After completing my 11th standard from Patkar High School, I passed the pre-degree exams from Gogate College at Ratnagiri. In Ratnagiri, I stayed with my uncle Dattopant. Around the same time period, my elder sister, Suman got married to Professor Bhadbhade. He was the eldest of all my brother-in-law’s and was a Masters (M.Sc) in BioChemistry. He was a professor initially at Kandahar, Nanded District and then at Osmanabad. He further moved to Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district and finally retired in Kolhapur as the ‘Head of the Department’.
When he lived in Osmanabad, he invited me to stay with them and continue my education so I could get his guidance and at the same time be of help for him and my sister with the new baby they just had. My nephew Prasad was still a newborn. I accepted their courteous invitation and enrolled myself in Osmanabad for the Inter-science studies. After Inter-science, I got admissions for Engineering in Aurangabad based on my merits. I had to stay at the hostel there and eat the food served at the Hostel Mess(cafeteria), which impacted my health several times. I suffered severely from infections leading to bile problems of my liver, vomiting etc. The hostel food is usually prepared with carelessness unlike the home-prepared meals that are prepared with care and affection. They usually added baking soda to the boiled food like many hotels. I had to eat this food continuously for 4-5 years while at the hostel and suffer from ill health quite often.
In fact, I could not appear for my examinations for a couple of years due to bad health. I am still suffering from the side effects of that food until date. Therefore, I always advise people to avoid eating outside food.
I had taken sick during my holidays when I was studying at the Engineering College. During the year 1965-66, I had come home from Aurangabad for the Diwali Festival. My uncles Ramkaka and Prabhakar kaka had unexpectedly shown up from Ratnagiri. Prabhakar kaka asked me, ”Why don’t you come to Ratnagiri with us for 2 days and on the way we can even visit Khanu village”. Accordingly, after staying at Khanu for one day, we arrived at Ratnagiri to Prabhakarkaka’s independent house, which was separately built in the lower lane. Prior to this trip, I had been to Khanu during the year 1950-51 when I was still a child.
In Ratnagiri, I suffered from Paratyphoid. I was nearly close to dealth and even told my Doctor that I will be departing from this world at that point. I requested the Doctor to console my parents and I fell unconscious. In that unconscious state, I had many different types of illusions. In that illusion I felt the God of Death (Yama) and a buffalo standing before me. While in this state of illusion, I was speaking to my uncle that Yama had now come take me with him etc. My uncle got frightened and informed Nana via a telegram. Nana and my mother immediately came to Ratnagiri. In the illusion I once saw the luminous idol of Shree Vasudevanand Saraswati Swamiji dressed in red-ochre standing before me. He was holding an incense stick in his hands and the smoke rising up from that incense was moving in my direction. The mind of a person is very strange! Even at that time lying unconscious, guess what thought came up to my mind? I thought, how could this ascetic make contact with fire? But immediately after this, I came out of the illusion and became normal. Later, for most part I tried not to go to my relatives. It was almost certain that I would get sick when visiting relatives and the side effects accompanied me wherever I went.
When studying at the Engineering College, I once had a weird dream where a dreadful person threatened to cast an evil spell on me. I did not loose my balance even after seeing such an atrocious figure and courageously replied to him, “If you have enough courage, go tell my Sadguru (good preceptor) first and then try that experiment on me and see the results.”
In my early childhood years and even later, I often had a specific dream, which only stopped when I came to stay in the temple of Shree Sadguru Baba Maharaj Sahasrabuddhe during the year 1976. In the dream, I am wandering in a large dense jungle and suddenly come across a valley; I wonder how to cross the valley when I spot a tottering bridge made with thick rope and bamboo; I slowly try to cross the bridge but when I reach the center, the bridge breaks with a creaking sound and I tumble down in the deep valley; I have no injuries but am now surrounded with tons of serpents; the lubricous disgusting movements of the serpents around me make me shiver with fear. There are serpents all over the place! It felt as if I was in hell, ‘The Patala’. I desire to get out of there to a clean safe place but I am not able to move since the serpents coiled my legs. The serpents also fasten my hands tightly; I feel the cold, watery touch of the serpents on my neck and my back. In order to go far away from this horrible place, it was necessary to break all these serpent ties, which had gripped my body. I start struggling with all my strength and my entire body is dripping with sweat while my breath is blocked. I make useless attempts to move my hands and legs swiftly, but I am unable to breathe freely. By this point, I normally woke up from this horrible dream and noticed that I was totally wet with all the sweat.
Once awake I examined and confirmed there were no serpents near my bed and only then went back to sleep. During those days, I never slept without a mosquito net. I also ensured the mosquito net was tucked into the bed properly. I also took precautions to keep a flashlight with me inside the mosquito net. Even when I went to stay with any relatives, I normally carried my mosquito net with me. But after coming to stay at the temple, I never had that dream. When I asked Shree Sadguru Digambardas Maharaj about that dream, he would talk on that subject only if he was in a good mood. Otherwise, he would reply, “Why don’t you study yourself and find the answer! You want everything ready-made!”
I feel that these dreams were warnings of the difficulties I might have to face in the future. But the reality is that these dreams receded only when I came under the protection of Shree Sadguru Digambardas Maharaj here at the temple of Shree Baba Maharaj.
When I completed my graduation and became an Engineer, my father asked to meet with Shree.P.G.Kher, the Town Development Minister at the time. Shree Kher had stayed in our house during the freedom struggle and carried out his agitation for three years. My father was a Mamlatdar (sub-division Magistrate) at the time, so who would doubt that a freedom fighter might actually be hiding in our house. So, he never really got arrested. Later, his daughter was married to my cousin Shrikant Desai and the good friendly relations were now tied into a strong relation!
After independence, he became the Honourable Minister, Shri P.G.Kher. When Nana and I visited him after my engineering, we received a very warm reception from him and lots of good advice. He suggested that instead of me getting employment somewhere, I should start taking some Construction contracts; he even offered to give me some initial capital fund to start the business; he said if I stayed in Mumbai, he would ensure I get enough contracts for my business. But I stated my clear opinion that I did not have any tactics for business and that employment would be most suitable for me. I also explained my logic that if I took his money at that time and was not able to payback in case the business failed, he would loose the capital he invested in my business and would also spoil the good relations between the two families. In view of this, a Government job would be most preferable to me.
Shri P.G.Kher listened to my explanation and asked me to make an application for employment in his Town Development department. He asked my father “Where should I appoint him?” My father felt that Kolhapur would be a better place for a middle class person, instead of Mumbai or Pune. And so, on 12th August 1968, I presented myself in the Town Planning Department, Kolhapur. This was the end of my student life and we all moved from Kanakavli to stay in Tarabai Park, Kolhapur. In May 1969, my younger sister was married to Rameshrao Halabe and later I was also married in June 1969.
After retirement, Nana once shared his worries and anxiety with Bhau about still having two daughters to be married and other kids to be educated. But he had unlimited blessings of his Sadguru, Shree Digambardas Maharaj and all his problems were resolved easily. Nana had three very best sons-in-law one could wish for. Neither one of them had any addictions or even tea habit for that matter. The financial position of all the three son-in-laws was very good. All the three were good-natured and well cultured. Of my sisters, the eldest Suman got married while Nana was still working. Hence she had not join the work force. My second sister, Meena had served in a few ‘Leave-vacancy’ positions. But because my younger sister, Sulabha worked during my final year engineering, I could complete my education successfully. If that was not the case, I would have been forced to request for money from someone or the other.
Nana’s eldest son-in-law, Shreekrishna Bhadbhade was a professor in Biochemistry. His son is a Dentist. His two daughters have already been married and the Bhadbhade couple is leading a very peaceful and happy life in Kolhapur.
Dr. Madhavrao Pendharkar, the second son-in law has a well-settled medical practice in Satara. He has setup his own hospital. Sadguru Shree Nana Maharaj Barve used to visit their house often. Madhavrao’s grandfather was a great virtuous man and Nana Maharaj Barve used to predict that the Pendharkar family would prosper well due to the religious merits of their grandfather.
Rameshrao Halbe, the youngest son-in law of Nana was a Bank officer and he has now settled in Pune after retirement. I had very good relations with all the three brother-in-laws’ and I still do. But after coming to Pune for permanently staying in the temple with my Sadguru, Shree Digambardas Maharaj, I rarely get to visit my relatives. But even now, we do meet during the festive occasions.
I got married in Kolhapur on 9th June, 1969. My father-in-law, Ramchandra Vitthal Ghate was originally from Dharwar, Karnatak State. He still has his ancestral house in Dharwar at Madiyal. His brother stays in this house now and hence my father-in-law initially purchased a house in Kelkar compound, Mahishi Road. He stayed there for 15-20 years until he purchased a ½ acre plot, 2420 sq.yards in front of his ancestral house. He then got his own house built on this plot and settled there permanently.
After the wedding ceremony, we visited the temple of Goddess Ambabai in Kolhapur. In the presence of Goddess Ambabai, I shared my expectations and thoughts of a family life with my wife. I told her that we have to maintain ourselves in the existing conditions. Never expect or ask from others even if we are short of lemon or coriander in the house required for garnishing the ‘Pohe’ (seasoned breakfast rice-flakes). In all odds, we should be prepared to eat ‘Pohe’ even by just soaking in water, if we do not have enough to season or garnish them. We should not borrow or take credit from anybody; nor take any loans or stand surety for anyone. In response, even my wife declared that she did not want to lead a life like the birds or butterflies; instead, she said we should lead a life that would become an ideal for others to admire. Surprisingly, our life did turn out like that – she remained in Mumbai looking after my family and I stayed in the temple at Pune!
She did maintain a good household even in my absence. She single-handedly handled all the family responsibilities in an able manner. She never showed any carelessness towards my parents. She looked after them in their old age, gave excellent values to the children, taught them discipline and turned them into strong individuals ready to face this difficult world. Our son, Kamlesh was shy and timid in his childhood but today he travels the world for work with full confidence. The credit only goes to his mother for awakening the confidence in him. Of course, my wife had to be successful! She was self-confident that she had the full support of her Sadguru in all steps of life!
I could not usually meet my relatives and similarly could not go to Dharwar too often. But I still remember two visits very clearly. During the first year of my marriage, I went to Dharwar for the Diwali festival. My father-in-law was very excited about my visit and anxiously planning what to do and what not to do with his new son-in-law! So he took me to meet his Guru, Shree V.C.Bendre, who was a champion in promoting the eminent seat for Worship (Dnyanapeeth) and also famous in Kannada literature. My father-in-law introduced me with great admiration and mentioned that he has brought his son-in-law to take the blessings of his Guru. We were treated with great respect and we conversed on various topics for over 3 hours. There was a very good discussion on our philosophy as well as Marathi literature. At the end, our Guru, Shree Bendre talked for nearly one hour on the sacred ‘OM’ from all different angles.
The following day, we went to meet a learned gentleman named, Bhalchandra Shastri Uppanbetikar, who stayed in the temple of Lord Dattatrey. Bhalchandra Shastri (a learned man skilled in sacred science) maintained a Hindu calendar. His father too was a Shastri with Shree Narayan Maharaj Kedgaonkar. His grandfather was also a Shastri with Shree Gondavlekar Maharaj. Bhalchandra Shastri was a known authority in spiritual science. Since I had an interest in spiritual science, we both had a very long discussion on that subject and it was a pleasure for both of us.
I also remember our second meeting during the year when we went to Dharwar before the death of my father-in-law. We called my father-in-law as ‘Anna’. Anna had special love and admiration for me since I quit my job just to devote myself to spirituality even after having an education in Engineering. During this visit, Anna made me sit on a deerskin mat, garlanded me with flowers and a Rudraksha mala (a berry from the sacred tree of Lord Shiva) with 108 beads and said with a heavy heart, “This spirituality is quite different. Our family is really fortunate to have you!” Anna had a true attraction towards spirituality.
My Mother-in-law also comes from a good virtuous family with a good spiritual heritage. Their surname was ‘Naniwdekar’ and had their house in Madhavnagar. My mother-in-law died at the age of 107 years. Shreekrisha Saraswati, a disciple of Shree Sadguru AkkalkotSwami stayed in Kumbhar Galli (lane) at Kolhapur. He had initiated a disciple Shree Neelkanth Saraswati who was a virtuous man of great spiritual authority. My mother-in-law’s parents rendered their service to Shri Neelkanth Saraswati for nearly 12 years. When my mother-in-law was born, Shree Neelkanth Saraswati had predicted that her children would be great souls. So, even my mother-in-law was in devotional contact with Shree Sadguru AkkalkotSwami through the temple of Lord Dattatrey from her maternal side. My daughter-in-law comes from the family of ‘Sadhale’. Shree Bawadekar Puranik, who narrated Puranas (mythological literacy) in front of Shree Sadguru AkkalkotSwami is also a Sadhale from Mangaon (Dist. Raigad Maharashtra).
Naloo, my youngest sister-in-law (my wife’s sister) was very weak in health with a very lean physique. My father-in-law, Annasaheb Ghate brought her to Shree Sadguru Digambardas Maharaj for his blessings. When he asked Shree Maharaj what her future entailed, Shree Maharaj said “Her future is connected to the holy place of Chimad. Let her take bath in the holy waters at Chimad and everything will be alright” Accordingly, Anna took her to Chimad and then everything was okay.
The initial 2-3 years of my domestic life at Kolhapur went very happily. When my daughter was born, she would fall sick at the end of every month and whatever little we would have managed to save during the month was spent on her cure. In fact, she would not feel better if we gave her the liquid crocin at home, but showed immediate improvement if Dr. Joshi, the paediatrician gave her the same medicine in our presence (this would normally cost us Rs.40/- in fees). My wife always said that we were repaying some sort of debt to that doctor.
In general, our domestic life was going well. But after 2-3 years I fell into the company of some wrong people. But when I realized that I might go in the wrong direction; so I concentrated on reading the Gurucharitra (biography of a preceptor). I started reading the book in one, three or seven days. My normal routine during that phase was to wake up early in the morning, read the Gurucharitra and leave for work after having a cup of milk. Then through-out the day, I did not consume even a glass of water. In the afternoon, my wife would invite a married couple and serve the meal to this couple after offering ‘Naivedya’ to God. After coming home in the evening, I ate the same food that was offered to God in the afternoon. I had also started on a light diet and slept on the mat as narrated in the Gurucharitra.
Occasionally, I had to travel up to Pune for work reasons. In 1972, when I was visiting Pune for work, I went to the Temple of Shree Sadguru BabaMaharaj Sahasrabuddhe to get the ‘Darshan (blessings). After praying, I decided to put some money in the temple donation-box. As I took the money out of my pocket, I noticed there were two currency-notes worth Rs.2/- each. One of the note was old and soiled while the other was as good as new. Without much thought I put the old 2 rupee note into the donation box and then sat down for meditation. But my sub-conscience would not let me concentrate on the meditation due to the very thought that I had made a mistake of offering the old and soiled note to the temple. In short, instead of offering the best one to God, I was selfish enough to keep the new one with me. I could not concentrate due to this very mean act and finally, I was relaxed only when I got up and put the new 2 rupee note into the box too. Then I went up to take the ‘Darshan’ (blessings) of Shree Sadguru Digambardas Maharaj. He enquired about me and my father, Nana. After eating some snacks and tea, I took permission to take leave from Shree Maharaj and left the Temple.
Similarly, one day when I was visiting Shree Maharaj in Pune, I sat on the bench with my legs folded up. Shree Nana Maharaj Barve had once told me that a Brahmin should not sit with straight legs but only with folded legs. Keeping this in mind, I sat with my leg folded up. But Shree Maharaj pointed out, “Oh! You are sitting with folded legs on the bench. The dust on your feet will now spoil the bench and then it would stick to the clothes of other people that sit on the bench. So please sit with your feet down.” I diligently got up, cleaned the bench with my handkerchief and then sat back on the bench. Shree Balasaheb Panwalkar was sitting besides me. During the same visit, Shree Maharaj told me to go to Narsobawadi (Kolhapur, Maharashtra) for thirty-six times and bathe in the holy Teerth-Sangam (Confluence of rivers Krishna and Panchaganga), to fulfill my wishes.
As suggested by Shree Maharaj, I started going to Narsobawadi. I attended the Palkhi (Palanquin) ceremony. As a routine, I would go to Shankar Vishnu Pujari (Temple priest) at night around 11:30 p.m., eat dinner and then wake up at 3:30 a.m. to take a bath in the Sangam (confluence). Wearing the wet short dhotee, I walked around (Pradakshina) the ‘Padukas'(foot prints) of Lord Dattatrey for eleven times and then after taking tea from the Pujari, I would return to Kolhapur at 5.00a.m. In the year 1976, I was transferred to Pune. Until then, I had gone to Narsobawadi for 8-10 times. But after coming to Pune, I only worshipped by ‘Manaspooja’ (contemplation of the mind) assuming that I had been to Narasobawadi and took bath at the Sangam. I assumed that my worship by ‘Manaspooja’ was probably acceptable at the divine feet of Lord Dattatrey, since Shree Maharaj never again asked me to go to Narasobawadi.
In Kolhapur, we stayed in the residence of Shree Kelavkar. The Kelavkar family was highly educated. His father, Barrister Kelavkar had studied Law in England, along with Mahatma Gandhi. They were both room-mates. Prabhakar Kelavkar always told us stories of his father. He told us once that Mahatma Gandhi always slept on the floor, but Kelavkar slept on the bed. Mahatma Gandhi always said, “Many of my country-men do not get to sleep on bed, so I too will not sleep on the bed.” Kelavkar would respond to this saying, “I earnestly wish that all my country-men get to sleep on the bed and so I will always sleep on the bed”.
Prabhakar Kelavkar and his wife had great affection for our family. He always said, “If Brahmins are put anywhere or even in cow dung circumstances, they can come out safely from such circumstances. This is the inborn tendency of the Brahmins and nobody can destroy that.”. He had three sons, Pralhad, Uddhav and Dhruv. When we went to stay in their house, Dhruv was only 2 years old. He always hanged around us and especially with Nana. Every morning at 11.00 a.m. when the daily newspaper, ‘Maharashtra Times’ arrived, Dhruv would present himself at our door saying, “Grandpa read this paper and tell me the stories.” He loved listening to stories from Grandpa. Nana also had the art of narrating stories beautifully. Dhruv loved eating with Nana and even insisted on sleeping with Nana at night. His mother took him back home once he had fallen asleep near Nana.
Nana was very fond of children and these small children were an inspiration for him. He was delighted with the innocent but true frankness in them. My daughter Deepti always spent time with Nana and even played with him. Nana took her for a walk everyday. He would sometimes ask her to sit on his shoulders. She too forced him to put her up on the guava tree, then another tree and so on; this was how they spent time together. We still have photos of Nana and granddaughter Deepti in our collection. Along with Deepti, Kamlesh too had taken control of his grandfather. Especially in the afternoon, there would normally be a delightful gathering to listen to stories from Grandpa. Kamlesh was very innocent. And because of this innocence, even today he cannot understand the deceitful tricks played in human dealings. Back then, he was a very young and innocent little boy.
In 1976 when we were staying in Pune at Moghe’s residence, Nana told Kamlesh about Santa Claus. He had not learned to differentiate between the imaginary world and the real-world yet and hence totally believed that Santa Claus actually exists. He kept asking his grandpa if Santa Claus would give him toys and candy! Nana would then tell him that Santa Claus only gave toys to good kids and therefore he would certainly give it to him too. And then, to keep his beliefs on Santa Claus as well as his own goodness, Nana sometimes kept a chocolate bar below Kamlesh’s pillow. In the morning when he got up, Nana would ask him, “Hey, did you check if Santa Claus came to meet you or not?” Kamlesh would innocently respond that he did not know since he was sleeping at night. Nana would insist that he check his bed and he would be very happy to see the little gift and that Santa Claus really existed. Even today in his thirty-first year, when I speak to him on this subject he says that he believes if we truly wished for something, Santa Claus would bring it to us. This was also a beautiful manifestation of complicit faith and devotion.
Without implicit faith, the life of a man can go wandering. When we were in Kolhapur, we had a maid who brought her son with her one day. He was studying in 4th grade. I enquired about his education. She Said, “Who knows what happens in the future. Where can I get all the money required for his school, books, fees, clothes?” Hearing this, I told her, “Don’t give up his education midway. I will sponsor his education and whether he learns or not you will have to feed him. I will give the rest of the expenses.”
He continued his education for 5-6 years more until he went up to 9th -10th grade. Then one day he came to our house from somewhere, wearing a pant, t-shirt, coloured handkerchief wrapped around his neck, and a cigarette in his mouth with lips coloured due to betal-leaf; as soon as he entered, he started abusing me loudly and accused me that I had spoiled his life by getting him tied up in school. I asked “What happened?” Then he said, “What did you give by educating me? Now I am earning 30-40 rupees per day by selling cinema tickets in the black market. My life is spoiled because of you.” He talked foolishly for half an hour and went away. I told my wife that he had behaved as per his level and it was not appropriate of me to give up my rank and behave disrespectfully. A few years later, when we shifted to Mumbai, I asked my wife once,”Have you given a sari as Diwali gift to our maid?” She immediately asked, “Wasn’t the Kolhapur experience enough for you?” I responded that just because one person behaved badly does not mean we should give up on our family values.
Now her liaison has gone up. She deals with all the money matters with her own money and gives away sari’s to somebody, blouse-piece to somebody, gold-ring to somebody. This way she keeps up with her charity work by helping needy people for some reason or the other. She has managed the family very economically. She has celebrated the festivals by making the most out of any coarse material available to her and worked non-stop for 18-20 hours to keep the family going. She likes to do hard work constantly and because of that hard work, her health has taken a toll. She has a very delicate health at this age. But because of her hard-working nature, I did not have to pay more attention into family affairs and this is absolutely the truth.
This also reminds me of an experience I had in Pune, which is worth narrating on today’s dreadful social environment. There was a maid named Shindebai who worked in the temple; she had a daughter aged 8-9 years. This little girl made good progress at school and therefore, keeping in view of her circumstances, we gave her financial help for books, uniforms on behalf of the Trust. One day she came to the temple along with her mother. She was wearing a sari and holding a marriage invitation card and a coconut in hand. I never thought in my mind that the marriage card would be for such a little girl. When I asked who was getting married, her mother said “My daughter is getting married!”
I asked “Why are you getting her married so early? Are you having difficulty raising her? She is good in studies, gets 60-70% marks. Let her at least complete her 10th grade!” Shindebai responded, “She is now fourteen years old. You can see how healthy and beautiful she is. We stay in the slums. Do you think she will survive until she has completed 10th grade? Who will be the saviour for poor people like us? Instead of that, it is better to get her married and hand her over to the rightful person who she belongs with!” I was stunned hearing this and very much dejected with the experienced reality of her mother. She gave me the invitation card and I gave her whatever 1000-2000Rs I had with me then.
I could not forget this incident and kept thinking about this. I could not sleep that night until 2-3a.m. In reality, who would be the saviour of that young girl? I was not able to help her even if I wished. The society was not going to help her. If she came under the evil sight of a gang or some wrong person, who will come forward for her protection! Even the police might not be able to help her. As a result she would have become the target of sensual desire. Thinking about it even further, I strongly felt that the decision taken by her mother (even with little education) was totally appropriate.
Until then I had never thought why a girl this young was being married away. I always felt that a girl should take proper education, develop physically and then get married at the age of 18-20. But based on the reality of the disorderly state of this society, I felt that the decision taken by her mother was very sensible. I asked about this subject to Mangesh Tendulkar, the famous cartoonist, as well as Suniljee Chincholkar, who regularly visit the temple. But they were both short of an answer on this topic.