There are many facets to the work of a great man and a Saint, so they were to the work of Shree Samarth also. Some of them were of a temporary nature as they were based upon the needs of that particular time. In the tide of time naturally they have vanished. Others were everlasting which were meant for that purpose only as he wanted to reestablish the waning morals, ethics and virtues. These works have stood the test of times and not only that their worth has in fact increased with the passage of time. Shree Samarth established many mutts, organized the spiritual leaders, erected temples of the Hanuman, celebrated many festivals and wrote a lot about the contemporary issues. Unfortunately in today’s times these things have been relegated to historical and cultural archives. The Dasbodha has remained a beacon of light for people who want to lead a thoroughly complete life. It remains a timeless wonder of literature. Shree Samarth was of the firm opinion that the philosophy which doesn’t originate from the experiences of life and doesn’t explain the true meaning of life is fruitless. The fact is that life is a continuous process but human life is incomplete and full of obstacles. This is one of the main causes for the grief that the humans have to endure during their lifetime. The human body inherently possesses the power of living a Godly happy life. Shree Samarth therefore insists many times in the Dasbodha that every human being should use these inherent powers not only to make his own life happy but others’ too. Life by nature is free flowing like a river but we force it to change the flow or to change its pace. This happens because of our thinking that I am nothing else but my body. This leads to duality between the body and the Atman. This leads to all the complications. Hereon one develops pride in oneself and the lustful feeling of mine. That makes you terribly selfish and a person with a myopic view. These vices fight within yourself to destroy you. As a result in the personal life and the society no one gets peace and happiness. Shree Samarth many a times in the Dasbodha tells that the only solution to this problem is following the path of spiritualism. Spiritualism is nothing but living life for the God while constantly remembering him. The God is the timeless flame of knowledge which resides everywhere in the universe, which is unbreakable, complete in every imaginable sense, is the source of light making the luminescent glow and hence is the cause of all the visible and the invisible. He resides in our heart, is our Atman, and is everything for us. The Atman is with us right from the time of our birth till death, in each action or inaction. Therefore it is possible to leave anything and everything in our life but it is well nigh impossible to leave our Atman. All our problems have emanated from the fact that we have forgotten our Atman and have paid all the attention to the body. If we succeed in remembering the Atman all the time we will also come to know the continuous flow of life. Shree Samarth says that leading a family life and leading a spiritual life are not different forms of leading a life. They are merely two different views of looking at the free flowing life. According to him it is foolish to separate family life and spiritualism. Both of them can and should go hand in hand. He even says that a Sanyasi who is disillusioned with the family life has the right given by the religion to advise those leading family life on matters where they seek it. Hence leading a family life and becoming a Sanyasi are the two sides of the same coin. To gain a proper perspective of both one needs to metamorphose one’s own mind to completely change one’s view of life wherein he sees both sides of the coin simultaneously and what is more important, understands the interrelationship between them. Our life itself is a continuous Sadhana. The life as already said is free flowing but is obstructed by our pride, the feeling of me and also the feeling that it is me who is doing all these things, which in turn divides this flow leading to duality. This finally leads to waves of disturbances in the free flowing life. The vice of pride is bemusing. It has an end so has the mind but the combination of both try to capture the God which obviously is impossible. It can be understandable if one tries to get something by himself which he doesn’t possess but not putting his heart out for getting something which is well within himself is a sign of foolishness.
The pride goes on vanishing by the continuous remembrance of the God, the life becomes free flowing, you do your job but without ascribing it or crediting it to me, this is sort of golden Sadhana. Shree Samarth calls this as the self realization, the consequence of which is effortless Samadhi and all of it culminates into appearance of the Parbrahma for you to experience. It is the gift of the God and the Guru. In the effortless Samadhi you are not there in the body which is occupied finally by the Parbrahma. Whatever the outside world perceives as being done by you is in fact done by the Parbrahma.
One who by effort kills the feeling of me experiences a peculiar contradiction. In the earlier phases of Sadhana one is very enthusiastic about doing it but it is his me who has to do it. After a point of time when he does the Sadhana correctly as told by his Guru he realizes the abstract principle that unless he sheds off this me he would never get to the God. He is again confronted with an insurmountable difficulty, for the solution of which he approaches his Guru. His total surrender to the God and the Guru leads to their blessings leading to the effortless Sadhana the fruit of which is Parbrahma. Shree Samarth firmly believes that once the me in you goes away from your mind the God enters there and you then become the temple of the God yourself. At this stage your life becomes utmost pious, utterly unselfish and totally meant for others. Your life becomes seamlessly happy from within and without and the reflections of that are seen in the lives of others who are in your company. Shree Samarth advises that such people should actively organize the society and cajole them to adopt the correct path in their lives so that everybody gets the same outcome as the fruit of their efforts. He also says that a family man who after great efforts attains a stage wherein he can have self realization and can go in to the state of Samadhi is a great boon for the society for he is fully capable of taking the whole of the society along with him. It is also easier for the society to get the company of such people very easily. Shree Samarth says that it is always better to have more people being introduced to the real knowledge than to have only a very few having the knowledge of the Parbrahma. Therefore it is the responsibility of those having the knowledge of the Parbrahma to take the society along with them on the right track. In The Dasbodha Shree Samarth every now and then advocates that when you are destined to perform the duties of the family life you must do that but never forget that your ultimate aim is to attain Parbrahma; in other words although for others you seem to be totally involved in the family deep inside you, you are always in the quest of the Parbrahma. He tells in the Dasbodha that if you look at the life with a myopic view it seems to be materialistic whereas with a spiritual view it is all God, Parbrahma and the Guru.
In the history of the mankind one very rarely finds a Sage like Shree Samarth who has so beautifully mended the family life with the spiritual, materialism with Sanyas, enchantment and the feeling of being distant from everything except the truth, the feeling that I am doing everything and that He is getting it done through me and personal life with the social one. The signs of the greatness of Shree Samarth are evident every now and then in the Dasbodha, both about his knowledge of the Parbrahma and his illuminating life. Despite being a great Saint himself he was always in search of ways and means for the betterment of the common man and the society. Looking at all this one just submits oneself to him with the utmost respect and this in fact becomes a medium to get to see him in all his facets.