Near S.P College a freedom fighter by the name of Shree Guru Dattatraya Vasudev Gokhale used to live. In 1969 our family priest Late Madhavrao Prabhune alias ‘Mama’ introduced me to him. I used to visit him daily. In 1957 ‘Lord Dattatraya’ himself had given ‘Anugraha’ (To oblige by showing kindness towards a person) to ‘Mama’ when he was visiting ‘Nrusimhawadi’ (A place near east Maharashtra where the second incarnation of ‘Lord Dattatraya’, ‘Narasimha Saraswati’ had done a lot of penance). Lord had had made him his own disciple. During this period ‘Shree Guru Brahmanand Maharaj Upakhya Gangadhar Narhari Ghodake’ was going to build an ‘OM’ (Primordial sound, a holy chant) temple at Lonand. With Shree Swāmi’s grace the responsibility of making the idol (Epituet) of ‘OM’, paduka and the flooring of sanctum sanctorium, were given to me. I got held of the best artisans and got the work done. I got the grace and blessings of ‘Shree Guru Brahmanand Maharaj’. He renamed me as ‘Chaitanya’. Affectionately we use to address him as ‘Kaka’. Though I made ‘Kaka’ as my Guru (Teacher), I used to serve ‘Shree Gokhale Maharaj’ alias ‘Dada’. Once ‘Kaka’ said to me that “You serve ‘Dada’ in Pune, but your services reach me over here”. In 1974 ‘Dada’ fell seriously ill. At that time I met Rev. Nana Karandikar, he gave me a lot of courage. Because of ‘Nana’ I became a devout disciple of ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth Maharaj’. When ‘Nana’ built the ‘Swāmi Bhavan’ in Lonawala near Pune, I helped him with all my heart. The statue of ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’ at this place is made up of Copper and we needed to collect enough copper for the statue, hence we used to go door to door to collect the copper vessels from people as donation for the statue. Initially I used to be in two minds, as to do ‘Bhakti’ (devotion) of ‘Lord Dattatraya’ or ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’. I used to pray to both, but later this doubt was eradicated by my mind. ‘Nana’ was an extremely loving person, during the period 1974-1984 whenever he visited Pune he used to stay with us. He was present for naming ceremony of both my children. He named them Pradnya and Shridhar respectively. By “Shree Swāmi Samarth’ grace I used to plan his ‘Padayatra’ (A visit to Holy place or destination on foot).’Nana’ was like one of our family member, he used to start and end his ‘Padayatra’ from our house in Pune. Our family is lucky to have been graced and blessed by his presence. Whenever I think about it, I feel so touched that I get goose flesh. Once in the month of January 1984 while he was staying with us, he requested my wife Sau Aparna to cook ‘Mugachi Usal’ (Cooked Lentils) for him. Those days he did not take normal meals, but ate only cooked Lentils. It was a religious vow. While leaving the house he said to us that “hence forth, if you want to meet me, you will have to come to Lonawala”. He left us and went to ‘Jath’ by the state transport bus. The very next we got the news of  his sad demise, we were very disturbed by the news and his last words started ringing in our ears. We understood the deep meaning if his words (It meant that he was going to ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’s Abode for good never to return). Mrs. Vidya Surudkar re wrote the book ‘Laksha Pavalanchi Katha’ a travelogue of his by hand, to pay him the last respect. Mrs. Vidya, Mrs. Chitra Ropalekar, Mr. Mukund Godbole, my wife Aparna and I used to spend a lot of time with ‘Nana’.

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