Baba won the hearts of his early devotees with jokes, games, singing and music. His treatment of them, up until then, was full of sympathy, affection and intimate camaraderie. To add to their intoxication, Baba revealed to them that they had had a connection with him in one of his recent incarnations.
The previous year, a statue of the great warrior-king Shivaji had been erected in Poona. One day, during a stroll through the city, Baba explained that for certain spiritual work, there occur in varying centuries two types of Avataric incarnations: major and minor. He then revealed one of his past minor incarnations had been as Shivaji: "In a past lifetime, I was Shivaji. Until recently, the British have left nothing undone to detract from Shivaji historically. Yet, they have now, when I am present in this form, had a [foundation stone for a] statue unveiled by the Prince of Wales last year in Shaniwar Wada."1
Glancing at the men present, he revealed, "You were all with me at the time of Shivaji. Behramji was Afzal Khan, the Moghul general who was killed by Shivaji. Sadashiv Patil was Tanaji Malsoore, the man who gave his life to save Shivaji." Later, in private, Baba explained to Gulmai's son Adi that he had been Shivaji's wife.2
In Maharashtra, people have great reverence and love for Shivaji, and these statements by Baba further consolidated the early disciples' faith in Baba's greatness. After he revealed this, the men talked of it for days among themselves.
There is significance in the role of Shivaji's activities in founding the Maratha kingdom [which later became the state of Maharashtra] on the Deccan plateau during the 17th century. Born circa 1627, Shivaji was a versatile personality and leader — a statesman, social reformer, brilliant military strategist and advocate of religious tolerance. Called "the Grand Rebel," he was devoted to Hindu religious freedom and fought against the Muslim oppression and persecution of Hindus that had been instigated by the Moghul ruler Aurangzeb. Shivaji was spiritually guided by Swami Ramdas, a Sadguru. Although veiled from his true identity, Shivaji reorganized the country of India and prepared the people's consciousness for the advent of the Avatar, especially the Muslims and Hindus on the Deccan. He dropped his body in 1680.
A subsequent minor Avataric advent, Baba revealed, was as a Buddhist monk, born in a suburb of Rangoon, Burma in 1795 to a family of Jains. His story is as follows:
His father was a priest who earned very little. When the child was only seven he lost his father and soon after his mother. The entire duty of looking after the boy fell upon the shoulders of his uncle, who was a learned man of splendid character. The uncle had great affection for the boy and therefore took great pleasure in taking charge of him. Though the uncle was one of the most learned men of his time, he did not care to educate his beloved nephew — simply because the uncle saw in his nephew all the indications of a saint. He considered the boy to be a born saint, and so never interfered with him in any matter ... The boy's heart and mind were always pointed to God, and the uncle saw not the slightest necessity to teach the boy either in spirit or in words ... The uncle considered his nephew's life to be a beacon light to himself.
For days together the boy would not eat anything. Occasionally he would leave his uncle's house and for several days wander in the streets of Rangoon as a sanyasi. One day, when he was about fourteen, he cast off his clothes and left his house. Almost entirely naked, he began to [roam] about the suburb he was born in ... till he was 20. Some people considered this itinerant monk as a lunatic; some regarded him as a saint. Needless to say, the uncle's opinion about his nephew-monk was the highest, in as much as he considered him as a true Paramhansa. As the uncle was a learned man well-versed in the scriptures of all religions, hundreds of persons used to call upon him to consult him on matters of religion and spirituality. And to all his visitors and followers, the uncle would say that his nephew was just like Lord Buddha ...
When the naked itinerant monk became 20, he gave up wandering and repaired to the city proper and made a place near a Jain temple as his abode. He lived in this place continuously till the end of his life, for ten long years. During this whole period, he did not eat anything. He lived simply on water ... His uncle, who was with him throughout this period, did not once press him to eat. To people who came to worship his nephew, he would say, "To be sure, you are worshipping Buddha."
The monk gave up his body in 1826 when he was only 30 years old. [By that time] he had been reduced to a skeleton. Months before he died, he had totally lost his power of speaking on account of extreme debility.3
A nawab (Muslim prince) happened to hear of Baba and came to see him at his humble hut along Fergusson Road. Distressed, the nawab complained to Baba that he was the legal inheritor of his father's kingdom, but a younger prince had deprived him of it and usurped his lawful throne.
Footnotes
- 1.The ceremony with the Prince of Wales was held on 19 November 1921.
- 2.Baily recalled that Baba had stated that Baily was Tanaji Malsoore; Sadashiv Patil was Shivaji's advisor, Dadoji Konddev; and Gustadji was Shivaji's wife. In K. J. Dastur's unpublished 1927 biography of Baba, he writes that Gulmai was Jijabai, Shivaji's mother.
- 3.From an unpublished biography of Baba written in 1927 by K. J. Dastur. Norina Matchabelli also wrote that Baba told her, "In between Baba's Avataric periods he incarnates, using several bodies for his work: 450 years ago, he was in Venice; 100 years ago in Paris and Burma." When Baba visited Venice in 1932, Chanji recorded that Baba said he had been there 620 years ago. Another time, Baba told Quentin Tod that he had incarnated in Venice in 1292.