He started collecting a group of his friends and roaming the hills and dales in the vicinity of the town. He was, as it were, a child of nature, more close to the trees, the breeze, the birds and the flowers. In the course of play he would occasionally, casually disclose his divinity. Once, when one of his playmates, Govinda, failed to turn up for play for a couple of days, Manik went to his house to enquire after him. Arriving there he heard the sound of wailing from within the house. He was informed that Govinda had passed away after suffering from fever for a few days. Manik told Govinda’s mother to stop grieving as her son was alive. Sure enough, when Govinda’s mother called out to him to go out and play with Manik, he arose as if out of a deep slumber. All present were overjoyed and amazed at this occurrence. This and such other occurrences caused his fame to spread far and wide.

On another occasion, one Bheemabai, a childless woman, the wife of Apparao Arab, a General in the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad, was travelling to visit him to seek his blessings for progeny. On her way she noticed some boys beating up one boy and asked her escort to rescue him. The boy who was being beaten up asked for only eight cowries (shells) that he owed the other boys whereby he could get himself released from the other boys. Knowing through divine insight that Bheemabai sought children he promised eight sons for eight cowries. Hearing this, Bheemabai gave him the eight cowries. Thus released, the boy said, “You are given eight sons. You may go!

When Bheemabai and her entourage reached Manik’s home they discovered that Manik was missing from home for some days. She decided not to have any food until she saw him and waited for his arrival for three days without food and water. Finally, pitying her, Manik returned home. When Bheemabai saw him, who should he be but the boy whom she had rescued on her way here. Manik said, “I have already given you what you seek. Go in peace!” Satisfied Bheemabai left for Hyderabad and in the years to come, she was blessed with eight sons and remained eternally grateful to Manik to the end of her life.

On the whole however, Manik behaved in such a carefree manner that the members of his family were concerned. It was, therefore, decided that at the age of seven his thread ceremony should be performed, so that a sense of responsibility may dawn on this wayward child, who, it appeared, preferred to roam rather than sit and read. When the sacred thread was being bestowed on him and the sacred Gayatri hymn was being recited in his ears, as was the custom, a strange thing took place. Manik behaved as though all this was superfluous for him and he knew all about Gayatri and the significance of the eternal sound, AUM. He recited the hymn unaided, to the great surprise of the assembled people. As none could explain the inexplicable event, it was said to be a remarkable event and was left as such. None attached further notice to this event.

Manik was again free to roam in the woods. When he was sent to the school, his attention was to the open sky, the cool breeze, the rustling leaves and the chirping of the birds. The books were stale for him and the lessons boring. The enclosed class room was suffocating and the teachers were un-inspiring. He had, in fact, an extraordinary capacity to absorb what was conveyed to him but what was being conveyed to him appeared too little and too stale to capture his imagination. He liked to seek teachers in the lap of nature, listen to Nature’s natural education rather than the artificial or contrived lessons in the class room. It was not surprising therefore, that he was given to sneaking out of the class rooms and wandering in the woods.

It is said, when Satyakama approached his teacher’s residence, his face was shining brilliant. Upon which the teacher asked: “Verily, my dear, you shine like one knowing Brahman. Who has taught you ?” To this Satyakama replied, “Others than men”. In like manner, Shri Dattatreya is said to have twenty four teachers from nature. “Many are my preceptors,” he told King Yadu, “selected by my keen sense, from whom acquiring wisdom freely, I wander in the world... The earth, breeze, sky, water, fire, the moon and the Sun; the dove, python, sea, moth, honeybee, elephant, honey gatherer, deer, fish, Pingala the courtesan, sea-eagle, infant, maiden, forger of arrows, serpent, spider and bumble bee are the twenty four preceptors accepted by me. From their behaviour, I have learned all that is to be learned in this life for my good” .

In like manner, the formal education needed for making one fit for normal worldly life, was obviously not required for Manik. For, it appeared that he would rather wander through the woods gathering wisdom right from Nature than information from the class room, which would neither enlighten him nor elevate his Self towards That for which he had taken this descent. Nature became his class room and his very Self became his teacher. His receptivity became keen, intelligence sharp and thoughts synchronised. He came to be aware of things for which even normal perception was denied. And sure enough, he started speaking like one who was authorised to speak.

Strange are the ways by which the true seekers and aspirants are communicated the nuances of Truth. While the normal person is busy in collecting information (which he erroneously considers to be knowledge) and material possessions, the person graced by the Lord is seeped with wisdom and extraordinary powers which are beyond the imagination of even the most learned human beings. For the man of wisdom, the realisation does not come bit by bit but all of a sudden like a flash of lightning, brilliant and all-illuminating. As said in Kena Upanishad, “Of this Brahman, there is this teaching: this is, as it were, like lightning which flashes forth or is like the winking of the eye”. The men of wisdom tell us that when there is such realisation, there is, as it were, a sudden expansion of the mind, a flash of light illumining the innermost recesses of the intellect, an inflow of the Divine Will into the Individual Will causing vibrancy and joy ineffable. But few had the eyes to see or the vision to appreciate the change that was taking place in the life of Manik. They took his wandering in the woods to be lethargy and non-interest in formal education or to his being naive. It was, therefore, natural for them to consider a change in his environment by way of sending him to his uncle, who, it was considered, would put some sense in his mind and make him a fit person to take the burden of life.

Even here, Manik was neither receptive to education nor to the admonitions of elders. While children of his age were busy in play or in studies, he often would be found lying in his bed and absorbed in his own thoughts. But as far as Manik was concerned, he seemed to be going through an intense spiritual transformation and a great aversion to life around him. As time would show he was almost ripe for the first step to be taken. The very first verse of Avadhoota Gita declares that “It is only with the Grace of God that in men of wisdom is born the inclination for non-dual experience which protects them from great danger”. Manik seemed to be waiting, for the moment when the last leaf attached to the tree of worldly life would fall. And that moment was not far.

Manik’s uncle sincerely felt that this boy should grow up like a normal child and should be trained and educated to take up the responsibilities of life. He was deeply frustrated by the failure of his measures in sending this boy to school. He then thought that employment may inculcate a sense of responsibility in him and thus got him appointed as a clerk in the octroi check post on the outskirts of Kalyan town. Manik was made to sit there and to collect duty on goods entering the town. However, Manik was least interested in his job. He would sit there engrossed in deep thought. He would distribute all the cash collected over there amongst his friends who were needy and poor and was thus dismissed the very next day.

Already frustrated and furious over this episode, one afternoon Manik’s uncle happened to see him resting on the bed, as if unconcerned with the world around him. Seeing him lazing thus, his uncle scolded him and asked him whether he thought himself to be a king to receive food and clothing without working for the same. That was enough. The words were so sharp for Manik’s keen intellect, that at that very moment aversion towards life came over him and the vision of his life’s mission flashed before him. He got up without uttering a word; discarding his clothes he left home wearing but a loincloth. As he left he made this prophetic statement:

“Who else be my saviour,
save the compassionate Lord ?
Creator and the Destroyer
as well, my lone Controller.
Through delusion, ‘I AM’,
thus does a person consider.
Who, verily, is the servant
and who, indeed, is the Lord ?
Worthless, verily,
is this distress for one to worry,
Even in one’s mother’s womb,
He alone was the Witness.
Thus, verily, does Manik speak.”

From then onwards, his journey on the Pathless Path was within the folds of Mother Nature. As he breathed in the fresh, unconditioned atmosphere, a new wave of awareness came over him, spreading before him the universality of the Divine presence in everything he saw, touched or heard. One by one the mysteries, long concealed, came to be revealed to him. “Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma”, “neha nanasti kinchana” “Verily, that Imperishable, O Gargi, is unseen but is the seer, is unheard but is the hearer, un-thought but is the thinker, unknown but is the knower. There is no other seer but this, there is no other knower but this. By this Imperishable, O Gargi, is space woven like warp and woof”.

What does all this mean ? When one speaks of the tree, one also assumes it to be each leaf, each flower, each fruit as well as the trunk, the branches and the unseen roots. However, when one speaks of the Lord, one rarely assumes the Earth (with its minutest molecules), the water, the air, the fire, the space to be nothing but the Lord. This apparent division between the Lord and his creation is no division at all. This division is only unreal, for there can be no demarcation. Nor is any separation possible. As Shri Krishna puts it, “He (the Lord) stands undivided in beings and yet as if divided. He is to be known as the Creator, the Supporter and Devourer as well”.

This made Manik a completely changed person. Shri Krishna’s assurance seemed to echo in every action of his. “He who sees Me everywhere and sees all in Me, I am not lost to him nor is he lost to Me”. Consequently within himself and without himself, in nature, in creatures, in trees and streams, hills and dales, in the wise as well as in the foolish, in the saint as well as in the sinner, in those who love and in those who hate, he saw only the same Divine essence, the Brahman. The entire world experience was spiritualized and became self-experience. His love and compassion for all beings from the creatures to the creepers became all- embracing, for he had seen the face of the Lord unveiled to him with all its mysterious secrets.

He could not bear to see any of the Lord’s creatures being ill-treated. Once, he saw a boy riding a pregnant buffalo and goading her to run faster and faster. He reprimanded the boy and bade him to dismount. Ignoring Manik’s remonstration the boy continued his torture of the buffalo. Manik once more cautioned him and warned him that if he failed to dismount immediately, he may find himself stuck to the buffalo. When the boy failed to dismount, suddenly the buffalo commenced galloping and then he could not dismount as he found his hands stuck to the back of the buffalo. Fearing for his life, he pleaded to Manik to release him and promised not to misbehave with any animal ever again. Then, Manik approached the buffalo and requested her to release the boy and immediately the boy was able to dismount.

Seeing the Supreme Self mirrored in all beings as well as his individual Self , the advaita-bhavana, the non-dual inalienable experience gave way to exhilaration. He and his Preceptor, as also he and his Maker all appeared but as one, indistinct from one another, as Bimba and Pratibimba. Like the Cuckoo who experiences the first showers of rain, he sang with gay abandon:

“Compassionate is Datta,
my own Divine Preceptor,
Controller of inner core,
maintainer of triple shore
Converting my mundane life
to be entirely pure.
Indivisible, Inviolable,
In-dweller of the Universe,
Verily, as Consciousness,
He abides in the Universe.
Bestowing unsurpassed,
illumined splendour,
Has taken humble Manik
to meet his mentor.”