Shri Manohar Das ji
As per shuchInA.n shrImatA.n gehe
yogabhraShTo.abhijAyate revered Shri Manohar Das Baba had brought the
distinctive samskaras[1] of
his previous lives and come to this world.
Maheshwar, Situated on the Banks of the Narmada
The
birth of Baba Manohar Das ji took place in ancient Mahishmati-puri
(Maheshwar) situated on the banks of the Narmada River. He was born on Shukla
Chaturthi of Baisakh, in 1976 of the
Vikram Samvat Era to a brahmin family of Maharashtra , early
in the morning at 4 o' clock in the year 1919.
Till after a month of his being born he
was snugly kept wrapped in cotton-wool. Not a drop of water, milk or medicine
could enter his stomach, in the beginning. Merely his heart throbbing in his
chest could be heard as proof of his being alive. Seeing this precarious
condition of his, people had begun to say that some saint was completing the sadhana
of his previous birth. All his physical functions activated a month later on
their own accord.
Shri Baburao & Shrimati Saraswati Bai Mule, Parents of Manohar Das ji
His father Shri Khanderao-Narayan Rao
Mule (Baburao ji) was the royal family priest of Maharaji Tukoji Rao Holkar of
Indore State. He was a jagirdar and a renowned vaidh in his own right.
Shrimati Saraswati Bai Mule, the mother of revered Manohar Baba, was an extremely
pious, religious, and sattvic l[2]ady.
Sakhyahari Mule (Standing)& Shri Manohar Das ji (right) with Shri Balkrishna Das ji Maharaj(left)
Sakhyahari Mule (Vishnu Panth) was the
only elder brother of Baba and he had no sister. Manohar Das ji was
brought up with doting affection since he was the youngest child of his
parents. Particular care was taken of every interest of his.
When Manohar Das ji and his elder
brother were sent to Indore for acquiring education, Baba was not interested in
studying at school. Consequently he came back home. He learnt the teachings up
to Yajurveda and Karmkanda, and got a diploma in 'Kavya Tirth'
from Damodar Pandit, a great scholar of Maheshwar.
The Sitar
By learning to play the sitar Shri Manohar Das ji
imbibed pure knowledge of music. He learnt how to swim in the waters of River
Narmada and became an expert swimmer in a short span of time. Baba learnt the
stratagems of wrestling from Ram Moorti, a renowned wrestler in those days. He
remained an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) along with
his brother Sakhyahari ji for some days.
The samskaras of his previous lives
gradually became evident in a powerful manner. Arrangement of a separate puja
room had been made for him.
A Shivlanga
Some saint had gifted Manohar Das ji an extraordinary shivling.He would pluck 108 bilav patra and regularly worship the
aforementioned Shivlinga with them. When he was roughly 15-16 years of age, he
learnt the six duties of hatha yoga (a kind of austerity in which the
body is subjected to severe hardships) form Rangnath Guru a renowned yogi
in Maheshwar.
Goddess Gayatri
Maharaj Kulkarni ji, a siddh saint
used to live in a hut made on the banks of river Narmada. Baba
did several Gayatri purushcharanas[3]
under his guidance. “The storm of renunciation is going to uproot
you and carry you off, very soon,” is what Maharaj Kuklarni would often tell Manohar Baba
Shri Kripalu ji Maharaj
A young saint named
Shri Kripalu ji Maharaj had fervently propagated Naam Sankirtan
in Madhya Pradesh in those days. Being in the company
of this saint for a short span of seven days made Baba completely detached from
the mundane world and inflamed the immanent fire of asceticism within him. His
mind ardently longed to find a true sadguru and he was passionately drawn towards
Vrindavan. Baba found it increasingly difficult to stay at home now.
Shri Vrindavan
ananyaashchin tayanto
maam ye janaahaa paryupaasate |
teshaam nityaabhiyuktaanaam yogakshemam vahaamyaham || 22 ||
‘With single-pointed meditation, those who are constantly engaged in my worship, I carry the burden of acquisition and preservation of their needs. ‘
teshaam nityaabhiyuktaanaam yogakshemam vahaamyaham || 22 ||
‘With single-pointed meditation, those who are constantly engaged in my worship, I carry the burden of acquisition and preservation of their needs. ‘
Baba came to Shri Dham Vrindavan In the Shravan month of 1945, in search
of his chirsangi, his long standing companion.
Shri Balkrishna Das ji Maharaj
Shri Manohar Das ji
took the refuge of self-realized saint, ‘Shri Balkrishna Das ji Maharaj ‘as his true guru and offered his entire being at the
holy feet of Shri Maharaj ji for all times to come. Shri Maharaj ji made him
understand the spiritual importance of Vrindavan Dham and made Baba take a
tour of Nandgaon and other sites of Braj Mandal on foot. He kept showering Baba
with constant affection. Wowing the seeds of love for Supreme Lover Krishna and His Beloved Shri Radha in him,
he made them sprout and blossom. In strict accordance to the orders of revered
Maharaj ji, Baba and Devi ji would chant the mahamantra three lakh
times, every day of the month.
Kalpataru, the Wish Fulfilling Tree
24 photographs of Maharaj ji in various emotional-postures
with shut eyes and ruffled clothes, running in ecstasy,sitting in a trance,
lying down lifeless in an inanimate condition, shedding tears on reaching the heights of elation, have been
made available to us due to Baba’s efforts. Baba had sequentially penned down
the daily routine of Maharaj ji's entire life in his diaries, which has been
published in 'Charit Vaibhav,' his biography.
Revered Shri Maharaj
stayed for years together in the Ganga Mandir with respected Baba, respected
Devi ji respected Thakur ji, respected Kusum ji and others, his inner circle of
devotees.
Shri Manohar Das ji (left) with Shri Balkrishna Das ji Maharaj
Ever since (1945)
respected Baba came into the refuge of Shri Balkrsihna Das ji Maharaj he became
a bee in the lotus feet of Shri Bal Krishna Das ji Maharaj ji and forever
stayed by his side. He could not bear to be away from the feet of his Guru so
much so that when he had to go for madhukari [5]
Maharaj ji would surely be by his side. Having darshan of several siddh
saints through Maharaj ji and venturing out with him to see the Rasa Lila had
become his routine and system of dedicated devotion. Crossing the auspicious
paths of bhajan and sadhan from 1945 to 1956, Shri Guru ji separated Baba from
himself due to some godly ordinance, as if to tighten him on the touchstone of
toughness for attaining the elevated state of sadhana and bhajan, in the
beginning of 1957. In this manner for about 30 years revered Baba was heated as
well as assayed by fire. Becoming pure gold, he came into the proximity of Shri
Guru Dev. Even on experiencing this state of separation for such a long time
Baba’s dedication to his Guru was least affected. During this period Manohar
Baba stayed in a hut made on the Suraj Ghat near Madan Mohan ji, and this is
where his sadhana reached the zenith. Out of affection,
Santosh Bahenji
Santosh Bahenji, the embodiment of patience and tolerance, would make
arrangements of serving him and taking care of Baba’s needs and comforts, as well as
make others do the same. Baba would invariably get phalahar ( a meal of fruits)
at her residence on Ekadashi during this time span of about 30 years.
Bhaktisvarupa Shri Usha Bahenji
Bhaktisvarupa
saint
Usha Bahenji had come to stay for good in Vrindavan in 1959. She had immense
affection and regard for Manohar Baba. Holding him in high esteem,
she would always pay respects to him. She would address Baba as ‘Bhaiya’ and
therefore her entire parikar called him 'Bhaiya ji.' Bahen ji would always
give Baba importance and urged bahenas of her inner circle of devotees to ask
him for advice and follow his instructions. Manohar Baba was famed in her parikar as ‘sabke pyare sabke hitkari bhaiya’, ‘doing good to all and being
loved by all.’ Baba had asked them to do paath on a regular basis and they have
been dedicatedly following his instructions till date.
If Baba would step
out of Vrindavan for a few days he would return to Vrindavan like the bird of a
ship and hover around Shri Maharaj ji like a black bee.
Gajendra Moksha
Shri Manohar Baba was asked to start
the paath (recitation) of Gajendra Moksha as a daily routine by Swami Krishan Anand
ji Maharaj. Baba instinctively accepted this advice and carried on doing the paath
throughout his life. People say that his ordained terrifying death was averted
by this practice .He asked several members of his parikar to do the paath of gajendra moksha as a daily routine and
those people could see its perceptible benefits during their lifetime.
Baba was once lying down in his hut in
a semi-conscious state.
Suddenly he saw that Shri Hanuman leapt and came out from the puja-room of his
house situated in Maheshwar. The instant Hanuman ji bent his face towards his
ear, Baba was apprehensive that he would give Baba the Ram Mantra but amazingly
Hanuman ji gave him the diksha of Krishna Mantra. Hanuman ji is the protector
of sadhus and saints and makes them steadfast in their devotion for their isht.
Raas Panchadhyayi
Manohar
Baba once went to visit Usha Bahen ji in the evening. Suddenly dense clouds
gathered and it began to rain heavily. Baba was incapable of returning to his hut in this deluge. Therefore revered
Usha Bahenji arranged for his stay in a room near her own. It was Baba's
routine to bathe in the middle of the night every day and read the 'Raas
Panchadhyayi.'[6]
Thence when he sat down to read the
scripture, Usha Bahenji saw from her room that Baba was in gopivesh and
had been completely adorned as a gopi. Baba would never hide any matter
of his from Usha Bahenji. Early in the morning when Bahenji narrated this
amazing incident to Baba,
he readily accepted the fact that Thakurji had braided his hair and done his shringar
by decking him at night.
Sakhis Searching for Krishna
Baba was once affected by extreme
weakness for three days in a row. On some close person asking him the reason
for this state of his Baba revealed,” A couple of sakhis and I had gone out to
search for Shri Krishna, the Supreme Lover. Selling curd was just an excuse. We
thoroughly looked around for Him and the entire day passed by. The sun was
about to set but dark-hued Krishna was not to be found. The fatigue of that
body of bhavas had repercussions on this earthly body.” While saying so
his throat became hoarse and eyes streamed with tears, the anguish of not being
able to meet Supreme Lover Krishna was apparent on his face.
Venu Vinod Kunj had been built in the
year 1963, on the insistence of bhaktas and devotees of Shri Maharaj ji. Baba
also came to stay here from 1987 onwards, as per the orders of Shri Maharaj ji.
He continued to live in these premises throughout his life.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Sankirtan Movement
On completion of 500 years of the tirobhava
(disappearance by divine power) of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the chief
exponent of the sankirtana movement, a resolve arose in Shri Maharaj;s heart to
get the 501 days akhand sankirtan done in Barwani. He encouraged the people of
Barwani to do so. Soon after, they got the non-stop sankirtan of the Mahamantra
which lasted for 501 days (18 months), done in the Ram Mandir of Barwani from
18th July, 2004 till 5th January, 2006.
Shri Radha Baba
Dejected on seeing someone else’s
distress, tolerance and composure were naturally present in Manohar Baba. He
lived in an extremely simple manner since his needs were very few. Ever since
his mother had passed away in 1954 he had never worn stitched clothes. His
attire comprised of an outer wrap, a saafi or sash tightly tied around
his waist and an upper cloth. During winters he would tie a silken cloth,
measuring three metres, firmly around his chest and alongside he would wind a
white cloth around his head, very much like a turban. Revered Radha Baba of
Gorakhpur would be very pleased on seeing this dress up of his.
Shri Sushila Bahenji
Even on being in an infirm state for
four months, Baba’s elegance and dedication for his Guru remained unshaken. He
was philosophically looking at the dance of Mrityu Sundari, a beauty called
death. On revered Shri Sushila Bahenji’s asking him how he was feeling, one day before he left for the supreme
abode, Baba replied with a slight smile,”I have reached my destination.” ( eternal search of the individual soul
for union with the Divine). Besides, he told saint Devi ji,” I have taken
permission from Shri Maharaj ji. Just three more days left for me to go.”
Lord Krishna Welcomes His Beloved Sakhi
This inheritance of the holy waters of
the Narmada, the embodiment of a beloved sakhi, entered the rasa mandala on
Bhadra Shukla Purnima, 3 September, 2009, a Friday, [samvat 2066], wherein
Krishna, the Supreme Lover, was waiting for her with outstretched arms. I bow
hundreds of times before revered Baba who was such an eminently great saint.
[1]
Samskaras: In fact, everyone carries around with them a whole host of saṃskāras
from this lifetime and previous lives (since the subtle body does not die with
the physical one), and those impressions unconsciously shape our preferences
and the assumptions we project onto the people and situations we encounter.
[2]
Sattvic: characterized by sattva; having a serene, harmonious, balanced mind or
attitude.
[3]
Purushcharan:
a preliminary
rite; repetition of the name of a deity with burnt offerings, to obtain a
purpose
[4]
Kalpataru: one of the
fabulous trees of Krishna's paradise that grants all desires
[5]
Madhukar collecting alms (consisting of cooked food from door to door
[6]
Raas Panchadhyayi:
a quintet of chapters in the Bhagavata Purana on the theme of Krishna's
relationship with the gopis.
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