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55. Sobhagbhai's Final Hour
Sobhagbhai had invited Shrimad to Sayla so that he could take full advantage of
the good fortune he had in encountering Truth personified, as it was in Shrimad. Shrimad agreed and stayed with him in Sayla for ten days.
Shrimad also intended to have Sobhagbhai accompany him to the remote and peaceful Idar where he would have the opportunity to continue with his guidance. Sobhagbhai's son Trambakbhai was very uncomfortable with Shrimad's plans to travel with his father who had by now become very frail. He said: "We are not happy to let Sobhagbhai go out in his present condition. God forbid, but should something happen to him in Idar, what will people say ?"
Shrimad sensed what was passing through his mind and reassured him: "Trambak, you have no cause to worry. You will have the opportunity to look after Sobhagbhai during his final days, and you will even be the one to perform his last rites."
Trambakbhai reconciled to the idea of his father going with Shrimad. During the period of ten days at Idar, Shrimad showered the nectar of his spiritual wisdom on his soulmate Sobhagbhai. After that Sobhagbhai returned home.
Shrimad knew that these were Sobhagbhai's last days and wrote him three wonderful letters. Of all the many letters they exchanged, this trinity (Letters 779, 780 and 781 in the collection known as Shri Vachnamrutji) so inspired Sobhagbhai that it led him to a direct experience of his Soul. These letters are the crowning glory of the body of correspondence between the two Soul mates.
Sobhagbhai wrote his last letter to his Guru, knowing that he would pass away soon: "I pray that you continue showering your grace on this poor lowly soul. The body and the soul are distinct entities, the body is inert and the soul is sentient. I could not perceive distinctly the 'conscious' part earlier, however for the last eight days, with your grace I have experienced this distinction. I see and experience that distinction clearly and maintain awareness of it continuously."
On the tenth day of the dark half of the lunar month of Jeth, in VS 1953, the Soul left the body known as 'Shri Sobhagbhai'. At that moment, he was in total and uninterrupted bliss, by the grace of Shrimad Rajchandra.
