My Religious side

My dad used to believe that one cannot get knowledge without having a"Guru".
With this in his mind, he took me to a small place called Gondivale in Satara district in Maharashtra. I was 5 years old and was given "Guru Mantra" there ..
My Guru, Bramha Chaitanya Maharaj has built a Temple in the village of Gondavale. His samadhi is also located in the same village (He passed away in the early 1900s)
He had created a trust in those days from which, anyone coming to the village is given free food and accomodation.
At that age, I did not understand what i was getting into.. But kept going to this place every two years (if not every year) to pray.
When I was in school, and we could not afford better modes of transport, we used to take the train to Koregaoin station.. Reaching there at 3 am and wait for the State Transport bus till 6 am.
That has now changed to the luxury of airconditioned cars.
In the earlier days, we used to stay at the shrine (in the ashram) and eat there too.
Now, we stay at Panchgani in a resort and do a day trip to Gondavale..
Why do I still go there ?
Well, it gives a strange peace of mind
and I feel that life has been kind to me.. And this is a way to thank god for all that he has given me.
Surprisingly, though there is not much to do in Gondivale, my kids enjoy going there too..

Below is a cut-paste from a site that gives more information on Gondavale

Ravji Inamdar, a great pious man lived in Gondavale (Gondavale is a small town with a population of about 6,000, in Satara District in Maharashtra, about 64 kilometres from Satara, on Satara-Pandharpur road.) with his wife Gitabai. They were affluent with ancestral house, farms etc. In spite of this, the couple of devoted to God and engaged in donations. People considered the couple Godlike. A son was born to the couple on Wednesday (Hindu Magha month, Shuddha Dwadashi) in 1845. The child was chubby, fair and very beautiful. They named the child as Ganapati, but called him with the nickname as Ganoba. Ganoba was endowed with enormous intelligence. He would learn the Sanskrit slokas by reciting only once. He learnt reading and writing at the age of four. They used to conduct Bhajans every evening and Ganoba would not sleep without participating in the Bhajans. Soon, his Upanayanam was completed. He learnt Sandhyvandanam, worshipping the God. He used to meditate upon the God for hours at stretch. Once at night Ganoba went to a cave near the graveyard and sat there meditating. He was admitted to the school, but he could not concentrate on studies. He used to write "Shri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram" on the slate. He used to sing bhajans with other children. Sometimes he used to take children far away and worship a stone, as Shri Ram and sing bhajans.Once a Ramdasi (those who follow the path laid down by Samarth Ramdas Swami of Sajjanagad, Maharashtra) had come to Gondavale. He had worn ochre coloured robe. Ganoba asked him why he had worn ochre coloured robe and what he was looking for. Ramdasi told him that he was wandering in search of a Sadguru, who would enable him to meet the God. Ganoba was impressed and then decided to leave his home and go in search of his Sadguru. He met a pious lady, Radhabai at Haripur, a great devotee Annabua at Miraj, Dev-mamledar at Nasik, Samarth Swami of Akkalkot, Shri Manikprabhu at Humnabad, a yogi from Abu hill, many Tapaswis (those who practice penance) from Naimisharanya, Shri Ramkrishna Paramhansa in Bengal near Calcutta, and finally to Tukaramchaitanya at Yehalegaon near Nanded in Maharashtra. Tukaramchaitanya became Ganoba's spiritual master (Sadguru), whom he served with utmost devotion, sincerity and faith. Tukaramchaitanya tasted Ganoba in many ways, but Ganoba never failed his master. After nine months of intense training in the spiritual field, once Tukaramchaitanya took Ganoba in a dense forest on the auspious day of Ramnavmi. Both of them took bath. Tukaramchaitanya said, " My child, I have troubled you really, but you served me wholeheartedly. I have realized that you are truly desirous of meeting the God. I would give all my knowledge of Self to you". Tukaramchaitanya placed his hand on Ganoba's head and instantly Ganoba went into a trance (Samadhi). Tukaramchaitanya named Ganoba as Brahmachaitanya and gave him the 13 lettered gurumantra, "Shri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram" and entrusted the welfare of the people to him. Since then Ganoba became famous as Brahmachaitanya Gondavalekar Maharaj.Reformation of Tribals: Once, when Maharaj was walking thro' the jungle of Abu, he was held captive by the tribals (Bhils) and taken to their hutments. Tribals were thieves who started to beat Maharaj, but he was not affected. One of them, an old man told others not to beat Maharaj and thought that the latter had some great mystic power (Mantrashakti) with him, which they could gain. Others started to take food there, but Maharaj told he drank only milk. One of the tribals brought a cow that did yield any milk and was not tamed, and asked Maharaj to get milk from it. Maharaj went to the cow, patted it with affection and said,"O mother, I am very hungry. Give me milk to satisfy my hunger." And lo! The cow started to yield a lot of milk, which Maharaj drank. When the tribals realized their folly and asked for his forgiveness. Not only Maharaj forgave them but also advised them to renounce the path of thievery and advised them to chant the Ramnam. All of them were completely reformed.After completing pilgrimage Maharaj settled in Gondavale, where he constructed a temple for Shri Ram and hermitages for the pilgrims. At the very old and ripe age, he took his mother, Gitabai to Varanasi (Kashi) for pilgrimage. Before leaving for Kashi, Maharaj gave away everything from his home as charity to the poor and needy. He took his mother to Kashi and stayed there for one month. At Ayodhya, his mother became unwell. She stopped taking food and medicines and started to chant Ramnam continuously. She bathed in Sharayu river and gave a lot of money in charity. She was surprised that there was an unending source of money below the mattress over which she was made to sit. On the following day, Gitabai left her mortal coil while chanting the Ramnam in her son's lap. After her demise Maharaj said, "Now Shri Ram is my sole refuge".In Indore, he was fed with laddus (sweetmeats) prepared from chili powder, which he happily ate. Later he was fed with red burning embers, which he gladly consumed like sweets. The lady, Jijibai, who did this, repented for her action and asked for his forgiveness.Once, Maharaj was constructing a Ram temple at Gondavale. Many of his disciples brought bricks, stones, cement, timber, and money as an act of devotion to Maharaj. On one Thursday, Maharaj did not have any money to offer to the construction labourers. The labourers were really disappointed, but Maharaj told them not to get disheartened and offered them food. Later he asked them to chant Ramnam. In the evening, one of the disciples of Maharaj came from Mhasavad and offered Rs. 105 to him. Maharaj told the labourers that Ram was always concerned about their problems and distributed the money among them. Though, the temple was being constructed, there was no sign of the idols of Shri Ram, Shri Lakshman and Shri Sitamai. When people asked Maharaj about the idols, he said, " It is Shri Ram's temple, so He would take care of the idols Himself." Surprisingly, in a nearby village, Talavadegaon, a rich moneylender had brought beautiful idols of Shri Ram, Shri Lakshman and Shri Sitamai for a temple that he wanted to construct. Around this time, his house caught fire and at night, Shri Ram appeared in the dream of the moneylender and asked him to send all the idols to Gondavale to Brahmachaitanya Maharaj. On a Sunday, the moneylender brought the idols to Maharaj when he was singing bhajans of Shri Ram. As soon as he saw the idol, tears of joy started to flow from his eyes. On an auspious day, Maharaj consecrated the idols after the completion of the temple. Thousands of people were offered food on that day.Maharaj loved all the animals equally. He had constructed many Goshalas (cow sheds) at Gondavale. He used to rescue many barren cows that were sold to butchers and bring them and look after them.Now Maharaj became 68 years old. His body was tired and there was swelling over his feet. Maharaj called his disciples and said," My dear children, please do not forget my Shri Ram. Please take care of yourself. Wherever name of Shri Ram will be chanted, I would be there. Now I am going to leave." Disciples realized that time had come for Maharaj to shed his mortal coil. Thousands of people came from far and wide, offered their salutations to Maharaj and cried. On the Sunday night, Maharaj started to do Bhajan, there were tears in the eyes of all people. Bhajan and Arti were over. Maharaj said, "O Shri Ramchandra, this is my last service to you, please take care of my devotees." Many people offered their obeisance to Maharaj, but Maharaj only touched the heads of his disciples without speaking a word. Maharaj came back to his room. It was 2 a.m. He sat and chanted," Sri Ram, Sri Ram" and closed his eyes, never to open again. The day was December 22, 1913. Many of his disciples had requested him to write a book that could guide them. But Maharaj said, " I have already written 'DasBodh'." Since Dasbodh is written by Samartha Ramdas Swami in 17th century, it is obvious that Brahmachaitanya Maharaj was a reincarnation of the former.