A few years ago, after a highly unpleasant encounter with the now śaktibhraṣṭa mantravādin – Bālagōpāla Joyis of Koppa, while trying to replenish my spent energies, I heard of a lakṣa mōdaka Gaṇapati Homa being performed by a certain Rambhau Swamiji at the behest of the then prime ministerial candidate, H D Deve Gowda. While Deve Gowda’s name was enough to put me off, the size of the crowd that the Homa event was attracting even in the relatively devotion-less city of Bangalore did cause some surprise. Though the Homa was publicized as Mahāgaṇapati Homa, when I actually reached the venue, it was clear that the dēvatā being invoked was none other than our most beloved, śrī Ucchiṣṭa Mahāgaṇapati.
After about a thousand āhutis, the Swamiji performing the Homa literally leaped into the fire and was sleeping on the Homakuṇḍa. His hair, beard, and hands were completely in the fire. It was for the first time that such a glorious example of agni-stambhana had become visible to me. And to clarify, this was nothing similar to a gimmick that a certain Swamiji at Mysore performs, which he denied when ‘rationalist’ H Narasimhaiah and his committee decided to investigate. In fact, HN, who I am no fan of, described interesting stories of this encounter as I sat every morning on a bench beside him, inside the compound of National College in Bangalore. Even if the agni-stambhana part was to be neglected, the fact that the frail old man could perform a Homa for more than twenty-four hours continuously spoke of his siddhi. He was undoubtedly in a trance and the presence of Gajaśakti around him was unmistakable. For some reason, he decided to speak to me after the Homa and speak somewhat cordially, disproving rumors of his unpredictable temper. And the next thing that became evident was that upāsanā of Ucchiṣṭa Gaṇēśa granted one the power to look into the past, present and future. A few things which he predicted were true, and are continuing to come true (KP, the great astrologer, was a disciple of Sundaresha Sharma, and his system of astrology is said to be a product of the grace of Ucchiṣṭa Gaṇapati).
It was during this conversation that I learned about his Guru, who was none other than the great saint, Tanjore Sundaresha Sharma. It was only a few years later that I was able to visit the ādhiṣṭhānam of this mahān and have the pleasure of conversing with his grandson, Sri Vidyāgaṇēśa Svāmigal. Rambhau Swamiji, a close disciple of Sundaresha Sharma, seems to be originally from Maharashtra. He oversaw the administration of the Ucchiṣṭa Mahāgaṇapati temple at Tanjore. Swamiji instantaneously could guess my upāsya dēvatā, my rather unpleasant encounter with Bālagōpāla Jois and my trysts with Kuṇḍalinī Yoga. He even offered some mantra to be recited, which I ignored confidently as unnecessary. He suggested performing a certain mode of tarpaṇa, which I did and it seemed to benefit me rather well. In spite of his flamboyant siddhis, the showmanship which he exhibited and his excessive contacts with politicians made me uncomfortable and prevented me from pursuing his company further. He left Bangalore after instructing me to visit him in Chennai the next month.
But the next time I saw him was several years later when our Maṇḍalī decided to perform some pūjas at the shrine of Bangāru Kāmākṣī. We met the Swamiji who was performing pūjā at the adhiṣṭhānam of his guru the venerable Sundaresha Sharma. The moment he saw us, there was a twinkle of recognition in his eye, and he raised his hand and said, ‘Ucchiṣṭa Gaṇapati’, as if to remind me of our previous encounter. After blessing our group, he insisted on performing a Homa at our place. To this day, some friends chide me for not pursuing this generous offer and have Rambhau Swamiji perform a Homa at our place. He offered to send me some manuscripts he had, which never happened.
A few months later, he sent a message and prasādam through a common friend to see him urgently, but several commitments did not allow me to do that then. I was later told that he wanted me to be involved closely with the temple after his passing (which he foresaw), which did not happen, again due to constrictions of time and space.
Though we hear the advice to shun siddhis, a few specimens such as Rambhau Swamiji are extremely necessary to inspire the next generation of upāsakas.