Page 87 - JyotipunjEng

111

Guruji was about 55-57 years of age. Pandit Satavalekar said in
his speech: “I shall chair the celebration that will be held to
celebrate Guruji’s centenary birth anniversary.” You can imagine
how wonderful his self-confidence was.

Shastriji assimilated Gita in his Life
…And the other rishi-like Shastriji had assimilated the Gita

fully. Reading the Gita, reciting its shlokas, remembering Lord
Krishna every Janmashtami with the slogan ‘Sambhavami Yuge
Yuge’ have become as good as our habits. Learning the shlokas
of the Gita makes us feel as if we have mastered the Karmayoga,
and we looked around ourselves proudly at this
accomplishment. However, the principles of the Gita were truly
mastered and assimilated by Shastriji; he learnt them and tried
to put them into practice in his life.

What kind of life a person, who has assimilated the Gita,
lives, is unfolded before me through two instances spent with
him.

When the lottery system was started, I don’t know how
many of you know, that the first winner for one crore lottery
belonged to Shastriji’s family. And then I went to meet him, I
did not go there to seek any funds, but it was a matter of
happiness. The person who won the lottery was related to the
Brahmin family. I went to meet him. There was nothing in his
speech or behaviour that could make us feel about the one crore
lottery, while all the newspapers in Gujarat carried this news.
Shastriji remained a simple and egoless person. This instance
occurred about 35-40 years ago.

The other experience relates to the occasion when the Man.
Ba, Shastriji’s wife died. It is a terrible moment in the life of a
householder whose spouse departs in the advanced stage of
life. The married people can understand this fact well. At that
time, I was out of Gujarat. I was equally closely related to Ba
and was so moved by this news that I headed to his house from
Delhi. I supposed that the environment would be gloomy. But
when I reached there, I found him writing a book. It was hardly
the third or fourth day. I sat for a while. He was unwell, still we