He announces his retirement from the public life. According to him, today’s spiritual atmosphere is commercialised and there is too much competition everywhere.
Spiritual leader of Maharashtra Bhayyuji Maharaj, surprisingly, announced his retirement from public life. Many of his followers were surprised with his sudden announcement. A science graduate, Maharaj has done modelling for a suiting brand in his younger days. During his student life, he was involved in several extra-curricular activities like horse riding, fencing, wrestling, cricket, badminton, music and poetry. He is not inclined towards saffronisation and known as modern baba.
When we spoke to one of his disciple and actor Nagesh Bhosle, he said, “I am also surprised with the sudden announcement considering his proximity to political leaders in Maharashtra. Bhayyuji has done lot for the society but he failed to earn fame like other spiritual leaders, these days competition exists everywhere, how can spiritual world be excluded?”
When AV asked Bhayyuji Maharaj about his retirement, he said, “I have done what was possible from my side. Currently, I am not getting any support from the society. I alone cannot do much at this moment, I am enouncing my departure not out of disturbance but because my morality is telling me to do so,” he further said, “I am a simple saint with no Public Relation Officers or paid media fans. I am sensing that today’s spiritual atmosphere is commercialised and I am literally unfit in this competition.”
He also added, “I don’t have specialized professionals to arrange high profile events. I don’t have any products to sell or industry to compete. I have seen how crores of rupees were spent while organising Kumbh Mela in Nashik. Why you don’t arrange Kumbh at Marathwada and Vidarbha? Let farmers derive the benefit out of it. People rushed to Rohith Vemula’s family in Hyderabad. However, no one went to Osmanabad to see how children are suffering after parents had committed suicide.”
There are many unfair incidents happening around which is bothering Bhayyuji Maharaj these days, so he had decided to take a break. The decision to retire is completely his own. “I have an 82-year-old mother and a daughter. My wife died recently. I will live for my family. I have a farm in Indore and I can survive on it,” he said.
When asked whether he is quitting due to political pressure, Bhayyuji replied he never met any political leader for any unwanted reason. He said, “I have proved many allegations were baseless. I was never involved with any political party and there is no pressure on me from anyone.”
Bhayyuji attracted national attention in August 2011 when social activist Anna Hazare had gone on indefinite hunger strike for passing the Lokpal bill. When Anna was not ready to discuss it with the Union government, late Vilasrao Deshmukh brought Bhayyuji to discuss it with Anna. He coordinated with the then law minister Salman Khurshid and Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit and prepared a draft of Lokpal bill, which was acceptable to both the parties. Bhayyuji is known to be very dear to Congress and NCP and also he was very close to Shiv Sena and Balasaheb Thackeray.
According to sources from ashram , “Somewhere Bhayyuji failed to garner publicity, and recent awards, events and business promotions of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Baba Ramdev had given him enough complex. Perhaps this is the reason he needs time for himself.”
Although Bhayyuji Maharaj, a former model, is based in Indore, he has a following cutting across party lines in Maharashtra, mainly because he is the only prominent Maratha spiritual leader. Born in 1968 in a family of agriculturists at Shujalpur in Madhya Pradesh, Udai Singh Deshmukh, or Bhayyuji Maharaj, counts BJP president Nitin Gadkari, late Vilasrao Deshmukh, senior BJP leader late Gopinath Munde, late R R Patil, Anil Deshmukh, Harshavardhan Patil, former state Congress chief Ranjit Deshmukh, Sushilkumar Shinde and Maratha leader Vinayak Mete among his followers.
