Shree Swami Samarth Maharaj

A Short Biography of Shree Swami Samarth 82
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Within a few days the hanging skin dried up and everything became normal again. Now
the two-headed Bhimrao became single headed again.
Numerous Incurable Ailments
Vamanbua Badodekar had a number of incurable ailments like kidney stone,
cough, dysentery, rheumatism in the joints, burning sensation in the body, eye-disease
and piles. Day and night he was restless due to pain. He was not able to eat. Every five
minutes he had to go to discharge his bowels. Ayurvedic physicians as well as allopathic
doctors had given up for his life. He had no strength even to sit on the bed. He was a
great devotee of Sri Swami Samarth. With great difficulty he pulled on his life doing
Naamsmaran81, in that poor state of health. Then he wrote a letter to Sri Swami
Samarth praying for his blessings.
One day he was very restless. He decided to commit suicide by holding
his breath within, as done in Pranayam 152 , by drowning himself, in the Soorsagar lake of
Baroda 153 . Therefore he silently left his home and got himself drowned in the Lake. At
that moment Sri Swami Samarth himself appeared right in front of Vamanbua. Sri
Swami pulled him out of the water and slapped twice on his face and said, “You foolish
donkey, why do you want to die when you still have a long life? Does anybody escape
from this world till one undergoes all the sufferings as predicted by one’s fate? Why do
you get angry with me? Instead of going for complete absorption in God consciousness,
why do you go for drowning in water? ”. Sri Swami brought Vamanbua to his house and
said “Sit here quietly, otherwise you will get more insulted”. So saying Sri Swami
disappeared from there.
That day after a long period Vamanbua went in deep sleep. When he woke up in
the morning he felt that a major part of his pain had come down. After few days he got
an order from Sri Swami to come to Akkalkot. Therefore, he went to Akkalkot. He learnt
that Sri Swami had gone to the nearby village Maidargi. Vamanbua went limping and
reached Maidargi. Seeing Vamanbua, Sri Swami spoke “Are you not the same person
who had gone to get drowned in the lake? Has Soorsagar dried up? ”. Vamanbua
prostrated at the lotus feet of Sri Swami. By the kind grace of Sri Swami, Vamanbua
became perfectly normal.
Vamanbua Badodekar was a great devotee and a great Sadhak 154 . On account of
his accomplishment, he came to be known as ‘Brahmnishtha’. Sri Swami Samarth
himself had blessed Vamanbua by giving him the idol of Lord Dattatreya, who
personally installed this idol at Baroda. Vamanbua has given the praise-worthy and
detailed description of all the miracles of Sri Swami Samarth in his Granth 155 ,
Guruleelamrut. Devotees read this blessed Granth composed in metrical form
of verses with great devotion.
152 Pranayam: A mode of regulated breathing.
153 Baroda: Now known as Vadodara, Gujarath State
154 Sadhak: One who accomplishes by engaging oneself in a course of rites, observances acts and sufferings in order to
obtain Moksha or emancipation.
155 Granth: A Sacred book
Copyright © 2006 Shree Vitthalrao Joshi Charities Trust