Daso Digambar

[Guest guest]

Om Namo Narayanaya!

Dear group members, I am going to share with you this story about the famous devotee Daso Digambar born during the Mughal era, in Marathwada district in Maharashtra. He was the son of Digambar Kulkarni, who worked as a Tax Collector. In those days tax was collected in the form of grains. Everyone gave a share of their harvest to the officials.Digambar was incharge of this wealth. Daso would see maulvis going about in their village talking abt their religion; he would tell his father that it was not right that the Emperor shd collect taxes and use that public money in spreading his religion & getting people to convert. Daso would similarly question many of the prevailing practices and misuse of state funds. This troubled his father but the father could only agree that lot of things were not right, yet he needed the job and therefore continued to serve the Mughals. Eventually the village and surrounding areas were struck by famine and people started starving. Daso always had

regular meals thanks to his father's job, but all around him, his friends were starving. Daso put lot of pressure on his father to open the royal foodgrain storehouses to the villagers; finally Digambarpant too could not withstand the villagers' misery and opened the doors to the foodgrains under his care. The Emperor was outraged and called Digambar to court; Daso accompanied his father and both appeared before the Emperor. Before Digambarpant could offer any defense, Daso explained that whatever he did was for the public good and it would only help the Emperor's image; as the Emperor, moreover, it was his duty to see that his subjects didn't suffer. The Emperor was impressed with Daso's courage and frankness, and smartly decided that he should try and get Daso converted to Islam; Daso would be a valuable person to have in the community and could help them encourage people to take up Islam. He declared that Digambarpant would have to repay the money equivalent to what he had lost

in terms of the foodgrains; the amount decided was 5 lakh gold coins. The amt was due in 30 days failing which Daso would be converted to Islam. Until then Daso was to be imprisoned.Daso was very unhappy and in his prayers questioned his fate and decided that he would have to reconcile with whatever situation he found himself in. Days passed by; Digambarpant had no clue what to do. He felt that Daso's conversion was inevitable. On decision day, the court was packed; everyone waited for the outcome of Daso's case. The Emperor announced again the condition for his release and wanted to know if father/son had the money.They didn't. The Emperor was just beginning to announce that 'from today Daso is not a Hindu....' when suddenly from the audience someone shouted..'wait..I have the money' before people could turn around and identify the voice, someone had come forward, deposited the money, and disappeared. A quick check revealed that there was more than sufficient to buy Daso's

independence. Nobody knew who the person was and nobody could get hold of him. Daso decided that only God could have worked this miracle. From that day, Daso was an ardent devotee because he realized that in difficult times it is only God who is with you. How could he forget the miracle in his life? He decided that he would spend his life spreading the word of God. He was by now married to a girl, Parvati, and led a normal domestic life. But he could not concentrate in his normal activities. At the end of the day, no matter what he did, he found himself restless. He felt that devoting his life to God was the only way to attain peace.

 

Because

"na taato na maata na bandhur na daata,

na putro na putri, na bhrutyo na bharta,

na jaaya na vidyaa, na vrittir mamaiva,

gatistwam gatistwam twameka Bhavani" (from Shankaracharya's Bhavanyashtakam) .

 

So one night he left home without informing anyone; he walked on and on. When hungry he would ask for alms; when he got tired he just slept under a tree. In his wanderings he once met an older Brahmin with whom he had a long conversation about God and bhakti. The older man said that it was all right to think about God all the time, to chant prayers etc; one benefits by that. But what is more important is to work in the service of God. If one is fully aware of the importance of the divine way of life, why not share that knowledge with others?

 

From then onwards, Daso continued his wanderings. But now everytime he entered a new village, he would start talking about the teachings from the Gita, the Upanishads, on the significance of various rituals; the message in every talk was only this: that there is a Creator, and being born as a human meant that we had faculties that help us think and life was not meant only for enjoying physical comforts;the ultimate goal was to devote one's body and mind to Him. Thus along with bhakti, Daso had combined KarmaYoga--sharing his knowledge and devotion with the common people and guiding them too along the way that alone provides ultimate peace. One night after his regular duties, Daso, as was his usual practice, was sitting and talking to God. He thought that what more did he need to do to become one with God? This separation was no longer bearable; so thinking Daso started weeping, in his heart of hearts praying to God for a darshan; and so crying he slept. That night he

dreamed that Shri Vithal (Shri Datta) was consoling him "don't despair; you are mine and you are doing my work. What is your desire?" Daso sat up and seeing the beloved form of his God, he was absolutely happy. He then wished only that the dear Lord's anklets be given to him so that he could worship that for rest of his life. Lord Vithal advised him that he should travel to the Godavari and take a dip and he would be blessed with the anklets. This he did and as soon as he took a dip and came up, he found the anklets in his palms.

The story goes on to narrate how Daso was re-united with his wife who unknowingly had gone to commit Sati along the very banks of the river where he had set up his hut that served as the guiding light for people. That his wife never dreamed that her patience and faith would be rewarded and she would be re-united with him. That Daso realized that doing God's work didn't mean that he had to forsake his duties as a householder; in fact the householder who can devote to God's work while simultaneously handling family responsibilities is a far greater sage than the person who renounces all even when his mind and heart are still engaged in wordly matters/attachments.

Daso towards the end of his life also wrote a book "the Geeta-arnav" a compilation of more than a lakh verses drawn from his experiences and serving as a guide to people to live a God-centered life.

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From Shri Pandurang Shastri Athavale's "Shraddh" collection of stories about some great saints, some popular and famous, but also some unsung and unheard but nevetheless have left rich legacies.