Alandi – Swami Ram Das

Alandi near Pune in Maharashtra had a similar high spiritual vibration like the temple cities of South India and the Tirthas of the North. There Jnanadeva who wrote the famous Jnanesvar commentary on the Bhagavad Gita was enshrined. He voluntarily went underground at the age of twenty one and never reappeared. The temple marks the tree beneath which he is said to be buried and will some day return from. Meditating there was a powerful experience and connected one with the great saints of Maharashtra, who did much to maintain Hinduism through the difficult period of Islamic rule.

Later I came into contact with the Samartha Ram Das order, from the great teacher who had been the guru of the Shivaji, the Maratha king who aroused the Hindus to revolt against the oppressive Mogul rule of the country. The Maratha power reclaimed most of India before the British conquered the country.

In time I had many such pilgrimages and experiences throughout India. These are just a few typical examples.