THE DASBODHA BY: SADGURU SHREE SAMARTH RAMDAS ...

podium during his marriage ceremony he heard the Brahmins clattering loudly, “Beware”!
Immediately after hearing it he knew what it meant and just ran away from the scene and went to
the holy city, Nasik, where he started his worship of Lord Ram which lasted for 12 years. He did it
the hard way, many a times remaining without food or water, for days together. Every millisecond
of this time he spent in the worship of Lord Ram. During this time he was constantly guided from
within by greatest worshipper of Lord Ram, Hanuman. After 12 years of extensive Sadhana he got
the blessings of Lord Ram again and through him he also got the real knowledge and then he
embarked on a pilgrimage of most of the holy places of India which he completed in 12 years, bare
feet. After finishing the pilgrimage he went back to Mahabaleshwar. Then at Masur he celebrated
the birth day of Lord Ram wherein thousands of people took part in the religious activities. He
started gathering people around him which was essential for his ultimate goal of establishing the
Hindu religion in its original form which was in a shambles because of hundreds of years of
Muslim rule in the country. Next year he found the statues of Lord Ram in the deep waters of the
river Krishna near Angapur. He built a temple at Chafal and installed them ceremoniously
according to the Hindu tradition. He celebrated the birth day of Lord Ram that year at the newly
built temple.
The only Hindu King of any substance, who spent his whole life
fighting the foreign Muslim rulers, Shree Shivaji Maharaj requested Shree Samarth to accept him
as his disciple and knowing him thoroughly well Shree Samarth immediately consented. Shree
Shivaji Maharaj from this time onwards always took Shree Samarth’s advice in all the important
matters. Then Shree Shivaji Maharaj as a token of respect towards the Guru offered Shree Samarth
his whole kingdom, saying that he will look after it as only a caretaker, but it will belong to Shree
Samarth. Shree Samarth was moved by this gesture and praised Shree Shivaji Maharaj but told him
that anyhow he himself as Parbrahma was the Atman in Shree Shivaji Maharaj and hence this
wasn’t required at all. Instead he asked Shree Shivaji Maharaj to prepare his Empire’s flag in the
most sacred color in Hindu religion, Maroon. If at all any there will be very few parallels to such a
disciple and Guru.
In the meanwhile according to the wishes of Shree Samarth 11
temples of Hanuman had been established and the Head Priests appointed. Shree Samarth then
went to Jamb as his mother passed away. After returning back he went to Karnataka on a religious
upheaval mission. On way to Karnataka he established a Math in Miraj and appointed a woman
disciple, Venabai as the head Priestess. On reaching Tanjavar he was received by Vyankojiraje, the
brother of Shree Shivaji Maharaj, who was the King of Tanjavar. He also told Shree Samarth of his
desire to become his disciple to which Shree Samarth consented. At Tanjavar one of the very
revered religious figures, Pundit Raghunath also became the disciple of Shree Samarth.
After coming back to Sajjangad, Shree Samarth started writing his
epic, “The Dasbodha”. He also established a temple of the Goddess at the Pratap Fort. Shivaji
Maharaj used to visit him frequently for advice and seeing the qualities of this disciple of his, Shree
Samarth told him the crux of the ultimate knowledge which one has to acquire to merge with the
Parbrahma. He then completed the remaining chapters of the Dasbodha. After the death of Shivaji
Maharaj he wrote a letter to the heir to the throne, Sambhaji (Shivaji’s son) which is considered a
milestone by even today’s political scientists. His job of the Hindu religious renaissance done Shree
Samarth left his mortal body and finally united with the Parbrahma ending a life which was so
multifaceted that without his mention almost no field can be considered as complete. He left his
mortal body at Sajjangad at the age of 73 years.