This was his first morning in the ashram. Swami Akhandanand used to wake up at 4 in the morning. He asked a disciple Raghuveer where is Golwalkar? Raghuveer’s answer was- He is sleeping right now. Swami’s answer or question was, “What will such a sleeping man be able to achieve in life?” When Raghuveer woke up Madhav and told him this incident, his condition was worth seeing, such a sarcastic statement on the very first day. Madhav got very angry at his laziness and vowed in his mind that he would not let this happen in future.
Swami Akhandananda i.e. the Guru of Guru Golwalkar, from whom he took the initiation of Sannyasa and Brahmacharya, was the Guru brother of Swami Vivekananda. Earlier Gangadhar Ghatak and later Akhandanand. Ramakrishna was the third president of the mission, but he had taken to heart Swami Vivekananda’s statement that the poor should be treated as God. Even after becoming the president, he rarely visited Belur Math, the headquarters of the mission. He preferred to live in his Saragachhi Ashram in the interior rural areas of Bengal. His local and foreign devotees used to meet him here. In such a situation, when Madhav i.e. Guru Golwalkar left Dr. Hedgewar without informing him in 1936, he came straight here. Madhav used to regularly visit Ramakrishna Mission in Nagpur. But now he wanted to take initiation, he wanted to take it from Swami Akhandanand only.
When Guru Golwalkar was given the job of cleaning utensils and washing temples.
But he came in the sight of Swamiji on the very first day, Swamiji kept an equal eye on every member of the Ashram, he was a supporter of strict rules for the Sanyasis. Swamiji could not see anyone sitting idle and also kept a watch on the work given to him. A few days later, it was the day of Ashwini Amavasya and Kali Puja, he handed over the responsibility of all the religious rituals performed during the puja to his disciple Vibhuti Chaitanya and gave the responsibility of its preparations to Madhav.
Swamiji wanted to do everything with pomp this year, because the year 1936 was the centenary year of his Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Madhav’s job was to keep everything ready for the puja, and after the puja, remove everything and clean the place. This included everything from cleaning kitchen utensils to washing the temple. He did all that with all his heart.
One day after Mangal Aarti, Swami Akhandanand Ji said to everyone in general, “All the work related to puja is considered as true puja. All of them should be done with full heart, whether it is picking flowers, sweeping the puja room, washing the floor, cleaning utensils, arranging fruits, while doing all the work, one should keep reciting mantras and keep God in your heart and keep thinking about Him only.” So Guru Golwalkar accepted that he was praising him indirectly.
He was very happy in his heart that day when my Guru came to know about my hard work. Later Baba had also asked Vibhuti how he liked that lawyer volunteer? So Vibhuti also praised him that he forgets himself while working. In this way, Golwalkar was becoming better in the eyes of his guru, for whom he had left Dr. Hedgewar.
One day Swamiji told him, “Hey, my body is becoming weak, please take care of this also.” It seemed as if his dream had come true that Baba had chosen him for his personal service. One day, when Madhav’s hand slipped while massaging him, Baba’s cup kept nearby, which was most dear to him, broke. Baba’s response was, “Be careful, don’t be hasty. It was a nice cup, are you hurt too?”
No one could guess what Baba would say when, that’s why when Madhav hurt his leg in a hurry to go to the store, bleeding started, but this time Baba showed no mercy and said, “Why don’t you see where you are going? First see your mistake.”
How Guru Golwalkar kept this secret of the ashram hidden for 36 years
You will be surprised to know that the world did not know all these things about 1936 for 67 years. Apart from Guru Golwalkar and Swami Akhandanandji, only 4-5 disciples knew about it. Ranga Hari tells the story behind this in his book “The Incomparable Guruji”. Ever since Guru Golwalkar had returned to the Sangh, he had never discussed about his Guru Akhandanand or these days spent in his ashram. Neither did he write in any article, nor did he speak in any interview or speech, nor even in informal conversations with anyone. But he kept writing all these things in his diaries.
He did not show these diaries or notes to anyone throughout his life, after coming from there he lived for 36 years, but did not discuss them with anyone. These diaries were not hidden from anyone, they remained lying in a corner of the cupboard of his room, even after his death, but no one touched them. But when a research program was started in 2003 to bring together all the literature related to them, they were read. You can read all his memories related to Saragachhi Ashram in the 6th part of Shri Guruji Samagra. However, interviews, articles etc. of all the Guru brothers who were with him during the research were also scrutinized. Guru Golwalkar stayed in this ashram for a total of 4 months, but the memories during this time were quite different from his ordinary life.
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Among the Sanyasi Guru Bhai who were living there with him, the prominent ones were Param Chaitanya, Vibhuti Chaitanya, Anand Chaitanya, Raghuveer and Gopal. Among these, the story of Param Chaitanya was quite interesting, his birth name was Phillips. He was an aeronautical engineer from Austria and had participated in the First World War. After that he started living in America. When his girlfriend died due to the collapse of a dam in California, it was a big blow to his heart. He sought refuge in Vedanta Ashram in Boston for peace of mind. At that time, Swami Parmanand was in charge of that ashram, he sent him to Bailur Math in India. But when he came to Saragachi to take shelter of Swamiji, Swamiji initiated him and made him take the oath of celibacy. Phillips’ name was changed to Param Chaitanya. Later Raghuveer’s name was changed to Turiya Chaitanya, which later became Swami Raghavananda. Vibhuti Chaitanya later became known as Swami Nirmayananda. Anand Chaitanya, whose original name was Amitabh Maharaj, after retirement became Swami Amartanand.
When Guru said ‘yes’ to initiation, Guru Golwalkar started crying.
Here Baba’s health started deteriorating. Amitabh once warned Golwalkar to talk to him about initiation, but he did not have the courage to talk to Baba. He has written in detail about this camaraderie. With great difficulty he could only say that Maharaj ji, when will I get your blessings? On this Baba replied that there are 10 to 12 days of holidays, some more disciples will come to the ashram, along with them you will also be initiated. As Guru Golwalkar has written about his inner reaction to this answer, hardly anyone else in his life would feel as happy. At that time he just said Jai Prabhu and went away with moist eyes. Guru Golwalkar has written that Baba started reciting the verses and I was crying while leaving.
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When Baba told him on 12th January that his initiation would take place tomorrow on the day of Makar Sankranti, he should keep a fast today. It was also Swami Vivekananda’s birthday, so Madhav’s happiness knew no bounds, his wish of coming to his ashram was about to be fulfilled. At that time, the name of Akhandanand ji was prominent among the biggest saints of the country. As the president of Ramakrishna Mission, he was highly respected in the country and the world.
After spending many years in the Himalayas, traveling around the country and studying the scriptures, no one could match him in terms of knowledge and arguments. It was indeed a matter of pride for him to receive initiation from such a learned saint. Guru Golwalkar wrote about his experience of this day, “I had never seen such a holy day in my life. It was the greatest day. It cannot be described in words. I was no longer what I was before.”
Guru Golwalkar did not get his hair cut for 36 years
Swami Akhandanand’s foreign admirers were also no less emotional. Two American girls had brought wheel chairs for him to the ashram, Raghuveer often took them to visit the ashram. One day Baba was resting sitting on a wheel chair, Madhav prepared morning refreshments for him. Baba seemed happy that day. Started looking at Madhav’s face carefully. In the last two and a half months, Madhav’s hair had become very long and he could not get it cut. Told Madhav to sit near him, he sat down, then took his hair in his hand and said, ‘This hair looks very beautiful on you, remember never to get it cut’. Guru’s order means God’s wish, that was the day and the day of his death, Guru Golwalkar never got his hair cut.
A month after the Makar Sankranti festival in February, amid the discussion of preparations for the last day of the birth centenary of Baba’s Guru Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Baba told everyone the meaning of being a saint, “Naham Naham…Tu Hi Tu Hi”. That means ‘Not me, not me, you only you’. That is, if you become a saint, give up your ego, worry about others, not yourself. Madhav made this the basic mantra of his life. 17 years after this incident, when Satyakam Vidyalankar, editor of Dharmayug magazine, asked all the national personalities along with him to tell one sentence which guides their life, Guru Golwalkar wrote, “Not I, only you”. On September 27, 1954, he wrote it in his own hand and sent it to her.
One day, when he was ill, Baba called him and said, “You do the best in life… whatever is good in me, I pray to Guru Maharaj that you get it and whatever bad qualities you have, come in me.” This message had great significance, perhaps he was foreseeing something about the future regarding Guru Golwalkar. After a few days his health worsened. It was decided that he should be taken to Bailur Math. Baba got a seat in first class at 5 pm on 6th February, Madhav was kept with him. Vibhuti had been sent to Calcutta a day earlier and Raghuveer and Amitabh were in another compartment.
He was dropped at Sealdah station at 11 pm, the further journey was decided by ambulance. On February 7, doctors tried to give him oxygen, but were not successful. He died after 3 pm. Golwalkar stayed there till the completion of the centenary. After that from Bailur Math he reached Saragachi Ashram. Along with his luggage, he also took along some such things which may surprise you, like Baba’s picture, which also had his signature, one of Baba’s clothes, two saffron handkerchiefs etc. Two more priceless things were some ashes of Baba and 20-25 hairs of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. All these are still kept safe in the puja room of Vasudev Golwalkar in Pune city.
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