|| Shri Swami Samarth ||
Once Cholappa's wife had ground green lentils and had prepared a very good quality dal in a container. When no one was looking, Maharaj entered the kitchen, took some dal from the container, and fed it to the cow. He did this for many days and finally, there was no more dal left. Some days later, on the occasion of some festival, Cholappa's wife decided to make puran poli and went into the kitchen to get the dal. All she found was an empty container.
She suspected Maharaj right away as she was aware of His routine of roaming all around her home, and complained to Cholappa. When Cholappa asked Shri Maharaj about the dal, He replied, "How should I know? Your cow ate the dal! Ask her!", and walked away.
Cholappa was from a poor family and that is why his wife would get angry at Shri Maharaj when he would do such acts. She had not understood His true nature and thought that He was just an ordinary man.
The ruler of the princely state of Akkalkot, Shrimant Malojiraje, was informed of Maharaj's arrival in Akkalkot. They described Him as a sadhu who had come to grace Akkalkot. On hearing about Maharaj, Malojiraje said, "How do we know that he is a sadhu? I will only believe that He is a sadhu if He appears before me right now and gives me darshan." Just then, Swami Raj appeared in Malojiraje's court in His Digambar form seated on an asana in front of Malojiraje. After the ruler had the fill of His darshan, Swami Maharaj disappeared.
Once, the Governor of Mumbai was visiting Solapur on government business. He requested Malojiraje to come and meet him. Malojiraje, accompanied by this administrator, Chintopant Appa, began to make preparation to visit the Governor.
Chintopant suggested that they visit Cholappa's home and seek the darshan and seek blessings from the sadhu who was staying with him. If they did that, Malojiraje would surely be successful in any discussions with the Governor. Malojiraje agreed they set out to Cholappa's place.
Maharaj was seated on the verandah of Cholppa's home. He was in an especially angry form and Malojiraje could not muster up the courage to stand before him and stood standing near his palanquin.
Just then, Maharaj called out to him, "Come here!"
Malojiraje stepped forward and paid his obeisances to Shri, who took a sword from a nearby soldier and handed it to the ruler. Into Malojiraje's other hand, he pushed a spittoon. Then, after offering Him worship, Malojiraje went to Solapur.
The Governor was in a hurry to leave and the cannon salute, and the formal announcements that are the usual protocol for royal visitors were not carried out. Malojiraje was unhappy that the protocol was not followed.
Malojiraje met the Governor and was informed that the restrictions on bearing arms, which had been in force for some time, had been lifted. That is when he realized the significance of Maharaj handing him the sword. The spittoon implied that he would be insulted.
From then on, Malojiraje's devotion to Shri Maharaj grew, and allocated an allowance of five rupees monthly for Maharaj's worship and expenses, which would be handed to Cholappa.
|| Shri Swami Samarth ||
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