The Tapovan story begins in 1982 when Parama Sadguru Shree Gajanan Maharaj of Akkalkot visited the small village of Ratnapimpri near the town of Parola in Jalgaon district of North Maharashtra.
He removed the shawl He was wearing and placed it on the shoulders of one devotee from the village.
He said, “Behold, what is before you. All this land is a great land of Tapa (penance). Several great seers have done penance here. From this place the greatest work will be done in the future.”
Several years later Parama Sadguru appeared before the same devotee in a vision and said, “We had told you that greatest work will be done from this place. That time is now near. Begin constructing a temple here. When things become difficult, when the planets collide, when it will be the time of deluge, this place will be the shelter.”
In due course a temple, Shivadham, was constructed near the village and inaugurated on May 6 1993 by Shree Vasant Paranjpe. In order to provide comfortable western-style accommodation for visitors who wished to visit the temple, a plot of land was acquired nearby by the Paranjpe family.
In 1995 Shree Vasant invited Bruce Johnson and Anne Godfrey from Australia to come and be caretakers of this project. At Shree Vasant’s suggestion, Tapovan was chosen as the name.