On the request of devotees, who had arrived to Sarangpur to celebrate Radhashtami, Shri Hari graces the village of Kariyani.
On the request of devotees, who had arrived to Sarangpur to celebrate Radhashtami, Shri Hari graces the village of Kariyani.
Suvrat said:-
‘O King, then came the Radhashtami day. On that day, Bhagavan worshipped Radha and Krishna as per prescribed rituals and celebrated the festival. 1.
Then he fed thousands of Brahmins with delicious meals and he himself took his meals with his devotees and then alighted on a beautiful throne. 2
In that town (Sarangapur) many devotees from the village Karyayani had assembled to have a vision of Bhagavan every day. 3.
They all humbly requested their Lord (Shri Hari) to come to their village. He promised all of them that he would visit their village. 4.
Then they all unanimously decided to take him to their village. The main people of that village came to that town (Sarangapur). 5.
I’ll tell their names- a brave Ksatriya named Vastakhachar with his wives Sita and Amaridevi and their son Manasura Khachar; another one named Vela Khachar - Ksatriya and three Vaisyas named Veera, Kama and Raghava with their sister Devika. 6 -7
Karna, Deva the other devotees came and prayed (to Shri Hari), “Please come to our village.” 8.
Considering their pure, innocent plea, Shri Hari said, “You are all my devotees, so that is also my village. 9.
I’ll come to your village with my sage in the next morning. Now you can go back to your village. 10.
O King, thus all of them were very pleased to hear this and they went to their village. They all collected the necessary material for performing service to Sri Hari. 11.
Then Bhagavan Swaminarayan started with all his devotees on the ninth day of the brighter fortnight of Bhadrapada. All the people and devotees of Sarangapur were in tears as they could not brook separation of their Guru. They came to Karyayani as well. 12.
Vastakhachar and other devotees men and women led to welcome the Lord, accompanied by various drums and music. They all were happy to welcome their Lord to their village. 13.
Sri Swami Narayan took his lodging at Vastakhachar’s house whereas other devotees put themselves up in other houses as per their comfort and convenience. 14.
All those Sadhus who had come along with swami were all heartily welcomed and many others came uninvited to see the Lord. 15-16.
Vastakhachar and his wives, offered to be of service to the Lord and also to those who had turned up uninvited. 17.
In that village, many people who had come from remote places, wished to offer meals to swami and his devotees and gathered various cooking items. But the residents of the village did not get time for it. 18.
Sri Bhagavan stayed there from the ninth day of bright part of Bhadrapada until the festival of Prabodhini. 19.
Sitting on the divine throne, he kept contact with the people at Karyayan village and conversed with them as well. 20.
Shri Hari (Bhagavan) preached to them Ashtanga (eight fold) Yoga, the knowledge of the Atman and Paramatman thoroughly. 21.
O King, bhagavan taught the devotees of Karyayan village the Sri Bhasya — (Ramanuja’s) commentary on Vyasa’s Brahma sutras. 22.
He started telling them the story of Sri Ramanujacharya and his works and completed the narration on the Dhanatlayodasi thirteenth black day of Asvina and later worshipped Muktanand muni. 23.
He (Shri Hari) celebrated the festival of lights (Deepotsava) as in Durgapur. He performed the celebrated Annakuta on part with the Prabodhini festival celebrations. 24.
At that time, all the devotees worshipped their Lord with various beautiful rich costumes, gold, sandalwood, garlands of flowers and precious gifts. 25.
Thus ends the thirtieth chapter entitled ‘describing festival at Karyayani village’ in the fourth Prakaran of Satsangijivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as ‘Dharmashastra’ (the rules of the code of conduct). 13
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