Gopalrao Mukund Butti

[Guest guest]

Gopalrao Mukund

Butti

Date Of Birth—1873 Date

Of Samadhi

1927

Samadhi

It

is only befitting to write about Gopalrao Mukund Butti during the month of Ashwin as devotees around the world are celebrating Dussera and Baba’s Maha

Samadhi; on Vijay Dashami(Which usually falls between

late September and October).

The Samadhi Mandir will be kept open day and night for the devotees to

take darshan. I for one humbly thank Butti for giving us [baba’s devotees] the Samadhi Mandir. Very little is written about this great devotee.

His

ancestors lived in Bardi;.

Their surname was Ghazaale. Legend has it that Gopalrao’s grandfather was a

shrewd but kind businessman and worked for the Bhosale

royal family. When Raghuji Raje

Bhosale died, the British seized and annihilated

their regime. Their enormous wealth gold, precious stones along with elephants,

horses and bulls were then auctioned off at a pittance. Sadashiv

bought a lot of the gold and gems. And further enhanced the wealth that, the

family already owned. Thus he earned the name Booty which in English stands for

loot.

The family business was

mainly money lending and banking. Though they were wealthy and business minded;

they did a lot of philanthropic work. They had just and cordial relations with

the rich and the poor. Especially Butti’s

father Mukund Rao who was very spiritual and

religious. Their Ista Devta

was Gopal Krishna and all the religious festivals

were celebrated with a great deal of pomp and show. Mukund

Rao’s Guru was Gajanan

Maharaj of Shehgaon’

and the Maharaj often visited their home.

They were Charak Bhramin of the Shandilya Gothra. The annals [puranas] of Charak Brahmins has featured their family tree very prominently. Vivid

descriptions of their philanthropic and social deeds are mentioned. They built Dharamshalas, Gowshalas, Schools

and Dispensaries and gave monetary help to poets, writers and pundits.

Gopalrao

was born in 1873 in Bardi; and was the youngest of

three brothers. His father had a great influence on him. At the tender age of 15

or 16 he would return from school and after washing his hands and feet, he

would take darshan of Gajanan

Maharaj when he visited their home thus Gopalrao was very cultured. Highly educated [he studied in Manchester

..U.K for sometime] he had a love for poetry, reading and was fond of saints.

He

married a girl from the Khandwalkar family who was

cultured and educated. They had three sons. Gopalrao

and his wife were good minded and did their share of philanthrophic

deeds.

Gopalrao

helped the historian Neelkanth S. Hode

Kadam and published his books on Indian history and

the commentary of Shri Krishna Leela

Amrit. Naryan Vaman Tilik was a poet and they

welcomed him to stay in their home and gave him a portion of their Haveli [Manson] so he could carry on his writing

undisturbed.

Shakaram B. Dhumal took Butti to Shirdi around 1908. Butti was overwhelmed by Baba’s divine personality

and was changed for life. He made frequent visits to Shirdi.

(Source Shri Sai Leela Magazine)