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Yogeshwarji arrived at
Devkibai’s Dharamshala only to find that a sixty year old widow by the name
of Laxmibai had taken claim of the property. She claimed that Devkibai had
entrusted the management of the dharmashala to her and she did not know
about any other trustees. Yogeshwarji tried to explain the situation to
Laxmibai but she was in no mood to listen and kept up her onslaught of
abusive words. Despite Laxmibai’s discourteous and harsh attitude,
Yogeshwarji weathered the storm with a silence.
It was here where Yogeshwarji
met Champakbhai, who would closely follow him during his years of sadhana in
the Himalayas. During the 1942 Freedom struggle, Champakbhai was arrested
and imprisoned but he managed to escape in broad daylight. He was evading
the police and has chose Rishikesh as his safe haven. Police issued a search
warrant for him so Champakbhai changed his name to Manubhai.
With Champakbhai, Yogeshwarji
visited nearby places like Sahastradhara, Dehradun and Raipur. Yogeshwarji
also met spiritual personalities like Maa Anandmayee, an Ascetic of
Vasudhara, Bhairavdutt Joshi and an omniscient Mahatma - who foretelled that
Yogeshwarji would stay at Rishikesh for exactly a year.
Laxmibai died. She wept and
repented for her bad behavior with Yogeshwarji at the time of her death.
With Laxmibai's departure, Yogeshwarji's work at dharmashala became easy. He
thought of sending money to his mother and if possible call her at Rishikesh,
but God's wish was something different. Instead of continuing as a manager
at the Devkibai Dharmashala without any trouble, Yogeshwarji responded to
the inner voice and resigned. He left Rishikesh along with Champakbhai and
proceeded for DevPrayag on 27th of November 1943. The words of omniscient
mahatma proved true regarding the length of his stay at Rishikesh.
Upon their arrival at
DevPrayag, they stayed at Chakradharji's place and prepared for
Dashrathachal. |
