Shree Swami Samarth Maharaj

A Short Biography of Shree Swami Samarth 72
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Alavani Buva Gets ‘Darshan’ of Sri Swami Samarth At Puri
Alavani Buva of Baroda in Gujarath had gone with some people to Jagannath
Puri, a holy place in Orissa. There, all these people fell sick because of fever. They were
rendered immobile due to weakness. They were even unable to bring food from the
market. Unexpectedly Sri Swami Samarth came and stood before Alavani Buva. Seeing
the splendour and Divinity of Shree Swami Samarth, Alavani Buva offered his
obeisance. Then offering his praises to Sri Swami, he asked, “Maharaj, where do you
live? ”. Maharaj replied, “All the places belong to me”. So saying, Sri Swami vanished
from that place.
Alavani Buva and his companions were amazed at this experience. Later, they
saw sumptuous food served on leaf-plates placed for them. They all enjoyed the
sumptuous food. They resumed their journey as soon as their health recovered. Finally
they all reached Akkalkot in Solapur, Maharashtra. After taking ‘Darshan’ of Sri Swami
Samarth, they all remembered that, the great man, who helped them with sumptuous
food at Jagannath Puri, was none other than Sri Swami Samarth himself.
Arrival in Akkalkot
In this manner, after departing from Kadalivan110, Sri Swami spent long period
of time deep meditation. Later he went on a pilgrimage and performed numerous
miracles and then sometime during the year 1838, he manifested himself at
Mangalvedha, Solapur in Maharashtra.
Sri Swami remained at Mangalvedha, for about twelve years, but stayed away
from the public and in a desolate place. In this village there was a pastureland of a
person by name Patvardhan, where Sri Swami normally would stay. Whenever he
entered the village he would go and sit in a dirty place. Seeing this, some would call
him Digambar-bua 141 and some others would name him Veda-bua 142 . He would perform
a number of miracles, just for pleasure, which made people offer their devotion towards
Him.
One day all of a sudden, he left Mangalvedha and went to a nearby village,
Mohol. After passing sometime in Mohol, during the year 1854-55, he came to Solapur.
At Solapur there was a gentleman by name Chintopant Appa Tol who became a devotee
of Sri Swami. Chintopant was a Mamlatdar128 of the British Regime and he was a
pensioner. He was appointed in Akkalkot State. Only due to the invitation of Tol Sri
Swami Samarth came to Akkalkot during the year 1856 and later on remained
there till he took Mahasamadhi 143 . This is the reason he came to be known as
Sri Akkalkot Swami or Akkalkotniwasi Sri Swami Samarth.
141 Digambar Bua: Naked Man
142 Veda Bua: Crazy Man
143 Mahasamadhi: Last conscious communion with God. Fully accomplished yogis have been said to consciously leave their
bodies at their WILL and merge effortlessly into the transcendental Divine Bliss or the Supreme spirit.
Copyright © 2006 Shree Vitthalrao Joshi Charities Trust