This is an article that somehow i did not feel like sharing but tonight at 2 am i find myself guided to these videos on my hard disk which prompted me to write all about this divine trip. It was a very interesting divine trip and i would like to share in detail about it.
It all began with a strange mysterious error. Avadhoot Anna Maharaj, on our first visit to him few months ago in Pinguli, had invited us multiple times to come to meet him on his birthday. He had mentioned as March 13th and i mistook it for February 13th! And neither did any of my Goa friends also note this error until i arrived in Goa on February 12th by train. It was then that Shyam bhai said that it was not Feb 13 but March 13th that we were to go there. All of a sudden this strong urge to visit the Samadhi place of Rane Maharaj arouse in me. Asking Pratap bhai about it, he quickly called Shyam bhai, and very next day we set out from Goa to this place called Varad in Sindhdurg district. Myself, Shyam bhai, Pratap bhai and Ram bhai came here. i had often heard of him but could never visit. Shyam bhai has visited him twice and that is how he easily brought us here. We knew we would be passing Anna Maharaj’s ashram but were still unsure if we should really meet him as it was March 13th we had to meet and that was exactly a month later. We thought of going with the flow and left towards Pinguli.
We arrived by noon at Pinguli, but then we passed right through his ashram but thought we could probably meet him on our way back if that was possible, and we decided to keep moving towards Rane Maharaj’s samadhi place. i thought we could have lunch at Anna Maharaj’s ashram but my friend said it would not be appropriate to land up like that but nevertheless i insisted. But then, as per the larger voting on whether to have lunch at the ashram or in a hotel, the maximum vote was for hotel and thus we had a good satvik lunch at a hotel near the ashram. This incident i mention on purpose because it had a very mysterious unwinding in the later part of our journey. If you remember this till you reach part 2, it would be good to know of a mystical happening with this lunch. After lunch, we moved ahead to Varad, to reach the samadhi place of Rane Maharaj.
Avadhoota Rane Maharaj’s was in the military and he one day simply threw off his uniform and was seen wandering in these areas. His record name was Laxman Ragho Rane. He was born on 15th October 1928 at Kunakavale in Malvan taluka. His native village is Kandalgaon. After completing his education in Sindhudurg district, he joined the army. However, due to disagreement with the local authorities, he left the army halfway and went to Girnar. After that he was seen moving around these areas, widely misunderstood by people to be a mad man, because of his abusive language and shabby clothes. All this until the locals finally realized his state of consciousness due to the many miracles happening around him. Soon he began to be known as Rane Maharaj, who was dreaded. Only few dared to approach him to be either abused or beaten. Avadhootas like him are known to trash out the karmic influences out of people. They abuse and thrash not the people actually their karmas, to which they can stand the sight of, when approached with surrender and love in hope of help. He had a bad of trash with him which can be seen in the image. He wore whatever clothes were given to him by his devotees, which is also what is seen in the photograph.
When we visited the samadhi place of Rane Maharaj, we happened to timely meet one of his close devotee, who had served him in his last physical days and also was present during the Samadhi. The devotee said that he had just come there, and i cannot thank him enough for this “timely” meet, without which all these details would not have been possible to be known.
i could never meet Rane Maharaj in physical, but had often heard of him while he was in body. Shyam bhai had the fortune of meeting him twice. On his second visit, Shyam bhai was commanded by Rane Maharaj to come on a certain day and meet him. Very strangely when Shyam bhai went to meet him on that day, he was shocked to learn that the Avadhoota had taken samadhi on that day. Shyam bhai was shocked but he was dearly blessed to be involved in the cremation process, which was a clear indication of why the Avadhoota had commanded him to come on that day. Some rhuna (karmic debt) which exactly could be only known to who else other than the Avadhoota himself.
Mysteriously, he had asked the night before leaving that his body must not be given samadhi but cremated. The instructions were followed by his devotees and the cemented area outside the Samadhi temple is where he was cremated. He was 87 when he left his body. Around 10,000 people had gathered for the rare cremation, many of who were weeping.
We were told that thousands come on the day of his samadhi and a huge gathering who were influenced and blessed by the Avadhoota, take their prasad at this place as a mark of respect and love for their Master. His slippers are kept here as Padukas and the stick which served him and served many devotees as a blessing is kept on his life-sized idol’s laps, which can be seen in this video. His sacred ashes are preserved here. Rane Maharaj was known to have some connection with Bhagwan Nityananda, but not fully known to us, but that was quite relevant when i spotted Bhagwan’s photo at the samadhi place.
Rane Maharaj was mostly a wanderer and often not seen for days as he roamed in the wilderness of this area. He came and often sat beneath the tree that you see outside his Samadhi temple. It was close to a Ram temple. He often sat here and sometimes stayed in the home of a local family a little distance away from here. From the place of his samadhi, we were guided by the devotee to the home in which Rane Maharaj stayed often. The place name is “Katta” at Bazarpeth. Anyone can tell you the place here because the whole village knows the Avadhoota. When we reached there we found that the old house was empty and only a simple bed was in the outer room. We meditated there for it was on that bed he left his body. We were surprised to see that as soon as we finished our meditation a small girl brought all of us tea. On asking who she was, the little girl said, that this house was her family’s and that they stayed in the next house besides this house. They had not given this house to anyone after Rane Maharaj’s passing away. It was her parents who had looked after him. We were told that Rane Maharaj was at the Ram’s temple (where his samadhi is now) a day before his passing. At night, he asked his devotees that he brought to this house. They lifted and brought him to this house. Early morning around 3 a.m. he left his body. That day was March 26, 2015, and it was Ram Navami!
This place is closer to Avadhoota Anna Maharaj’s ashram in a place called Pinguli. He is another Avadhoota who trashes people and is still in his body. We had the fortune of meeting twice (once during this visit also). We were told that Anna Maharaj also was present for the cremation. In fact, Rane Maharaj was adviced by the Guru of Anna Maharaj (Raul Maharaj) to go to Girnar for penance, which Rane Maharaj did follow.
From here we were guided to proceed further towards Malvan, and without second thoughts we moved ahead, only to unwind many more Jeeva Samadhis of noble great Masters. Will write and share about them in the next post.
Read next part – Part 2 – Samadhis of Brahmananda Swami & Natekar Ajji
Divine Love and Light!
The Mystical Mystics 
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