Residents of Ayodhya at the bank of Gomti in search of Sachidanand Swami.
Residents of Ayodhya at the bank of Gomti in search of Sachidanand Swami.
Suvrat said:-
Now those residents of Ayodhya who had gone to the Gomati (river) from Shakhoddhara, looked for that holy man on its bank on their return. 1.
Not finding him there on the banks of the Gomati, they were worried; tears came to their eyes; with pale faces and sighing, they started guessing (his whereabouts). 2.
‘O, what bad luck is this! How have we committed this sin because of fate! Where that kind holy man, very dear to Krishna, must have gone?’ 3.
‘How can we go back to Durgapur without him? How can we show our faces to the Lord there?’ 4.
‘What shall we say there? We are indeed destroyed by ill- luck; how can we listen to the harsh upbraiding from the king?’ 5.
Then Manasaram complained, ‘I had warned in the beginning that we must not go leaving him here, but nobody listened to me.’ 6.
Then Gopalram replied to him, ‘How could I contradict the proposal of my eldest brother? He is venerable (to me) as my father.’ 7.
Upon that Nandaram fired back, ‘You pointed out in the very beginning that his Samadhi could last long. So why do you blame me ?’ 8.
Then Manasaram opined, ‘That which is destined to happen will certainly happen. There is no point in worrying unnecessarily; God will remove our difficulties.’ 9.
‘The Lord of Dwarika for whose vision we have come here at the behest of our master will certainly do good for us.’ 10.
‘A treasure of kindness and great devotee of God, that sage will certainly not go to Durgapur leaving us here.’ 11.
‘I feel that from here he must have gone to Shankoddhara and that he will come only here; therefore, we should stay here (awaiting him).’ 12.
‘O king, on hearing these words of him, the remaining two agreed and remembering the Lord of Dwarika, they stayed there. 13.
Taking their bath early in the morning and doing their daily rituals, they had a vision of the Lord of Dwarika on a daily basis. 14.
(Thus passing their time) on the fourth day they observed the fast of Ekadasi and on the next day they cooked their food remembering that holy man, with their hearts full of worry. 15.
‘How can that sort of good luck accrue to us whose intelligence is vitiated? How can that great yogi break his fast (with us) coming over here?’ (They lamented). 16.
At that Nandaram said, ‘My right hand is throbbing.’ Mansaram said, ‘And my right eye is vibrating.’ 17.
Gopal said:-
‘I saw him in my dream today morning. It is sure that with the Lord of Dwarika in his heart, he is coming (back).’ 18.
Sacchidanand actually arrives; they welcome him.
‘O great king, while they were relating the good omens to each other, they saw that sage approaching them like a mighty elephant. 19.
‘Welcome, welcome, ‘O master!’ exclaiming thus in a loud voice those three ran up to the holy man very eagerly. 20.
Embracing him for long with their arms, and smiling, they escorted him to their lodging and asked about each other’s well- being. 21.
Those Brahmins bathed and fed that great sage and after having taken food, they passed the day reporting to him what had befallen them. 22.
Journey back to Durgapur.
Staying there for that night, they departed from there the next morning. They reached Durgapur on the sixth day of the bright half of the month of Phalguna. 23.
Wherever they halted at night on their way back home, they saw in their dreams the Lord of Dwarika with Rukmini travelling along with them. 24.
On reaching Durgapur they offered obeisance to the Lord who was sitting in the council. They fell at his feet like a stick; the Lord also honored them (for their pilgrimage). 25.
Sacchidanand’s report of his experiences.
That sage gave all the report of that (pilgrimage) including how he was prevented from having a bath, a vision and a Tapta Mudra but he did not say anything about his having actually seen Lord Krishna. 26.
On hearing that all those holy men felt sad in their hearts because they were certain that their pilgrimage to Dwarika would never materialize. 27.
Thus seeing them sad, he again spoke to them and told about his vision of Krishna and the boon that he gave him. 28.
The holy men were greatly pleased to hear that and they saluted him and praised him and were happy. 29.
And Swami Narayan, himself a great sage, praised him again and again and urged him to give that report again for the pleasure of his devotees. 30.
And that sage, (Sacchidanand) also, after giving the entire report, said, ‘This all indeed is the blessing of your kindness.’ 31.
Dolotsav celebrations at Vrittalay.
Then Swami Narayan desired to celebrate Lord Krishna’s festival Dolotsav at Vrittalay in the month of Phalguna which was near at hand. 33.
That great preceptor then ordered all the ascetics, householders and women to accompany him to Vrittalay being desirous of going (there) with them. 34.
Having written invitations, he sent messengers everywhere and called his devotees to come immediately. 35.
That night, all those holy men, when asleep, saw in their dreams the Lord of Dwarika, accompanied by Rukmini, going to Vrittalay. 35.
Waking in the morning they spoke of this (experience) in the presence of the Lord. Then the Lord assured them that it was indeed true. 36.
On the seventh day of the month the Lord Sahajanand, accom- panied by his devotees in thousands, departed for Durgapur. 37.
Mounted on a comfortably swift red horse, holding the rein in his very soft lotus-like left hand, and a cane in his right (hand), clad in all white robes and surrounded by his devotees with Somavarmas as chief among them and all mounted on horses, he departed along the road. 38.
On the Ekadasi day he reached Vrittalay in the evening. And from different villages and towns there arrived people in hordes. 39.
The great sage Muktanand also went there from Vatapur (Vadodara) with citizens after having vanquished the debaters there. 40.
On seeing the Lord of Dwarika standing there with Rukmini with the name Lakshmi-Narayan, all those devotees experienced highest bliss. 41.
Like the ascetics, all the house-holders who had gathered there also saw in their dreams the Lord of Dwarika who had arrived there. 42.
Exceedingly wonder stuck, all those people were convinced firmly and they worshipped him with great devotions as per their status. 43.
In this way the Lord showed his coming and other events very easily (and thus impressed upon them) that Lakshmi-Narayan and himself were non-different. 44.
Thereafter Swami Sahajanand arranged the celebration of the swing festival (Dolotsav) of Lakshmi Narayan with all his devotees complete with all the details. 45.
He satisfied all the holy men with a variety of eatables; he himself served food to them several times by moving in the rows of the diners. 46.
Thus ends the thirty second chapter entitled ‘The reunion of Sacchidanand Muni with the pilgrims and Dolotsava Celebrations at Vrittalay’ in the fourth Prakaran of Satsangijivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as ‘Dharmashastra’ (the rules of the code of conduct). 32
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