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62. The Path Towards Keval-Gnan
When Shrimad was staying at Zaverchand Sheth's residence in Kavitha, he would often go off into the surrounding woods in the middle of the night without informing anyone. Zaverchandbhai had employed a man named Lallubhai to look after Shrimad at night. Lallubhai would sleep at the foot of the staircase and would often wake up at midnight only to find that Shrimad had left his bed and gone off into the forest. On one such ocassion Sheth Zaverchand, Ratanchand, Venichand and some others went searching for Shrimad in the woods with their lanterns and found him meditating near Mithuji's well.
In the year VS 1954, Shrimad visited Kheda. On this occasion, he stayed as a guest at Rao Bahadur Narsinharam's bungalow. One day, Pandit Punjabhai Someshwar Bhatt, came to see Shrimad, who was studying one of the scriptures at the time. He repeatedly drew Punjabhai's attention to a particular verse in the book, which he has paraphrased in letter number 850 in the compendium Shri Vachanmrutji : "Let all the propensities of my mind be so still that if an old deer felt an itch in its head, he would scratch it against this bodily frame, thinking it to be an inert object !"
Shrimad took great pleasure in explaining this verse. This shows how much Shrimad was immersed in such stillness himself. While explaining the profound meaning of this example, Shrimad would say, "Once you have attained complete peace of mind, your physique would be so still that even birds and animals would look on you as being but an inert object and would not be afraid of you."
At Kheda, Muni Devkaranji joyously expressed his heartfelt feelings: "It is as if we can directly experience Moksha in the presence of a Self-realised one."
Shri Gautamswami had asked Bhagwan Mahavir: "All Munis who adopt monkhood under my tutelage gain Enlightenment, but why not me?"
Bhagwan replied: "You will definitely gain Enlightenment, but if you let go of your affection for me."
Gautamswami replied “ If I have to give up that love to gain Enlightenment, then I don't want it." He expressed his gratitude for all the guidance he had received from Bhagwan Mahavir, who had saved him from folly. Such is the devotion to a True Guru !
