaharaj said, expressing astonishment, 'It means that you have been to many weddings, but have not yet stepped upon the al­tar yourself ! So, I feel that you should get initiation of nama from some good person and get settled somewhere.' He was convinced by ShriMaharaj' s words, and he went to Alandi and secured initiation .

Reminiscences

ShriMaharaj was once talking with some gentleman. It was time for the customary singing of bhajan. Presently someone came and said, 'Maharaj, it is time for singing bhajan. Shall we begin?' ShriMaharaj assented. At once the gentleman said, 'Maharaj, this singing of bhajan so regularly, can it not be called a kind of addiction ?' ShriMaharaj promptly said, 'Yes, this can also be called an addiction. But this addiction is such that it frees man from the greater addiction (or peril) of recurring of births and deaths.'

reminiscences

A question arose why one does not develop a sense of complete surrender though one may chant nama and wor­ship God or the Sadguru. ShriMaharaj said, "A miracle wrought by one's identification with the physical self is that even when practising worship of God, one does not lose one's ego. Just consider this ! One says, 'God belongs to me'. While saying it the ' I' endures, and additionally one stakes a claim upon God. In saying, 'God belongs to me', a sense that God should act as one wishes, that he should satisfy one's desires, lurks. But a true devotee sin­cerely says, 'I belong to God.' In saying this one's being merges with the being of God. The ' I' does not exist as a separate entity for it to be able to have desires. This is real surrender."

Reminiscences

A disciple of ShriMaharaj once said to him, "Maharaj, please continue to bestow your grace upon me." ShriMaharaj then said, "A.guru who has to be told to be­stow his grace is not eligible for the status of a guru. His grace remains ever bestowed. No interruption occurs in it; but in one's asking for grace, the intention is that one should not suffer sorrow, or that things should turn out as one wishes. It is true that there is no limit to the sadguru's powers. But it is not proper to ask that by his grace he should alter the the allotments in one's lot . Sadguru does not avoid the fruition of a disciple's lot, but he safeguards the contentedness of his mind while he is going through it. From a practical standpoint he arranges for medical treatment and help from people. Thereby consciousness of sufferings in one's lot is diminished. The period of suffering passes quickly. Sadguru's grace is noticeable in his arranging for the painful experiences to be borne at one's convenience. At times the sadguru may take upon himself to suffer the tribulations of one who has completely sur­rendered to him; but one cannot expect or dictate it ."