Paramhans 108 Shree Narain Swami

Our family Guru Narain Swami was endearingly called Maharaji by his devotees.
My parents once told me, they met Maharaji after I was conceived. At least that's how they remembered the event when they met him for the first time! Maharaji gave me my name , my identity and I will go as far as saying my life. My 'mundon' ceremony (first religious rite performed on a baby of shaving the head, I have had two more for different reasons) was done in Araul which is a tiny village on the banks of the river Ganga, 50 kms from Kanpur, India.

Maharaji lived there and in Kanpur (my birthplace) during the winter months. Maharaji was an ascetic in the true sense. I have met and read about a lot of saints but he was of a different breed. He would do penance each day and beg for his food. He had renounced this mortal world as well as his family. He did not have a penny to his name. The only belongings he had were two pieces of hemp cloth, (one he wore with a string around his waist while the other was hung out to dry) a wooden 'kamandal' (water jug) a wooden bowl and 'kharaon' (wooden sandals). I tell you it is not easy to walk with them on!!
Our parents visited him very often at whichever place he was staying . Maharaji spent a lot of time in Kanpur as well. When he was there he stayed at 'Ganga Paar' next to the river Ganges. We went to meet him every day in the evenings . Daddy made it a point to take all of us children
(we are five brothers and sisters). So the children played together while the elders did Kirtan(chanting).
Maharaji did two kinds of fasting. He contolled his diet by increasing the intake of milk to a glass every day and then decreasing it to barely anything and then slowly going back to normal. There were days when we were there and Maharaji was in 'Maun Vrat' (no talking). He would then communicate by the writing on a slate. That is another kind of fasting - vow of silence.
Badrinath is very important to the devotees of Narain Swami. This is the abode of his Guru. While he was doing his 'tapasya' (penance) on the banks of the river Narmada, Maharaji became very despondent . He had not been able to find a guru. That's when Badrinathji came to him in a vision and told him not to despair, He would be his Guru. Since then Maharaji started spending the summer in Badrinath at the house of his Guru.
I look back very fondly at that period in my child hood. Maharaji made those first 10 yrs. of my life very special. Without me knowing, the stage was being set for Ram Rajya. Now I understand that I too would have a role in Ram Rajya! Jai Ho!