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Chapter 20 : The Transformation of Justin Abbott: A Soul Won by Bhakti
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From Ladoba Prakashan's book 'Sant Mahipati by Dattatrey Naikwade
When Reverend Justin Abbott finally returned to his native shores across the Atlantic, the unending resonance of Maharashtra's Warkari tradition—a continuous, unbroken Harinaam—still echoed within the chambers of his heart. Through the sacred pages of scriptures like Bhakta Vijaya and Bhakta Lilamrita, he had intimately tasted the saguna, manifest form of the Formless, Nirguna Divine.
Just as the mythical chataka bird gazes skyward, yearning endlessly for a single drop of rain under the auspicious Swati star, so too had Abbott's soul been transfixed. The luminous pen of Saint Mahipati had cast such an enchanting spell over his mind that the spiritual non-duality (advaita) of the saints now felt far closer to his spirit than the cold, unyielding materialism of the West. To him, Mahipati was the steadfast Dhruv Tara—the Pole Star of saintly wisdom—by whose steady light he chose to guide the remainder of his days.
In the quiet twilight of his life, his private chambers began to harbor a dual melody: the solemn prayers of the Christian faith harmonizing seamlessly with the sweet, soaring notes of Tukaram’s abhangs. He had come to perceive that true religion is never imprisoned within the narrow compartments of human dogmas; rather, it surges boundlessly across the vast, open ocean of universal humanity. Within Dnyaneshwar’s universal prayer, the Pasaydan, he beheld the ultimate benediction of all creation; within the verses of Tukaram, he felt the profound awakening of the soul. The sweet nectar of devotion with which Saint Mahipati had adorned the lives of the saints had drenched Abbott’s heart to its very core.
A Final Union
In his final days, a remarkable and poignant event unfolded. Within his testament of final wishes, he left an instruction regarding his last rites that reflected a soul deeply moved by its adopted spiritual home. He well knew that within Indian tradition, fire is revered as the supreme, purifying witness. The accounts of samadhi and spiritual dissolution he had absorbed from the hagiographies of Saint Mahipati had left so indelible an imprint upon his consciousness that he requested his mortal remains not to be buried according to conventional Christian custom, but instead to be surrendered wholly to the flames.
There is a profound chasm between mere conversion of creed and the profound transformation of the heart. The spiritual awakening of a scholar and clergyman like Abbott was nothing short of a sacred phenomenon. The living tradition of bhakti nurtured by Maharashtra’s saints had bestowed an entirely new spiritual identity upon an American missionary.
Today, as we remember Reverend Abbott, we recall a rare sant-sadhak—a seeker-saint who crossed seven oceans, only to enshrine the pure devotion of Lord Vitthal deep within his own chest. The spiritual meeting of Saint Mahipati Maharaj and Reverend Abbott reads like a cosmic design: one breathed life into the epic saga of the saints, while the other carried its light across the waiting world.
Ultimately, the grand journey from Saint Mahipati to Reverend Abbott teaches us a singular, timeless truth: when human knowledge becomes anchored in pure faith and boundless devotion, a person ceases to belong merely to a single community. Like the universal benediction of the Pasaydan, they belong eternally to the whole of creation.
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