Shri Vasudevanand Saraswati Tembe Swami Maharaj

A compact Biography.

Datta : Shri Gurudev Datta>The wooing>The Master and the Disciple>The Apostle>The Protector and Provider>The Conflicts>The Medium and the Mediator>Gurudev Datta Love>One and the Same

• The Apostle
  This was a turning point in this complex relationship. From now on Shri Swami Maharaj was an authorized agent, messenger, His empowered delegate, to wit an Apostle of the Lord, to carry out the Divine Mission. Datta Prabhu ordained all the activities of Shri Maharaj viz. his travel, itinerary, discourses, literary composition, the chaturmaas sites and so on. Again Shri Maharaj was penalized for the slightest deviations. After the Mahatpur Chaturmaas, Datta Prabhu ordered Shri Maharaj to leave immediately for Brahmavart. Since a solar eclipse was imminent, Shri Maharaj intending to complete the ecliptic rituals there stayed on. This led to his being bitten by a highly poisonous snake and in spite of almost continuous yogic Samadhi he suffered for ten days. He fully recovered only after he left Mahatpur.

On another occasion Shri Maharaj, on the entreaty of local people and their threat to otherwise sink all food into the river and fast, extended his stay by a day. The same day, the Lord appeared to him in dream and slapped hard in his face. The next morning, not only that side of face was swollen, but the corresponding eye was also blinded. Shri Maharaj, recognizing this as the punishment for the disobedience, prayed, “Oh Lord! I have not defied your orders for any personal reason. I just meant to spare the Brahmins from going without food. If you still disapprove, your are welcome to blind the remaining eye!”  Datta Guru just smiled and Shri Maharaj regained his eyesight.

Even while traveling, if Shri Maharaj did not take the direction commanded by the Prabhu, there would be a loud and painful banging in his ears till he corrected the direction. Once, after the Muktyala chaturmaas, Shri Maharaj took a jungle path to avoid crowds and settled down at Manthankaleshvar on the bank of Godavari. Datta Guru instructed him to move on since the Chaturmaas was still not due. On Shri Maharaj protesting that there will be too much throng of people ahead and he would like to have a quiet Chaturmaas in the jungle. Shri Guru again urged him not to stay in the uninhabited forest for Chaturmaas. When Shri Maharaj appeared to be adamant, Datta Prabhu suddenly appeared in the form of a White rider flourishing a cane and threatened to lash him if he did not move on instantly. Beholding the anger and the fierce demeanor of Datta Prabhu, Shri Maharaj praised him in Marathi verse: -  

“iÉ´É EòÉä{ÉÉ ´ÉÆnÚÆù ¯ûpùÉ* iÉ´É SÉÉ{ÉÉ ´ÉÆnÚÆù ¦ÉpùÉ .“ 

(Salutations to the rage of Rudra, salutations the arch of Ram).  This pacified the Lord and Shri Maharaj moved on.

Numerous people reformed their ways and started following the Vedic path under the influence of Shri Maharaj. Though firm in their faith, when confronted with the criticism of family and friends, they found themselves inadequate to defend their transformation. Many such followers once requested Shri Maharaj to write an article to help them counter the verbal assaults of their critics. As soon as Shri Maharaj started writing the article he developed fever. This recurred every time he resumed the said piece. Finally the Prabhu said, ”You should be permanently kept in this state (fever) to stop this wayward writing.” Thus realizing that Shri Guru did not approve of it, Shri Maharaj gave up the composition. Similarly, at the instance of some devotees, Shri Maharaj sat down to write an article against remarriage, a burning controversy those days, he heard the Lord’s words, “Put down the pen!”  Shri Maharaj stopped all writing for one year. Then he just happened to pick up a small stick and doodle the names of Lord on a piece of paper. Suddenly recalling the Lord’s injunction, he put the stick down. At that time, Shri Guru Raj clarified to him that the restriction applied only to that article and thus Shri Maharaj resumed writing.