Shri Maharaj ji Undergoes Many Spiritual Tests
Shri Maharajji had to undergo spiritual tests during this period. When he began getting renowned for his constant Naam Japa in the Kadamba Khand other spiritual practitioners became jealous of him. One fine day after the daily routine chanting God's Name three and a half lakh times, he went to Nandgaon for bhiksha and slept somewhere. After bathing early in the morning when
Maharajji came to the fixed site of his devotional practice beneath the peelu tree, he found that someone had defecated there. Maharajji was getting late in chanting God's Name so he cleaned the spot by coating it with cow-dung and got engrossed in worshipping the Almighty. Not the slightest trace of suspicion rose in his tender heart that someone had purposely done this out of hostility. The person who had done this spiteful act got a carbuncle boil on his back and later came to Shri Maharajji to beg for forgiveness.
Peeli Pokhar, near Barsana
However, a few days later Shri Maharajji had to undergo a very tough trial at Peeli Pokhar near Barsana. It was evening and the place was being cast over by darkness. Shri Maharajji was engrossed in Naam Japa when a young beautiful girl came to Maharajji at that secluded site.
“Come Baba, satisfy your ardent desire,” she said passionately.
Advancing ahead she stood very close to Shri Maharajji.
Assuming that he was being spiritually tested, Maharajji began weeping loudly. The young belle ran away on seeing this outburst.
Greatly disturbed by this incident Maharajji wept for several days. Ultimately some divine power consoled him and his anguish was pacified.
Shri Maharajji did bhajan beneath that peelu tree, for four months at a stretch. After that he continued his devotional practice in a hut located in Nandbaba's bagicha[13] nearby.That peelu tree withered gradually after he had left the site of that tree. I had gone with Shri Maharajji later and seen that peelu tree which had dried up. Maharajji used to say that the tree had got salvation.
Some Bengali Gaudiya sadhus also resided in Nandbaba's
bagicha. One of them Shri Swasti Karanandji was a great lover of bhajan and an expert in playing the khol, a muscial instrument. This mahatma living a life of great austerity, stayed very close to Maharajji's hut. He would melodiously sing lovely padas from 'Sangeet Madhava' composed by Shri Prabodhananda Saraswati, which Shri Maharajji found very pleasing. Therefore, he requested Shri Swasti Karanandaji to give him those verses in writing but he did not do so because of sectarian differences between them. Just By listening to the verses over and over again, Maharajji began singing them, which became a matter of astonishment for Shri Swasti Karanandji.
Yashoda Kund
The Old Cave
We had heard from Shri Maharajji himself, “This cave is four hundred years old and several saints have done bhajan here. The saint which I had seen at Pawan Sarovar had also lived in this cave and
worshipped God. “Such had been Maharajji's statement.
Lord Krishna & Balrama in The Forest
Naam Japa
Shri Maharajji cleaned the cave himself, coating it with cow-dung, and sat there with a firm resolve to do bhajan or worship the Almighty. His heart spontaneously immersed itself in the delightful rasa of doing bhajan here. He woke up precisely at 3 AM every morning and bathed in the Yashoda Kund. Sitting in the cave he would do Naam Japa, three and a half lakh times. While
chanting the name of God if some other thought entered his mind apart from meditating on God, he would not count it amongst the number which had been ascertained for that particular time. After completing the Naam Japa he would go to Nandgaon for bhiksha and sit at any secluded place to eat it.
Besides, he would rest for the night by sleeping on the cave's roof, or some nearby platform where Rasa was enacted or any other place. Neither did he have any acquaintance nor did he visit anyone but simply chanted God's Name and constantly shed tears.
Sometimes Shri Maharajji would go to see the Rasa Lila when a theatre troupe would come to Nandgaon. Intense prema
for Shri Radha-Krishna would awaken in his heart and he would keep crying at that time. Seeing this state of his, the residents of Braj had named him 'The weeping Baba.'
During this period Shri Maharajji's physique began emitting a light which looked like faint moonlight. Above all, on dark nights he was able to see the path with this light emanating from his body.
Seeing this radiance a couple of times, the denizens of Braj asked, “What is this happening?”
Ever since he would cover his entire body except his eyes when he went to
beg for alms. After four months of effort he was able to check this light.
The restlessness arising due to an ardent longing to meet Krishna, the Supreme Lover, was constantly on the increase. On Ekadashi [15] only jaggery is got in alms. After finishing Naam Japa according to his daily regime, he went and got jaggery in bhiksha and became immersed in reciting God's Name again. At 7 pm in the evening of the third day, a saint came and called out to him from the entrance of the cave.
On not getting an answer he called out even louder, “ Acharyaji! Acharyaji!”
Becoming a bit alert Shri Maharajji replied, “ Radhe! Radhe!” and came out with the jholi, a small begging cloth pouch.
“What is there in the begging pouch?” the respectable saint asked.
Jaggery
Laughing, the saint responded, “ Ekadashi was day before yesterday. How is the jaggery you got day before, still kept now?”
Greatly Astonished, Maharajji asked,” What is the date today?”
Shri Maharajji was nonplussed. He recalled his condition when he had lost consciousness. The saint's talk made him realize that he had been in a semi-conscious state of religious rapture for the past three days. It was only when the saint called out to him that his trance[17] was broken. However, what could Maharajji say to that saint? I could never get to know about the divine experiences
Maharajji had had in that condition from
him.
Nand Bhavan, Nandgaon
Bhava: love
flowing towards the Lord
[15] Ekadashi:is the
eleventh lunar day (Tithi)
of the shukla (bright)
or krishna (dark) paksha
(fortnight) of every lunar
month in the Hindu
calendar.
[17] Trance: a temporary state
in which a persin,
with suspension of personal consciousness, is
controlled by an intelligence from
without and used as
a means of communication
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