Swami Sri Bolananda Giri Maharaj

Pranams at the lotus feet of Giri Maharaj!

Chapter – 13

There was a fervent devotee of Bholanand Giri Maharaj, he was  skilled in hunting, he went to a dense wood for hunting with his friends, Sundarban is a famous forest in Bengal and it is one of the most hazardous too.  He was enthusiastically conducted search for wild animals finally he was lost in the wood.  He had an encounter with a bear,  he did not carry a gun and all he was carrying was a knife, he was pretty sure that he cannot survive with this weapon so long, but he was too adventurous, he decided to fight for life, finally, he fell severely wounded and understood his death is coming closer.  Commonly all the people remember Supreme Lord at the time of troubles, he remembered his Guruji and screamed “Jai Gurudev”, soon he heard a voice instructing him “Go and fight for life, don’t leave your hopes.” He regained all the strength and fought with the bear and shoved it down the hill, he thought his feeble hands made miracles; soon he realized it was the pure blessings of Guruji otherwise he would have died by now.

Bholanand Giri Maharaj used to deliver lectures on his preceptor to his disciples; he used to discuss miraculous incidents with them.  While giving lectures, he described a hilarious incident that took place in the house of his devotee who was a wealthy Seth from Bombay.   Once he conducted a spiritual tour to Bombay, during this time he stayed in the home of a wealthy Seth.  The Sethji couple had one daughter, he was hoping for a boy child to take care of his wealth, but it did not happen.  Sethji made a request seeing the young and sturdy Swamiji, “ Swamiji, will you do me a favor, can you reside with us forever, I have an only daughter and no other child, kindly accept my daughter as your wedded wife and take care of my properties and wealth.” Bholanandji was surprised to hear from him, he did not even recognize him as a saint.  He did not understand why Sethji made a request like that.  Bholanandji asked, “ Why are you tired of taking pleasure in it, you have immense wealth, huge house and vehicles, and servants to attend your needs, are you tired of all these and no more interest in taking pleasure in it?” Sethji said, “ You are right, I am tired of all these, I have everything in this life, but I am lacking peace of mind. I am mentally worn out of various worries.  I wanted to get relieved from all these and conduct spiritual trips and engage in Keerthan and Bhajan.”  Bholanandji asked “If it was a burden for you to look after this wealth which creates constant worries, why you want to fasten me with all your worries? If I want to be a rich person, I would not take up Sanyasa, or wander around with the begging bowl. Kindly excuse me, I do not want to be a Grihastha, I am a sanyasi.”  This incident gave new inspiration to Bholanandji, he abandoned living in the houses of devotees and moved to Haridwar.  He built a hermitage, in the meantime his preceptor Gulab Giri Maharaj was attained Mahasamadhi.