Shree Swami Samarth Maharaj

A Short Biography of Shree Swami Samarth 51
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the Brahmins and the devotees with sumptuous meals and then ordered his son
Nagnath to observe Anant Vrat. Sayamdeo remained at Ganagapur with his wife to
render devotional service and his family returned to Uttarkanchi.
Weaver Gets Darshan of Mallikarjun
When Sriguru was at Ganagapur a Weaver had become a great devotee of Him.
He would be so much engrossed in the devotion of Sriguru that after earning the
required money for his family’s maintenance, he would spend the balance of the time in
the ‘Muth’. He would clean and sweep the entire ‘Muth’ with great devotion and return
home only after taking Sriguru’s Darshan.
A number of days passed by this way and the festival of Mahashivaratri 94
approached soon. Majority of the village people started getting ready to go to the ‘Sri
Shail Mountain’ to attend the religious fair. Everyone who belonged to the weaver’s
community also planned to attend the fair. However, this weaver had taken for granted
that Sriguru himself is his Mallikarjun 95 and the ’Muth’ his Sri Shail Mountain. Hence he
was not ready to part away from the lotus feet of Sriguru. His relatives and friends
firmly persuaded him to accompany them to Sri Shail Mountain, but he did not agree.
They all left for the Mountain. When he went to the ‘Muth’ Sriguru asked him
“Everybody went to the fair, but why did you not go? ”. He replied “Oh, Lord, for me
you are my Mallikarjun!”.
Finally day of Mahashivaratri dawned. Right in the morning after taking care of
all the chores in the ‘Muth’, the weaver went to the ‘Sangam’. After bathing at ‘Sangam’
he started taking Sriguru’s ‘Darshan’. Sriguru was highly pleased with the undivided
devotion displayed by the weaver. Sriguru spoke to the weaver “Come, today I will
arrange for the ‘Darshan’ of Sri Shail Mallikarjuna for you. Sit near me and firmly hold
the Padukas76 with closed eyes”. The weaver strictly followed the orders of Sriguru. In
the twinkling of an eye, Sriguru along with the weaver reached ‘PatalGanga’ on Sri Shail
Mountain!
On Sriguru’s order the weaver opened his eyes. To his great surprise, the
weaver saw the majestic Sri Shail Mountain surrounded by natural beauty. The grand
temple of Lord Mallikarjun standing on the mountain, the flowing water of PatalGanga
River and the great crowd of people assembled there for the fair. Sriguru spoke to him
“Go quickly, bathe in the river and then take the ‘Darshan’ of Lord Mallikarjuna and
return back”.
When he went to take bath in the river, he met his village neighbours, brother,
sister as well as mother and father at the river. They all asked him “you were not going
to come here, then how did you reach here? With whom did you come? When did you
come? ”. The weaver replied, “I myself do not know. A few moments back I was near
the ‘Sangam’ at Ganagapur. Sriguru brought me here”. Nevertheless, people did not
94 Mahashivratri: Mahashivaratri is a great religious festival dedicated to Lord Shiva, held on the 14 th day of the second half of
the month of Magh as per Hindu calendar and February month as per English Calendar.
95 Mallikarjun: Another name of Lord Shiva.
Copyright © 2006 Shree Vitthalrao Joshi Charities Trust