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 wooing
  We have seen that Shri Swami Maharaj was born of parents who were ardent devotees of Shri Datta Prabhu and had filled their lives with service to the Lord and their minds with loving devotion to Him. Thus Shri Swami Maharaj inherited these qualities and was well advanced on the path of devotion even as a child. He started regular recitation of Shri Gurucharitra immediately after Upanayan. Since his childhood only he was drawn to Narsobawadi. This pull became stronger after his imposed marriage. We have to conclude that this attraction was mutual as the Lord had to prod him with a dream to overcome his fears about maternal resistance and even arrange for his passage and company. Thus it is the divine will that took him to Wadi where he was destined to meet his spiritual mentor, Shri Govind Swami. Shri Datta Guru also saw to it that Shri Maharaj (then Shri Vasudeo Shastri) could bathe the Padukas through the medium of Shri Govind Swami, against the objections of the priests. The Lord appeared to Shri Maharaj, during the very first visit to Wadi, even though to admonish him for the untimely visit to the temple! Also, in the same visit, Datta Prabhu initiated the reluctant Vasudeo Shastri to Dattopasana (worship of Datta) in the dream. All these events suggest that at this stage, it was the Lord wooing his devotee rather than the other way round. This peaked of course into the Lord inviting Himself to Mangaon for a long seven-year stay!