Talk:Hanumān Bhakta Svāmī Samartha Rāmadāsa, the Guru of Mahārāja Śivājī
By Vishal Agarwal
The Guru of Emperor Śivājī apologizes for his mistake:
In Śivājī’s days, there was no internet, newspaper, television or camera. Therefore, people did not know how Svāmī Samartha Rāmadāsa looked like. In the sixteenth century, there lived a saint named Svāmī Samartha Rāmadāsa. He was a great Bhakta of Hanumān. One day, as a child, when he heard how Hanumān had jumped across the ocean, he became very excited. He went to the shore of the river close to his home. Then he shouted, ‘‘Jaya Hanumān’’ and tried to jump across the river. But he was just a child. Instead of landing on the other side of the river, he bumped his head on a rock. He got a big bump on his forehead, which remained all his life.
But Samartha Rāmadāsa never gave up his Bhakti towards Hanumān. He set up hundreds of centers in western India to train Hindus in martial arts. He asked Hindu youngsters to exercise, eat well and have a disciplined life so that they too could become strong like Hanumān. Some of the exercise gymnasiums founded by Svāmī Samartha Rāmadāsa exist even today.
One of the Svāmī’s students was Śivājī. Partly with the help of Samartha Rāmadāsa, Śivājī was able to raise an army of strong and fit warriors. This army fought the evil Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who had caused a lot of problems for the Hindus of India.
Once, Svāmī Samartha Rāmadāsa was touring the country with his other students when they all felt hungry. His disciples went to a farmer’s field and cut out a few cobs of the jowāra (sorghum). When the farmers of that village saw them, they gathered and started beating all of them.
When Śivājī got the news, he became very angry and asked his Guru as to what punishment should be given to the farmers. The Guru replied, ‘‘Do not give them any punishment. Instead honor them with a gift because they rightly punished us for stealing food. They perhaps knew that I am your Guru, but that did not scare them from beating us. It was certainly the fault of my students that they went into a field uninvited and stole the cobs of jowāra.’’
Śivājī is prevented from becoming a Sannyāsī by Samartha Rāmadāsa:
Śivājī was not just a brave Hindu warrior, but also a very spiritual person. The following story is narrated regarding a meeting Śivājī had with the saint at the Jārāṇḍā Hill:
“The next morning, as he was getting ready to leave, he heard that Śivājī was waiting to see him at the temple. Rāmadāsa came there, gave his usual call, ‘Jaya Jaya Raghuvīra Samartha’, and then held out his begging bag to the prince to be filled. Śivājī reverently saluted his Guru and put a note in Rāmadāsa’s begging bag. After talking for a while, Rāmadāsa took the note out of the bag and read it. The note said, ‘The whole kingdom is given as a gift to Sadguru Mahārāja.’
Rāmadāsa then remarked: ‘Well, Śivabā, the kingdom is now mine. Very good. What are you going to do in the future?’ ‘I shall spend my time in serving you’, replied Śivājī. ‘Excellent’, said Rāmadāsa. ‘Let us now go on our begging round.’ Śivājī then changed into the simple clothes of the mendicants, took a begging bag and water pot, and started following Rāmadāsa. Shouting ‘Jaya Jaya Raghuvīra Samartha’, Rāmadāsa and his followers, including Śivājī, went around the village begging.
Śivājī readily joined in all the chores of the āśrama, and after they had finished eating, Rāmadāsa began a kīrtana that lasted for two hours. When it was over, Rāmadāsa said, ‘Well Śivabā, how do you feel now?’ Śivājī replied, ‘I am very happy, Guru Mahārāja, in your service.’ Then Rāmadāsa said: ‘You are a Kṣatriya prince. How can you go out begging alms with me? Was Arjuna allowed by Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa to become a sannyāsī and to beg for his food? Recollect this advice, take back this kingdom, put on this royal dress, and rule as a blessed deputy of God.’ Śivājī did as his Guru advised, and he and Rāmadāsa returned together to Sātārā.”
The foundation of the Marāṭhā Empire that Śivājī laid shook the Mughal empire in the next few generations, and much of India from Tamil Nadu to Aṭṭock (in Pakistan) was freed from Islamic rule by the Marāṭhā rulers.
The Pride of Śivājī is crushed by Samartha Rāmadāsa:
As Śivājī expanded his territory, he built forts in the mountains to keep watch on the surrounding areas. Once, Rāmadāsa was with him as the king was watching thousands of workers move up and down the mountain, at work on one of these forts. Rāmadāsa noticed that Śivājī had become very proud, thinking of his great achievements.
At this moment, Rāmadāsa, who sensed his thoughts, came over to the king and called his attention to a curious phenomenon. The saint picked up a rock from the basket of one of the workers and smashed it against a wall. To everyone’s surprise it was found that the stone contained a live frog which leapt out of its erstwhile prison unharmed.
Taken aback by this wonderful sight, the king with the help of his sharp acumen, was quick to grasp the meaning of the Guru’s action: If God could provide a frog’s wherewithal to live within a stone, who was he to think of himself as strong and powerful? Everything was indeed the Lord’s play. God alone was the Doer and he, the king, was merely his servant and his instrument.