Page 4 - My Father-Final Book

His Childhood
My father, Vinayak was born in 1906 of a Brahmin couple in a small village in the Satara district of Maharashtra state in India. His mother, Ganga was known to be an extremely pious lady, and his grand father, Bajirao was a saintly person. His father, Rajaram was not greatly spiritual, but he had performed an austere practice of reading a particular scripture for 5 continuous years with the wish of getting a son, as directed by his father Bajirao. At the end of this practice, my father was born. [Illustration 1: Family Tree].
When Vinayak was 5 years old, his grand father Bajirao was extremely ill. His British physician, Dr. Wills, had inspected him. After this inspection, Bajirao invited 21 Brahmins from the nearby village of Wai and took their blessings, giving them donation (Dakshina) and food. On this occasion, Bajirao called Vinayak and his parents near him, and stated that Vinayak shall become a great saint in the future and he should be looked after properly. Then, Bajirao uttered his Mantra three times and left the body.[1911].
Vinayak was extremely interested in learning and education. However, his family wanted him to do the family work of farming and to skip education. Unfortunately, his mother died shortly after his grand father’s death. Due to the opposition to his educational desire, frustrated,Vinayak ran away from the family at an early age of 12. He went to Mumbai, worked very hard to make a living with menial jobs and completing his high school education. From the age of 9, Vinayak practiced devotional surrender to Shree Dattatreya (three headed Indian deity) as per the family tradition. He used to read Ramayana and Mahabharata to his coworkers in the cloth mills in Mumbai.[1918].
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