Samarth Ramdas Swami and Ranganath Swami were Saints of an equal spiritual level. However, the lifestyle and prārabdha of both was vastly different. Samarth Ramdas Swami used to wear only a langotī (small loincloth), used to ask for alms in five homes, then show Naivēdya (Food offered to the Deity as a part of ritualistic worship) at 12 noon to the Deity and only then have lunch. Ranganath Swami, on the other hand, used to wear rich clothes and wristbands. He had rings on all his fingers. He would travel on horseback. All this was arranged by his devotees.
Once, Ramdas Swami’s disciple Kalyan Swami asked Him, “Maharaj, why is there so much difference in your style of living and that of Ranganath Swami, when both of you are Saints?” Ramdas Swami said, “Come, let us visit Ranganath Swami”, and they set out to meet Ranganath Swami. Coincidentally, Ranganath Swami had also set out to meet Ramdas Swami. Both met on a hilltop. Ramdas Swami asked Ranganath Swami to sit on a rock and he, along with Kalyan Swami, went to ask for alms. After some time, Ramachandra, a minister of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, passed by the same hill. He saw Ranganath Swami sitting on a rock in the hot sun. Watching Swami, who generally travelled on horseback, sitting on a rock in the hot sun, he immediately set up a tent around the Swami and put up a shade. His group then set up tents all around and camped there. He instructed his people to prepare a feast with five delicacies.
Samarth Ramdas Swami and Kalyan Swami returned after asking for alms. They saw huts everywhere on the hilltop. For a moment, Kalyan Swami thought that they had lost their way. On seeing Samarth Ramdas Swami, the minister respectfully greeted Him and took Him to Ranganath Swami’s tent. There, all of them had their meal and then returned to their respective abodes.
Samarth Ramdas Swami said to Kalyan Swami, “We made Ranganath Swami sit on a rock and went to ask for alms. But a tent was erected around Him and He got a feast with five delicacies. Ranganath’s prārabdha has materialistic comforts. Asking for alms and the lifestyle of a fakīr are in my prārabdha. There is no difference in the knowledge that we have.”
