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Background
India in the middle of nineteenth century was in a state of confusion and turmoil. The British, through the medium of East India Company had struck political roots and were about to begin the severe assault on the Indian Culture and religion. The roots of the ancient Vedic religion, which had withstood the centuries of Muslim rule, appeared to be shaking under the Western influence. The Varnashram system, which had stood the test of time over millennia, was destabilized. The Brahmins who were supposed to guide the society were, for most part occupied by worldly pursuits. Even the awareness of true religion was fading from social psyche leave alone its knowledge. The confusion in the ranks of Vedic (Hindu) intellectuals was to manifest in the forms various ‘Samajas’ that took birth in that century. The people were loosing their faith in the traditions, having forgotten the essence of the principles and practices of religion. The doctrines of our religion appeared ambiguous and contradictory, the practices so diverse as to be conflicting and mythology bereft of any meaning. There was a dire need for a person who could not only make the people clearly understand these doctrines but also presented, in the form of his own dedicated life, the ideal practice of religion and guiding them on the path to Divinity. Such a person indeed was Shri Vasudevanand Saraswati, the great saint and ascetic who revived the ancient Dattatreya tradition and embodied in his short life the ideals of Brahmacharyashram, Grihasthashram and Sanyasashram,
Family and Birth
He was born in the village of Mangaon near Savantwadi, then a princely state, in southern Maharashtra in a traditional Brahmin family. His parents were devotees of Lord Dattatreya, his father Shri Ganesh Bhataji Tembe spending years together in the remote Ganagapur temple of the Lord in Karnataka. His mother Ramabai also used to spend her time in religious pursuits like jap (recitation of mantras), pradakshina, path, atithisatkar (hospitality) etc. After a particularly long stay in Ganagapur, Lord Dattatreya appeared in a dream and instructed Shri Ganesh Bhataji to return to Mangaon and lead the life of a householder (grihastha), promising to incarnate as their son. It was after his return from Ganagapur that his eldest son Vasudeo was born on the 5th day of the dark fortnight of the month of Shravan of A.D.1854. Tembe family was endowed with spiritual riches (daivi sampat) but had little temporal wealth. Their priestly duties were not adequate for the livelihood and Vasudeo’s grandfather took to agriculture as a side business.
Elementary Education
At the age of three years Vasudeo started going to the private school in the Yakshini temple in the village. He had to learn writing with his fingers on a layer of dust, a very tiring and painful mode. Apart from the secular education in the school, Vasudeo also received traditional oral education from his grandpa Hari Bhataji. With his sharp intellect and quick memory Vasudeo soon mastered the basics of Sanskrit grammar and poetry.
Brahmacharyashram
As per the tradition Haribhataji performed the Maunjibandhan of his beloved grandson Vasudeo, which consists of initiation to the Vedic studies and Brahminhood and the first of the four Ashramas, Grihasthashram. Immediately after this, the young Vasudeo started the daily rituals ordained by the scriptures viz. Sandhya twice a day, 1000 recitations of Gayatri mantra, daily reading of shri Gurucharitra – the bible of Shri Datta tradition etc. He also completed a 2.4 million recitation of Gayatri. He strictly followed the religious disciplines prescribed by scriptures, particularly the Gurucharitra. He then started the study of Vedas, the holiest of the scriptures, under the guidance of Shri Tatya Bhataji Ukidave. He woke up daily before sunrise and took his bath and insulated himself from all impurities and contamination during the religious practices. He only took fresh, pure (sattvik) and vegetarian food prepared by himself or by his mother and never ate outside his home. The food prepared in this fashion, he used to first offer to sacrificial fire (Vaishvadev), the cow (Gograas), to the crow (Kaakbali) and finally to the Lord Datta, before partaking it in the manner ordained by scriptures. During the meal any impurity in the environment led him to leave his food and fast for the day. He used to observe the fasts on the 11th moons (Ekadashi) of both the fortnights, when he did not even drink water and did not sleep during the day or in the night.
Vasudeo, with his sincerity, sharp intellect and phenomenal memory, soon completed his study of the Vedas and became proficient in the priestly duties. Soon, he became a respected and beloved figure in the neighborhood and started contributing to the family livelihood.
During this period, he also studied some astrology and Sanskrit poetry with one Shri Sadhale shastri. However his astrological calculations soon started embarrassing Sadhale Shastri by being more accurate than the latter’s. This led Sadhale to stop Vasudeo’s tuition
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