India is a country which is the birth place of many sages and saints. It is the sacred home of penance of blessed spiritual souls and it is also the land of philosophers and karmayogis. A karmayogi is the one who practices a karma process to join with the divine. Indians in general believe that the holy saints are God or messenger of God. Saints are credited to a great level of religiousness and sanctity. Saints or the sages are capable of intervening for people on earth. There are many known and unknown saints in India.
Incarnation
Shri Swami Samarth was one of the great saints and philosophers in India. Swamiji was the incarnation of Lord Dattatreya. There isn’t any concrete information about the birth of Swamiji. Shri Naraimha Saraswati was another saint who was the incarnation of Lord Dattatreya. Shri Narasimha Saraswati after helping and sipiritually lifting people went to the Himalayas for penance and said to have been there in the Samadhi state for more than 300 years. An anthill had grown over him and people had forgotten about him. A woodcutter’s axe fell on the anthill accidentally and injured Shri Narasimha Saraswati and the woodcutter saw blood coming out from the anthill.
The woodcutter was curious about the whole episode and he moved the anthill to find Shri Swami Samarth coming out from inside.Swamiji travelled all over the country after waking up from the meditative trance. Swamiji travelled to Varanasi, Gangotri and Devalgram where he installed his ‘Padukas’ (the impression of lotus feet). Many of his devotees in Devalgram feel that all the sins will be washed away only by looking at the ‘Padukas’. Swamiji went to Tajur in Maharashtra and installed a hermitage. The then Mughal king gifted him an estate of eight villages for the hermitage.
Digambhar Swami
Swamiji travelled to AmbeJogai from there and stayed there in a lair and it was called ‘Datta-Pahad’. Swamiji was also called ‘Chanchal Bharati’ and later he went from ther to Rameshwaram in South India and other holy places like Udupi, Pandharpur and Managalvedha where appeared again in public. People then called him ‘Digambhar Swami’. Finally in the year 1855, Swamiji, after spending his time in holy places and villages, came to Akkalkot where he stayed for the next 21 years. Many of the devotees have seen the scar of the axe on his thigh and it is also said that he was about 400 to 500 old then.
