SHRI SWAMI SAMARTH MAHARAJ-AKKALKOT
pilgrimage
centers
Amarnath
Amritsar
Ayodhya
Badrinath
Bodha
Gaya
jyothirlingas
kanyakumari
Khajuraho
konark temple
Madurai
Mathura
Pandharpur
Pashupatinath
Puri Jagannath
Rameswaram
Rishikesh
Sarnath
Satya sai baba
Shani Shingnapur
Srikalahasti
Shri
Lakshmi GoldenTemple
Tirupathi
Vaishno Devi
SadGurus
Akkalkot
Maharaj
Shripad
SriVallabh
Dwadasa
jyotirlingas
Somanath
Shrishailam
Omkareshwar
Vaidyanath
Maha
Kaleshwar
Kashi
vishwanath
Bhimashankar
kedarnath
Nageshwer
Trimbakeshwar
Grishneshwar
Shakti
peethas
Sightseeing
Agra
Ajanta caves
Delhi
Ellora caves
Goa
Jaipur
Kashmir
Manasarovar
Foreign Trips
What we call miracles are the normal ways of functioning of the God
realised ones. The Risaldar of that area, a Muslim person, wanted
to test the Swami by offering him a ‘Chilum’ (an earthen smoking
pipe) without tobacco in it and asked him to smoke. Swami Samarth
started smoking the empty Chilum after lighting it as if nothing
had happened. Realising him to be an advanced spiritual person, the
Risaldar apologised and made arrangements for his stay in the house
of one Cholappa. It is in this small house that Swami Samarth lived
upto his last.
Soon, the name of Swami Samarth as a Spiritual Master spread all
around and devotees came for taking his blessings. The ordinary
people did not understand many of his gestures and mystic
statements, which he used to make cryptically, although their
meanings became apparent on later dates.
He treated Muslims, Christians and Parsees all alike. His Kindness was always bestowed on the poor, needy and the people at the lowest rung of the society. Both Hindus and Muslim festivals like Dusshehra and Moharram etc. used to be celebrated by Him. As in Shirdi, Thursday became a special day of celebration at Akkalkot. Like Shirdi Sai Baba, Swami Samarth of Akkalkot was fond of mass
feeding. Once, on his visit to a place called Rampur, a devotee named Rawaji, to celebrate his visit, cooked food for 50 people. However, hearing the news of Swami Samarth’s arrival hundreds of people from the neighbouring villages started rushing to the village. Seeing such a large number of people at his doorstep Rawaji became visibly panicky. Moved by his plight, Swami Samarth asked Rawaji to get some empty baskets. When the baskets were brought from the market, idols of all the deities like Khandoba, Annapurna, etc were put in them and food materials like chapatis (bread) etc. were piled over them. Bawaji and his wife were asked to carry these baskets and take three rounds around the Tulsi plant. After that, they were asked to serve food from these baskets to the guest without looking into them. When food were being served, Rawaji and his wife were amazed to see that the baskets never exhausted even after a few hundred people had been served. After all the people who had come finished their meal, Swami Samarth took his meal. This is known as ‘Annapurna Siddhi’.
Swami Samarth had the capacity to read the minds of all the people
coming to him and also was able to know about their past and
future. Baba Saheb Jadhav, one of his great devotees one day came
to meet the Master. Seeing him suddenly Swami Samarth said “Oh
Potter! There is a summon coming in your name”. The potter being in
the close circle of Swami Samarth understood the meaning of this
sentence and begged of the Swami to save him from the approaching
death so that he could continue to serve him (the Master). Moved by
his devotion Swami Samarth looked-up towards the sky and muttered
something as if he was addressing to someone who was invisible.
Suddenly, he pointed his hand towards a bull passing nearby and
said in a loud voice “go to the bull”. In the presence of a large
number of devotees, the bull instantly fell dead. Jadhav, with a
fresh lease of life, devoted himself totally to the service of
Swami Samarth thereafter. Similarly, An European engineer from
Solapur visited the Swami with the earnest hope of having a son. As
he approached Swami Samarth, the latter just looked at him and told
that he would have a son within a year. That is what exactly
happened.
The Sadgurus or the Spiritual Masters always endeavors to change
the quality of men that encounter them. Besides bestowing material
benefit, they try to uplift them spiritually. Once a Jewish doctor,
who was working as an eye specialist in the J.J. Hospital, Bombay
met Swami Samarth. The doctor was very proud of his professional
competence. Seeing him Swami Samarth asked “tell me doctor, how
many of the eye patients you have treated have lost their eye
sights for ever”‘. This sentence made a tremendous impact on the
doctor. He realised that many people had lost their sights forever
even if they had been treated by him. His ego immediately vanished
and thereafter he became a devotee of Swami Samarth. After
retirement the doctor settled-down at Akkalkot and served the
Master till his last.
It is said that a touchstone can convert an ordinary metal to gold.
The Spiritual Masters are such touchstones that they can convert
any ordinary metal not to that of gold but to that of a touchstone.
They are capable of giving spiritual life to any person in a
fraction of a second by a touch, a look, a word or even by a mere
thought. A person like Ramanand Bidkar who had lived an immoral
life for a long period was converted to a Saint called Bidkar
Maharaj by the kind grace of Swami Samarath, who by one grace i.e.
Drishti Diksha evolved him spiritually. Under his guidance Sri
Balappa Maharaj, Shri Gangadhar Maharaj, Sri Gajanan Maharaj and
many others rose to spiritual eminence and contributed a lot to the
society.
After serving the poor, curing the sick and helping the spiritual
seekers over a few decades, Swami Samarth one day suddenly
announced that the time had come for him to go out of his physical
existence. By Hindu calendar It was Chaitra Sudha trayodasi, Shaka
1800 i.e. the year 1878 AD Tuesday at 4 PM. At this time he seated
himself in Padmasana (Lotus Posture) and uttered his last words –
“No one should weep I shall always be present at all places and I
shall respond to every call of the devotees”. Shri Sai Baba of
Shirdi had also said exactly the same thing before his
Mahasamadhi.
Just before he had left his gross body, one devotee named Keshav
Nayak who was emotionally charged, asked “Maharaj, since you are
going, who will give us protection?”. Swami Samarth gave him a pair
of his sandals to worship. He told him “In future I will be staying
at Shirdi in district Ahmednagar”. Another devotee, Krishna Ali
Bagkar decided to go to Akkalkot and worship the padukas of Swami
Samarth. Thereafter he got a dream appearance of Swami Samarth who
told him “Now I am staying at Shirdi, go there and worship me”.
Bagkar went to Shirdi where he stayed for six months. Later, when
he wanted to take leave of Shri Sai and go to Akkalkot again Shri
Sai told him “what is there in Akkalkot, Maharaj of Akkalkot is
staying here”. Bagkar realised that there is no difference between
Swami Samarth and Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi as he recalled his
earlier dream.
The divine game (leela) of Swami Samarth did not end with his Maha
Samadhi (shedding his mortal coil). His devotees continue to
experience the miracles of his visible and invisible help even till
today. It is exactly like the experience received by the devotees
of Sai Baba of Shirdi after his Mahasamadhi in 1918. Many people
have authenticated his appearance in physical form before them.
These people are not the faith-blind rural folk. Many of them are
well educated people like doctors, educationists etc. For example,
Dr. S.V.Marathe, a private medical practitioner of Pune once
underwent treatment in a chest Hospital at a place called Aundh in
1964. Many of his friends were anxious to come and visit him. At
this juncture, Swami Samarth appeared before many of his friends in
a dream and gave the same message to all of them. He asked them not
to worry about Dr.Marathe, as he was under His (Swami Samarth’s)
protection and also not to come to Aundh.
Hundreds of devotees continue to have miraculous experience about
the Perfect Master even today. But his miracles and those of Shri
Sainath are so alike that one would be drawn to the conclusion that
they are not two masters but are one, and the ONLY ONE
TRUTH.
Site designed and Maintained by Harish