Ravishri's Arrival in Rawatpura

But there is one condition......!

(Ravishri's Arrival in Rawatpura)

After getting off the bus in Lahar, Ravishri reached Shyam Tripathi's place. He welcomed you with great warmth. Tripathi ji had offered his support in both the Dhirpura and Khadaua yagyas, and he had already tested Ravishri's extraordinary abilities. Therefore, in this meeting, Tripathi ji's mind was filled only with reverence. Unaware of nature's plan that Ravishri's time to reach the Rawatpura temple had now arrived, Tripathi ji remained engaged in hosting Ravishri for three to four days. By this time, many people in Lahar had become acquainted with Ravishri, so every acquaintance wanted to talk to him about their problems, big or small, from a spiritual perspective. By this time, knowingly or unknowingly, Ravishri had explained the reasons for some people's problems as being related to their past lives in such a way that people had also understood that he was aware of all those unsolved mysteries of nature that even the most learned men remain untouched by.

Suresh Tripathi, a resident of Rawatpura, had come to Lahar for some reason. Tola, Rawatpura, and Bijora are nearby villages, and their distance from Lahar is only 20 km. The residents of these villages come to Lahar for their small and big needs. Suresh and Shyam Tripathi were family friends due to their villages being close by. While returning from Lahar, Suresh thought of visiting Shyam. Upon reaching Shyam Tripathi's place, Suresh saw that many people were surrounding a fifteen-sixteen-year-old boy, and he was smiling and talking to everyone. Suresh looked at Shyam with questioning eyes, and he introduced him to Suresh saying, 'He is a saint from Tikamgarh and is very accomplished.'

As soon as Ravishri's eyes fell on Suresh, he immediately said, 'You are from Rawatpura; we want to organize a yagya at your place.' Suresh was surprised by his informal and readily available manner, and also by how he knew that he was from Rawatpura. However, outwardly hiding his surprise, he replied, 'Maharaj, there is no prosperity in our village, so a yagya would be difficult.' "Suresh, you keep track of all the work and money transactions of the temple in your village, you oversee the worship, and you are saying this?" As soon as Ravishri said this, Suresh's astonishment crossed all limits and was clearly visible on his face. Until today, he had met many accomplished great souls, but here the matter was unique. Ravishri continued, 'The temple in your village is also very powerful; the idol in Rawatpura is extremely rare. I have never seen such an idol.'

Suresh kept thinking to himself that he had never come to Rawatpura until today, and he was talking as if he had visited there many times.

Suresh asked what was the reason behind your saying 'rare'. Ravishri's reply was, "Because that idol is facing north, and such an idol fulfills all desires." Seeing Suresh astonished, Shyam was smiling inwardly. He was sensing Suresh's state of mind; after all, he too had gone through a similar 'astonishing mental torment' during his first meeting, which in itself is always a thrilling experience to go through.

Suresh folded his hands and said humbly (after all, this was the only भाव (feeling) that was immediately left in his mind), "Maharaj, please come to our house in Rawatpura." Upon Suresh saying this, Ravishri refused, saying that he had to go back now.

Shyam Tripathi, who had been sitting quietly for so long, also joined the conversation, saying, 'Maharaj, the matter of going home can be discussed later. Right now, I wish there could be a Bhandara somewhere, with not too many people, just close friends.' Ravishri immediately agreed and said, 'Okay, we will stay, but there is one condition.'

'Order, Maharaj,' said Shyam Tripathi.

Ravishri said, "The Bhandara will be at the Rawatpura temple itself; we will not go anywhere else."

Suresh wanted nothing more than to have the company of this divine saintly boy as much as possible. Shyam Tripathi had no reason to object. It was decided that the Bhandara would be held at the Rawatpura temple tomorrow, i.e., on October 1, 1990.

October 1, 1990

The next day, in the morning, Shyam took Ravishri on his motorcycle and reached Tola village, located near Rawatpura, around eleven o'clock. By this time, the Sonamriga River, about half a kilometer east of Rawatpura, had so much water that the temporary bridge built to cross it had broken, and pedestrians were crossing the river by boat. Shyam also stopped his motorcycle before the river and reached the other side by boat with Ravishri. If you go to Rawatpura temple via Chaurai, after crossing the river, Tola village is on the right side of the road, Rawatpura is on the left, and if you go straight on the main road for about four hundred meters from the river, the Rawatpura temple comes. This means that both the villages and the temple are within one kilometer of each other, with the temple being only 100 steps away on foot from Rawatpura village.

In Tola village, about 65-year-old Rameshwar Dayal Tripathi lives, who is a good acquaintance of Shyam. For the Bhandara, Shyam thought of taking him along as well, and with this thought, he reached Rameshwar ji's place in 'Tola', who is also called 'Pujari ji' (priest). It was around eleven o'clock in the morning. As soon as Pujari ji saw Shyam, he asked him to sit down with a happy expression. Ravishri also sat with them on a cot in the courtyard, and Pujari ji himself sat on a chair in front.

At this time, Ravishri was wearing white pajamas, an old checkered shirt, and the same carefree look. Seeing him, Pujari ji did not consider it appropriate to ask anything, nor did Shyam say anything. At this time, this village was troubled by the dacoit problem, and this worry was in Pujari ji's mind. He considered Shyam like his son, and they both met almost daily, so there was no formality between them. Their conversation went something like this:

Pujari ji - Shyam, these days we are very troubled by the dacoit Ghanshyam Baba. Neither the police is doing anything about him, nor is this problem being solved by anyone else. I don't understand what to do.

Shyam was about to say something, but Ravishri interrupted. Ravishri - You have no danger from Ghanshyam Baba; you should be careful of the Yadav gang from Datia.

Pujari ji did not like an unknown sixteen-seventeen-year-old boy interrupting in between, and he looked at Ravishri with a surprised gaze and went inside to ask for tea and snacks.

After about seven to eight minutes, Pujari ji returned with a tray of tea. Shyam took the tray from his hand and first gave tea to him, then Ravishri picked up a cup, and finally Shyam took tea for himself and sat down.

While drinking tea, Pujari ji again said - Yaar Shyam, do something about this Ghanshyam Baba; otherwise, the villagers are very distressed.

Ravishri - We are saying that you have no danger from Ghanshyam Baba but from the Yadavs of Datia.

Pujari ji (in a loud voice) - Shyamu, who is this gentleman? His introduction?

Ravishri - Shyamu, you introduce him to them; we will not be able to hide ourselves.

Shyam - Maharaj, please introduce yourself; we will not be able to introduce you.

Pujari ji - Oh, tell me Shyam, what is it that you are hesitant to introduce him?

Shyam - It's not hesitation; he was saying on the way not to tell anyone about him, and now he himself is saying that we will not be able to hide. Anyway, he is a resident of Chhipri village in Tikamgarh district. There is a place of siddhas there, and you have the power of that place's siddhis. You are a direct saint.

Pujari ji joined both hands in a gesture of reverence and said, "Maharaj, we made a mistake. We were considering you to be someone else. But you are..."

Ravishri (interrupting) - There is nothing like that; you just be careful of the Yadavs; forget Ghanshyam Baba, and all these things will be discussed later. Right now, you come with us to the Rawatpura temple. There is a Bhandara there today; you will also be with us.

Pujari ji got ready and came out with Ravishri and Shyam. On the way, Pujari ji thought of taking his friend 'Swamidin Master' along, who lived in Rawatpura. Suresh Tripathi, who had met Ravishri the previous day, had to be picked up from there anyway. And all three, thinking of going to Rawatpura village and then to the temple from there, came out of Tola village on foot. Upon reaching Rawatpura, besides Suresh and Swamidin, Prakash Choubey from Bijora village also suddenly bumped into them, who was a good friend of Shyam, and around half-past twelve in the afternoon, this group reached the Rawatpura temple.

Swamidin ji had been facing incidents of untimely deaths and strange occurrences in his house for the past several years, which he believed were due to some ghostly activity. He had a good-sized family, including five brothers and their wives, but now only his wife and children, one brother, and one nephew remained in his family; the rest had met untimely deaths in some way or the other. His wife was bitten by poisonous insects, sometimes lizards, sometimes scorpions, and sometimes snakes almost daily. His son had started suffering from epilepsy. Pujari ji was familiar with Swamidin's sorrows. By luck, he had met an accomplished saint, so he thought, 'Why not talk to Ravishri about this?'

Pujari ji went to Ravishri, who was sitting in front of the idol of Rawatpura Sarkar, gazing intently at the idol.

As soon as Pujari ji reached near Ravishri and was about to say something, Ravishri himself spoke, 'I know what you want to ask. You consider Swamidin your friend; you are worried about him.' Pujari ji was startled as if a scorpion had stung him!! He believed that there would be some power, but he had never imagined that this saint, who looked like a child, would possess extraordinary divine powers. Finally, upon his insistence, Ravishri said, 'Come after an hour; then I will tell you.'

All the companions had started preparing for the Bhandara. Ravishri was strolling around the temple in a completely different tune, lost in his own world. During this time, Shyam saw that Ravishri was drawing on the ground with a stick in an almost five-foot square area and was deeply engrossed. Shyam reached near him and looked at the lines, but he could not understand anything. Upon his asking, Ravishri said, 'Why Shyamu, how magnificent would it look if there were only temples and temples in this place?'

Shyam Tripathi says, 'At that time, I did not pay any attention to this at all, nor did I understand that he had said this seriously. I just said 'yes, yes' and got busy with the preparations for the Bhandara. Ravishri stood at that place for about an hour. Suresh Tripathi says that at that time, what he was drawing on the ground, neither did I ask, nor did he tell. But at the same time, when I wanted to know the reason for him standing alone, he said, 'A yagya has to be performed at this temple.' Just then, Shyam also came there, and he said, 'Maharaj, even a Satyanarayan Katha is difficult here; you are talking about a yagya?'

After this, Ravishri spread a mat on the broken cot lying inside the temple and went to sleep. No one could guess the thoughts brewing in the mature mind of this great young saint. This was the very day when Ravishri had envisioned the 'post-construction form' of the future developments of this temple in his mind.

(Ranmat Yadav, a devoted follower of Ravishri, says that it was around October 1998 when Ravishri was saying, 'The blueprint of all the construction work I want to carry out in Rawatpura, I had first thought about it when I came to Rawatpura, but it is difficult to say when that work will be completed.')

About two hours later, when Ravishri woke up, he went straight to the banks of the Sonamriga River to bathe. Returning, he again sat in front of the idol in the temple. Pujari ji was as if waiting for the moment when he could talk to Ravishri again; he genuinely had sympathy for Swamidin Tripathi. He immediately went to Ravishri again and started asking about Swamidin. Ravishri initially tried to avoid it, but when Pujari ji insisted, Ravishri said, "In this person's house, there is wealth from a deity's place brought by a member of his lineage, which has been spent by his family members on personal work. He will not be able to live peacefully until that wealth is removed." And after this, Ravishri also told the place where that wealth was buried in the form of silver coins. When Pujari ji immediately told Master Sahib these things, he immediately started asking Ravishri for a way to get rid of this trouble.

Ravishri said with a smile, 'Now, spend that remaining wealth only on religious works.'

(Swamidin ji narrates that first, I organized a recitation of Shri Mad Bhagavat with those coins, and later about 150 coins remained, which, as told by Ravishri, were laid under the throne of Lord Ram in the Rawatpura temple.)

It was about half-past four. Rice pudding (kheer), urad dal (split black lentils), roti (Indian bread), and bharta (mashed vegetables) were the main dishes of the Bhandara, besides chutney and salad. Everyone sat with Ravishri and enjoyed the Bhandara, and around six in the evening, everyone took leave from each other.

Ravishri, reiterating the resolve for the yagya to everyone, said, 'Now I will come on Devotthani Ekadashi (eleventh lunar day of the waxing fortnight of Kartik month, considered the awakening of the gods); then I will listen to your problems and also prepare for the yagya.'

After returning to Lahar with Shyam, Ravishri immediately boarded a bus and went somewhere. He did not tell Shyam anything about 'where he was going'.

Ravishri had said that he would come on Devotthani Ekadashi, which was on October 30 in 1990, but in October of that year, the Sonamriga River, due to heavy rains, showed its fierce and terrifying form, causing severe devastation in the surrounding villages, including Tola. The residents of this village say that they could barely get one meal a day for a month; there was nothing but mud and water everywhere. At this time, the way the people of Rawatpura and Bijora helped the residents of Tola, people's voices get choked up while narrating it. Anyway, Ravishri did not come on October 30th. Shyam Tripathi says that in the meantime, he did come to Lahar two or three times and helped us in assisting the flood victims, but going to Rawatpura was not possible at that time, nor did he express any such intention.