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started to express his unhappiness in some aggressive words.
He said, “Of course, you are an honourable Pracharak now, you
have grown bigger, while I am still a Swayamsevak! You can
say ‘no’ if you don’t want to visit my house.” He uttered this
and went away. I knew this nature of Vasantbhai. He could be
unhappy with no one. The same day I visited his house. He
talked to me for long, right late into the evening, as if nothing
had ever happened in the morning, we took our dinner together.
Not only this, he insisted that I should have meals with him
every Thursday, and this settlement of Thursday meals
continued right until the last.
Vasantbhai’s wife Vidyaben approached the dead body of Vasantbhai
for the final adieu. She was to return the Mangalsutra that she
had been gifted twenty years ago. Vidyaben took out the
Mangalsutra with shaking hands; that sad moment made that
gloomy environment still gloomier.
The Param Pujya Guruji breathed his last on 5 June, 1973.
The meeting was held at the Sangh office the whole night.
Vasasntbhai was on a tour to Patan. He was yet to be informed.
He received the news about the death of the Param Pujya Guruji
from the newspapers the next morning. Immediately he started
from Patna and reached Ahmedabad about eight o’clock. All
officers made for Nagpur by air via Bombay. Vasantbhai came
to my room directly. He was much broken, he was sad to the
extreme. He just uttered a sentence, “What Narendrabhai, you
could not wire me even at night!” Saying these words, his eyes
grew wet. This was the outcome of the infinite faith and devotion
that he possessed for the Param Pujya Guruji.
We had witnessed Vasantbhai’s energy in working a great
number of times. Many of these instances have left an indelible
impression on our mind and heart, and we remember them all
our life. One day during the reconstruction campaign, many of
the Jana Sangh workers had been arrested under the MISA.
Those days, Vasantbhai was busy writing a book ‘Sriguruji’ to
be published by the Sadhana Pustak Prakashan. Had he gone