Koda Jamal Sai

"Koda Jamal Sai... Peeche Dekho Maar Khai" (A children's game similar to 'Duck, Duck, Goose')

Ravishri spent five or six days in many villages, and everyone has their own experiences. However, besides Yara, another village where he stayed for several days continuously and displayed अद्भुत (amazing) and नये-नये (new) miracles is 'Jitkora'. This village is situated on the Jatara-Mau road, about fourteen kilometers from Jatara and half a kilometer inside from the main road.

Shri Rajaram Yadav, a resident of Jitkora, had gone to his brother-in-law Rajendra Singh Yadav's house in village Sakera, which is near village Chhipri. A long time had passed since the marriage of Rajaram Yadav's son Hardev, but they had no children. Rajaram had even gotten Hardev married a second time to see his grandson's face, but it was of no use. Eventually, he left the matter to fate. His brother-in-law was aware of his sorrow, so as soon as they met, he started talking about Ravishri, saying that he should meet him once for the sake of a grandson. He said that although the boy was young, he was very miraculous, had the blessings of some सिद्ध (accomplished spiritual person), and many childless couples had benefited from him. Hearing about several miracles of Ravishri with examples, Rajaram became eager to meet him.

This incident is from April 1985, when Ravishri was only seventeen years old. Rajendra Singh immediately arranged a meeting. As soon as Rajaram met Ravishri and told him his problem, urging him to come to Jitkora, Ravishri immediately agreed.

Upon reaching Jitkora, a meeting was held at Rajaram's place, and Hardev was called. After the formalities, Ravishri told Hardev to arrange a recitation of the Harivansh Puran at the Bajrang Bali temple. He said that from the day the Puran started, his wish would be fulfilled, and his 'that wife' who had been bitten by a scorpion would have a child first, and then his second wife would also have children.

Hardev and the other villagers who had gathered there were surprised by the fact that he had only arrived in the village an hour ago, and even Rajaramji, who had brought him, did not know until then that one of his daughters-in-law had been bitten by a scorpion the previous night. How did he know? Anyway, the recitation of the Harivansh Puran started at the temple from the next day. On the other hand, Ravishri didn't even take two days to gather an army of his peers behind him by distributing sweets and cloves and cardamom. Within a week, not only did Ravishri become the talk of every household, but there was also a competition to have him stay at their homes, and an atmosphere similar to Yara was created here. Ravishri kept coming to 'Jitkora' continuously from 1985 to 1987, staying for ten to fifteen days at a time and then leaving. His peer friend Manohar Singh Yadav says that if he didn't come himself, they would go to 'Yara' and bring him. People from nearby villages also started coming to Jitkora to solve their problems after hearing his name and stories.

Besides asking for prasad (offerings), telling about lost things, suggesting suitable places for wells, and revealing the deepest secrets, you (referring to Ravishri) performed many other miracles in Jitkora. While playing in 'Yara', he had not used divine powers, but here his companions say that Ravishri loved playing Kabaddi in the river. While playing Kabaddi in the river, the rule was that one boy would catch only one boy, but when he came with the Kabaddi, even if four or five people caught him together, he would drag them along as if he wasn't using any strength, whereas Ravishri was thinner than other players. The same thing happened while playing in the field; sometimes he would break free as soon as one person caught him, and sometimes five or six players would be dragged along with him in such a way that it was clearly felt that there was some divine power with him.

Another game was "Koda Jamal Sai, Peeche Dekho Maar Khai," in which children would sit in a circle, and one child would go around with an object in their hand. They would drop the object behind a child, and if that child didn't notice, they would be beaten.

When Ravishri played this game, if he placed the ball (or any other object) behind someone, as soon as that person tried to get up after seeing it, Ravishri would say, "You cannot get up." Then, despite their best efforts, that child could not get up. And if Ravishri told all the children, "You all cannot get up," then despite wanting to, they could not get up at all.

An incident that made Ravishri famous around Jitkora village filled people with a mixture of fear and astonishment, and those who used to call Ravishri a child started falling at his feet. This very interesting and amusing incident happened with Nathulal Napit, who is about 60-65 years old. His French-cut beard seems God-given, with deep-set eyes and salt-and-pepper hair. The geography of his face is somewhat like that of the film star Mohan Choti, and he appears to be of a humorous and jester-like nature just from his face.

This incident occurred during Ravishri's second visit to Jitkora. By this time, many people had heard about Ravishri but had not met him in person. One of these people was Shankarlal Yadav, who worked as a forest guard in Jatara. Shankarlal was a government employee, and this fact was deeply ingrained in his ego. He used to return from Jatara every evening after completing his duty, and one such evening he met Ravishri. He had already heard about Ravishri and recognized him as 'that boy', but Shankarlal also wanted to introduce himself in a grand manner. So, he got off his bicycle, called Ravishri, and asked, "Hey, who are you?" Ravishri looked and smiled, saying, "Why? What do you want?" In an agitated voice, Shankarlal said, "I am a forest guard; I need to know who the new people coming to the village are." Ravishri said, "You act like a big leader. You are going to lose your job. Okay, close your fist." Shankarlal closed his fist, and when he opened it as told, there was a clove in his palm. Shankar said, "I wanted to eat prasad." Ravishri said, "Okay, close your other fist." Shankarlal did the same, and when he opened his fist, there were coconut pieces and chironji seeds in it.

Nathulal Napit had been watching this entire episode from a distance for a long time. He was standing so close to the main door of his house that half of his body was covered by the closed panel of the door, and the other panel was open. Napitji thought, "Why not test Ravishri?" So, standing there, he called out, "If you are such a great Pandit, then tell me what is in my fist!"

Ravishri smiled and said, "Come here to me... then I will tell you." Saying, "I'll be right there...", Nathulal moved... but... what was this!! He seemed to be stuck to the door panel... he could only move forward and backward as much as the door panel allowed. Even that would come forward and hit the frame... go back and touch the wall. Nathulal tried his best, but he could not move himself away from the door. He started shouting and using all his strength... but could not get rid of the trouble. Gradually, Nathulal's panic started increasing, and on the other hand, the crowd started growing... and within fifteen to twenty minutes, the whole village had gathered there.

Tears streamed from Nathulalji's eyes, and he started crying and begging for forgiveness. The whole village stood there as spectators. The elders of the village, after knowing the reason for the incident, asked Ravishri to forgive him. On the other hand, there was no anger on Ravishri's face at all. He was just looking at Nathulal with mischievous eyes, surrounded by a crowd of his peer friends who were clapping and saying, "And take the test now!" Finally, at the villagers' request, Ravishri said, "Okay, if you all are saying so." Then, addressing Nathulal, he said, "Say... Jai Bajrang Bali!" (Victory to Lord Hanuman!). Nathulal repeated the chant while crying, and in the very next moment, he came out unharmed. First, he felt all his limbs, then tried to believe that all this was real and not a dream. After that, his next destination was Ravishri's feet.

This miraculous incident created a sensation even in the surrounding villages. Whoever heard about it became eager to meet Ravishri. Three days later, Shankarlal came to Ravishri crying and apologized. It turned out that he had lost his job because he had argued with his officer. Ravishri said, "Go, everything will be fine in three days," and indeed, he was reinstated within three days. Manohar Yadav says, "After this incident of Ravishri, we too started fearing him from within, lest he should get angry about something."

Chaturbhuj Yadav narrates, "It happened many times that we would say, 'Come, Maharaj, we have made poori-sabzi,' and he would say, 'No, today I will eat urad dal and roti at Shankarlal's place.' And when we went there, we would find that the very dish he had mentioned was prepared at that person's house. Besides this, his uncle would often come here from Chhipri in search of him, but Ravishri would sense this half an hour beforehand and would hide. We would tell the uncle that he hadn't come here or had come and gone."

Ravishri was very fond of riding camels. Once, he came to Jitkora from Yara riding a camel, which caused wounds on his waist. Manohar says, "Even then, he didn't give up. He would apply medicine and then go riding again, and the camel owners were also happy to take him around." Ravishri was extremely fond of drawing. He would take pens and paper from boys returning from school and keep drawing pictures of a lota (water pot), a glass, a goddess, or a flower. Chaturbhuj Yadav says that once he asked him to "draw such a picture that it looks like, yes, it has been made." Ravishri drew such a picture of a peacock with a pen that all the colors of the peacock were present in it. The elders of the village say, "The painting was not only lifelike, but he had filled so many colors in it with just one pen that we would sometimes look at the pen, sometimes at the picture, and sometimes at Ravishri."

The miracle of frying poori in a paper kadhai (wok) that he had performed in Antpura, Ravishri did here many times in front of many people. Nathulalji still remembers the taste of that poori and never tires of praising it.

Manohar says that he used to have a stamp on which "Ravishankar Sharma Chhipri" was written. He would put that stamp on our notebooks and say, "Don't forget, we will meet again."

Once, when the topic of marriage was raised, he said, "My death is possible after the age of 18, so I will not marry. And if I survive, I will go far away." Ravishri said this among his peers... "As the question, so the answer."

When Ravishri went to village Tarichar Khurd in the wedding procession of his Jitkora friend Bhagwan Das, his shoes were stolen there. Bhagwan Das was immediately informed. He said, "Maharaj, we will get you new ones." Manohar says, "We said, 'Tell us with your knowledge who took the shoes; you tell us about the happenings of the world.'" So, Ravishri said, "They are with someone in need; let them be."

In July 1984, Ravishri's uncle Jagdish Sharan bought him a bicycle from Jhansi. Ravishri cycled himself from Jhansi to Chhipri, which is about sixty kilometers. He took very good care of his new bicycle and would easily go up to 30-35 kilometers. He had also gotten his name written on the chain cover of this bicycle: "Ravishankar Sharma Chhipri." However, his fondness for the bicycle ended within three to four months.

Once, he left this bicycle at a grocery store just because he owed two hundred rupees, which was for orange candies given to children. Later, his uncle went, paid the shopkeeper the money, and brought the bicycle back.

In November 1985, a Mauni Baba (a silent ascetic) set up camp in Chhipri village and announced a yagya (sacrificial ritual). All the villagers supported this. Ravishri was at the forefront in collecting donations and running errands for the yagya.

By this time, the villagers had faith that he had the "hand of a siddha" (blessing of an accomplished spiritual person), so his words were not taken lightly. However, the villagers did not believe that he knew anything about the rituals of yagya etc. After the yagya, it was time for the pandits (priests) to depart. Mauni Baba issued an order to "give dakshina (offering) to all the pandits and bid them farewell." When Ravishri found out, he said, "Neither is the yagya considered complete nor will there be a farewell without a bhandara (community feast)." The villagers started watching the scene of the argument between the pandits and Ravishri.

The villagers felt that Ravishri was stubbornly insisting on his point in front of learned pandits.

Information about Ravishri's stubborn behavior had been given to his father, so Kripa Ramji reached the debate site with the aim of taking Ravishri back home. By then, this matter had also reached Mauni Baba. As soon as Mauni Baba heard Ravishri's words, he immediately admitted his mistake, and it was decided that the farewell would take place as Ravishri had said.

When Kripa Ramji started apologizing to Mauni Baba for his son's impudence, Mauni Baba's reply was, "Kripa Ram... this is no ordinary child... and neither is he 'what' he appears to be." Kripa Ramji did not pay attention to these words at that time; he was worried that the villagers might turn against Ravishri for obstructing the yagya. Not only the villagers but even the pandits were astonished at Mauni Baba's decision and were staring at Ravishri with bewildered eyes, while Ravishri got busy with the arrangements for the bhandara.

His mother says, "After this yagya, even his father had started believing that he was a saint from a previous birth, and he had also reduced scolding Ravi."

Ravishri passed his eighth-grade examination in 1986. Balachand Soni was the invigilator during one of the papers in the examination hall, and he was not at all familiar with Ravishri until then. He narrates, "In March 1986, during the paper, I saw four or five men roaming outside the school. I called them and asked, 'Why are you people loitering outside the school? What is the matter?' Those people replied, 'The Ravi Maharaj who is giving the exam inside had told us that we would be coming within an hour.' When Soniji asked, 'Who are you people to him?' the men replied, 'We are no one to him. He divines wells, so we had to ask where to dig so that stones don't come out. He tells us the place.' After asking this much, Soniji came back inside and asked, 'Who is Ravi Maharaj?' Ravishri looked at him, and several boys pointed towards him."

Soniji asked Ravishri, "Some people outside are saying that if you determine the place for digging a well, stones don't come out. Is this true?" Ravishri's reply was, "We just mark the spot; now if stones don't come out there, what can we do?"

"It was a two-and-a-half-hour paper; permission to leave was after one hour. You left after one hour."

Ravishri's uncle, Laxminarayanji, says that after this examination, they had absolutely no hope of him 'passing'. Therefore, it was decided to somehow get him 'passed'. They found out that the eighth-grade answer sheets of the Lidhaura center had gone to "Hata," which falls in the Jatara tehsil. Laxminarayanji went to Hata with a friend and made arrangements for Ravishri to pass. He then returned to Chhipri to tell Kripa Ramji that the 'work was done'. In Chhipri, he first met Ravishri outside the village, roaming on the hills with children. By this time, the uncle had not seen any miracle with his own eyes. The uncle said, "Why Ravi, don't you study? Do you know we are wandering around worried about you?"

Ravishri said, "I know, you are coming from Hata, and you have seen all the answer sheets." And after this, Ravishri not only told him who he had gone with and whom he had met but also told him in which subject his uncle had gotten him how many marks. Laxminarayan says, "My face turned red with surprise. He kept speaking, and I kept bowing my head in my mind to that divine power. This form of Ravishri was seen by me for the first time. Before this, only once had I realized that there was definitely something unusual in Ravishri, but at that time I had not said anything to him." Laxminarayan narrates, "I had heard many times that he goes into the cave. I had also seen that cave, so this seemed impossible to me, and I considered it fabricated."

Once, while strolling, my gaze fell upon the hill with the cave, and I felt that someone was present there, and my steps moved towards that cave. I had heard that accomplished spiritual beings sometimes give darshan (holy sight) here to some people, so as I walked towards it, the thought arose in my mind that perhaps it was one of those siddhas.

Going there, I saw that the person was Ravishri himself. A veil of respect always remained between Ravishri and me. He always gave me respect like an elder, and I always treated him like an uncle and have scolded and reprimanded him many times, even raised my hand, so there was never much conversation. Seeing Ravishri there, I said in an angry tone, "What are you doing here? Come home." Saying this, when I reached near him, I was surprised to see him. It seemed as if he had just bathed and was sitting there. His hair was wet, and his hands and feet clearly showed signs of being wet and having just bathed. The clothes he was wearing looked as if he had put them on without drying his body after bathing. There was no arrangement for water anywhere nearby on that hill, no source. I was speechless; the angry feeling in my mind had gone far away. I wanted to ask him many things, but the 'uncle' sitting inside me did not allow it. But it is true that after this incident, I stopped scolding him."

Ravishri also worked as a laborer in many places. He cut fodder for people, grazed cows, and worked as a laborer in fields, while laborers used to work in his own fields. Regarding this, his father Kripa Ramji says, "His heart was not at all in studies. It was my vow that I would not let him become a sadhu, so I thought he would earn his living by farming because without education, he would not get a job. Now, if farming is to be made a means of livelihood, it is my personal opinion that even the biggest farmer should first get his son into the habit of working as a laborer because farming is not easy. Along with this, I also thought that perhaps he would turn towards studies if he didn't have to do labor. Besides this, I also feared that his aimless wandering might invite some trouble. He remained busy on the pretext of labor, stayed away from unnecessary ঝামেলা (troubles), and I thought that perhaps he would be happy seeing the money he earned. Seeing his very simple nature and his innocence, I used to think... how will his life pass?"

His uncle Laxminarayanji says about his working as a laborer, "On one hand, धन खोदने वाले (treasure hunters) had started surrounding him, and on the other hand, influential people around us had started feeling jealous of our progress. Then, there was the fear that the 'police' might frame him innocently under someone's pressure, his disinterest in studies, etc. These were all the reasons why it was decided that he should be made to work as a laborer."

Ravishri's younger brother Harishankar says, "My brother has suffered a lot. We had to go to work as laborers even in our own village due to the fear that someone might falsely implicate us in a police case. We have worked as laborers in our own village for thirteen rupees a day and cut fodder for people." Near the Lidhaura Tiraha (crossroad) on the Tikamgarh-Jhansi road, there is a government Barana agricultural farm. Opposite this farm is a private agricultural farm belonging to 'Mahant Shivnandan Das, who is originally from Bihar but is also counted among the respected people of Tikamgarh.'

Mahantji narrates, "I had a close relationship with his father, who was a very simple and religious-minded person. Ravishri knew about our relations. He came to me and said, 'Get me some work on the farm.' Khare Saheb was the manager. We went to him and said, 'He is our friend's son; give him any work.' And he started working there. He used to eat dinner with us at night and sleep here. He would get up in the morning and go back to work. During this time, neither did I know about his miracles nor did he show them to me. We would only have occasional conversations in the evening. After a few days, he went back to his house. Then, he would come from home with roti tied in a stick, work, and leave in the evening. Later, it was also learned that he never came to take his month's wages."

What kind of work did he do there? Regarding this, Mahantji says, "I never made any recommendations about this. He went as a laborer. He used to cut fodder, remove weeds, and also had to serve the cows that were kept at the manager's place."

A villager named Kashi Dhimar, who worked as a laborer with Ravishri, narrates that when they worked on the farm, he would bring roti tied in a stick, cut fodder all day, remove weeds, and also get scolded by the officer if the work was not done on time. I would say, 'Maharaj, you belong to a good family; what need did you have for this?' Then he would say, 'Everyone should do all kinds of work,' but he never showed miracles etc. to the laborers or officers while working.

Simthari

After the marriage of his elder sister Shashi in 1984, Ravishri found another place where he spent several days intermittently with freedom and independence, and this place was Simthari village, situated near Chirgaon. 'I had told you that if a 'keen eye' is cast upon events, the existence of an unseen power seems to be at the root of every incident.'

This marriage in 1984 was a relationship connected in a normal way, but from one perspective, a ladder was set up for Ravishri to reach Rawatpura, on which he slowly climbed and reached his destination for the first time in July 1990.

We will read the details of reaching Rawatpura later. First, let's see how Ravishri spent his days in Simthari from 1984 to 1987.

Looking at Ravishri's life in Chhipri, it seems as if he avoided his family and relatives, but in reality, it was not so. He only stayed away from Chhipri, his father, and those people who hindered his freedom.

In his first visit in 1984, he had only gone to bring his sister and fulfilled the responsibility of a brother very well. When Ravishri went to Simthari again in 1985, 'all the relatives' living in Simthari had come to know about him. Therefore, if he went to Simthari, he had to stay for at least a month, and during this time, he would not only go to Simthari but also to his sister's sister-in-law's in-laws' place. Every child in Simthari became acquainted with Ravishri, and here too, every household had some memorable feat associated with him.

Apart from solving people's problems and distributing prasad etc., another hidden quality within him was revealed here. The people here say that Ravishri had the entire 'Ramayana' memorized. He would explain the 'meaning and purport' of any verse from any canto with such scholarship that it felt like 'he should give discourses'. Ghanshyam Sharma, a resident here, says, 'It happened many times that when a Ramayana incident was mentioned or the meaning of a verse was not understood, he would explain it with analysis, but he would not get into arguments about all this. If you are asking him, then listen, don't make it a matter of debate.'

Your sister's brother-in-law, Dinesh, was completing his law studies in Jhansi in 1988-89. He says, "Ravishri often had a shortage of money. He would come and say, 'I have to go to Chitrakoot or Kashi, arrange for money. If you help me today, I will help you tomorrow.' Where did he go in Chitrakoot? Regarding this, Dinesh says that there is an old woman named Shabari at Ram Ghat; Ravishri used to say that he stayed with her."

A gentleman named Ramswaroop Sharma from Simthari wanted to sell his house. He believed that there was धन (wealth) buried under that house, so he first wanted to extract that wealth, and a skilled tantrik (occultist), known as 'Kotiya', was helping him in extracting it. Kotiya was quite old and famous, known never to have been defeated. The villagers knew that Ramswaroop was doing this, but everyone's mentality was that it was his personal matter. When Ravishri came to know about the matter, he insisted, 'Show me that place.' When Kotiya came to know about his insistence and his miraculous nature, he started saying, 'That boy should not come here.' Kotiya had seen the place, examined it, and started the excavation. Meanwhile, when Ravishri came to know that Kotiya was refusing to let him in, he started saying, 'Now Kotiya will not get the wealth.' After a few days, Kotiya left saying, 'That boy has made the wealth movable... he is no ordinary boy... today, for the first time in his life, Kotiya has failed.'

Recalling an incident from 1987, Ravishri's sister's elder brother-in-law, Rajkumar Sharma, narrates, 'There was an election for the head of the village, in which I myself was also standing as a candidate. After the voting and before the counting, a person from the village came to me and swore that he had voted for me. Coincidentally, Ravishri was present there. As soon as that person left, he said that this person had not voted for you. Then I took the list of all the voters, which was of eleven hundred people, and started asking Ravishri one by one who had voted for me and who had not. He was not at all familiar with all the people in the village, let alone by name. One by one, he surprised everyone by telling their names and whether they had voted or not. After the counting, his words proved absolutely accurate. He had told me I would win by two hundred votes... and I won by exactly two hundred votes...!'