Near 'S.P. College' a freedom fighter by the name of 'Shree Guru Dattātraya Vasudev Gokhale' used to live. In 1969 our family priest Late 'Madhavrao Prabhune' alias ‘Māmā’ introduced me to him. I used to visit him daily. In 1957 ‘Lord Dattatraya’ himself had given "Anugraha" (To oblige by showing kindness towards a person) to ‘Māmā’ when he was visiting ‘Nrusimhawadi’ (A place near east Maharashtra where the second incarnation of ‘Lord Dattātraya’, ‘Narasimha Saraswati’ had done a lot of penance). Lord had had made him his own disciple. During this period ‘Shree Guru Brahmanand Maharaj Upākhya Gangadhar Narhari Ghodake’ was going to build an "OM" (Primordial sound, a holy chant) temple at 'Lonand'. With Shree Swāmi’s grace the responsibility of making the idol (Epithet) of "OM", paduka and the flooring of sanctum sanctorium, were given to me. I got hold of the best artisans and got the work done. I got the grace and blessings of ‘Shree Guru Brahmānand Maharaj’. He renamed me as ‘Chaitanya’. Affectionately we use to address him as ‘Kākā’. Though I made ‘Kākā’ as my Guru (Teacher), I used to serve ‘Shree Gokhale Maharaj’ alias ‘Dādā’. Once ‘Kākā’ said to me that “You serve ‘Dādā’ in Pune, but your services reach me over here”. In 1974 ‘Dādā’ fell seriously ill. At that time I met Rev. 'Nānā Karandikar', he gave me a lot of courage. Because of ‘Nānā’ I became a devout disciple of ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth Maharaj’. When ‘Nānā’ built the ‘Swāmi Bhavan’ in Lonawala near Pune, I helped him with all my heart. The statue of ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’ at this place is made up of Copper and we needed to collect enough copper for the statue, hence we used to go door to door to collect the copper vessels from people as donation for the statue. Initially I used to be in two minds, as to do ‘Bhakti’ (devotion) of ‘Lord Dattātraya’ or ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’. I used to pray to both, but later this doubt was eradicated by my mind. ‘Nānā’ was an extremely loving person, during the period 1974-1984 whenever he visited Pune he used to stay with us. He was present for naming ceremony of both my children. He named them 'Pradnyā' and 'Shridhar' respectively. By “Shree Swāmi Samarth’ grace I used to plan his "Padayātrā" (A visit to Holy place or destination on foot). 'Nānā' was like one of our family member, he used to start and end his ‘Padayātrā’ from our house in Pune. Our family is lucky to have been graced and blessed by his presence. Whenever I think about it, I feel so touched that I get goose flesh. Once in the month of January 1984 while he was staying with us, he requested my wife Sau Aparnā to cook "Mugāchi Usal" (Cooked Lentils) for him. Those days he did not take normal meals, but ate only cooked Lentils. It was a religious vow. While leaving the house he said to us that “hence forth, if you want to meet me, you will have to come to Lonawalā”. He left us and went to ‘Jat’ by the state transport bus. The very next we got the news of  his sad demise, we were very disturbed by the news and his last words started ringing in our ears. We understood the deep meaning if his words (It meant that he was going to ‘Shree Swāmi Samarth’s Abode for good, never to return). 'Mrs. Vidyā Surudkar' rewrote the book ‘Laksha Pāvalānchi Kathā’ a travelogue of his, by hand, to pay him the last respects. 'Mrs. Vidyā', 'Mrs. Chitrā Ropālekar', 'Mr. Mukund Godbole', my wife 'Aparnā' and I used to spend a lot of time with ‘Nānā’.

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