Dadaji Maharaj is eternal, like lord Shiva. In the tradition of Dadaji Dhuniwale, there is no proof of birth of Dadaji Maharaj just like lord Shiva. Shri Gauri Shankar Maharaj was a great Shiva devotee. He was a tall and unique looking Pashto sadhu from Kabul with big ears and a very radiant face. He used to worship lord Shiva and desired for lord Shiva to appear before him.
When lord Shiva did not appear for a long time, he became restless and left Kabul. He discussed about his desire with sages in various ashrams around Kabul when someone told him that it is believed that lord Shiva can be found on the banks of river Narmada. Thereafter sometime in the early 19th century Shri Gauri Shankar Maharaj left Afghanistan at a young age in search of lord Shiva and walked towards river Narmada. On reaching there, a sadhu told him that lord Shiva can be found on either bank of river Narmada. Since that moment Shri Gauri Shankar Maharaj started circumambulation of the river in search of his lord Shiva.
He joined a congregation of sages and due to his personality and knowledge of scriptures, he soon became the mahant (head) of the congregation. While doing the circumambulation, more sadhus joined his congregation and its number soon swelled to around a hundred and fifty.
The congregation would tow all their belongings on horses and complete a circumambulation of Narmada in 12 years. After 3 such circumambulations when lord Shiva still did not appear before Shri Gauri Shankarji he became disheartened and resolved to end his life by drowning in the river. He did not say this to anyone. At that time his congregation was in Sri Sri Sanghu near Saikheda. Every morning he used to go for bath at 4 o’clock but on that day he got up at 3:30 am and headed towards Narmadaji.
As soon as he put his feet in Narmadaji, then a small girl child caught his little finger from behind and asked “Why? Why are you wanting to drown and die?”. Shri Gauri Shankarji wondered how the little girl got to know of his intention when he had not told anyone about it. Still feeling despondent he waded deeper into the river. The girl grabbed his wrist and again said “Oh, so you won’t listen, you want to drown, you want to die”. He asked her “Who are you?” and she replied “I am Narmada”. Not believing her, he freed his hand and waded even deeper, she grabbed his wrist again but this time it was with more force and her hand was like that of a young adult. A incredulous Gauri Shankarji again asked the girl who she was. When he got the same answer this time, he said, “I do not believe you, show your true form”. Narmadaji then showed him her divine form and said “What you were going to do is the work of cowards. Don’t make this mistake. Lord Shiva is already there in your congregation in avatar of the young boy named Keshav (Dadaji)”.
A thoroughly bewildered Gauri Shankarji went back to his congregation as fast as he could. He kept thinking about the young boy Keshav and the incidents about him that some members of his congregation would tell him. Keshav used to do all the cooking for the entire congregation. Sometimes when he ran out of ghee (clarified butter) he would fill his utensil with water from Narmada river and cook food in it. The food would taste just like it was cooked in ghee. Later on when the congregation had enough ghee of its own, he would fill his utensil with ghee and pour in back the river, as if he was returning the ghee to Narmadaji. In spite of knowing about this, not even in his wildest dreams did Gauri Shankarji ever consider the possibility that Keshav was lord Shiva himself, he always thought that Keshav was a boy who could perform some miracles and did not make much of it.
When he reached his congregation, he headed straight to the community kitchen where he saw Keshav sitting with his back towards him washing utensils. He called him by his name “Keshav!” and the young boy turned his head to look over his shoulder at Gauri Shankarji. It was at this very moment that lord Shiva revealed himself to Gauri Shankarji. Not believing his eyes, he kept rubbing them but every time he would only see lord Shiva. As it slowly dawned on him that his lifelong penance is coming to an end in a final attempt to make sure that all this is true, he prayed to Godess Narmada that just as she showed him her true form, lord Shiva should do the same. As soon as he wished for this, Goddess Narmada appeared and said “Oh so you still don’t believe it, why don’t you touch him and see for yourself?” Gauri Shankarji stepped forward and touched Kehav’s feet. As soon as he did that, lord Shiva revealed himself in all his might and glory sitting in padmasana (lotus asana, classic yogi’s posture). Lord Shiva then said to him that since now his desire is fulfilled, he should take his congregation ahead and not tell anyone about him till they have traveled a few kilometres. Having said this, lord Shiva again transformed in Keshav’s avatar and disappeared into the jungle.
As told to do so, Gauri Shankarji travelled further till a place called Koksar where he revealed everything to his congregation and since now his life’s mission was accomplished, he took samadhi ( a spiritual term meaning the union of one’s soul with the Almighty) in river Narmada.
It is believed that Dadaji (Keshav) was next seen in Hoshangabad where he roamed around performing miracles in digambar form (a common practice in Hinduism and Jainism where some sadhus do not wear any clothes at all). He was known here as Ramlal Dada and after 3 years in Hoshangabad, he left his body by falling in a well.
He was next seen in Imlia jungle in Sohagpur sitting under a tree with a lit dhuni (holy fire). On the request of the villagers nearby, he went with them to Narsinghpur which is about 10 – 12 kilometres from river Narmada. There too he performed miracles before taking samadhi.
He was then found in Sisri Sandook where he was known as Ramphal Dada.
Somewhere around 1902 he left for Saikheda. He was first seen in Saikheda on top of a house throwing clay tiles on the children playing below. The children started yelling “Oh its a mad old man, its a mad old man”. Miraculously every child who got hit with the clay tile would get healed of his ailments. Everywhere he went children would accompany him teasing him by calling him ‘mad old man’. To shoo away the children Dadaji started keeping a stick with him, from that point on people started calling him Dandewala Dadaji (Dandewala means a person carrying a stick). It is believed that Dadaji was Shivji’s Rudra avatar and he would curse and hit people (Rudra is an effulgent form of Lord Shiva. Rudra is the nemesis of evil. Rudra is a fierce, feared and short tempered warrior). However, whoever got cursed by him or got hit by his stick would be freed of his troubles or sufferings. He would roam around all day grazing cows and in the evening sit in the hollow of a tree. One day he lit a dhuni (holy fire) from the dry twigs of the tree and people started calling him Dhuniwale Dadaji (Person who lights a dhuni).
For close to 30 years Dadaji roamed in Saikheda and nearby villages, he would spend the night wherever he wished so, at the banks of river Narmada, in fields, under a tree or in the veranda of someone’s house. As his fame spread, one day freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya came to seek his blessings and brought with him Jawaharlal Nehru (who later went on to become independent India’s first prime minister) and Mahatma Gandhi (father of the nation). Dadaji, who was always in Rudra avtaar, hit Jawaharlal Nehru with his stick and said “This boy is intelligent, he will get us freedom (from the British)” and gave him his stick. Many years later, in 1977, Shri Chottey Sarkarji visited ex Indian prime minister & Jawaharlal Nehru’s daughter, Mrs. Indira Gandhi when she was in the opposition. Tying a bracelet of Jasmine flowers on her wrist, Shri Chottey Sarkarji delivered a message to her from Shri Indore Sarkar that she will become the prime minister again (which she did after winning a landslide in the next election). Shri Chottey Sarkarji told Mrs. Gandhi about the time when her father visited Dadaji Maharaj. She professed knowledge about the matter and took Shri Chottey Sarkarji to her temple room where the stick given by Dadaji to her father was kept. She told him that her father always used to keep the stick on him where ever he went.
In 1929, Dadaji left Saikheda and travelled to Chippaner, Bagli, Ujjain, Indore, Navghat Khedi and lastly Khandwa.
In Bagli, the Nawab of Bhopal, Hamidullah Khan’s wife used to harass Hindu sadhus a lot. When she got to know that a congregation of sadhus led by Dadaji has set camp on the banks of river Narmada she devised a plan to harass him. Knowing fully well that Hindu saints abhor eating non vegetarian food, she sent her servant with a plate full of meat covered with a cloth as an offering for Dadaji. On seeing the servant approach, Dadaji started shouting “Oh so you have come to test me, she has sent you, to hell with her!” and he started cursing the woman. Seeing Dadaji in a foul mood, the servant got scared and started to backtrack. Dadaji asked him to come closer but the trembling servant was scared witless that Dadaji will hit him with his stick. Dadaji yelled at him telling him to at least deliver the offering. When he came closer, Dadaji hit the plate with his stick and all the content fell down. Miraculously the pieces of meat turned into roses and fell on the ground. The hapless servant quickly picked up a rose and the plate and ran back as fast as he could. When he narrated the whole story to his mistress, she thought that the servant who is a Hindu must have changed the content of the plate and resolved to personally test Dadaji. She prepared another plate of meat, covered it with a cloth, decorated it pearls and went to Dadaji. Dadaji saw her coming from a distance and started abusing her. When she came close enough, he caught her wrist and yelled at her “So you have come to test me, you have come to test me!’ and flicked away cloth covering. This time the meat had turned into sweets! The woman looked at the sweets with astonishment and Dadaji yelled “Oh so you still don’t understand, here eat them, eat them!”. When she could not eat any more, Dadaji stuffed some more sweets in her mouth and pushed them further in with his stick. The petrified Nawab Begum (Nawab’s wife), folded her hands apologetically and said “I now realise that you are an Aulia (muslim saint)” and Dadaji shouted back “Not an Aulia, I am much higher than an Aulia”. He then ordered her to release all the Sadhus that she had imprisoned which she promptly did.
The next day she returned with her husband in a horse carriage to pay their respects to Dadaji and humbly invite him to grace their home with his presence. Dadaji agreed and climbed into their carriage along with them. As soon as he was inside, he started to curse them & the coachman and ordered them to get out. When he yelled at the scared coachman to untie the horses from the carriage, the Nawab’s wife implored him to keep the horses. Dadaji yelled back “No! They have eaten food from your household, take them away!”. He then told his disciples to pull the carriage and left Bagli and traveled further. This is the same carriage in which Dadaji took samadhi in 1930 and can be seen today parked in Khandwa Darbar.
In Khandwa, Dadaji and his disciples stayed for 3 days and when they were about to leave a local woman named Parvati came and stood in front of his carriage and lovingly offered him food that she had cooked at home. When Dadaji declined she refused to budge till he accepted her offering. When this standoff continued for some time, Dadaji got exasperated and said “I am going to sleep, you do what you have to do” and he retired in his carriage. Parvati kept the food offering in front of his carriage and waited for him to wake up. After a long wait, she distributed the food among his disciples and left. It was common practice for Dadaji to keep sleeping for 2-3 days at a stretch and this is what everyone thought had happened at the time.
2 days later a strange looking lunatic went to the local police station and reported that everyone in the congregation is mad as they have no idea that Dadaji has taken samadhi. When the policeman came to the congregation and narrated the bizarre claim of the lunatic, they decided to approach Dadaji’s most revered disciple Shri Chotte Dadaji (Chotte means younger).
Shri Chotte Dadaji used to accompany Dadaji everywhere but always kept a respectable distance from him. When Shri Chotte Dadaji saw some members of the congregation and the policeman approach three times he said loudly “Yes yes brothers, Dadaji has taken samadhi. Yes yes brothers, Dadaji has taken samadhi. Yes yes brothers, Dadaji has taken samadhi”. Then along with other disciples, he took Dadaji’s body out of the carriage and placed it on a wooden bed.
Shri Chotte Dadaji then purchased that very land and built his mausoleum. He built the first Dada Darbar around the mausoleum and laid down 14 rules governing the running of the Darbar and the daily ceremonies performed there. These rules are still followed in all the Dada Darbars today.
MIRACLES BY DADAJI
Dadaji’s fame was spreading all over the country. Some sadhus in Kashi (Hinduism’s most holy city in India) got wind of this and decided to visit him and see if he really is lord Shiva’s avatar. Dadaji being all aware knew of this beforehand. Before the sadhus from Kashi reached Saikheda, Dadaji started saying to his congregation “Today is my test, be prepared”. When the sadhus finally arrived, Dadaji started reciting the holy scriptures loudly. His recitations were of such a high level that the Sadhus from Kashi had no clue about it. They realised their folly and fell on Dadaji’s feet seeking his forgiveness.
Similarly, a doctor, a lawyer and a teacher thought of testing Dadaji. They reasoned that if Dadaji is really an avatar of lord Shiva, then he should not have any effects of consuming poison. They paid him a visit one day carrying a garland of flowers, some sweets to eat and a bottle of poison. When they reached Dadaji he said to them “You got flowers and sweets for me, come come give them to me” and he reached inside their bag, took out the bottle of poison and drank it immediately. Of course being divine, nothing happened to Dadaji. The 3 men realised their foolishness and left seeking his forgiveness.
Dadaji decided to reveal his divinity to a woman named Jeeja Bai one day. She used to pray twice every day at a Shiva temple near which Dadaji used to sit under a tree. One morning she came and opened the temple doors and saw Dadaji sitting in place of lord Shiva’s idol. She immediately rushed to look where Dadaji was sitting and saw lord Shiva sitting there!
People used to come to Dadaji to seek his blessings and only leave when he permitted them to, sometimes this meant staying with his congregation for days at a stretch. One such devotee, Saligram Patel was with Dadaji for around 2 weeks and still Dadaji had not given him permission to go back home. One evening Dadaji was sitting with others when he called Saligram and asked him to fetch water from the river and pour it in Dhuni. When Saligram did so, Dadaji started cursing him and scolded him “For how long will you stay here? Go home!”. A confused Saligram didn’t understand Dadaji’s outburst but being a devotee, he obeyed his instructions and left for his village straightaway. With no means of transport available in middle of the night, he managed to reach his village with great difficulty. On reaching there he was shocked to see that that evening a fire had burnt down the whole village except his house. He realised that at the very moment Dadaji was making him pour water in Dhuni his house was getting saved from the devastating fire.
Dadaji was very fond of children. Once a young boy was doing his studies under the street lamp when a policeman got into an alteration with the child and locked him up in the police station. When Dadaji got to know of this, he was infuriated and smashed all the streetlamps with his stick. The same policeman then locked up Dadaji along with the kid. When he came out of the police station, he saw Dadaji on the street outside smiling at him, he rushed back in only to see Dadaji still locked up with the kid. Not being able to make sense of what he was seeing he again stepped out and saw Dadaji on the street. He quickly rushed in and released Dadaji and the boy and apologised profusely to Dadaji for his mistake.
A woman came to Dadaji one day sobbing about how poor she is and because of that she could not get her daughter married. Dadaji listened to her plight and told her that he will come to her house. The next morning, he visited her house, when she bowed to pay her obeisance Dadaji pushed her aside saying “Move aside, I need to pass stool”. He went to her kitchen, squatted on her mud stove and passed stool. He then got up, told her to cover it with ash and left. When the woman’s husband came home in the evening he was infuriated and scolded his wife saying “Of all the places, your Guru had to pass stool on our stove! Now throw this out immediately!” The woman picked the ash covered stool in her dustpan & it felt heavy and when she threw it outside the ash cleared from the stool and it had turned into gold! The husband and wife rushed to Dadaji full of gratitude with the gold. When Dadaji saw them approaching he shouted “Oh why are you showing this to me, go get your daughter married”. When they came closer, he said “Don’t you understand? I have done this for you to get your daughter married”. The couple used some of that gold to cover their daughter’s wedding expenses and made jewelry with the remaining. The daughter’s descendants still have the jewelry as their prized possession.