Sri Venkateswara Maha Mantra :

“Om Namo Venkatesaaya Kaamita-artha Pradhaayine Pranatah Klesa Naasaaya Govindaaya

Namo Namaha”.

“..Annapurne Sadaa Purne.. Sankara Praana Vallabhe.. Gnana Vairaagya Siddhyartham..

Bikshaam Dehicha Paarvathi..”

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Chapter 20 & 21

Fate Erased

Sriguru Lord Narasinha Saraswati (Second incarnation of Lord Dattatrey in Kali

Yuga)

Sriguru had promised his devotees that he would divinely reside at the Audumbar
tree in the place now called as ‘Narsobachi wadi’. Devotees even now experience his
divine presence and miracles.

A Brahmin named Gangadhar lived in Shirol village near Narsobachi wadi. His wife
was very virtuous. She gave birth to five children, but each one died within a few
days of birth. They didn’t even survive until their naming ceremony. The Brahmin
couple was very unhappy. They prayed to all deities with earnestness to seek a
child, but all efforts went in vain. Once they both approached a well-known
astrologer. He told them that, in the past life, the Brahmani had borrowed gold
coins from a Brahmin of Shonak gotra, but never returned it back. Therefore the
Brahmin belonging to the Shonan gotra gave up and committed suicide. After the
suicide, he became a ghost and destroys all her children. Since the Brahmin was
childless, no one carried out his funeral rites after death. Therefore, the
astrologer suggested that they complete all funeral rites of the ghost, donate the
loan amount to a Brahmin of same gotra and offer services to Sriguru in order to
wipe out the effects of their sins.

The Brahmani said, “I do not have wealth equal to a hundred gold coins. I am even
unable to perform all the funeral rites of the Brahmin. However, I will complete
the funeral rites as much as possible. For a month I will stay at the confluence of
Krishna-Panchganga Rivers and offer my devotional services to Sriguru”. The very
next day she reached Narsobachi wadi. Everyday she would bathe in the ‘Teerth” and
devotionally worship the Padukas of Sriguru and the Audumber tree. While carrying
out the Parikrama around the Audumber tree, she would continuously chant
“Digambara, Digambara, Sripad Vallabh Digambara”.

On the third night she had a dream with the ghost demanding his money. He
threatened the brahmani, “If you don’t return my money, I shall eliminate all
members of your family”. Saying that, the ghost raised a weapon and came to attack
her. Fear gripped the Brahmin lady and she started running towards the Audumbar
tree. At that very moment, she saw the compassionate Sriguru personally standing in
front of her. She went and laid herself down at the lotus feet of Sriguru. Sriguru
assured her of protection. He asked the ghost, “Why do you want to kill this poor
lady?”. The ghost replied “Oh Lord! This lady had borrowed a hundred gold coins in
my past birth. She did not return the money in that birth. I died out of grief and
became a ghost. If she returns my money, I would silently leave without harassing
her anymore”. Then Sriguru replied, “This lady is my devotee. You cannot harass her
anymore. Whatever little amount she can manage to give you, take that and go away
silently. Only then you will be liberated from this state and the lady would also
become happy. If you get entangled in this web of money, you will never be
liberated from this state of being a ghost”.
The ghost accepted his suggestion. Then Sriguru told the Brahmin lady “You should
perform the Dashapindi funeral rites of this ghost. It will not only liberate the
ghost from its origin, but it will also make you happy. Take bath in the holy water
here and then perform the funeral rites. For seven days you bath the Audumbar tree
with this holy water. Then all your sins would be washed away”.

After saying so, Sriguru disappeared. The ghost also vanished. Then the Brahmin
lady awakened from her dream. She narrated the entire conversation to her husband;
and as per Sriguru’s orders performed the Dashpindi funeral rites of the ghost,
took the blessings of Lord Amareshwar and then stayed at Narasinhawadi for the
night. That night Sriguru again appeared in her dream and offered her two coconuts.
She ate those coconuts and returned home. In due time, she gave birth to two sons
with the kind blessings of Sriguru.

After a few years, they decided to perform the thread ceremony of their elder son
who was five years old and the tonsure ceremony of their three-year-old.
Unfortunately, just a day before the ceremony, the younger son died due to a
tetanus infection. With the untimely death of their younger son, his parents were
struck by grief and was completely heart broken. The Brahmin lady started beating
her head. The villagers’ came to collect the body for the funeral rites, but she
did not allow them to touch the dead body. An entire day passed, but she remained
adamant.At this time a celibate boy arrived from nowhere. He tried his best to
convince the Brahmin lady, but in vain. The grief-stricken mother could not grasp
the higher principles of the Vedas. The lady said, “I don’t want to listen to
anybody. Sriguru had promised me in front of the Audumbar tree at the confluence of
Krishna-Panchganga Rivers, that both my sons would have long life”. Then the
celibate boy, who was none other than Sriguru himself in that form said, “If your
devotion is really true, then Sriguru himself would show you the right path. You
should go back to that Audumbar tree”.

Accordingly the Brahmin lady took her dead son to the Audumbar tree. She laid down
the dead body in front of the ‘Padukas’ of Sriguru and then in an afflicted tone
started chanting loudly the name of Sriguru for help. In that state of grief, she
dozed off and had a dream. In the dream, Lord Narasinha Saraswati appeared before
her and said, “My words were true. Do not blame me. As per your son’s fate, he had
to live up to a hundred years. However, in your fate there is separation from your
son. But, I shall wipe out this aspect of your fate and make your son alive”. After
saying so, he puffed out holy ash from his mouth.

Soon the lady woke up from her slumber and to her surprise saw her son crying.
There was happiness all over. The villagers’ gathered and bowed before the
‘Padukas’ with great devotion. Then they gave holy bath to the ‘Padukas’ as well as
to the Audumbar tree and worshipped the same with great devotion. They all offered
their prayers to Lord Narsinha Sarswati for pardoning them and sang in praise of
the Lord. Everyone realised that even after his departure from this place, he still
divinely manifests there. If one worships him with true devotion, Sriguru certainly
changes the fate of the person for the better. Even today, lakhs of devotees come
to Narasinhawadi to seek the blessings of Sriguru and get their desires fulfilled.
Depending on their devotional service and faith, their wishes do get fulfilled.

Meeting Parents

One day early in the morning Sriguru reached Korang nagar in Akola District,
Maharashtra and unexpectedly stood in the courtyard of his home. His parents always
remembered their son Narhari since he had left home, but they were not able to
recognise the ascetic Sriguru who came and stood in their courtyard. However, when
they did recognise him, everyone from the house came for his blessings and
worshipped him. Word spread around and the villagers started to come in for the
blessings of Sriguru.

From within this crowd, his sister Ratna appeared and stood before him. She was
seeing her brother for the first time. Sriguru realized that she desired to talk to
him. Ratna laid herself down at SriGurus feet and said, “I would also like to do
penance and get myself deeply involved in devotion”. Sriguru answered,“Offering
service to one’s husband is the prime sacred duty for a woman. That itself is the
real path to salvation”. Ratna asked him, “What are all the happenings that would
take place in my life?” Sriguru then replied, “In your past birth, you severely
beat up a cow and created quarrels in your family by slandering. Hence now your
husband would quarrel with you in this life and become an ascetic. You will suffer
from white leprosy marks on your body, which would give you a lot of pain. But
going through all these sufferings will wash away all your sins. You will then get
my Divine blessings when you meet me in Ganagapur”.

A number of people from the village invited Sriguru to their homes for accepting
alms. Sriguru did not want to turn anyone down for it might hurt their feelings.
Therefore, he accepted everyone’s invitation. He then visited everyone’s home at
the same time, as promised, in different forms and accepted their worship and alms.
When people realized the fact that Sriguru was present in all their houses at the
same instant, they were all simply shocked with this miracle.

Ascetic Madhavaranya

Next day, Sriguru bid farewell to everyone and left his home. From Karanja, he went
to Tryambakeshwar (Nashik District) and eventually went to Nashik (Maharashtra).
After spending a night in Nashik, he went to Manjarika village located on the banks
of River Godavari. An ascetic named Madhavaranya stayed in Manjarika. He was a
great devotee of Narasimha. He was entirely absorbed in meditation and singing
hymns praising his tutelary deity, Narasimha. Lord Narasimha had blessed him with
Divine Vision in his meditation. Very often he would see him in the form of a
Divine ascetic, but Madhavaranya wanted to see him manifested in the form of a
deity with attributes.

The day when Sriguru reached Manjarika village, Madhavaranya had the Divine sight
of Lord Narasinha Saraswati in his meditation. Madhavaranya was confused with these
two forms. However, his confusion was resolved very soon when he saw his deity
Narasimha getting merged into the form of the Divine ascetic. At that very moment,
Sriguru manifested himself in his presence and announced “Sriguru Devdatta” in a
continuous deep sounding chant. When Madhavaranya opened his eyes he saw the same
Divine ascetic who came in his vision during meditation. He felt contented. Sriguru
told him that Lord Narasimha was highly pleased with him and he would soon be
blessed with the Divine sight of the Lord.

Brahmin prompted for committing suicide

From Manjarika village, Sriguru went ahead to another village named ‘Vasar
Brahmeshwar’ also located on the banks of river Godavari. He was accompanied by his
disciples. Early one morning when Sriguru was bathing in the river, he heard some
noises in the river bank. A Brahmin was moving restlessly, just like a fish out of
water and screaming loudly. It seemed like he was experiencing severe pain. In
spite of the pain, he had tied a big stone on his back and was about to drown
himself in the river. Sriguru asked his disciples to bring the Brahmin to him.

The middle-aged Brahmin started conversing with the disciples. He said, “Why are
you stopping me? I am unable to bear this acute stomach pain. Only death can
relieve me from such a pain. I have tried all remedies. If I eat rice, it turns out
like poison in my stomach. I don’t know what sins I have committed in my past life
to undergo such deadly pain”. Ignoring everything he said, the disciples caught
hold of him and brought him to Sriguru. The Brahmin then told Sriguru, “For the
last ten years, I have been suffering from acute stomach pain. So, please permit me
to commit suicide”. Sriguru spoke “Do you feel that committing suicide would change
your destiny and wipe out your sufferings? On the contrary, committing suicide
would add to your sins and increase the sufferings in your next life. Take for
granted that you have already endured for the sins of your past life and you will
get my blessings. Be assured that you will be cured of your acute stomach pain with
immediate effect. Today I will feed you with very delicious food”.

At the same time an officer of that village was going in the river to take bath. As
soon as he saw Sriguru, he offered his obeisance and expressed his desire to offer
some devotional service. The officer was a Brahmin of Koudinya Gotra from Apastambh
branch. His name was Sayamdeo. He said, “I am working for a Yavan Subhedar”. I am
very fortunate to get your blessings and hence I pray for your kind grace to allow
me to offer my devotional service to you”.

Sriguru pointed at the sick Brahmin and spoke to Sayamdeo “Take this Brahmin
suffering from acute stomach pain to your house and feed him delicious food until
he is satisfied”. Then Sayamdeo prayed to Sriguru, “Kindly bless my house with your
Divine presence along with your disciples and accept my alms”.

Sriguru gracefully accepted Sayamdeo’s request. That same afternoon Sriguru graced
Sayamdeo’s house with his visit. Sayamdeo and his wife welcomed Sriguru with great
devotion and worshipped him in shodashopacharsup way by seating him on a silver
bench. Everyone present was satisfied. The sick Brahmin was also satisfied as he
could enjoy the delicious food after a period of nearly ten years.

Protection to Sayamdeo

Sayamdeo then prostrated at the feet of Sriguru for his blessings. Sensing his
devotion, Sriguru blessed him and said, “You are fully devoted to me and hence you
will get freedom from all anxieties”. Sriguru then returned back to his original
place.

Around sunset, Sayamdeo received a call from his Yavan Subhedar. Sayamdeo became
very nervous since it was known that the cruel Subhedar wanted to kill a Brahmin.
Therefore, this call meant death for Sayamdeo. Counting the last moments of his
life, Sayamdeo summoned unto Sriguru throughout the night. In the morning, he
approached Sriguru and gave him all the details. Listening to his story, Sriguru
said, “You are my devotee. Nobody can kill my devotee. Go and undoubtedly meet the
Subhedar. I shall wait here until you return”. Sayamdeo returned home after getting
this assurance from Sriguru.

Next morning he went to meet the Subhedar. He was a bit late and therefore the
Subhedar had become insane out of anger. He had already started throwing abuses at
Sayamdeo. As soon as he saw Sayamdeo, he went ahead to kill him. But suddenly he
shrank due to fear and returned to his room. His whole body was undergoing a
burning sensation. There was severe pain in his chest. He felt as if a Brahmin was
cutting his flesh, inch by inch. When he remembered Sayamdeo, he came out of the
room staggering and still in pain. Sayamdeo was standing outside, thinking &
praying to Sriguru. The Subhedar fell down at Sayamdeo’s feet and said, “I request
for your shelter. Please protect me. It was a big mistake calling you here. Please
forgive me”. Then the Subhedar went inside the room and came out with a necklace of
jewels, gold coins and gave them to Sayamdeo as a gift and requested him to go
home.

Sayamdeo left from the Subhedar’s place and went directly to Sriguru. Amazed with
the kind grace of Sriguru, he prostrated at his feet. Seeing his faith, Sriguru
told him, “Always maintain this strong devotion”. Sayamdeo prayed to Sriguru “I
want to offer my services at your feet. I pray that you take me along with you”.
Then Sriguru said, “Stay here for now. After fifteen years, you will be able to get
my Divine grace”. Thus blessing him, Sriguru went ahead to continue on his
pilgrimage.

Further, he reached “Parali Vaijanath”. By then, Sriguru’s fame had spread

everywhere. A large number of people started visiting him to pay their obeisance.
It became difficult for Sriguru to carry on his worship or meditation. Therefore
Sriguru ordered all his disciples to proceed on pilgrimage and he decided to find a
solitary place for himself and live in solitude. So finally he left “Parali
Vaijanath” to continue his worship and meditation.