Recognized the Sign

Saint Baba (right) with Saint Madhav Swami (left)

In his sacred text, Divyamritdhara, Saint Baba Maharaj Arvikar says that those who are immersed in the love of Shri Guru, who continuously remember him, are naturally led to all the highest peaks of yoga awakenings.

With grace (kripa), life itself becomes an ongoing spiritual practice (sadhana). It is because of service and love, that the daily routine and practices required to walk the path of spirituality become full of contentment (sukh), and divine experiences are effortlessly received. 

Someone who attained these experiences in this manner is one of Saint Baba’s closest disciples, Saint Madhav Swami. Saint Madhav Swami was inclined towards spirituality from a very young age. Born into a spiritually rich family, he was drawn to the love of Shri Krishna. He had also attained certain spiritual powers (siddhi). 

A while before he met Saint Baba, he had experienced a special chandra darshan on more than one occasion. To thoroughly understand this experience, he sought out a saint, Nagarkar Maharaj. In answering the question, Nagarkar Maharaj said, “I am not your Guru. You will meet your Guru at the right time and he will ask about this experience himself. Do not ever leave his feet.”

Soon after, Saint Madhav Swami, with an intense longing for paramartha and complete faith in Saint Dnyaneshwar Mauli, he left home. He walked all the way to Alandi, where he stayed with Shri Namdevrao Gurav and vowed to complete 108 recitations of the Dnyaneshwari. As a step towards achieving of this goal, Saint Madhav Swami planned on completing each recitation in two days. 

At the same time, Saint Baba was also staying in Alandi. Madhav Swami had heard of Saint Baba, but he had not tried to meet Saint Baba. 

Approximately when Madhav Swami completed about half of his recitations, someone from Delhi, Shri Sharma, came to Alandi and asked about Saint Baba at Shri Gurav’s home. Madhav Swami was at home then and had heard that Saint Baba was staying in the Vishnu temple in Alandi. So he took Shri Sharma to the temple to meet Saint Baba.

As soon as they met Saint Baba, Saint Baba kept asking questions only about Madhav Swami and very quickly asked Madhav Swami to stay at the Vishnu temple with him. But Madhav Swami, wanting to focus on his recitations of the Dnyaneshwari, told Saint Baba about his goal and respectfully declined the invitation to stay there. 

In response, Saint Baba Maharaj Arvikar asked Saint Madhav Swami about the special chandra darshan. And in that moment, Saint Madhav Swami suddenly recognized the sign that Nagarkar Maharaj had told him to look out for in his Guru. 

Saint Madhav Swami then expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Saint Dnyaneshwar Mauli, for meeting his Sadguru before he had fulfilled the vow he had made for meeting his Guru.