Page 5 - My Father-Final Book

Young Vinayak’s life was very hard in terms of food, clothing and shelter. He washed cars, sold bananas, and worked in cloth mills. He used the Madhukari system for food (visiting five houses to beg for food, carried on by the poor Brahmin boys). At one time, he was somewhat frustrated and tried to end his life at a beach in Mumbai. But, a Yogi suddenly appeared on the scene and told him that much work was left for him before his life ends. From that moment, Vinayak’s spiritual practice and progress multiplied. Certain mystical changes took place such as; he was able to tell people their future without any analysis or previous knowledge of a person [1925].
Due to extreme harsh living conditions, he became severely ill. Some of his friends brought him to the family home in the Satara district. At this point of time, his family arranged his marriage with Sumati, a daughter of a wealthy businessman in Pune. Sumati herself was extremely spiritual from childhood. She read entire Mahabharata treatise several times, from the age of 9 till the end of her 88 years of life. She used to tell me the stories from Mahabharata in my childhood and this partially but surely formed the basis of my Yoga studies later. One astrologer had told Sumati’s family that hundreds of persons shall bow to her in the later life. This prediction came true after she was married to my father. (1928). [Illustration 2 and 3: Pimpode, place of birth].
Vinayak completed school-teacher certification course and obtained a job as a school teacher. This gave him the name Master, meaning teacher in Marathi. This name stayed with him till the end of his life. [Illustration 4: My father after wedding but before meeting his Guru. Standing at the back right side.]
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