Jina Bhagat belonged to a group of sadhus led by Krishnacharandas Swami. Once Swamiji along with Jina Bhagat and other saints went to Rajkot.
Early at four o'clock one morning, Shastriji Maharaj also arrived at Rajkot. He stayed at the house of Krishnaji Ada. When Jina Bhagat heard this news, he felt a strong desire to have the darshan of Shastriji Maharaj. So, early in the morning, under the pretext of going for a bath in the Aji river, Jina Bhagat accompanied by three other saints went to the house of Krishnaji Ada.
When Shastriji Maharaj got up at four o'clock, Jadavjibhai informed him that some sadhus had come for darshan. Shastriji Maharaj went to the room in which the sadhus were waiting. Jina Bhagat and the other sadhus payed homage to Shastriji Maharaj and then presented to him a mala (rosary) and a tumbadi (gourd), which were used by Shri Gunatitanand Swami. Shastriji Maharaj was greatly pleased by the offering.
Jina Bhagat could not take his eyes off the face of Shastriji Maharaj and looked at him with love, and he, too, looked at Jina Bhagat with even greater love.
Jina Bhagat thought : "If I have to accept a guru I would prefer that guru to be Shastriji Maharaj," and at once he mentally accepted Shastriji Maharaj as his guru.
Thus it was on the seventh day of the bright half of the month of Shravan in the year V.S. 1965, that Jina Bhagat met Shastriji Maharaj for the first time. It was like a river meeting the ocean.