Shri Shastribua was a neighbour of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, at Kasaba Peth; Pune. He was good at oratory but he used to hate the fully realized saint like Shree Beedkar Maharaj. He was an astrologer by profession. Shree Beedkar Maharaj sometimes used to point out some of the wrong astrological predictions made by Shree Shastribua. This was of course not appreciated by Shree Shastribua. Once, when Shri Shastribua was camping in the house of Shree Beedkar Maharaj, he started to test Shree Beedkar Maharaj by saying that Shree Beedkar Maharaj can maintain his livelihood only because he was settled down in Pune and as such the real test would be if he could survive outside of Pune. So Shri Shastribua planned Banaras pilgrimage for Shree Beedkar Maharaj.
Shree Beedkar Maharaj with insufficient funds, successfully completed the pilgrimage of Banaras along with his wife and Shri Shastribua. During the pilgrimage, he was helped by the Supreme Lord off and on, either in the disguise of a friend or a rich man, and thus the urgent needs of Shree Beedkar Maharaj were met.
During the Journey a rich man, who had bet money on speculation, had approached Shree Beedkar Maharaj, with the hope of not losing his money in the speculation. The rich man was rendered valuable advice, worth remembering by Shree Beedkar Maharaj, who said. “Instead of offering your prayers to a man, you should surrender yourself to that Supreme Lord. If you keep unflinching faith in the Supreme Lord, he will certainly get your work done. You will get the fruits as per your own actions. God always dwells in your heart in wakeful condition. God always comes to know even about your secret deeds and you will get your fruits accordingly. If at all God or saint does something in your life; it is that they just give you sadbuddhi (good sense). Since you do not know the predominance of your destiny you should go on doing your actions”.
“If one takes a vow or does penance or religious meditation with the intention of committing some theft or destroying somebody then one might probably get success. But one should not forget that it would also be a start of one’s own destruction too”.
After staying in the company of Shree Beedkar Maharaj and by listening to his wisdom talk, which changes the tendency of one’s nature and also by seeing the actual miracles performed by Shree Beedkar Maharaj and by eating the sacred food, there was a complete change over in the nature of Shri Shastribua. Shree Shastribua later on requested the forgiveness from Shree Beedkar Maharaj. After being forgiven, Shri Shastribua returned to his own home.
In Banaras Shree Beedkar Maharaj was totally confined to his room since he was suffering from indigestion and piles. Only his wife (Aaisaheb) could go out and take holy bath in river Ganga, visit the temple and comeback.
The time taken by planet Guru (Jupiter), to travel from the sign of Aquarius to the sign of Pisces is considered as the period of pilgrimage for Kumbhmela fair. During this period, saints, ascetics, mendicants, come from different parts of India and abroad to take holy bath in river Ganga.