024. Chintopant Appa Tol

|| Shri Swami Samarth ||

Sometime between 1854 to 1855, Swami left Mahol and arrived in Solapur. He stayed there for a few months at the home of Rambhau Gurjar.

One evening when Shri Swami Samarth, in His digambar form, was seated in the Datta Mandir, many people arrived for the darshan of Shri Dattatreya. Chintopant Appa Tol was also amongst the gathered devotees.

After receiving darshan from Shri Dattatreya, he was circumambulating the deity when he saw Maharaj and thought to himself, "This must be some siddha purusha." 

No sooner did he think this than Majaraj called him out, "I may or may not be a siddha purusha. What's it to you? Go your own way?" 

He was wonderstruck on hearing this and thought to himself, "He must be a mind reader."

Maharaj retorted again, "I may be a mind reader, or I may be anybody."

Tol was truly surprised. The display of any mystical feat surely warrants reverence and Tol did exactly that. After he had offered his obeisances to Maharaj, he invited Shri to his home. At his home, Tol worshipped Maharaj and offered naivedyam. After He had eaten, Tol arranged a place for Him to rest and continued to serve His lotus feet.

Tol was now fully devoted to Shri Maharaj. Seeing that Maharaj also reciprocated, Tol would frequently invite Maharaj to his home and offer Him naivedyam.

Once, Maharaj was seated in the front verandah of Tol's home. Tol was in the backyard completing his bath. Sohni was also in the backyard with him and Tol said to him, "Swami eats wherever He wants, and hence it's not right to seat Him with others during meal time." 

After wearing his dhoti, when Tol came onto the verandah, Maharaj stood up and said, "You discriminate amongst people, I will not eat at your house!", and began walking away.

Tol was repentant of the words that he had used when speaking of Maharaj and fell at His feet seeking forgiveness, and convinced Him to return back home and have His meal.

Vishnupant was Chintopant Tol's son and was a clerk at the collectors' office. Golatpeet was the collector and Hanmantrao Pitambar was his secretary. Both officers were strict and expected punctuality from their department staff. Their clerks had been instructed to be in the office by ten o'clock sharp.

Once, when Maharaj was at the Tol residence, Chintopant Tol bathe Him, offered worship, and placed a plate with the naivedyam in front of Him. However, Maharaj did not partake in the offering and the food on his plate remained untouched for a long time. 

Vishupant had to reach the office by ten o'clock and his father, Chintopant, suggested that he eat and leave. However, Vishnupant, who was a devotee of Shri Maharaj, decided to wait until Maharaj had eaten, no matter what the consequences were at the workplace.

At around eleven o'clock, Maharaj began to eat, and Vishnupant also had his food. He then got ready for work and left. When he reached the office, he placed his things at his desk and made his way to the head clerk to mark his attendance and to explain his tardiness.

However, the head clerk, Deorao, was surprised. 

"You arrived at work before me and I can see your attendance already marked", said the head clerk.

When Vishnupant checked the attendance register, he was pleasantly surprised that his attendance had already been marked for the day. When he narrated the incident to his colleagues, they were also surprised, and this continued to be discussed for many years going forward. We are told that this happened in 1856. 

Such is the nature of Maharaj's leela.

|| Shri Swami Samarth ||