Trimbakeshwar

EARLY the following morning, Ramdas started for Trimbakeshwar, 16 miles from Panchavati. He reached the place about 3 in the afternoon. First, the temple of Trimbakeshwar was visited. This place reminded him of Kedarnath and Badrinath. The plateau on which the town and the temple are built is surrounded on three sides with high mountains. He scaled these mountains one after the other. First to ascend was the small hill of Ambajee, next the hill of Ganga Dwar, and then the still higher hill, Brahmagiri. The climbing of Brahmagiri was a memorable one. Ramdas went up alone with Ram on his lips. Ascending the top of the hill, he got down the slope. On the other side he came upon a small tank and a Mandir of Shanker in which there was a Sadhu. Ramdas was received by the Sadhu very hospitably. He narrated the story of Gautama’s Tapasya on those hills in ancient times. The Sadhu lives here alone in the company of a number of monkeys that ran about on the roof of the temple. After sharing with Ramdas his frugal fare, the Sadhu pointed to him a thin footpath on the hill which he said would lead him to a place called Jatahshanker.

Accordingly Ramdas started, accompanied also by a Brahmin pilgrim. But the Brahmin was with him only for a short distance, for when they had to walk amongst brambles, and high grown grass and reeds, they missed each other, both having lost their way. Ramdas now found a long line of steps cut into the bosom of the hills. Here he climbed down, and, finding below a small opening, crept out of it on the other side and found himself on another hill. Again walking some distance, he came upon another similar passage and going down here as well, he came upon the other side to a different hill. Here again he proceeded further still, now through thorny shrubs and thick growth of reeds. At last he came to the end of the summit. Here appeared on the extreme edge of the slope, something like a beaten track.

Now Ramdas was standing on the brow of a tremendous precipice. The bottom of the hill could be seen from this place straight down vertically, many hundreds of feet below. Any attempt to walk upon the slope was a very dangerous experiment. But a strange fascination seemed to have seized Ramdas. He crept slowly upon the slope. His hold was thin dried-up grass that grew on the hill. Both his hands were engaged in this task. He was now on the slope. It was a condition in which every moment had to be counted; but he was careless and fearless. Suddenly, the dried grass in his left hand gave way and his left foot slipped. Ramdas was even now calm and unperturbed – his lips uttering Ram’s name aloud.

It was rather a very severe test on Ram’s powers of protection. But nothing is impossible for the all-powerful Ram. Ramdas’ other hand was then grasping a stone which was also a little shaky. By a concentration of all strength at this point he recovered his balance and drew up the leg that had slipped. This became all possible by the aid of Ram alone. It was Ram alone who pulled him up. A few minutes later he was again on the same path that led him to the precipice. While returning he came across a small tank full of pure spring-water. Here he met again the Brahmin pilgrim whom he had missed. Jatahshanker could not be found. So both retraced their steps to the Mandir and, finding the way downhill before evening, reached Trimbakeshwar.

That night Ramdas could not help thinking again and again of the wonderful manner in which Ram saved him while he was about to fall down the precipice. That same evening he mounted up a small hillock and spent some time in the Ashram of a Maratha Saint. During his stay in the Dharmashala, he had also the unique privilege of having the Darshan of an old learned Sannyasi permanently residing in the Dharmashala. In the course of his talk with Ramdas the venerable Saint condemned, in no uncertain terms, the use of silk by Brahmins as a sacred cloth. His contention was that cotton cloth is the best suited and of the purest material since it is made from a plant’s flower, whereas silk is produced by destroying thousands of innocent silk-worms. So he considered that, instead of silk cloth being holy, it was the most sinful article for wear and must be totally eschewed. Further he said that crores of rupees/ worth of silk was every year being imported from China, Japan and other countries, which meant an enormous drain upon the poor and diminishing wealth and resources of India.

The old Saint spoke with great earnestness and asked Ramdas if he agreed with him. Ramdas at once gave his humble and unqualified approval of his diatribe upon the evil. The Sannyasi was so zealous upon this subject that he was busy circulating notices, getting them pasted on the walls of temples and Dharmashalas, writing to newspapers and calling upon all devout people to give up, once for all, the use of silk which he described as nothing short of a most sinful luxury. He explained that the wearing of silk was unknown to the ancients of India, since no mention of it could be found anywhere in the Vedas, and its use has not been enjoined by any religious authority.

The Sannyasi was kind to Ramdas and desired that he should remain in Trimbakeshwar for some days more. But Ram’s command had already come. So, next morning, Ramdas left the place for Panchavati, which he reached in the afternoon. He visited the Sri Ramachandra Mandir of Panchavati and had the Darshan of several Sadhus on the banks of the Godavari. The following day, walking up to the railway station, he started by the night train, and, travelling via Manmad and Kurduwadi, came to Pandharpur.