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Chapter 18 : The Twilight Years and the Final Plea
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From Ladoba Prakashan's book 'Sant Mahipati by Dattatrey Naikwade
Throughout his magnificent life, Mahipati Maharaj delivered countless kirtans and discourses, steering countless lives toward a new spiritual dawn through the immortal tales of Hari and His saints. Though the winter of age had overtaken him, his enthusiasm for recounting the sacred lives of the holy remained undimmed by even a fraction. Yet, his mortal frame had grown weary with the passing years.
Once, as he set forth for the pilgrimage of Pandharpur, a sudden dizziness overcame him near the threshold of the village of Nandur, and he fell from his horse. The assembled devotees panicked as the Maharaj lost consciousness. Despite desperate ministrations, he did not revive until some of his companions bore him home in a palanquin, waking to awareness at a spot known as Vetalbaba—a sacred halt where the Wari pauses briefly to this day.
Opening his eyes, the Maharaj whispered, "Have I returned home?" When his family answered in the affirmative, a profound grief gripped his heart. Yet, it was not physical pain that tortured his soul, but the bitter anguish of having missed the Wari. He cried out in prayer to the Lord:
"Rather than letting me miss the sacred Wari, why did you not release my soul from this mortal cage?"
Instructing the dindi to press forward without him, he dispatched a letter to Pandurang through his fellow warkaris. That very letter remains celebrated as the Aparadha Nivedana Stotra (the Letter of Apology and Surrender).
The Letter from the Heart
In the letter, written when his trembling fingers scarcely possessed the strength to hold a pen, he poured out his grief and his final petition, driven purely by the desperate yearning of his soul:
"My sole and final prayer is this: grant me a resting place at your holy feet. Let this mortal body linger only until the true warkaris arrive, and let your grace descend upon my head so that this final hour of life may find absolute fulfillment."
Such was the final, poignant entreaty of Saint Mahipati Maharaj.
When the dindi finally reached Pandharpur and this letter was laid at the feet of the Lord, even the heart of Lord Vitthal melted. Though he was entirely innocent and his absence from the Wari was born solely of failing health, the pure soul of Mahipati felt bowed by an imagined transgression.
Like a fish cast out of water gasps for breath, so is the agony of a devotee deprived of the Lord's vision—and so too, indeed, is the yearning of the Lord for His devotee. For years, the devotee had traveled to Pandharpur to meet Pandurang; now, Vitthal, the divine Mother, would journey personally to Tahharabad to meet His beloved devotee.
How does one put into words the ecstasy of beholding Pandurang face-to-face? As the Maharaj rejoiced in His presence, Pandurang bestowed a supreme boon:
"Your Wari of Pandhari shall never be missed again. On the auspicious day of Ashadh Vadya Ekadashi, I Myself shall descend upon Tahharabad to grant you the living experience of the Wari."
The Maharaj shared this divine promise with all, and when the procession returned to the village, every heart was filled with the radiant conviction that Pandurang had returned with them. Celebrations mirroring the grand festivities of Pandharpur erupted across Tahharabad, culminating in sacred kirtans and the Gopalkala festival.
When the morning aarti concluded on the day following the kala, the people witnessed a breathtaking miracle: upon the scattered gulal and bukka carpeting the temple floor, the glowing footprints of Pandurang Himself had materialized! From that miraculous hour, the tradition of the Paulgadi (the Footprint Festival) was born. It is believed that Pandurang lingers in Tahharabad for four or five days before returning to Pandhari.
To this day, every pilgrim who steps into Tahharabad is enveloped by the wondrous illusion of standing within Pandharpur itself. The air trembles with the cadence of discourses, sacred tales, and divine kirtans; warkaris dance in ecstatic abandon to the rhythm of cymbals and mridangam, playing traditional fugadi with joyous hearts. In a realm saturated with such sublime devotion, is it any wonder that Pandurang Himself is felt to be present?
Therefore, every seeker must journey at least once to Tahharabad—the revered Prati-Pandharpur—especially during the festival of Gopalkala, to immerse their soul in this ocean of divine grace.
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