Charan Munja Suru of Lilakha, near Gondal, had become sinful and turned violent due to consumption of meat and wine. He never hesitated in killing anyone. As such he was a member of the office of Darbar Mansinh of Menagal. It seems that spiritual aspiration must have been hidden even behind his inhuman activity, so once when Swami came to his village and called him, he responded to the invitation, but could not see eye to eye with Jogi, and felt ashamed. Then Swami preached to him and said, "Munja Suru ! Are you aware of the fact that opium sends a man to hell for thousand of kalpas, bhang for three hundred kalpas and wine and meat for a thousand. Even Brahma would become impure if he were to consume intoxicants." In this way Swami talked about prohibition of meat and wine.
"Swami, it is the duty of we Kshatriyas to go out for hunting, to eat meat, and drink wine. All this advice of yours may be for Brahmins and Banias; we just hang these holy books on the shelves," replied Munja Suru and looked up with anger; and no sooner did Swami's look fall on him, he had a samadhi. In samadhi servants of Yama took him to Yamapuri (Hell) and he could see with his own eyes the tortures, sufferings of the hell. He shuddered in his veins. So Swami woke him up. Munja Suru repented and fell at Swami's feet and said in an overwhelming tone, "Swami, the misery of Yamapuri is real. Have mercy on me so that I don't have to go there." Swami replied with a smile that if he observed the vartmans and surrendered himself to Shriji Maharaj he might escape it. So he observed the vartmans and wore a kanthi. Since then Munja Suru, who had committed many sins, became a satsangi.
This pleased the shepherds because he used to carry away their cattle. Once Swami had a night halt in the forest and he began to talk by the fireside. On hearing this, a shepherd came there and asked, "Are you the guru of that Munja Suru?" Swami replied positively with a smile. The shepherd fell at his feet and began to address in a single breath, "You have obliged us a lot. Whenever Munja Suru used to attack us he used to carry away many of our goats and sheep. But ever since you have made him a satsangi his nuisance is gone. You are a real sadhu. From today onwards you are my guru." Swami made him adopt vartmans. He could not utter the word Swaminarayan but turned the beads of rosary with the word 'Gunanand'.
There is a village called Mansa in Babariyawad. Here two step-brothers named, Valera Varu and Sidi Varu lived. Sidi had usurped half the land of Valera and consequently Valera could get very little agricultural product. He was fed up with this situation and came to Swami. Under instructions from Swami he became a dacoit. He never hurt anyone but only intimidated the people. However, Sidi was not at all perturbed by this.
Once when Swami was passing through the forest of Gir, he came across some dacoits and gunmen. The saints and devotees were frightened, but Swami gave them courage. The dacoits took them to their den. Here Valera Varu was sitting. Seeing Swami he touched his feet. He was now fed up with his artificial vows, but Swami asked him to be patient and advised him not to indulge in violence; and gave him blessings that he would get his land back within seven days. Poor man Valera could not even count seven. So Swami tied seven knots in a string and gave him the string, with instructions to cut one knot everyday. To honour the wishes of Valera, all the saints cooked a sweet preparation of milk (dudhpak) Swami offered it to Thakorji, blessed Valera and moved on. It was exactly on the seventh day that Sidi Varu was inspired and he came for a compromise and returned the usurped land to Valera.
As a result of Swami's blessings, Valera could get plenty of water from his land and he had a good crop. Since he had a solid backing from Swami he used to come to Junagadh and give a clean share of charity. All the brother people of his caste followed the religious place of Tulsi-Shyam and gave a certain measure of grains there. They asked Valera to follow the rules of their caste, but Valera made it clear, "I rely solely on Swaminarayan and I am not afraid even if you outcast me." In this way, Valera kept the satsang steadfastly even at the risk of his own life.
According to the orders of Maharaj, Gopalanand Swami used to talk in the satsang about the Purushottam Narayan identity of Maharaj. Some people resented this. So Gopalanand Swami became sad and determined to go to Dham. Shivlal Seth of Botad also became sad and asked, "Swami, now on whom should we rely?" To this Gopalanand Swami replied, "What sort of reliance do you need ? If you wish to learn the practical ways of trade Punja Sheth of Gadhada knows them very well, and if you wish to learn trade as well as spiritual ways then you should go to Gunatitanand Swami at Junagadh. There is no sadhu who can match Swami. He is Mul Akshardham; so three of you, yourself Pragji and Jaga Bhakta should go to Junagadh."
Similarly, when devotees from Baroda, Premanand Raiji and Bapu Raiji, requested Gopalanand Swami to look towards Baroda, he replied, "At this hour my mind should either be directed towards Shriji Maharaj or towards the Jogi of Junagadh, Mul Aksharmurti Gunatitanand Swami." As a result of this, many disciples of Gopalanand Swami began to go to Junagadh.