To-day, 9th December is Param Pujya Bapuji’s 13th deh vilay annversary according to the Georgian (AD) calendar. It was 13 years ago that Param Pujya Bapuji started his journey from Ahmedabad towards his beloved Sayla. His soul left the mortal coil on the way to Sayla. All his senior mumuxus were with him when the soul departed.
This morning, the first dhyan and the agna bhakti were held at Bapuji’s Smruti in the ashram with approximately thirty mumuxus participating. In his brief address message to commemorate the day, Param Pujya Bhaishree said :
“In remembering Bapuji, we must not forget that of all our benectors in the universe, Bapuji has been the supreme benefactor by helping us to get on the true path to liberation. Our heartfelt devotion and gratitude cannot really be expressed in words. We continue seeking his blessings to help us ascend and progress on the the spiritual path with speed.”
Param Pujya Bhaishree had decided to reminisce about Param Pujya Bapuji on latter’s deh vilay day during his swadhyays to-day. He read the papers written by Param Pujya Guruma, himself and Pujya Vikrambhai about their experiences with Bapuji. There is so much that can be repeated but, following four incidences symbolise Bapuji’s strong character and personality.
1. During the British times, each state or each little kingdom had its own railway. Morbi State was quite prosperous and also quite large. It ran a railway service from Viramgam to Morbi and also had a branch line to Dolia (near Sayla). This service provided connection for Salya state to Viramgam and then to Mumbai.
For some reason, the Dolia link was closed and would not be reopened inspite of several requests from Sayla State. So Sayla State established a service called ‘Tramway’ directly to Viramgam. This diverted a lot of passengers from Morbi State train.
To recover its losses Morbi State filed a case against Sayla State in Delhi and won the case and was awarded Rs 12,000 in damages.
Sayla Darbar did not accept this and his advisor, our Bapuji decided to take the case to a very prominent barrister in Ahmedabad to prepare an appeal. It turned out that the barrister was not familiar with the laws governing train operations.
So Bapuji stayed in Ahmedabad for 8/10days – studied the laws relating to the train operations andhe himself prepared an appeal which the barrister signed. This appeal was sent to the Secretary, India Office in London. The appeal was so well argued that Sayla State won the final case and were able to continue running their ‘Tramway’.
This shows Bapuji’s characteristic to fight what was not right and make special endeavour to achieve the desired result.
2. Same story continues for the second incident. Morbi State was obviously shocked with the result and investigated who had drafted the appeal. Bapuji was located and offered a job in Morbi Administration. At this time Bapuji was being prepared for his adhyatmic development by Pujya Chotabhai, his guru, Pujya Kalidasbapa and Pujya Shamaldasbhai. They had all seen the adhyatmic potential of greatness in Bapuji and all three would up their affairs in Sayla and joined Bapuji in Morbi to continue his development. Just imagine three profound spirituals following Bapuji to ensure he attained the status they saw in him – there could be no greater compliment then a guru following his disciple.
It just so happened that Sayla State managed to convince Morbi to let Bapuji return to Sayla and everyone was resettled as before.
3. When Bapuji was a Mamalatdar (most senior executive in the taluka management) in Bhavnagar, someone came to him one day and dropped a bag full of currency notes. Bapuji asked him what was it for and he said, for Bapuji’s welfare and that Bapuji should help him get his applications approved.
Bapuji saw red and told the man – ‘Get out of here with your bag. I will let you off today but if you ever comeback to me with such offer I will personally see to it that you are locked up in the jail across the road. ‘ Bapuji’s reputation for honesty, already well established was enhanced considerably in Bhavnagar district.
4. When Ba had gone completely blind Bapuji used to tend to her needs. She once told Bapuji that if you remarry (it was normal in those days for man to remarry if the wife could not look after his needs) I will commit suicide. Bapuji said ‘You do not need to worry on that aspect. When we were getting married, during the fourth fera round the fire, I had vowed that you will be the only life partner I will have – there will not be another. And I do not intend to break that vow’.
These incidences in a young man’s life reflect the strength of his character, his personality, intelligence and ethics and above all the adhyatmikta in him. He lived to a ripe old age of 93 to share his attainments with us.
Contemplate on the following when you are thinking of deh vilay
‘Just as man sleeps and wakes up, so is death and birth. Death is like sleep. Birth is like waking up. Birth and death are merely doors of entry and exit.’
‘The soul that seeks immortality dies while he is living. He does seperate his eternal existence from his mortal embodiment. For him death is just a progression a necessary tool for the evolution of the soul. Death is
considered as the gate of Life. It merely opens the door for the higher form of life.’
