|| Shri Swami Samarth ||
The King of Akkalkot, Maloji Raje, was fond of listening to discourses on Vedanta. He had appointed scholars like Rajshri Rambhau Chinchanikar, Gopal Shastri Harlikar, and others, to explain to him the Jnyaneshwari, Amrutanubhav, and other scriptures. He paid them a high salary. This continued for quite some time.
Soon, the accomplishments of Vishnubua Bhramhachari from Mumbai began to be discussed in the court at Akkalkot. Talks of him having defeated Christian padres in debates, and the wonderful discourses that he delivered on Vedanta, began making the rounds.
Maloji Raje invited Vishnubua Brahmachari to Akkalkot, and he came, and he spoke on Vedanta.
Bua wanted to speak on Vedantai in the presence of Shri Swami Maharaj. Thus, accompanied by three Parsi gentlemen, he received the Darshan of Maharaj and then began his talk. In the end, he posed a question to Shri, "How does one achieve God realization?", but He did not reply.
Vishnubua, who had begun to think highly of himself, thought, "Surely this Swami is not a scholar like me! He seems like a madman who has been declared God by these simple folk."
That night Bua dreamt that he was covered in scorpions and a scorpion stung him. He woke up frightened, and screaming "I am dead! I am dead!" His Parsi companions were sleeping close by and they woke up and comforted him saying that it was only a dream.
As he calmed down, he told them of the dream and they surmised that this may have been a consequence of his criticism of Maharaj.
After receiving Darshan from Maharaj, Bua once again began his discourse and at the end of the talk again put the question, "How does one achieve God realization? By what means?"
Maharaj then chastised him, "You are a donkey! You were covered with scorpions in your dream and were also stung by one of them. Yet woke up screaming and in fear and yet make big talk of Vedanta."
"Is God realization so cheap!? You are a bookish scholar! Just because you are learned does not mean you have any realization. Get up and get lost!"
Maharaj then communicated with Bua without speaking and that made him realize the error he had committed, and understood that Shri Swami Samarth is an Avatari.
Shri Swami Samarth stayed at Mangalvedha for twelve years but did not receive much attention there. He would rarely come to the village and would stay in the nearby forest. Even if He did come into the village, He would sit in some unclean place, eat anything that people would give him, and would then return to the forest.
No one knows if He ate anything when in the forest. The villagers considered Him a madman. Then after seeing some miracles, they became his followers.
In Mangalvedha, he was known as Digambarbua. During the same time, another sadhu, Balkrishnbua also received attention there for the miracles that he performed.
Once, he brought back the eyesight of a boy who was blinded due to some illness. When the boy's parents approached Balkrishnabua, he took the leaves from some plant, made a paste in his palm, and tied a poultice around his eye. He instructed the family to fast for three days and then remove the poultice. They complied. Lo and behold! The boy regained his eyesight on the fourth day.
Just outside Mangalvedha, there was a dried-up well. The nearby villages were dependent on it for water, and there was an acute water shortage everywhere. To alleviate the suffering of the people, Balkrishabua sat in the village for three full days. The water level slowly started rising, and when it reached the height of a man, Bua climbed out of the village.
Bua performed many miracles but unfortunately, there isn't any detailed record of these. Bua believed that Maharaj was God, and when Bua came to receive Darshan, Maharaj would stand with both hands on his waist like Vithoba, and Bua would place his head on His feet.
Balkrishnabua eventually went to Pandharpur and Shri Samarth came to Akkalkot.
|| Shri Swami Samarth ||
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