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One
Who Serves is a Mahant:
Swami
arrived at Junagadh. Once he was busy sweeping the floor of
the temple. At that time, the Mahant of Tarnetar came there
and asked Swami as to who was the Mahant of the temple. Swami
modestly replied that he would be on his seat inside. And then
Swami washed his hands and feet, came to the assembly hall and
met that guest. He was surprised and asked whether he was the
same Mahant who was sweeping the floor. Swami replied with a
smile that here whoever rendered service was a Mahant. After
that he took down his cloth bag from the nail on the wall and
showed it to that Mahant. In Swami's paraphernalia there was
no item made from metal, even the stick for tilak was also made
of wood. The clothes were made of coarse cloth. The Mahant of
Tarnetar was surprised to see such a detached Mahant. Then Swami
explained to him that, "We have renounced women and wealth
and therefore, our Mahantship has been sustained." On hearing
this, the Mahant also felt : This is absolutely true because
among us, the disciples kill the guru and occupy the throne,
tempted by material considerations.
Once
Swami, accompanied by his group of saints and devotees, was
on his way to an excursion in the rural area around Junagadh.
Swami was riding a horse and others were walking along. Some
Mohammedans thought that if they killed the leader of the group,
the Hindus would stop their worship. They infiltrated in the
group With a mal-intention.They enquired of one or two sadhus
from the group, "Who is your leader?"
The saints replied that the person riding on horse back was
their guru and a great saint. They had given such a reply innocently,
thinking that they were enquiring for the sake of darshan. But
the Mohammedans immediately rushed to the horse and holding
the reins they asked Swami, "Are you the leader?"
"Leader is only Khuda (God) and I am his servant,"
replied Swami casually with a smile. The Mohammedans thought
: Oh ! This seems to be some great fakir because he considers
Khuda as the leader." They were humbled by this and went
away.
In the S. Y. 1917, according to his promise, Raghuvirji Maharaj
became a pilgrim and came to Junagadh to remain in the company
of Swami. He gave up his pomp and retained only one attendant.
After getting ready in the early morning, he would arrive for
the holy session. Seeing his craving for salvation Swami also
talked in a wonderful manner about the soul and God. After the
session was over he used to cook hot-potch and take his meals
and then join the holy session again In this way, he had stopped
caring for his body in all respects. When Swami came to know
that Acharya Maharaj did not take his meals properly he started
to visit his lodge and talk with him there. He even used to
get good meals cooked for him, and then made him dine properly.
In this way, since Raghuvirji Maharaj severed all ties of affection,
abandoned all his pomp and remained in the company of Swami
with total devotion, Swami melted away all his complexes.
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