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The Blessed Baba Raghunath Das 19
began arriving daily to listen to his discourses
at Vasudeva Ghat. As the number of devotees
increased the place became inadequate, so he
decided to shift to the bank of River Sarayu and
start an ashrama there. Here too his spirituality
brought solace to thousands of devotees.
Raja Man Singh was the landlord of that area.
Some jealous people went and informed him that
Baba Raghunath Das had been gradually occupying
more and more of his land. The Raja sent
him a message: ‘Take only that much land as you
actually need. What will you do with so much
land?’ Raghunath Das replied: ‘I need only a hut,
the remaining land is being utilized by devotees
for their accommodation and sadhanas. If you
so desire we will happily leave the place.’ Soon
he left Vasudeva Ghat and settled in Madna village.
Other monks and devotees followed him
and stayed there chanting the sacred name of
the Lord. After Baba Raghunath Das departed
Raja Man Singh became sad and sent his men
to Madna several time to bring him back; but
all was in vain. At last the Raja himself went and
persuaded him to return to Ayodhya. This time
Raghu nath Das chose to stay at Manjha, an island
in the middle of the river Sarayu. After making
necessary arrangements for his stay there the Raja
returned to his palace. Many devotees began to
flock to this ashrama by crossing the river by boat.
The Raja of Rewa, accompanied by a thousand
attendants, once came to Manjha to meet
Baba Raghunath Das. The Raja was so charmed
by his spiritual knowledge and power that he
offered him a sum of rupees twenty-one thousand
and three thousand pieces of sweets. The
sweets were distributed among the sadhus and
brahmanas, and each was gifted a one rupee coin.
The remaining amount was kept for feeding the
poor. One day the deputy magistrate of Faizabad
came to meet Baba Raghunath Das. While disembarking
from the boat he slipped and fell in
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the muddy waters. He came to Babaji in wet
clothes and told Baba Raghunath Das that it
was very troublesome for his devotees to visit
his ashrama on the island as they had to cross
the river. He requested the Babaji to shift to the
banks of the Sarayu again. After Babaji agreed
all arrangements were made to shift the ashrama.
Being Tested
A monk named Kishundas decided to test Babaji.
He used to assist Purandas, the ashrama manager.
When Purandas decided to go on a pilgrimage to
Badrinath, with Babaji’s permission, he handed
over the management to Kishundas. Once, when
Baba Raghunath Das decided to feed the people
of Ayodhya, Kishundas thought it to be a good
opportunity to test Babaji. As the cooks were
cooking and preparing sweets, Kishundas hid
half the quantity of ghee. When the other half
of the ghee was exhausted a person was sent to
purchase ghee, but came back empty handed.
No ghee was available anywhere. Finding no
other way Babaji instructed his disciples: ‘Go to
River Sarayu with twenty pitchers. Tell her everything
and request her for ghee on credit. Then fill
twenty pitchers with the river water and come
back.’ They followed his instructions. The water
had turned to ghee and it was poured into the
cooking pans. One morning Raghu nath Das, in
order to repay the ghee debt, arranged to procure
twenty pitchers of ghee and had them poured in
the Sarayu. Kishundas was amazed. But he still
doubted and resolved to test Babaji again.
In 1877 there was a terrible famine in Ayodhya.
Hungry men, women, and children
wailed in the streets. Many householders and
monks of different denominations took shelter
in Raghunath Das’s ashrama and were being fed
daily. One day a merchant named Ramdas from
Faizabad came to see Babaji and falling at his
feet prayed for his blessings. Babaji told him to
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