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Spiritual Guru Sri Samarth Raghunath Maharaj alias Kaka Puranik hailed from Dhopeshwar, Rajapur Taluk, Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra. He was Sai Baba’s Babas contemporary [1821-1910]. His brief mention has been made in Chapter 11 of Holy Shri Sai Satcharitra. He was the Spiritual Guru of Tatya Saheb Nulkar and Dr.Jagannath Pandit. Once Tatya Saheb Nulkar’s six-month-old nephew was sick at Jalgaon, and Kaka Puranik sent Angara [vibhuti] to be given to the child. And the hopelessly ill child recovered.Tatya Saheb Nulkar writes to Nana Saheb Chandorkar saying ‘At Pandarpur when Kaka Puranik was there in February, 1909, he had given me four rupees saying “Keep them” I connected this with the story “Thyane maje char bhau maarle” [He killed my four brothers] .You remember at Easter in Shirdi, we were asked to come down with four rupees each by Shri Sai Baba. I connected all this” The number four indicates the ego complex i.e. Manas [mind] Budhi [intelligence] Chitta [consciousness] and Ahankar [egotism] And the need to surrender them at the feet of the guru. And to kill the four components [brothers] that leads a devotee astray. In his insightful letter Tatya Saheb Nulkar describes how both the Gurus work in unison on the same subject. Thus strengthening and affirming the faith of the devotee (ref:Vinny Chitluri). He also guided Saidas Vaman Chintaman Muke Vakil of Pimpalgaon Baswant,Nasik District of Maharashtra. In his letter written on 11th July 1921 from Panchavati he narrates his experience as below: “Kaka Puranik was my Spiritual Guru. He guided me towards the worship of God. I spent some time everyday in worshipping my Guru. With his blessings I was inspired to read the Jnaneshwari. He introduced me to a devotee of Sant Dnyaneshwar, who has mentioned his boundless love towards his Guru Nivrittinath in the Jnaneshwari. All his devotees know that. In the 13th chapter of the Jnaneshwari ‘Acharyopasana’ Sant Jnaneshwar says “there is no knowledge without the blessings of a Guru”. Since my Guru had taken Samadhi, I felt I had not been able to serve at my Guru’s feet. My spiritual Guru Kaka Maharaj Puranik encouraged me to visit Shirdi and take Baba’s Darshan. I followed his advice and reached Shirdi. Sai Baba immediately involved me in Guru Bhakti, (Devotion to the Guru). Seeing my dedication, he blessed me by touching the book about Sagunopasana and a photo of Sai himself”. “Once, at mid-night, some robbers broke the northern wall of my bungalow. Sai’s photo was just inches away from where they broke in. Out of the four robbers, one came in through the gap, stole a small chest and passed it through the opening to his accomplices. There were notes worth two hundred rupees, a rupee and some small coins in it. There were also some promissory notes worth about Rs.4000/- . Opposite Sai Baba’s photo there was a trunk kept on a bench. There was gold jewelry worth Rs.3500/-, silver utensils worth Rs.500/- and valuables worth Rs.10000/- in it. As soon as the robber touched the trunk, my sister-in-law, who was sleeping next to the trunk, was awakened and she screamed ‘Chor! Chor!’ with fear. I was fast asleep and did not hear her. Suddenly Baba came in my dream and said, ‘‘your trunk is gone, wake up!’’ I jumped up with a start and with Baba’s motivation took a stick and said, ‘‘Hit this one!’’ Hearing my words the robber jumped out of the opening and ran away. With all this commotion, the watchman, the dog, the clerk and the servant got up and with the hullabaloo they created the robbers ran away. I remembered the Shloka from the Bhagvad Geeta and prostrated myself in front of the benevolent Sai.‘Ananyaschintayanto mam ye janaha paryupasate, Tersha nityabhiyuktanam yagakshem vahamyaham’. Till then we did not know that our chest was stolen. I sent my man to the police station to inform the officer-in-charge about the attempted house-break. When the police asked for a written complaint, I looked for the chest and realized it was stolen. But, I was not bothered about this loss. When the police left it was almost sunrise. Just then, a farmer who worked in our farm informed us that the stolen chest was abandoned in the farm a furlong away. I immediately went and recovered the chest. The robbers had taken all the cash; but the rest was intact. Since the chest had easily opened, it was not damaged. "A third miracle occurred some days later, when Brahmachari Buva of Kopargaon remembered me and came to stay with us at our bungalow in Pimpalgaon. We lovingly worshipped him for three days. Before leaving Buva said that the money stolen would be returned”. “A few months later the robbers and the money-lender who bought the stolen goods were caught. Some of the currency notes stolen from us were found in the moneylender’s house. Since the robbers confessed that the notes were the ones they had stolen from our house, Rs. 65/- of the total Rs. 200/- stolen were recovered and returned to us by the police” (ref:Shri Sai Leela Magazine, Year 1, Volume III, Jyeshta Shaka 1845). The Samadhi of Kaka Puranik is in Dhopeshwar. Please find below the Photograph and Video of the great Saint.
Samadhi of Kaka Puranik
Samadhi Video of Kaka Puranik
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