Mandleshwar
This time round Shri Maharajji created a joyous uproar of sankirtan in every village of the Nimar region but Mandleshwar remained the pivotal point. As mentioned earlier Shriji stayed at Mangilalji's place during this period. On the insistence of devotees even if he went somewhere for a couple of days, Shriji would invariably come back to Mangilalji's house. Having implicit faith in Shriji, Mangilalji would leave all his mundane and worldly activities and always be by his side, as long as Maharajji stayed with him. Fearlessness was his innate quality and Mangilal was a great recipient of Shriji's grace. He was
particularly attached to me too. Everyday there was a programme of Shriji's satsang[1] and sankirtan[2] at the house of some or the other devotee. In fact, it seemed as if supreme happiness stayed in the refuge of Shriji and his inner circle of devotees.
However, this ambiance of blissful ecstasy was always infused with the presence of God.
The Nimar Region, Madhya Pradesh
Gradually the joyous fanfare of sankirtan resounded in every village of the Nimar region.
Hordes of devotees would come from some village and take Shri ji along with his inner circle of devotees to their homes. These
journeys were generally undertaken by bullock-carts.
Hordes of devotees would accompany them in
several bullock-carts.
The Bullock Cart
Mangilalji would
usually be the carter of the bullock cart in which Shriji would sit. Being a farmer he was adept in this task. Noting Shriji's current state of bhava stithi, I would always sit with him. It seemed as if Mangilalji did not know how to drive the cart slowly. Therefore the cart would overturn many times on the uneven rugged rural path, would break down many a time and its wheel would come out.
Consequently, people would fall out of the carts but nobody would get hurt by the grace of Shriji. Laughing everyone, would get up and sit in the cart, once again and be fearless by the mercy of Shriji. Nobody's heart entertained the idea of being harmed in any way, even in his imagination.
Cows & Calves in Their Sheds
Seeing scenes of the villagers' mud houses, cows and calves tied in sheds, the sound of churning curd brought flashes of Braj to Shriji. He would get moved on seeing the pure selfless love of the village folk. Entire families would dance in delight when Shriji would visit them. Maharajji would live freely in their houses with his inner circle of devotees. In accordance to
their happiness he would ask milk and curd for himself and make their family members also eat it. This fun and frolic, eating and drinking was loaded with godliness. Shriji would infuse the feeling of kinship in the villagers
through this medium. The joyous abandon of sankirtan and satsang would take place at night. At times Shriji would go through a trance like state of religious rapture during the sankirtan and
swoon, and a unique gush of blissful ecstasy would gush forth. It is impossible to describe the religious rapture which the associates of his inner circle derived from that ambiance. Proverbially it was as indefinable as a dumb person who is not able to express the sweetness of eating jaggery:
'jyon goonga meethe gudh ko ras antarman hi bhave |'
All the men
and women of the village gathered in large numbers and took part in sankirtan and listening to the satsang . They would return to their respective homes with an eagerness to listen to them again, next day. Spending a
couple of days at a village in this manner, Shriji would come back to Mandleshwar. When the village devotees wanted to detain Shriji for some more days, he would quietly slip away alone in the morning.
Associates of his parikar or inner circle would join him later on.
Khargone
The joy of sankirtan and satsang was unprecedented in Chhoti Khargone. Shriji would stand up in religious rapture and faint again. At times he would raise both his hands and sing in an ecstatic state. Everyone, right from children to elders would become engrossed in that
blissful state of his.
Jhulan Utsav, Vrindavan
Dham, as always. The month of Shravan[3] had started and so the jhulan utsav[4] was being celebrated all over the
place, in hundreds of Vrindavan temples. Devotees had come from outside in thousands to see this festival of swings. There was a great hustle and bustle of devotional songs and padas related to the swing celebration were being sung. Nearly all the rasa mandalis[5] had gathered therefore performances of the Rasa Lila were being enacted in joyous abandon. The jhulan utsav of Shri Vrindavan is renowned all over India. Nearly two lakh people throng the Dham[6] to see it every year. Shriji was also participating in this delightful utsav with his close associates.
In Vrindavan, Shriji's satsang would keep taking place at the residence of his selected devotees. He would ramble to Nandgaon, Barsana and Goverdhan, at times.
Maharajji made us see several siddh[7] saints who were staying in Nandgaon and the alluvium of Goverdhan.
Walking on the path, he would point out, " Look there, the one who is passing by is a very noble saint."
Shri Udiya Baba ji Maharaj
Sometimes Shriji would take us to the huts of saints and make us
behold them. He showed me Shri Udiya Babaji Maharaj, Shri Hari Babaji Maharaj, Shri Sant Kokilji, Shri Narayan Swami (judge sahab), Meeraji (Rampyari),Shri Raghunath Dasji Maharaj of Shri Rangnath Bagicha (garden), Shri Manohar Dasji Maharaj of Govind Kund in Goverdhan, Shri Gaur Govind Dasji and Madhav Dasji of Punchhari, Shri Subal Das and Shri Sakhi Charan Das of Radha Kund, etc., all of them being self-realized saints. Shriji explained the importance of several sites of Lord Krishna's lila or playful dalliance, as well.
The Rasa Lila, Vrindavan
It was Janamashtami in the month of Bhadrapad[8] in1946. Taking me along Shri went to see the Rasa being held in Bombay Kothi in front of Shri Bihariji's garden. We were watching the performance. The music and dance were over and it must be about 7 PM.
Shri Balkrishna Das ji Maharaj(Shriji)
The Lila was about to begin when giving me his black blanket, Shrjii suddenly stood up and said, "I am just coming."
I took the blanket and kept watching the enactment. The Rasa Lila came to an end at about 8.30 PM.
Stepping out I looked for Shriji all around but he was nowhere to be found. I returned to Ganga Mandir and he was not even there. Disappointed, we went off to sleep. Someone knocked the door at four o' clock in the morning. On opening the door I saw Shriji standing right in front. Seeing him brought great joy to everyone. He came in and sat down.
Janamashtami, Nandgaon
Giving the prasad,[9] he exclaimed, "Take this prasad of Nandgaon's Janamashtami! I was reminded of the Janamashtami in Nandgaon while sitting in the Rasa. I got up at once and left for Nandgaon via Chhatikara. Seeing the festive occasion and taking prasad, I returned back the same way."
We were surprised that he had walked for such a long stretch in one go. Going from Vrindavan to Nandgaon and back from Nandgaon to Vrindavan one journeys nearly 44 miles. Maharajji was exhausted but a divine intoxication was spilling over from his eyes.
After staying for a few days at Shri Vrindavan Dham Shriji started for Dakor, and took me along. Ranchhod Dasji, the son of his former acquaintance Haridasji, lived here with his family. He was a brahmin initiated into the Vallabh Sect. Ranchhod Dasji was dedicated to service and a Vaishnava devotee. He was very fond of Shriji.
Thakur Rancchodraiji
Arriving here, we bathed in river Gomti and had darshan[10] of Thakur Rancchodraiji[11]. After that we shifted to a small village named Umreth, a few miles from Dakor. Here too there were some devotees who were former acquaintances of Shriji. When Maharajji had come here for the first time, he was very young. Since he was a child then, the people were very impressed by his brilliant svarupa, his unique sweetness when he sang padas and splendid discourses, and began calling him 'Bal Yogi.' Swayed by his persona, people started having great regard and love for Shriji. Several times, arrangements were made for his spiritual discourses to be held in schools and colleges.
Bal Dhruv
Umreth
Shriji would always have a black blanket wrapped around him. After coming back from Dakor we were once sitting in the Ganga Mandir when Shriji narrated an old incident related to the black blanket.
Shri Balkrishna Das ji Maharaj Wrapped in His Blank Blanket
Maharajji said, " I had gone to Dakor once. Sankirtan[13] and satsang[14] went on for a few days in Dakor and Umreth. When I was preparing to leave for Shri Dham the devotees urged that I stay on for a few more days. When I did not agree to do
so under any circumstances they retained my black blanket on loving insistence and kept it with them. They assumed that I would certainly stop over now since they had taken the black blanket. However, I reached the station straightaway and took the train to Vrindavan. I had forgotten that the black blanket was not with me and was under the impression that it was on my shoulder, as always. On boarding the train I saw that the black blanket was actually resting on my shoulder.
"After a span of three to four months I went to Dakor again.
"The devotees
there explained, ' Baapji! [15] In fact, you had left without taking the black blanket with you. We kept waiting and when you did not come we safely stashed the blanket in a box.'
"Hearing this, I was speechless. Now I recalled that they had taken the black blanket from me and kept it with them.
"I said, ' Okay, get it! Where have you kept the blanket."
"When that devotee opened the box he saw that the black blanket was not inside. All of them were astonished when they saw that the same black blanket was
placed on my shoulder.
"My concentrated
meditation on the blanket had brought it on my shoulder," Shriji revealed.
Shri Vrindavan
Merely a few days had passed since Shriji had come to
Vrindavan when letters started pouring in fom the devotees of Mandleshwar, in the Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh, to invite Shriji. Fare for the journey had arrived. Shriji also decided to go to Mandleshwar.
Since the expenses of my journey could not be arranged for Shriji suggested, " I shall get the fare sent by your brother on reaching Maheshwar. You must come then, later."
[17] Bhava stithi:
or spiritual emotion
is a state of
communion with God. It
is related to the
sub-conscious mind (chitta). When
one’s spiritual emotion
is awakened, for that time
one transcends one’s usual
state of identification with
a worldly existence. The
awareness of one’s
own existence also reduces. Thus
in a state of
spiritual emotion one transcends
the little ‘i’ and
identifies with the big
‘I’. Spiritual emotion
gives us a spiritual
experience of Bliss (Ānand).
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