Tapasya for the Country

Once, in 1965, Saint Baba Maharaj Arvikar was staying in Pandharpur. He was accompanied by some sadhaks and others helping with the work. It was around the time that Pakistan had launched an attack on India, and the two countries were at war. Lal Bahadur Shashtri was the Prime Minister then.

One day, Baba picked up the newspaper, and became quite serious upon reading the headlines. Many of India’s young soldiers had been killed in the war. Restless, Baba immediately went to the Chandrabhaga river. After taking a 30 minute bath in the cold water, he returned to where the group was staying, went to the second floor and sat down in a meditative position. 

It was soon evening, then night, then the middle of the night, but Baba remained silent and still, in a samadhi state. No one had the guts/courage to call out to Baba. 

In the end, at noon the next day, Baba suddenly came downstairs. His eyes were red, his body was red. Baba looked red from head to toe. Baba picked up a newspaper. In it, all of the articles were about the victory of the Indian army. Articles about blowing up a Pakistani tank and striking down a jet plane. 

Baba sat for a while, smiled at everyone, and then went for a bath. 

In Divyamritdhara, Saint Baba Maharaj Arvikar says that acting against dharma is itself a misfortune. It is Dnyaneshwar Mauli’s earnest hope, that we should look at the universe with the sun of self-dharma. Because feelings of inner conflict/resistance have covered us, its is essential for dharma to first awaken. To awaken dharma, one must use drops of the  Chandramut (divine nectar of the moon) for dharmic purposes. In other words, it is essential to first eliminate the influence of that which is not dharma. Truly, Saints are constantly working for, “Duritanche timeer javo, vishwa swadharma surye paho” (a line from Saint Dnyaneshwar’s pasayadan).