Pragji Bhakta

Early Childhood

A group of children was chanting the Ram dhun in the mandir courtyard. In the middle a handsome little boy was dancing while singing devotional songs. All those visiting the mandir to offer their prayers were deeply impressed by the child’s ardent love towards God. They forgot everything else and stood there like statues watching this little boy dancing and singing in praise of God. When the children stopped singing, the people discovered that the leader of the group was Pragji, known as Bhagat, the son of Govindbhai of Mahuva. Pragji Bhakta regularly visited this Lakshmi-Narayan mandir with his friends. It was here in front of the small shrine of Hanumanji under the pipal tree, that Shriji Maharaj had stayed for three days when he was travelling as Nilkanth Varni. The child Pragji Bhakta always served the murti of Hanumanji. Mahant Suryabharathi was greatly pleased with the devotion of the child. Pragji Bhakta served the mahant and attentively listened to the story of Shri Ram and pondered over the high ideals exemplified by the great characters of the Ramayan. In the luscious green seaside town of Mahuva in Saurashtra, this child devotee was born to a tailor family on the full moon day of the bright half of Fagan in Samvat 1885 (Feb.–Mar. 1829 ce). The child was very beautiful and luminous and was loved by all. The child devotee was sent to the local school, but he was too active to remain within the walls of the school. Often, he would run away with other schoolboys to the river Malan that flowed along the outskirts of Mahuva. He would sit in the dry areas of the riverbed and talk to his friends, “I have studied everything. I have come to worship God and make others worship God.” Young children always stayed in his company and everyone had a natural attraction towards Pragji Bhakta. Once, a festival dinner was arranged at Pragji’s house. Pragji Bhakta went to his mother and said, “Mother, I am terribly hungry. Please give me something to eat.” However, his mother refused to give any food as she had not yet sanctified the food by offering it to God. But, when she went out to do some work, Pragji Bhakta entered the kitchen and ate all the sweets, weighing 31⁄2 kg. Then he climbed up into the loft and slept. On returning, his mother was shocked to see the sweets missing. She asked everyone in the house about them. She thought that perhaps some stray dog might have eaten the sweets. But, then, Pragji Bhakta called out from the loft, “l have eaten all the sweets.” His elder brother chased him, but Pragji Bhakta jumped onto the veranda and escaped. The story of this feat of little Pragji Bhakta quickly spread throughout the entire town. Everyone exclaimed, “He is a miraculous boy!” Once, a great sadhu, Sadguru Yoganand Swami, came to the Swaminarayan Mandir in Mahuva. Pragji Bhakta, who loved to serve sadhus, met this holy man. He experienced inner peace by the darshan of Swami. Pragji Bhakta accepted the vartman from him and became a satsangi. Now, Pragji Bhakta spent most of his time in the mandir in the service of the sadhus. Once, he sold a precious lace of his mother’s sari to feed the sadhus. Yoganand Swami, who was deeply impressed by the zeal, devotion and love of this child observed, “He will be a great devotee.”

Meeting Sadguru Gopalanand Swami

It was during this period that Acharya Shri Raghuvirji Maharaj and Sadguru Gopalanand Swami visited the village of Pithvadi near Mahuva. The Rathods of Pithvadi had especially invited Pragji Bhakta from Mahuva to perform pujan of Acharya Maharaj and Swami. A huge assembly of sadhus and devotees was organised as per the tradition of Satsang. The ten-year-old Pragji Bhakta had put on beautiful clothes for the occasion. He boldly stood before the congregation and performed the pujan of Acharya Maharaj and the sadhus, performed arti and then prostrated before them. The child caught the attention of Acharya Maharaj. Devotees introduced the child devotee. Sadguru Gopalanand Swami, who had been observing the child since he came to the congregation, said, “This child is a born devotee.” The devotees asked Swami to say more. Swami replied, “He is very great and will inspire thousands of people to worship God.” These words of Swamiji made the child all the more loved by the people. Pragji Bhakta was instinctively attracted towards the luminous figure of Sadguru Gopalanand Swami. From then on he regularly visited Vartal to stay in the company of Gopalanand Swami. He was always accompanied by the elderly Jinabhai Rathod of Mahuva, whom he served during their journey. At Vartal he always sat by Gopalanand Swami’s side and ate only simple food, like, gram and jaggery. He served Gopalanand Swami with great devotion and listened to his discourses with great faith. Pragji Bhakta’s love and devotion towards Gopalanand Swami became deeper and more intense. He longed for more and more satsang. He desired to stay in the service of Swami all the time. One day he asked Swami about this. Swami told him, “One who accepts Shriji Maharaj as the incarnation of all incarnations and becomes attached to Gunatitanand Swami, remains constantly in communion with Shriji Maharaj and me – whether such a devotee is a renunciate or a householder.” This made Pragji Bhakta aware of the greatness and eminence of Gunatitanand Swami, the choicest devotee of Shriji Maharaj. But Pragji Bhakta was too deeply attached to Gopalanand Swami to ponder over this revelation. Out of his deep love and reverence towards Swami he thought of renouncing the worldly life. But Swami commanded him to worship God while remaining as a householder. Once Pragji Bhakta went to Mumbai to learn the craft of tailoring. Then, he prepared a beautiful coat and a pair of stockings for Acharya Maharaj and went to Vartal to offer them to Acharya Maharaj, who was greatly pleased by this. As he had great attachment for Gopalanand Swami, Pragji Bhakta often became sad when, in the course of his work, he forgot him. Seeing this, Gunatitanand Swami used to tell him, “If you attain jnan from the sadhus, then even while leading the life of a householder you will not be able to forget God and his holy Sadhu.” Overwhelmed by his love, once, Gopalanand Swami told Pragji Bhakta, “Go to Junagadh. All my promises to you shall be fulfilled there.” In Samvat 1908 (1852 CE) Gopalanand Swami was taken ill at Vartal. The devotees of Vadodara wanted him to spend his last days with them. But Swami promptly replied, “Now my attention is towards Maharaj in Akshardham or towards the Jogi of Junagadh.” Pragji Bhakta requested Swami to explain the significance of his reply. Gopalanand Swami said, “The Jogi of Junagadh is himself the manifestation of Akshardham, the dwelling place of Shriji Maharaj. He is not even an atom’s width away from Shriji Maharaj.” So saying Gopalanand Swami passed away to Akshardham on the fourth day of the dark half of Vaishakh.