Laladyad

Laladyad
Rajannya Lahiri
Laladyad, the local favourite in Kashmiri language, was a saint of a
poetess born on 1320 AD in Simpura village of Paampora, Kashmir.
Proofs about her life and living are not available today. She is also
known by the names of Lalleshvaree, Lalaa, Lalayogeshvaree, and
Laalaarifaa, et cetera. She is supposed to have died around 1391 AD.

The form of poetry that she worked in is called Vaakha. Her Vaakhas
count among Kabeera's Dohaas, Meeraa's Padas, Tulsi's Chaopaaees, and
Rasakhaana's Savaeyes. In her creations, Laladyada rises from the
societal hypocrisies of creed and religion to stressing to adopt that
path of faith which is umbilical to life. She protested against the
double standards of religion, and held up love to be the foremost
value or ideal.

Influenced by the elements of pop-ordinary living, her writings boast
of purely local, simple language. Which is why her creations still
remain in the memories and tongues of Kashmir today. She is widely
accepted to be the supportive pillar of the contemporary language of
Kashmir.

Baba Lokenath

Baba Lokenath
Mousumi Ghosh

The honoured mystic Baba Lokenath Thakur is the Lokenath Bramhachari
of Baradi and Baba to his devotees. Baradi is a village in
Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Lokenath set up his ashram here.
When we look at the picture of Baba Lokenath Bramhachari sitting in
his yogic posture, we get mesmerized by his eyes. It is rather
impossible to describe his eyes. It seems that Baba can see our bare
soul, such a bright and piercing eye but very very assuring.
It’s true. His devotees believe his comforting discourse – “Remember
me when you face any trouble in water, land, forest and anywhere in
the space. I shall protect you”. Baba though not living in this world
now in his physical body is saving countless people from their many
grave crises. He is immortal to his devotees.
Let us have a glimpse of his life and deeds that succeeded in
mesmerising so many people for more than a century. In his physical
body, he lived for more than one hundred and seventy five years.
He first came into limelight through a surprising incident in Baradi.
At that time he was a new comer in Baradi. After spending a long
period of one hundred and fifty years in Himalayas and other places,
he arrived at Daudkanti village in Tripura. One Dengu Karmakar of
Baradi village who was wrongly convicted in a criminal case requested
earnestly to the unclothed saint with magnetic personality when Baba
was meditating under a banyan tree at Daudkanti. With Baba’s grace, he
became free of crime charge. He was the first known devotee of Baba
Lokenath Thakur and he induced Baba to stay at his house in Baradi.
He was a mystery at first to the villagers for his unclothed body and
unusual activities. Locals assumed him as a mad Sadhak. Some local
respectable Brahmin men were making Sacred Thread (paita) in the
village. Unexpectedly the threads got entangled and the Brahmins with
all their efforts failed to separate them. Suddenly, that mad person
came there. The Brahmins became scared as nobody knew his identity and
caste. However, that person advised them to recite Gayatri Mantra. The
Brahmins instead requested him to recite that. Baba Lokenath separated
the entangled sacred threads by reciting Gayatri Mantra. Later, the
local Zamindar family the Nag babus became his devotee. Baba wanted a
land which fetches no rent. Accordingly with the approval of the
Zamindar family, His hermitage was built in an abandoned Burning Ghat
at the village periphery.
Once, Baba was summoned at the court in a criminal case where an
altercation between a disciple of him and a rowdy son of a Zamindar
led to a serious fight. The opponent’s lawyer asked his age. Baba
replied –“One hundred and fifty years “. The lawyer loudly protested
and said that in the court one should not talk all these non sense.
Baba then quietly said that they could note what they desired. The
plan of the opponent’s lawyer was to prove that it was impossible for
this too old saint to see the incident. So he again asked, “You said,
you are one hundred and fifty years old. Vision becomes too weak at
this age. But how could you notice the incident from the room? The
saint smiled. Pointing at a distant tree, He enquired, “Do you notice
any creature climbing on the tree”? Nobody was able to see any thing
at such a long distance. Brahmachari then smiled and said, “You are
young and have a strong vision. But you are not observing anything.
But I am sure that there are lines of red ants that are climbing the
tree”. Some people of the court then went there and saw that it was
right.
Baba once saved Bijoy Krishna Goswami a famous religious spoke person
of Dhaka from a dangerous forest fire in Chandranath Hill. Goswami was
meditating in a forest there. Suddenly the forest fire started which
scared even the wild animals there. Goswami started meditating again.
At that time suddenly, Baba Lokenath (then unknown to Bijoy Krishna
Goswami) arrived, took Goswami in his arms and saved his life by
relocating him to a safe place. Later when they two met at Baradi,
Lokenath Brahmachari told about that incident.
Baba was like a guardian to many ferocious animals. A poisonous snake
was like his pet. Similarly the tigress of a forest kept her cubs near
him when she went to collect food for them when Baba was in meditation
in the forest. Again, the birds took rest sitting on his shoulder.
Like a little child, he enjoyed distributing sugar to the ants and he
watched with utmost concentration whether they ate them or not. One of
his devotees invited Baba at his home on the occasion of the memorial
service of his father. Though baba was not regular at such social
functions but he agreed. As the devotee did not notice him, on the
next day, he came to the Ashram and expressed grief. Lokenath replied
that he went there but the devotee himself ordered him to go out. The
disciple became speechless. How could it be? Baba then pointed out
that the disciple injured a dog twice with his stick when that poor
creature entered the room reserved for delicious sweets. So baba made
it clear that he exists within every creature. Similarly, a rich
devotee, who was suffering from a dreadful disease once, brought milk
for him in a large earthen pot. Suddenly Baba became very angry and
denied his gift. After repeated request, he suggested that as the
concerned person was rich enough, if he brought it in a new good pot,
it could be used. That person followed his advice. However, when at
last it was kept in the courtyard, a dog of that Ashram with joy
started to drink that milk. The rich man became very angry and started
to beat the dog. Baba Lokenath then said that for that reason, he
refused his milk. Once a thing was given to Baba, a devotee lost all
his rights on that good. So there was no reason for the person to
behave so cruelly.
There are various remarkable experiences which his devotees narrated.
For instance, the deputy magistrate of Darjeeling, Mr Parbati Charan
Ray was Baba’s devotee. Once, he became bed ridden with life
threatening disease. One day, He saw Brahmachari beside his bed. After
that, he became completely cured. After a few days, he visited the
hermitage at Baradi to pay homage to Baba. He enquired whether Baba
had visited Darjeeling recently. Baba as usual replied that he did
not. But Parbati Babu repeatedly queried about that incident. He was
certain that it was not a dream. Baba just said that he was at that
time thinking about Parbati.
Similarly, Dr Nishikanta Babu was a medical practitioner in America.
He was a relative of Baba’s ardent disciple, the Nag families of
Baradi. One day, a sophisticated American lady came to him. She was
suffering from complicated colic pain. The western medicines failed to
relieve her pain. She wanted to try ancient Indian medicine as she had
great respect for India. But Dr Basu did not have knowledge about
ancient Indian treatment. In the course of their discussion, suddenly,
the lady screamed and asked the doctor about the person at his back.
The lady saw a tall Indian saint with matted hair and long beard. As
he was at the back side of Doctor at first failed to notice the
figure. The patient then said that Baba had given her the medicine in
this fraction of a second. Then the figure simply vanished from the
closed room. The figure resembled that of Baba Lokenath Thakur.
In the middle of the eighteenth century (on Tuesday, Janmastami,
Bengali year 1138), Lokenath Brahmachari was born in a well-known
village Chakla, situated in Barasat sub division of Twenty four
Parganas. His father Ramkanai Ghosal had a secret desire that one of
his sons would become a recluse and acquire divine knowledge.
Ultimately, his youngest son Lokenath got the permission from his
mother Kamala Devi to become a Sannyasi. Acharya Bhagaban Ganguly, who
was a known name in the field of spiritual education in the locality,
became his teacher. During his Sacred thread wear ceremony, Lokenath’s
Acharya decided to renounce the world taking his student Lokenath with
him. Lokenath’s childhood friend Benimadhav also joined them. Both of
them obtained the ceremonial diksha from their Sir Bhagaban Ganguly.
All of them left home. The age of the young hermits or Brahmacharis
were then about ten and their teacher around sixty. They visited many
holy places before meditating in the forest. Kalighat, the famous
Sakti peeth was surrounded by jungle. It was a powerful centre for
meditation for saints who gathered there from far and near. These two
young recluses disturbed them by pulling their matted hair. When the
agitated saints mentioned it to Lokenath’s Guruji, he replied that
these children belonged to the same group in which these holy men
belong. So they should train them as required. Their Acharya was
indeed an excellent teacher. During the tough period of meditation in
the forest, when the young ascetics had to bear with a period of
strict discipline and long days of fasting, Acharya himself nursed
them. He even washed their bodies when needed. Even when they became
adult, he did the compulsory begging to acquire food for all of them.
The food collected through begging is the purest food to the Indian
saints. He believed that the young hermits would lose their required
concentration if they got mixed with family men and their consumerist
attitude. The meditation at the forest continued for twenty five
years.
Then after meditating a long time in the high ranges of Himalayas,
they met a spiritually powerful Yogi, Hitalal Mishra. Too old Bhagaban
Ganguly before leaving his mortal body requested him to take care of
his ‘young’ students. These young students were then about ninety
years of age. They acquired huge Yogic knowledge from Yogi Hitalal.
And after long period of meditation Lokenath transformed into renowned
Brahmavid or powerful Yogi. He travelled various places of Himalayas
and that of Tibet. He also visited the Mecca, the most spiritual
centre of the Muslim people. After meditating for a long period in
the snow capped Himalayas, their teacher Hitalal Mishra ordered them
to come to the lower valley and work for the betterment of mankind.
Benimadhav moved to Kamakhya in Assam and Lokenath Brahmachari went to
holy Chandranath before arriving at Baradi beside River Meghna.
Baba Lokenath Brahmachari himself conveyed the message of his death of
physical body to his devotee Prabhu pada Bijoy Krishna Goswami. He
died on Unishe Jaistha in Bengali year 1297. He also saved the life of
one of his devotees after this date who was wrongfully given capital
punishment in the lower court.
Countless number of his devotees is still receiving his divine grace
and I am one of them.

Swami Satyanandadev by Nandita Bhattacharyya

Swami Satyanandadev

All the people of the locality got irritated with the weeping of the
child in the late night. They exclaimed with all bitterness in a half
awaken state oh why God has given this mad woman a child. She does
not even know how to take care of a baby. It seems god does not have
any reason. The child kept on crying. The mad woman pressed the child
close to her bosom and said Stop or else I would strangle you. Then
she kept the child on the road. She shouted You cry. You cry as long
as you can. Can’t you die? I want to get rid of you. Expressing all
her bitterness, she went away leaving behind the child . The helpless
child kept on weeping lying on the road alone. Suddenly there was a
sound of opening of a door. One divinely handsome saint came out of
that door with all affection in his eyes. He with a painful voice
called the servant of the house See what that mad mother has done .
She has left the child alone here on the road. Please pick the baby up
from the road. The baby was still crying. He arranged a warm bed for
the baby. The baby slept in peace. Thus the mad mother used to leave
her child like this almost everyday. She understood perhaps that there
was somebody to take care of her baby. So she used to keep her baby
near that particular door. The divine person used to take care of
that baby almost regularly. Sometimes the small child got fever and
again that same divine person used to ask his followers to pour water
on the head of the baby. He used to arrange medicine for him. Thus he
took care of the baby with all affection and brought him up.

The divine person is none other than Swami Satyananda Dev---the
preceptor of my parents. His devotees call him Thakur.
The chief value of his life was love. He loved everybody. He loved not
only the human beings, his was the love for the animals as well as for
the trees also.
Once a stray cat was roaming on the street pining. Hearing the cat
weeping as soon as Thakur came out of the temple the cat looked at
thakur with a strange look and took shelter in her feet. Thakur
immediately asked his followers what makes the cat weep? The followers
fumbled and said Thakur her kittens have been shifted because they
were creating problems for us. The face of the Thakur turned grimed.
He sat on his Asan(seat) and said go and find them out. Until and
unless you can not find those kittens I will not eat my food. Saying
these words he sat like a stone on his Asan till the kittens were
found.
He often said let me suffer all the sorrows of all the people in this
world. During the femine of 50s he opened langars in the ashram to
serve the daridranarayana. He ran this langars begging from the
others. He believed in Atmono mokshorthang jagadvtaya cha. Whoever
came to him in the Ashram he always said in a loving voice Prasad peye
jabe. (Have the Prasad before leaving). He always bore good will for
everybody even for the person who tried to harm him. This can be
illustrated from an incident. One neighbour of Suri Ashram was not
some how happy with the Ashram. He always spoke against the Ashram.
Once suddenly the house of that man caught fire. People started
shouting Fire fire. Thakur immediately instructed his followers in a
firm voice go and extinguish the fire. The devotees ran with bucketful
of water. Those who did not find buckets ran with their lottas(
)full of water. They all were shouting Hari Ramakrishna and threw
water in the fire. Thus they with the help of local people could
control the fire. And surprisingly enough the very next day the person
came and surrendered himself at the Ashram. t
Satyananda Dev was born in Lalbazar, Kolkata in a pious Brahmin
family. His father was Sri Mahendranath Mukhopadhyaya who was the then
Police Commissioner in Kolkata. He was out and out an honest person as
well as a dutiful officer. Once Basumati a famous daily of Bengal in
those days while writing about him referred to an incident which
seemed quite interesting. A boy in a house was reading now a days
lions are not available in Bengal. The father of the boy came out from
the next room and asked what did you read …lions are not available in
Bengal any more … you go to Lalbazar and you will find a lion there.
His name is Mahenranath Mukhopadhyaya… He was a gem of a man. He never
indulged in any unfair things. He was all for Satya --- The truth. And
that was the reason he named his four sons and two daughters as
Satyasadhan, Satyabrata, , Satyaniranjan, Satyabati and Satyashila.
The second son in Satyabrata of Sri Mahendranath Mukhopadhyaya has
been known as Thakur Satyananda Dev. The mother of Thakur Smt.
Kashishari Devi was also a very pious and religious lady. She at the
instance of Fakir Bilayet Ali observed hard penance at a burning ghat
of Birbhum for quite sometime. Fakir Bilayet was known as a Sidhapurus
in Birbhum district of West Bengal. He was in fact a Sufi Fakir.
People used to call him Gosai Thakur too. He guided Thakur’s mother
to perform her penance. The Fakir followed the Hindu way of penance
while guiding her. Kasisari Devi had the darshan of Ma Bhavatarini in
amabosya the newmoon day.And she got the blessings of the almighty
Mother. The Mother told her that Kashsishvari Devi would have a son
who would be a great saint. Thus Thkur was born in the year 1902. The
day was 24th February at 1.50am. Swami Abhedanada initiated him.
Swami Abhedanada wanted Thkur to take over the charge of the temple at
Darjeeling. But Thakur’s parents did not let him go there Instead they
requested Abhed Swami to allow his son to be at home and practice his
religion Accordingly he performed all the religious rites and penance
in the attic of the house at Kashipur and then in the house of Suri.
He did not sleep in those days .. He used to take a little food like
little quantity of milk, banana, boiled brinjal and ground nuts.
Though he was initiated by Swami Avedanandaji, he got his sannyas from
the Mother Bhabatarini. Herself.And it was the almighty Mother who
gave him the name Satyananda. Later Satyanada’s parents, brothers,
sisters and some other relatives took diksha from him.
He appeared in public as a sannyasi in Suri first in the year 1939.
Thakur established his Ashram at Suri in the house given by his
father. There gathered 100 sannyasis and Sannyasinis very soon. They
all together led their lives full of hard penance. They took food
just to live- that too without sugar, salt and spices. Thakur
instructed them to spend at least 6 hours a day in Jap( chanting the
name of god) and meditation. But he was never away from the suffering
masses. He taught his devotees to undertake Seva(service to People).
The Sannyasi along with their Sadhan Bhajan used to serve people who
were in need in many ways. In fact they started their service to the
community by establishing a small school for the children. Thakur
himself developed a curricululum for the students. India was under
British rule in those days. Thakur was totally against the history
forged by the British. He debunked the history which taught one to be
the slave of the system prevailing. He replaced the existing history
books with the books of biographies of the great Indians. Instead of
dry geography he taught the students geography with the help of good
travelogues. He made provisions in the curriculum so that the students
can learn maths, Dharma Shiksha, science and literature. His focus was
in fact in character building. He did not like to use any ugly words.
His was the opinion that one’s language is the expression of one’s
mind. So those who are mean inside use mean language.
Gradually he installed the foundation stone of a college in Saithia.
The college was named after Swami Avedananda. The college is still
thereand it has completed its silver jubilee. He always wanted the
young generation to come up with confidence and good wills for
everybody. He did not want them to be careerist only. His message to
the youth was if we decide to achieve something great who can stop us.
If we have confidence within us nothing can stop us. So what we need
is self realisation and self confidence. Along with these two we must
have the tenacity. Remember there is a source of eternal strength
within you. You can do anything and everything if you can make use of
your inner strength. Be like a banyan tree so that people can get
shelter in your shadow. He encouraged them to go abroad in order to
enhance their understanding and knowledge. But he wished them to serve
their motherland India. Thus he emphasized on patriotism also.
There is a special niche for the women folk in the mind of Swami
Satyanada. He said This is the era of the Mothers--- Women. A band of
Sanniasinis were there from the very beginning of the Ashram. He
adopted Archana Puri as his manas Kannya. There was one more
Sannyasini in Gita puri who was of equal importance. Thakur used to
call them Sarasvati and Laxmi respectively. All the Sannyasinis were
called as Ma (These women folk enjoyed all the facilities of observing
religious rites and penance like that of the men folk of the ashrama.
But at the same time no sannyasi wasallowed to enter the area where
these mother lived. Everybody associated with the Ashram called them
Ma. . Everyday Thakur sat with his devotees and interacted with them;
he answered the queries of the devotees. The preceptor and the
devotees discussed on many issues related to religion, philosophy
sitting together everyday. The Sannyasinis also joined those
discussion at per with the Sannyasis. Archana Ma used to present songs
in her divine voice. The others also joined her sometimes.
Thakur’s deity was a mother image in Bhavatarini. He also installed a
mother’s image called Trinayani in the Asram. Bhavatarini was his
mothere whereasTrinayanee Ma was her daughter. Trinayanee Ma in fact
sprang from Thakur’s imagination. Thakur always gave special
importance to female education. Some of the Ma-s joined the ashram
when they were 10/12 years of age. Most of them did not have the
opportunity to go to schools because in those days girls seldom went
to school. Naturally Thakur had to teach them. Thakur groomed these
small girls in his own way. They wrote songs, poetry. Some of them
translated the scriptures into Bengali from the original which were
written in Sanskrit. Thakur made sufficient space for them so that
they could grow with all their abundance.
These Ma-s used to take care of the Gopalji who is one of the major
deities worshipped in the ashram still now. Some of his followers
called him Ma also.

Thakur wrote a good number of books. His major works are on World
philosophy, World Ethics, World Psychology along with other books. He
wrote thousands of song and poems.. He composed dramas for the
children of the schools of the Ashram which was staged by the children
of the Asharam and was appreciated. The songs composed by Thakur are
time and again. Joto more ganer katha/ se je tore mantra gatha.
Whatever words I uttered in my song are the hymns addressed to you
Ma.. Satyanada Dev had a deep love for Sangeet. He himself was quite
well versed in the classical music. He even composed Thumri on Ma
Bhabatarini. Nachata kali dulari... He composed divine tunes of the
songs also. Ustad Allauddin Khan, Ravisankar Pandit Omkarnath Thakur,
Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Faiaz Khan often came to the cultural
programme organized by the Ashram. Thakur was a great Sangeet lover.
He himself knew how to sing. He often sang kirtan and other songs.
Whenever he visited the ashram of Batika a remote village of Birbhum
he often went out with the small children along the village road
singing kirtan. He had a deep love for the villages. He always tried
to be with the people of the villages promote the

SHRI TAILANGASWAMI – A Saint

SHRI TAILANGASWAMI – A Saint by Mousumi Ghosh


ShriTailangaswami is worshipped as the incarnation of Lord Shiva at
Shivapuri, Varanasi. Millions of devotees regularly poured holy water
of river Ganga and offered flowers and Vilwa Patra on his head when he
sat in his yogic meditation on the ghats of river Ganga. Amazingly,
the fathers and grand fathers of many of these people were also among
his devotees.
He was truly ageless. He meditated in his physical body for a long
period of two hundred and eighty years. He acquired immense yogic
power but he did not remain secluded from the common people. Instead,
the common helpless man whether rich or poor, living or dead received
his vast divine blessing during the long span of his life time. He
granted life to a number of dead persons. He first revealed this power
in Rameshwaram. There he poured some water from his Kamandalu, the
water pot of the saint, on the dead body of a young man, and the young
man was called back to life. To the masses, he was not only a great
saint but also very kind hearted and easily approachable person. He
was god in human body. With his blessings, several people indeed
developed divine characteristics.
In the seventeenth century, he was born in South India. His mother who
was an ardent worshipper of Lord Shiva got him after worshipping her
Lord for a long period. From his childhood, he received divine grace.
For instance, her mother once observed that a beam of light from the
Lord’s temple in the home entered her child’s body. Her mother
instilled in him the spiritual quest. He decided to remain a bachelor
and she supported his decision. After his parents’ death, he left home
and the share of his property, to live a recluse He used to meditate
beside the burning Ghat in the outskirt of his village. There came his
Guruji. It is believed that the spiritual teacher of a person is
predestined and he/she appears only when the mind set of the student
is ready to receive the training.
He travelled and meditated in many places in Uttarakhand and beside
the holy river Narmada (Narmada Parikrama) . These were not at all
entertainments, but part of the training to bear with hard life, to
develop the attitude of non possession and to gain control over the
basic needs of human body like hunger and sleep. A saint acquired
great spiritual strength through this process. After a long period of
meditation, his Guruji gave him Diksha at Pushkar. Diksha is the
formal process through which the spiritual guru gives identity to his
student. His new name was Ganapati Saraswati though he was better
known in Varanasi as Tailangaswami as he came from the place Tailanga.
He was then seventy five years with a strong youthful physical
structure. When his Guruji died, Tailangaswami was eighty eight with
the same graceful body.
There were many remarkable incidents in his life. When he was
meditating in a forest in Nepal, the Rana (king) of Nepal came for
hunting a tiger. He missed his target and was surprised to find that
the tiger took shelter near the Yogi. The Yogi was comforting the
tiger. He also advised the king to abandon the jealousy which
instigated him to shoot the tiger.
He was once sitting beside the Tribeni Sangam in Prayag with his
devotee Ramkanaibabu. Suddenly, fierce storm and torrential rain
started. His devotee became anxious for his Guru’s safety whereas Guru
became anxious for a far away boat with a large number of people
swinging dangerously in the river. Suddenly, Ramkanaibabu noticed that
Tailanga swami vanished from his side. After a few minutes, he saw
that the boat had reached the jetty and among the passengers who were
just saved from the clutches of death, was Tailanga Swami. He
requested Swamiji to confide that how a person gains that immense
extraordinary power. The great saint replied that it is nothing
unusual. Divine strength is present within everyone. An individual
should be aware of it. The people in the so called materialistic world
are increasingly getting separated from their real nature. That’s why,
a natural action seems unusual to them.
Tailangaswami’s divine playground was Varanasi. He first appeared
there at Ashighat. He did not need any cloth. He roamed at ease from
one ghat to another like a child. He jumped frequently into River
Ganga and swam there for hours. Many people called him the son of
River Ganga- Bhisma.
Once, in his usual relaxed attitude, he was walking from Ashighat to
Lolarkkunda. A deaf person with severe leprosy was sitting at the
roadside. He was abandoned by all. Surprisingly, when this distressed
person saw the great saint, he started to chant Shivastrotam (the
mantra of Lord Shiva) in a melodious tune. The benevolent Sadhak
stopped; smiled .He assured him not to worry, advised him to take a
bath in Lolark kunda and gave him a Vilwa leaf. The patient became
completely cured. Similarly another day, he gifted a new life to an
old man suffering from severe tuberculosis.
An amazing incident occurred when Swamiji was staying at Hanuman Ghat.
A sophisticated lady was disturbed by this huge physical appearance of
this Sadhak in undress. She rebuked him a lot advising him to stay in
jungles rather than aimlessly roaming in this temple town. The
meditative Sadhak however remained calm and relaxed as usual. But, the
lady saw in her dream that Lord Viswanath became very agitated for
this incident and declared that her wish to cure her sick husband
would not be possible for her behaviour. On the very next day, she
came to Tailanga swami, apologised and fell on his feet. The ever kind
Sadhak gave him some ash (bhasma) and his husband became all right.
Similarly, a native king and queen once came to bath in holy Ganga.
When the queen was taking bath, suddenly, Swamiji came there, the
security persons started to beat the Sadhak when the locals came and
stopped them though he himself remained unperturbed. But the king
afterwards in his dream saw a furious saint cursing him. He requested
for forgiveness to Swamiji on the next day and received it instantly.
Once, the King of Ujjaini was enjoying a boat ride. They saw a huge
man floating in the river. They recognised him as their movable Shiva.
Tailangaswami also somehow became interested and came on the boat. He
suddenly wanted the big sword of the king. That sword was a gift to
the native king from the British emperor. Swamiji threw it into the
river. The king reacted strongly though his associates advised him not
to get agitated as the Sadhak never did any harm to anybody. But the
king refused to hear anything. Tailangaswami then obtained two
identical swords from the river and asked the king to identify his
own. The king was unsuccessful. Then Swamiji rebuked him and said that
the king was an egoist one and his mind was filled with greed and
ignorance. He could not take this sword with him after his death. So
the sword was not his property. The deeds of present and future only
remain with a person and nothing else. So the foolish king was
lamenting for the loss of a commodity which did not belong to him.
Some English men and women became disturbed by the sight of this naked
Sadhak and complained to the magistrate. The magistrate sent police
who asked him to go with them. The meditating Swamiji did not notice
them. They forcefully took him to the chamber of the Magistrate. There
he was handcuffed and taken to a confined room. However, after some
time, the security person found that he was not in that room. Instead
he was standing at a corner in the Magistrate’s room. In the meantime,
his devotees came with a local lawyer who knew the saint. He told the
Magistrate about this great Yogi. He informed him that he is a
Samadarshi that is to him everything is equal; he does not distinguish
between sandalwood and faeces. He does not require any garment.
However the British magistrate made a deal. He said that if to him all
things are equal, he should eat what the magistrate offered. The Yogi
agreed but said that the Sahib should first eat what the saint would
eat on that day. The Sahib agreed as he assumed that the normal foods
of the saints are mainly vegetarian items. However, the saint in front
of all people excreted faeces and offered it to the Sahib saying
that that product was his food for that time. The Mahayogi ate it
instantly and everybody was amazed and saw that it had been
transformed into a lip smacking food. The magistrate realised the
power of this saint and gave order that nobody would disturb him.
Some mischievous people once gave him lime water to see how it harmed
the Yogi. Afterwards they repented and confessed their act to him.
Tailangaswami urinated and excreted all the limewater.
His contemporary spiritual gurus respected him a lot. When Shri
Ramkrishna visited Varanasi, the two great souls met and exchanged
their philosophies. Prabhu pada Vijoykrishna Goswami also received
Tailangaswami’s affection. Once in a temple of Goddess Kali,
Tailangaswami urinated and threw the waste on Maa Kali. When Prabhu
pada Goswami asked the reason, he wrote on the floor
‘Gangodokong’ (water of river Ganga) and ‘Puja’. The temple was empty
at that time. Afterwards, when the priest and other people came,
Goswami told them everything. They laughed and assured that
Tailangaswami was Vishweswar himself. So his urine is indeed holy
water of Ganga. After a few days, Swamiji declared that he would
confer diksha to Goswamiji. Goswamiji was then one of his close
devotees. So he enquired that as he was a brahma , how could Swamiji
grant him the diksha? Moreover Swamiji’s activities seemed to be very
bizarre, so why Goswami would be interested to take Diksha from him?
Tailangaswami laughed heartily and replied that there are important
reasons. One needed a Guru to purify the body. So Swamiji would give
him the initial diksha but he was not the actual Guru of Goswami. He
gave a mantra to Goswami and asked him to go away. Swamiji said that
he had done what God had ordered him.
During his last days in his mortal body, he stayed near Panchganga
Ghat at various places and in the home of his earnest disciple
Mangalbhatta. One day he declared that he would leave his mortal body
in Samadhi yoga. It was heartbreaking news for his disciples. They
started crying but Guruji assured that he was not leaving them
forever. As his mortal body became very old one, it requires
replenishment. That’s the only point. However the devotees requested
him to live for more time so that they could prepare themselves for
the immense loss and create his statue. Guruji got upset to find that
his disciples still valued the valueless physical structure. However
they said that they could offer Puja to the idol. The kind Mahayogi
agreed and granted them one more month. He chose the date Sukla
Ekadashi, month Pous, 1887 AD. A huge statue and a big vault were
constructed. Mahayogi left his mortal body on the declared day in his
yogic posture. His mortal body was kept within the vault and the vault
in turn was immersed in river Ganga, his eternal space.