Shri Dhondibua
Encyclopedia
Shri Dhondibua is an India
n spiritual leader hailing from Palus
, Maharashtra
.
His name finds mention in Shri Gajanan Vijay
.
Many supreme authoritative figures, rich prebendaries, scamps, traders turned yogi
s, virtuous spiritual aspirants, kings and barons, men, women and children came in contact with Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot and were benefited according to their caliber. However, once an illiterate person from the shepherd community working as a cowherd came in contact with Shri Samarth and was liberated. The fortunate and the illiterate shepherd was Dhondibua.
Not much information is available about his earlier life, particularly the details as to when and where he met Shri Swami Samarth. It is also not known as to what kind of spiritual austerities were performed by him as per the orders of Shri Swami and how he attained the state of an emancipated soul. However, he could have mentioned that he was one among those initiated by Shri Swami Samarth. Sometimes, he used to say that Akkalkot was an ocean, during discussion (even Shri Swami Samarth too used to say that Akkalkot was an ocean). Dhondibaba had definite idea of five deities (Panchayatan). These five deities included Shri Swami Samarth, Haribua Phaltankar, Annabua Mirajkar, Shrikrushna Saraswati (Kumbharswami of Kolhapur) and himself.
Dhondibaba was born to a religious and devoted Maratha couple, namely Babaji and Jijai, in 1820. His aunt (father’s sister), Sakhubai More, lived at Palus. Somehow Baba once came to Palus with his aunt and lingered there idly. Palus was not very famous in those days. Farming and domesticating the cattle were the only occupations of earning livelihood. The other occupations were splicing and preparing the ropes and weaving the coarse blankets. As there were no schools, Dhondibua remained illiterate. To the outside world he was an illiterate fellow. He used to remain engaged in grazing the cattle and doing other sundry chores. However, even at the young age, he preferred solitude.
Shri Swami Samarth appeared at Mangalavedha around 1840. Perhaps Shri Swami and Dhondibaba could have met during the former’s 12-year stay at Mangalavedha. Shri Swami could have advised Baba, an illiterate person, to chant the holy name of Lord Ramachandra rather than advising him to undertake any other spiritual austerities. However, purely on the strength of chanting the holy name, Baba attained the superconscious state and returned to Palus. Thereafter he did not have much contact with his aunt and he roamed around the tomb of Dawal Malik, in the mountain of Sangameshwar or stayed in Mayappa temple all-alone. He used to ask food in alms in a nearby hamlet or dwellings saying, “Offer flat bread to Dhondya.” He used to put everything in a loose satchel, which would contain food, sweets, fruits etc. Thereafter, he used to eat the food in the company of stray dogs, and other beasts outside the village. He had no permanent place to live. The articles in his possession were a loose sack, a copper pitcher, a coarse blanket and a staff.
Initially people used to call him as “Crazy Dhondi” and stone him. Later he became Dhondiba and thereafter Dhondibaba indicating an upward rise in his fame. By then, people had started to experience his divine qualities; they started to address him as “Dhondiraj.” He advised others to chant the holy name of Lord Ramachandra, which he himself followed. He used to ask some devotees to visit Gondavale (a place sanctified by a supreme saint and the lover of Lord Ramachandra, Shri Brahmachaitanya Maharaj) or some other place. He also used to advise people to do Annadanam along with chanting the holy name of Lord Ramachandra. He used to advise his devotees to distribute food to the poor, weak, destitute and meek people. His special qualities were total renunciation, lack of tendency of solicitation, indifference to the criticism of people, simple living, frank and selfless speech, kindness towards creatures, and the love for the neglected ones. Important prophecies or suggestions used to be spelt by him automatically; the devotees used to realise the significance of the prophecies much later.
A virtuous person namely Shri Shahane staying at Pune was appointed as a district official at Tasgaon. His wife was suffering from a demoniac possession and was childless too. The couple used to visit the holy pilgrimage centre of Audumbar. After a few years, Lord Dattatreya appeared in the dream of Shri Shahane and asked him to meet crazy Dhondi at Palus. Since he was a district official, he knew about Palus, the village that was near Tasgaon, but did not know who crazy Dhondi was. At last, he arrived with is family and a few servitors to Palus and searched for crazy Dhondi all over Palus. Finally, they found him somewhere. As soon as Shahane’s wife saw him, she placed her head in his feet, just then Baba hit her with the staff in his hand. People got very angry and tried to throw Dhondi out of Palus for insulting the district official.
Shahane returned to Tasgaon sensibly without creating a furor. However, soon to his surprise, not only his wife was freed of the demoniac possession but also begot a child. Thus, Shahane arrived for Baba’s darshan with a feeling of gratitude. He brought a turban and a gold ring as gifts for Baba and placed them before him. When the colleagues of Shahane insisted Baba on accepting the gifts, he promptly showed them his fingers with 10 gold rings on them. Thus, he suggested that the gift of gold (ring) would not influence him and that he could himself make gold as per his wish. Thereafter Shahane constructed a monastery out of galvanised sheets for him to reside near the temple of Lord Hanuman. However, Dhondibaba did not stay put there permanently but roamed all over like a homeless wanderer. Towards the end, he settled at Palus.
Shri Krushnadev Sakharam Phanase (Devmaster) of Pusesavali, Sardar Khardekar of Kolhapur and Shamrao Patil of Palus too had divine experiences following Baba’s grace. Khardekar constructed a monastery for Baba. Shamrao Patil dedicated his entire life in serving Baba. Baba had given prior intimation of his merging with the Supreme to Khardekar and Shamrao Patil. As others were not aware of it, there were only a few devotees around, at the moment of his final liberation. Devotees, who were fortunate to be present there, were distributed with eatables of his/her choice by Baba from his satchel. On the 9th day of the bright fortnight of Vaishakha in the Shaka year 1830 (1908) he discarded his mortal body in the Gadi monastery. Later, his body was interred in the monastery of Khardekar and a Samadhi was constructed over it. His Samadhi temple is well known and attracts a large number of devotees; however, recognition and fame were never accorded to him during his lifetime. Shri Dhondibua is a venerable God in and around Palus and the residents remember him along with Lord Ganesha, before undertaking any auspicious work.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n spiritual leader hailing from Palus
Palus
Palus is a tehsil Sangli district in the Indian state of Maharashtra.PALUS is a nice village. Palus has an industrial area & a wine park. Palus MIDC is the biggest asset for Palus, which holds major component manufacturing. Kirloskar brothers ltd.is near to Palus. Palus tahashil have more famous...
, Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
.
His name finds mention in Shri Gajanan Vijay
Gajanan Maharaj
Gajanan Maharaj from Shegaon , Maharashtra, India is a Saint from India. "Sant Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan" is the largest temple trust in the Vidarbha region....
.
Many supreme authoritative figures, rich prebendaries, scamps, traders turned yogi
Yogi
A Yogi is a practitioner of Yoga. The word is also used to refer to ascetic practitioners of meditation in a number of South Asian Religions including Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.-Etymology:...
s, virtuous spiritual aspirants, kings and barons, men, women and children came in contact with Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot and were benefited according to their caliber. However, once an illiterate person from the shepherd community working as a cowherd came in contact with Shri Samarth and was liberated. The fortunate and the illiterate shepherd was Dhondibua.
Not much information is available about his earlier life, particularly the details as to when and where he met Shri Swami Samarth. It is also not known as to what kind of spiritual austerities were performed by him as per the orders of Shri Swami and how he attained the state of an emancipated soul. However, he could have mentioned that he was one among those initiated by Shri Swami Samarth. Sometimes, he used to say that Akkalkot was an ocean, during discussion (even Shri Swami Samarth too used to say that Akkalkot was an ocean). Dhondibaba had definite idea of five deities (Panchayatan). These five deities included Shri Swami Samarth, Haribua Phaltankar, Annabua Mirajkar, Shrikrushna Saraswati (Kumbharswami of Kolhapur) and himself.
Dhondibaba was born to a religious and devoted Maratha couple, namely Babaji and Jijai, in 1820. His aunt (father’s sister), Sakhubai More, lived at Palus. Somehow Baba once came to Palus with his aunt and lingered there idly. Palus was not very famous in those days. Farming and domesticating the cattle were the only occupations of earning livelihood. The other occupations were splicing and preparing the ropes and weaving the coarse blankets. As there were no schools, Dhondibua remained illiterate. To the outside world he was an illiterate fellow. He used to remain engaged in grazing the cattle and doing other sundry chores. However, even at the young age, he preferred solitude.
Shri Swami Samarth appeared at Mangalavedha around 1840. Perhaps Shri Swami and Dhondibaba could have met during the former’s 12-year stay at Mangalavedha. Shri Swami could have advised Baba, an illiterate person, to chant the holy name of Lord Ramachandra rather than advising him to undertake any other spiritual austerities. However, purely on the strength of chanting the holy name, Baba attained the superconscious state and returned to Palus. Thereafter he did not have much contact with his aunt and he roamed around the tomb of Dawal Malik, in the mountain of Sangameshwar or stayed in Mayappa temple all-alone. He used to ask food in alms in a nearby hamlet or dwellings saying, “Offer flat bread to Dhondya.” He used to put everything in a loose satchel, which would contain food, sweets, fruits etc. Thereafter, he used to eat the food in the company of stray dogs, and other beasts outside the village. He had no permanent place to live. The articles in his possession were a loose sack, a copper pitcher, a coarse blanket and a staff.
Initially people used to call him as “Crazy Dhondi” and stone him. Later he became Dhondiba and thereafter Dhondibaba indicating an upward rise in his fame. By then, people had started to experience his divine qualities; they started to address him as “Dhondiraj.” He advised others to chant the holy name of Lord Ramachandra, which he himself followed. He used to ask some devotees to visit Gondavale (a place sanctified by a supreme saint and the lover of Lord Ramachandra, Shri Brahmachaitanya Maharaj) or some other place. He also used to advise people to do Annadanam along with chanting the holy name of Lord Ramachandra. He used to advise his devotees to distribute food to the poor, weak, destitute and meek people. His special qualities were total renunciation, lack of tendency of solicitation, indifference to the criticism of people, simple living, frank and selfless speech, kindness towards creatures, and the love for the neglected ones. Important prophecies or suggestions used to be spelt by him automatically; the devotees used to realise the significance of the prophecies much later.
A virtuous person namely Shri Shahane staying at Pune was appointed as a district official at Tasgaon. His wife was suffering from a demoniac possession and was childless too. The couple used to visit the holy pilgrimage centre of Audumbar. After a few years, Lord Dattatreya appeared in the dream of Shri Shahane and asked him to meet crazy Dhondi at Palus. Since he was a district official, he knew about Palus, the village that was near Tasgaon, but did not know who crazy Dhondi was. At last, he arrived with is family and a few servitors to Palus and searched for crazy Dhondi all over Palus. Finally, they found him somewhere. As soon as Shahane’s wife saw him, she placed her head in his feet, just then Baba hit her with the staff in his hand. People got very angry and tried to throw Dhondi out of Palus for insulting the district official.
Shahane returned to Tasgaon sensibly without creating a furor. However, soon to his surprise, not only his wife was freed of the demoniac possession but also begot a child. Thus, Shahane arrived for Baba’s darshan with a feeling of gratitude. He brought a turban and a gold ring as gifts for Baba and placed them before him. When the colleagues of Shahane insisted Baba on accepting the gifts, he promptly showed them his fingers with 10 gold rings on them. Thus, he suggested that the gift of gold (ring) would not influence him and that he could himself make gold as per his wish. Thereafter Shahane constructed a monastery out of galvanised sheets for him to reside near the temple of Lord Hanuman. However, Dhondibaba did not stay put there permanently but roamed all over like a homeless wanderer. Towards the end, he settled at Palus.
Shri Krushnadev Sakharam Phanase (Devmaster) of Pusesavali, Sardar Khardekar of Kolhapur and Shamrao Patil of Palus too had divine experiences following Baba’s grace. Khardekar constructed a monastery for Baba. Shamrao Patil dedicated his entire life in serving Baba. Baba had given prior intimation of his merging with the Supreme to Khardekar and Shamrao Patil. As others were not aware of it, there were only a few devotees around, at the moment of his final liberation. Devotees, who were fortunate to be present there, were distributed with eatables of his/her choice by Baba from his satchel. On the 9th day of the bright fortnight of Vaishakha in the Shaka year 1830 (1908) he discarded his mortal body in the Gadi monastery. Later, his body was interred in the monastery of Khardekar and a Samadhi was constructed over it. His Samadhi temple is well known and attracts a large number of devotees; however, recognition and fame were never accorded to him during his lifetime. Shri Dhondibua is a venerable God in and around Palus and the residents remember him along with Lord Ganesha, before undertaking any auspicious work.