Shri Vasudevanand Saraswati Tembe Swami Maharaj

A compact Biography.

• Introduction
  (Garnering of people, towards the divine). Shri Swami Maharaj was a Master, an Adept,a liberated and self-realized soul. He had no desires or aspirations of his own. His only motivation in life was to obey his Lord and Master Shri Dattatreya. All his actions were directed by His will. Inherently reserved and reclusive, he was forced to spend long periods of his life amongst crowds. Sometimes he deliberately chose to spend his Chaturmaas in remote inaccessible places like Narasi, Kurugaddi etc. However, people sought him out before long and gathered in large numbers. He thus used to be surrounded by people almost continuously with hardly any privacy. All people had equal access to him. There was no discrimination in spite of his personal strict code of purity. Only criterion was the sincerity of the visitor. People of all castes and even those following non-Vedic religions viz. Muslims, Parsis etc. were the recipients of the grace of Shri Swami Maharaj. He used to instruct them some practice or other consistent with their faith. For examples, Muslims were often asked to repeat the Quranic verses and benefited from it. Proselytisation was a word not found in his dictionary. Having realised the essence of all faiths, he only guided everyone on their respective predestined paths all of which he knew to lead to the one Reality. No one got a private audience or any special treatment. Even royalties had to mingle with ordinary folks while visiting him.

  However, he was rather strict with Hindus, especially Brahmins. He expected to observe the minimum expected religious conduct and frowned upon those going wantonly astray. If a Brahmin sporting a crop cut instead of shikha-sutra or a widow wearing long hair did not get his audience. Only a suitable change in their demeanour after prescribed ablutions rendered them eligible to meet Shri Maharaj. Once a person repented and wanted to make amends, Shri Maharaj used to offer his personal guidance to him, teaching even the most elementary practices. No

  Of course, there were those who either wanted to judge or in their erroneous thinking, expose Shri Swami Maharaj. He usually recognised their attitude in advance and totally ignored them. Once he told a personal secretary of a ruling Maharaja to go home and live happily and not waste time in this ‘gathering of lunatics’. If a person persisted in confronting him, he refused to speak. Once an Aryasamaji started arguing with him and finding no response from Shri Maharaj, began shouting at him. Shri Swami Maharaj quietly said “why are you so angry? If you wish to hit me, go head and satisfy your urge”. Further incensed, the fellow was about to slap Shri Maharaj when a lady devotee nearby screamed and the he ran away. Another such acolyte once entered into a similar one-sided argument, insulting Shri Maharaj in exasperation. A disciple of Shri Maharaj cast a spell making him speechless. After a while, taking pity on the fellow, Shri Swami Maharaj got him released from the spell.

   

  Apart from caste or community, the people coming to Shri Swami Maharaj could be classified as: -  

  1. Those seeking relief from some or the other distress in their lives. 

  2. Those seeking the fulfilment of one wish or the other, 

  3. The seekers of Truth beseeching his guidance,  

  4. Realized souls seeking only his company.

   The first two categories are in reality one in the sense that both these relate to changing the circumstances of one’s life to one’s liking, whether by removing a painful one or by adding a desired one.