Santbal A Saint with a Difference

Author(s): T U Mehta
Publisher: Navjivan Prakashan Mandir

Page 30

Nagjibhai used to sell these sweets in the town mainly to children. The couple was completely devoted to God and transparently honest in their dealings. In the hut which they were occupying at Rajkot a snake happened to appear often. However, they did not disturb the snake who was allowed to go on its own way. Once this snake appeared outside their hut with the result that the people of the locality gathered to kill it. Motiben and her husband Nagjibhai resented this attitude of neighbours and tried to save the life of the snake. Neighbours, therefore, taunted them for their religious whim to save the poisonous creature. Seeing their mood Nagjibhai caught the serpent and took it away to a safer place. However, this incident upset Motiben who thought that it was safer to return to her village Tol and pass her life in the religious company of Imam Saheb and Khima Bhagat.
An incident which occurred when the couple was at Rajkot, testifies to their nobility. It so happened that one gentleman named Amrutlal who was related to Motiben as her maternal cousin had visited India from Africa where he was residing. He happened to visit Rajkot. When he knew that Motiben was residing there with family, he visited Motiben alongwith two of his friends. Motiben welcomed them and asked them to sit for a while and herself went out of her house along with a valuable utensil. She sold this utensil to arrange for the proper welcome of the guests and returned to her house empty handed. Amrutlal noticed this and could realise the poor financial condition of his cousin. However, Motiben did not give any indication about her poverty. Amrutlal paid her Rs. 5/- as is customary for a Hindu brother to give some gift to his sister at the time of departure.
The couple thereafter returned to Tol, but Nagjibhai, the father of Shivlal, used to take the sweets prepared by his wife to Rajkot for sale and return home after 3-4 days. This obviously put strain on his health with the result that he was severely sick and ultimately died. It is said that the family was so poor that at the