Shree Swami Samarth Maharaj

A Short Biography of Shree Swami Samarth 222
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He was able to attain such perfection in Yoga-Vidya 298 that he could dive & sit
under water in a state of trance, absorbed in devout meditation for hours. Once when
was visiting Gondavale in Satara District, Maharashtra, he dived into a well and he did
not come out of the water for quite some time. People tried to pull him out, but
Gondvalekar Maharaj told them “Digambarbaba is practising penance under water. So,
please do not trouble him. He is a great saint”. Digambarbaba came out of water after a
few hours. He practised similar penance in Ratnagiri where Shree Sadguru Digambardas
Maharaj would take him in a boat in the mornings to a far away spot in the sea.
Digambarbaba would dive into the sea and practice penance for hours. In the evening
Shree Digambardas Maharaj would go to the same spot and call him. Upon hearing the
call, Digambarbaba would come out of the sea and then come back to seashore with
Shree Digambardas Maharaj. Digambarbaba practiced such penance for a number of
days.
Once when he was travelling to Sawarde from Mumbai in a ship, he could not
buy the ticket since he had no money. The ticket checker made fun of him and jokingly
said, “If you do not have a ticket, then jump into the sea”. Digambarbaba immediately
jumped into the sea. They stopped the ship and started searching for him. After about
an hour, they saw Digambarbaba swimming in the sea at a far away distance. The
fishermen pulled him in their boat and later he was seen on the dock at Jaigad port.
Digambababa Vahalkar Maharaj travelled to all the holy places of India. He
mostly visited places where Shree Swami Samarth had performed his miracles. He
desired to build a temple of Shree Swami Samarth near Vai in Satara District,
Maharashtra, and was busy making arrangements for the same. But Lord Dattatrey
appeared in person in his dream along with Shree Swami Samarth and ordered him to
renovate the Datta Mandir (Temple of Lord Dattatrey) at Sawarde, Ratnagiri District.
With cooperation from several devotees, the renovation of the Datta Mandir at
Sawarde was completed in the year 1915. The festive inauguration went on for one full
month. During that period, Digambarbaba directed a number of religious ceremonies
like Rigveda Samhita Swahakar, Ganapathi Atharvasheersha Sahasravartan,
Shatachandi Havan, Srimadbhagwat saptah and so on. There was Mahaprasad daily and
thousands of devotees attended the celebrations. In the meanwhile, all members of the
Vahalkar family fell sick with dysentery. Digambarbaba went into deep meditation and
realized that when installing the new ‘Padukas’ during renovation, they had forgotten
about the Padukas of Shree Swami Samarth he had brought from Shree Swamisut and
installed in the Datta Mandir before renovations. These ‘Padukas’ were now lying
outside the temple in the open, near the holy basil plant. He immediately picked up the
‘Padukas’ from that open place and placed them in the same old place where they were
previously installed. After this incident, the sickness of all his family members suddenly
disappeared.
Shree Digambardas Maharaj first met with Shree Digambarbaba Vahalkar
Maharaj in the year 1942. From then onwards, Shree Digambardas Maharaj was linked
298 Yog-Vidya: Science of spiritual discipline
Copyright © 2006 Shree Vitthalrao Joshi Charities Trust