Today is ‘Shri Gajanan Maharaj’s Prakatdin’

 We pay our obeisance a million times on this Day ! 

The first Prakatdin of Saint Shri Gajanan Maharaj took place in Shegaon. This event occurred on Magha Krishna Saptami, Shaka 1800 (February 23, 1878).

Saint Shri Gajanan Maharaj

1. Prakatdin (First Appearance)

There was a wedding ceremony at the house of Shri Devidas Paturkar in Shegaon. The leftover food (used plates) had been thrown outside the house. There, a young man in a Digambar (naked) state was seen picking up those plates and eating the particles of food from them. There was an extraordinary radiance on his face. A common man would hesitate to eat leftover food; but there was extraordinary peace and joy on his face. Seeing this, Shri Devidas Paturkar was astonished.

Saint Shri Gajanan Maharaj: Darshan of the first appearance

When he was asked, ‘Who are you and why are you eating this leftover food?’, he answered not with words, but with an action. He took a pot of buttermilk from a cow there and drank it. For him, there was no distinction between pure and leftover food. He was in a ‘Brahmabhuta’ state.

 2. The meaning of the mantra ‘Gan Gan Ganat Bote’ this was said very often by Shri Gajanan Maharaj

Gan: Means the soul/spirit

 Ganat: Means in Brahma or in the Supreme Soul

Bote: Means to count or to merge

The simple meaning of this is, ‘This soul is merged in Brahma.’ It is because of this mantra that he later came to be known as ‘Gajanan Maharaj’.

(Courtesy: Website)