Shri Swami Samarth’s active physical appearance happened for around 40 years from AD 1760 to AD 1800. Out of the 40 years Swamiji stayed in Akkalkot for 21 years. Swamiji has explained about his journey from the Kadalivan to Akkalkot. Swamiji had travelled widely in India in places like Bengal. Haridwar, Kedarnath, Mangalvedha, Pandharpur, Begampur, Solapur etc before settling in Akkalkot. Swamiji has blessed many place by staying there and also stayed and travelled through Himalayas. Since he was a wandering monk before settling in Akkalakot he was known is different names in different places. He was known as ‘Chanchal bharati’, ‘Nru Simha Saraswati’, ‘Digambar Buwa’ and ‘Akkalkot Maharaj’.
Physical Appearance
Swamiji’s physical appearance was striking. Swamiji shone gloriously like the Sun and was 6 ft tall with broad chest. Swamiji had very powerful eyes and it was practically difficult to look into His eyes directly. A look of divine brilliance emitted always from his eyes. Swamiji had the look and gestures of a majestic lion. His ears were long and thin and it used to move when he was talking. Swamiji always had a ‘tilak’ on his forehead and the body was always smeared with sandal paste. Swamiji used to converse in Hindi and Marathi and he used to laugh almost hysterically.
Swamiji was quite temperamental while speaking and nobody could guess when he will get angry. Whiel travelling Swamiji used to talk and laugh freely, like a child. Swamiji had this habit of conversing with the trees and rock around him and he also used give advice to his devotees in trouble. He used to attend to devotees with secret question and solve their problems. His devotees treated Swamiji as a God. Swamiji was always surrounded with three types of people. Among his devotes there were a set of devotees who were selfless. Some devotees were there to offer services without expecting anything in return.
Treatment according to the nature
Some devotees used to visit Swamiji to pass their time. He always had lots of visitors. Swamiji treated his devotees as per the merit of the devotees. He used to gauge the devotees as per their spiritual capacity and motto. Swaniji treated the devotees according to the nature of the devotees and he treated intellectual people intelligently and unintelligent people in the same manner. Shri Swami Samarth never slept or nobody will see him sleeping. Swamiji used to sing ‘abhangs’ and ‘shlokas’ at 2 in the morning and people often visited him at that time also with questions. Swamiji used to answer the questions till dawn and used to start his regular routine in the morning.
