Shri Swami Samarth had many European devotees even when British were ruling India. Once, a European engineer came to meet Swamiji to seek his blessings. He had come from Solapur and as soon as Swamiji saw him he said in Hindi, “You want a son, is it not? You will get one within a year”. The engineer had actually come to meet Swamiji with the desire of a son in mind. He was amazed to know that Swamiji knew about it and was happy that he had received Swamiji’s blessings. He respectfully kept his head on Swamiji’s feet. This was unheard of in those days and the engineer retured back to Solapur. The engineer had a son within a year and he became an ardent devotee of Swamiji.
The First Photograph
Kodak Company was the first to take the photograph of Swamiji. This first photograph was taken in 1857 and there is a brilliant aura seen around the face of Swamiji. Photography was not familiar in India and it was the early days of photography. Photography was quite expensive and only the royal crowd or the rich people were photographed. The company wanted to increase the business by taking photographs of some known great personalities and that was when they decided to photograph Swamiji.By that time Swamiji’s fame was spread all over India and the miracles of Swamiji used to appear in Mumbai newspapers.
The British government had asked the local king to look after Swamiji well. Kodak Company sent their best photographer to film Swamiji and he happened to be a European. The photographer after reaching Akkalkot got in touch with few of the disciples of Swamiji and told them his intention. The disciples told him to ask the Swamiji directly and Swamiji did not agree for photographing him. It was big blow for the photographer and decided to film Swamiji somehow. He set up the camera in a distance and waited for a good pose of Swamiji. The photographer tried to get one pose of Swamiji and after struggling for many hours he managed to take one photo.
The Realised Photographer
The photographer was happy that he won over Swamiji in this game and went to develop the plate. He took a print and went to Swamiji to ask his opinion about the photograph. Swamiji without even looking at it gave it to his disciple and he said “what a wonderful picture of Sri Rama”. Another server said that he has nit seen a better picute of Ambabai. Each one of the disciples told different names but not Swamiji’s. The photographer was confused and told Swamiji that the photograph was Swamiji’s. Swamiji then looked at it and found that to be of a monkey. The photographer realised the mistake and begged his pardon and said okay and allowed him to take his photograph. Later also any phto taken without Swamiji’s consent had a black screen on it.
