Brahmachaitanya or Gondavalekar Maharaj was an IndianHindu saint, mystic and spiritual master. He was born in Gondavale Budruk, a village in present-day Satara district, Maharashtra, India. His name prior to assuming sainthood was Ganpati. Brahmachaitanya was a devotee of the Hindu deityRama and signed his name as 'Brahmachaitanya Ramdasi'. He was a disciple of Tukamai.
Brahmachaitanya or previously Ganpati was born to Geetabai and Ravji Ghugardare in a Marathi Deshastha Brahmin family. His parents were known to be devotees of the Hindu deity Vitthala. Ganpati left home in spiritual pursuits at an early age of nine. After knowing of his whereabouts, his father tracked him down and brought him back home from Kolhapur. He entered into his first marriage at the age of eleven. Soon at the age of twelve, he again left home in search of a spiritual guru. He traveled across India and is believed to have visited numerous contemporary saints and spiritual masters such as Swami Samarth of Akkalkot, Manik Prabhu, Trailanga Swami and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He later arrived at Yehalegaon, a village near Nanded and became a disciple of Tukamai. After a while, he was initiated by Tukamai and given the name 'Brahmachaitanya'. He reportedly attained enlightenment at the age of sixteen.
Return to Gondavale and later years
As per Tukamai's instructions, Brahmachaitanya went on a pilgrimage across India. He returned to Gondavale after nine years. Later, he and his wife lived in Nashik for some time. About a year later, his wife gave birth to a son who died early. His wife too passed away shortly after. At the insistence of his mother Geetabai, Brahmachaitanya married again. His second wife had been blind since birth and later came to be known as Aaisaheb. In later years, Brahmachaitanya continued to expound spiritual methods revolving around devotion to Rama. Initially, he had a Rama temple built as an extension to his residence. With time, the number of his disciples and followers continued to increase. In order to accommodate the large volumes of visitors, he arranged for the construction of Rama, Dattatreya and Shani temples along with a residence facility at Gondavale. He also had Rama temples built in other rural regions of Maharashtra. Between 1876 and 1896, a severe famine gripped Gondavale and the adjacent region. During this period, Brahmachaitanya helped save many lives from starvation by making provisions for employment on his farm and offering food to the needy. From 1890 onwards, he mostly lived in Gondavale. He breathed his last during the early hours of Monday, December 22, 1913 at Gondavale.
Philosophy
Brahmachaitanya was a proponent of Bhakti Yoga or the path of devotion. According to him, regular recalling of 'Rama-Nama' in everyday life ensures continuous remembrance of the divine and consequently leads to spiritual progress. He advocated for complete surrender to Rama as a pathway to contentment. He maintained that one need not sacrifice his or her material engagements to develop spiritually. He frequently emphasized upon the importance of discipline, selflessness, morality and compassion towards attaining well-being. His teachings were mostly aligned with that of Samarth Ramdas, a 17th-century Indian saint and philosopher. He frequently employed means such as pravachan, bhajan and vaidik anushthaan to encourage people along the path of devotion. He also encouraged cow protection and food donation.
