Another very close friend of us by the name of ‘Guruvarya Bābā Dekhane’ used to stay in ‘Somwar Peth’ in Pune. He was graced by ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’. He was the disciple of ‘Shree Gajanan Maharaj’ from Shivpuri. He along with ‘Bābā’, Mr. Mangesh Dekhane and Mr. Sawant used to attend most of the ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’s prayer functions. Unfortunately ‘Bābā’ did not live for a long time.

Due to ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’s grace, I could serve ‘Gokhale Maharaj’ alias ‘Dada’ during his sickness. On 25 Th October 1975 ‘Dada’ too died. ‘Dada’ had conducted many ‘Bhagwat Saptah’ during his lifetime (‘Bhagwat’ is a devotional book containing tales of by gone ages by the name of ‘Shimad Bhagwat’. ‘Saptah’ is to read the entire book in seven days. This act of reading the book in seven days is considered to be very meritorious). ‘Shree Guru Dattatraya’, ‘Shree Narasimha Saraswati’, ‘Shree Aadinath’, ‘Goddess Jagdamba’, and ‘Shree  Hanuman’ used to appear before him to give ‘Darshan’. I was indeed fortunate to get association of such great personality. I think due to merit colleted over past lives, I got an opportunity to meet spiritually advanced personalities. I had helped ‘Dada’ to write biography of ‘Shree Shivaji Maharaj’ in poetry form. ‘Dada’ had decided to donate three big ‘Kalas’ (decorative domes at top of a temple) for the ‘Lord Dattatraya’ temple at ‘Gandgapur’. He had ordered these to be made by famous goldsmith by the name of ‘Vaman Hari Pethe’ from Mumbai. Each ‘Kalas’ was about 3-4 feet in height. At that time I established an institute by the name of ‘Shree Datta Seva Mandal’ and this institute collected funds to pay for the ‘Kalas’. With the help my friend Mr. Jaisingh Walgude, we got the ‘Kalas’ shifted from Mumbai by truck. From Mumbai they first arrived at our house in Pune. Later ‘Dada’s wife Mrs. Sushila Gokhale, daughters Sau Mangal Joshi and Sau Kumud Rele , some other devotees and myself went and delivered those to ‘Shree Dattatraya’ temple in ‘Gandgapur’.

On the day of ‘Shravan Amawas ( a particular lunar phase according to Hindu almanac) thirty eight years ago we started the musical programme of ‘Geet Ramayana Abhang (Devotional Songs on epic “Ramayana’ in poetry form) and ‘ Shree Swāmi Samarth’s devotional songs’ conducted by Mr. Kamlakar Tapasvi, during the Satyanaran Pooja (Pooja of Lord ‘Mahavishnu’). For the last 28 years on the 10^th and 25^th of every month we have a religious get together of ‘Swāmi Parivar’ (Family of ‘Swāmi Samarth’ Devotees) at our house between 6.00 pm to 8.00 pm. We used to have a religious discourse on ‘Dnyāneshwari’ (Marathi Version of ‘Bhagwat Gita’ written by Saint Dnyāneshwar) by Mr. Bharat Gope, a good friend of mine and a great disciple of ‘Guruvarya Kisan Maharaj Sakhare’ of Alandi and on 25 the of every month we used to arrange devotional songs dedicated to ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’ sung by ‘Mr. Kamlakar Tapasvi’. But of late we have the programme on the 10^th and not 25^th of every month. We alternate the religious talk and ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’s’ songs on the 10^th itself.

Next

Back

• Kindly allow us to serve you only on Thursdays between 6 to 8 PM

Pratap Anant Gogawale,
49, Mangalwar Peth,
"Swami Prasad",
Behind Kamla Nehru Hospital,
Pune 411011, India
Tel: (+91) (020) 26127263, 26132238

• Kindly note that the Online Edition of this publication is solely meant for the convenience of the Devotees, misuse / commercial copying of this should be strictly prohibited, else the necessary action will be taken !
• © with Author