Transforming Life
What if Shastriji Maharaj Never Existed?
Published On: June 15, 2023
, Updated on : February 22, 2024
Can you imagine “Ramayan” without ” Shree Ram“??????
Can you imagine “Shreemad Bhagwad Gita” without “Shree Krishna“??????
I think “No, it won’t be possible”.
Likewise, the Gurukuls of Free India can’t be imagined without Shastriji Maharaj. His service to Gurukul was exemplary as well as his vision too. because he had a vision of the future how humanity will go in vain, and how the dark side of every person will rapidly grow more than the bright side. how a person will be attracted to sinful activities, rather than good activities. so, to save us from these all, he has given his life to Gurukul.
His service to mankind and humanity was unmatchable before he established Gurukul but, after he established Gurukul, He made the whole society and humanity indebted to him. And that debt is such that even you, me and our future generations also will be unable to repay it.
He was a real-life statue of religious life as his name denotes “Dharmajivan das“. Not only this but he was very cautious about other saints and students of Gurukul that he never allowed them to be deficient in the Dharma, but also encouraged his saint, devotees and students to follow the rituals of our holy scriptures.
The idea of Gurukul came to his mind when he was doing a 53-day long pilgrimage of Badrinarayan and Kedarnath in the Himalayas by walking.
During that journey, a sage was teaching verses of Raghuvansh to some children in a Parnakuti (A hut made of leaves) in Rudraprayag. Seeing that, he decided to create a “Gurukul” to instil the virtues of Indian culture in the children of the rising generation through education.
Shastriji Maharaj came back to Gujarat with the intention of reviving the ancient Gurukul system and he made प्रवर्तनीया सद्विद्या भुवि यत्सुकृतं महत् his life mantra.
In 1948, with rising independence, he started “Shri Swaminarayan Gurukul Rajkot Sansthan” with 7 students in a rented house in Rajkot, Gujarat. And that too without asking a penny from anyone. He had a firm belief that Gurukul is the work of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, and he will definitely fulfil it. Why should I ask for money from others rather than God himself?
Shastriji Maharaj, The great man who continuously served Satsang and the nation without wasting even a single moment of his 31,643 days of life, lived a holy spiritual life of 86 years, 7 months and 18 days.
On February 5th, 1988, Friday night at 9:36 PM, his immortal soul left this mortal world.
What if Shastriji Maharaj Never existed ????, what would be different if he hadn’t started Gurukul????
Firstly, if Shastriji Maharaj hadn’t existed then this army of more than 1,50,000+ well-educated, well-mannered, well-cultured and sanskari students would not have existed. they might be well educated but may not be well mannered, well cultured and Sanskari. I mean to say that they can get an education in other well-known institutions, but they won’t get spiritual education and training in behaviour there.
If a person has multiple qualifications and degrees but he doesn’t have a sense of how to act with his aged parents or any other elderly person, then his degree is just a bunch of paper. Here I mean to say that he has Vidya (education), not Sadvidya (manners & morals).
An uneducated, but well-mannered person is greater than an educated but rude person. like terrorists, killers, rapists or thieves. They may be well qualified, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t do These kinds of things. There are so many examples of educated people doing sinful activities. They all lack sadvidya not vidya.
The Spiritual Development of the child is very challenging stuff. Shastriji Maharaj was well aware of parents’ worries regarding the spiritual development of their children. In Gurukul, morning Puja, yoga, spiritual assembly and getting ancient knowledge of Indian culture are part of daily activities, which one can’t get in other institutions. so, this also won’t be possible without Shastriji Maharaj.
Good parenting is not a course to be studied, but it is time taking stuff. Having love and mutual understanding between parents and children is a must for good parenting. if a parent is well mannered, cultured and sanskari then there is more chance of their children to be like them. so, Gurukul is not just for the well-being of their students, but it is a must for the well-being of the next generation too.
In Gurukul, every student has deep knowledge about our ancient scriptures, meditation, an incarnation of God, our culture and our great history, whereas other students are deeply attracted to worldly objects, they don’t have any connection with god or spirituality.
Today’s generation who are out of Gurukul, have very less knowledge of our spiritual scriptures or even we can say they have less interest. One of the most important pieces of evidence of ignorance towards one’s own culture is that there are plenty of Sanskrit scriptures of our Hinduism, which are still waiting to be translated. That’s another thing that they are busy studying English, French, Spanish etc. They all will be well familiar with Bollywood or Hollywood actor’s choices, likes and dislikes but they don’t have knowledge of our own god’s incarnation. This is just because of their interest developed in school. so, for this all we need to thank Shastriji Maharaj and his saints who are engaged day and night in saving the culture of India.
Once Shastriji Maharaj was in Rishikesh his age was about 85, because of the cold one saint gave him hand gloves and socks to wear. Shastriji Maharaj told that “I am a saint, let me be like a saint, we cannot use stitched clothes.”
A devotee said “Swamiji, our scriptures also allow us to be a little less firm towards rules after the age of 80. “
Swamiji said ”Till the age of 80 I was following rules for me but now I am following for you and other saints. If I wear these today then they won’t hesitate to wear a jacket.”
so, if Shastriji Maharaj wasn’t there then who would give us lessons with his own example?
There were many saints who were only children of their parents, and then also gave permission to become saints and serve society because those parents were well aware of his work and intention. They had deep faith that their child will be a great saint and servant of society till his last breath like Shastriji Maharaj.
We Indians have numerous festivals and cultural occasions. These all were celebrated with saints and devotees just to emotionally unite them with God as well as with each other. Shastriji Maharaj was at the root to start this trend in Gurukul. he used to say that If a person remembers all this in his last time, then God himself comes to take him to his abode and our effort to do all this is worthwhile. so, without him, this trend of celebration wouldn’t be possible.
Because of Shastriji Maharaj today, there are more than 275 saints who left women and money for their entire life. Most of them eat just once a day and have a vast knowledge of the scriptures. they don’t have property or any bank balance. They all are just serving God and God’s devotees for their betterment. without Shastriji Maharaj there won’t be his disciples whose life is bright and exemplary like these saints.
Shastriji Maharaj was always determined to recognize God in others. For this reason, he was travelling in his old age. He was the first one to travel abroad for the sake of satsang from the Swaminarayan sect and that too by following every principle given by Bhagwan Swaminarayan. He remained active till his last breath to give the benefit of Satsang to the devotees. He definitely had paved his way to Akshardham for himself, but for all the devotees and students associated with him, he was always concerned that Akshardham should not be left behind for them too. That is why Shastriji Maharaj used to travel a lot just for the sake of devotees. and to respect the devotion of the devotees he goes wherever devotees call him. Whether it was a small village or a smart City, a leaf hut or a lavish house he never denied coming.
Nowadays there are so many parents who complain that their children don’t listen to them, they don’t have respect towards them, constantly using mobile phones and watching TV and many more like these. The best solution is in Swaminarayan Gurukul, just keep your child in Gurukul and rest leave it to them. Because here in Gurukul all aspects of transformation are covered with Vidya, Sadvidya and Brahmavidya. In the hostel life of Gurukul, they all will be away from social media and here teachers and Swamiji will teach them life-changing lessons which other schools can not give. In a few months, students’ lives will be full of discipline, devotion and dedication.
In present days, The main problems of society are bad addiction, depression, overuse of social media, a short-tempered mind, loss of Hindu culture and westernization. Gurukul has a cure for all these problems. Gurukul teaches every child the value of Vedik Hindu culture and every student has to adopt it in day-to-day life. Gurukul builds such moral values within them that they don’t feel depressed or they don’t get any bad addiction. In every student, Gurukul develops love and respect towards our own culture because of this Westernization won’t affect them. So, Gurukul is the best solution for the above-said problem.
Today there would be hardly a few countries where you won’t find Gurukul students. wherever he may, A Gurukul student never compromises with cultural values, morality and ethics. In every country, Gurukul students are leading in their field and giving their best. Gurukul has not just created devotees, but has created so many doctors, engineers, scientists, pilots and businessmen. They all are performing their respective duties with a clear thought in their mind that whatever I am doing, because of me Gurukul or the saint of Gurukul should not have to lower their heads. Gurukul has taught them to give their 100% to their respective role. And that too without compromising moral and ethical values.
Shastriji Maharaj started many Vedic traditions which were about to die and the real way of a particular devotion. He has taught us the original way of how to do Meditation, chanting, fasting, morning Pooja, dandvat, purascharana of a scripture, mantralekhan, Akhand dhun and jap yagya. he was the first to introduce many of these devotions. Without him, no one would give us these all.
Under his blessings, many of devotion have created records that won’t be breakable in future.
Shastriji Maharaj was the first who started a special pilgrimage train. He has constructed many temples and renovated many temples too. He did many Katha, parayan and yagyas to encourage the devotion of devotees. He has done yagya for 21 days continuously, this record is still intact.
From the Swaminarayan sect, Shastriji Maharaj was the first to travel out of India and introduce Bhagwan Swaminarayan to the world. He has travelled to the US, UK and many African countries to introduce Swaminarayan to non-Indian people. On his first visit to Latin America, by seeing the life of Shastriji Maharaj, approx 400 devotees accepted vartman diksha and 250 families gave up non-veg food for the rest of their life. Just because of Shastriji Maharaj today many non-Indian families are following every ritual of Sanatan dharma.
As shastriji maharaj was a man of principles, his every saint is also a die-hard follower of principles. As shastriji Maharaj never asked for money from devotees, his successor and all his saints also never asked for money or any other favour from anyone. His every saint is full of devotion, detachment, selflessness and knowledge. The standard of life and dedication made by shastriji Maharaj is inspiring many saints and devotees to follow.
Where ever shastriji Maharaj went he just introduced Bhagwan Swaminarayan to them, He never mentioned himself to people. Because of him, so many people started to follow the way of morality, the way of god. Before they connected to shastriji Maharaj many of them were involved in unethical and sinful activities. They left it all on the words of shastriji Maharaj and paved their way to Akshardham. So, just because of shastriji Maharaj millions of people became eligible to get into the Akshardham. If Shastriji Maharaj didn’t exist then they all would be roaming in the cycle of birth and death.
Imagine if there was no Gurukul then what would the children who were studying in Gurukul be? Where would they be? Will they get Indian cultural values, knowledge and sanskar in other schools like Gurukul?
with 100% conviction I can say no, they won’t get it.
Nowadays in the newspaper, we all are reading about how at a tender age kids are taking drugs, drinking alcohol and committing much bigger crimes than this which can’t be mentioned here.
Fortunately, all Gurukul students who have studied here are very far away from all these sinful activities.
If they had not belonged to Gurukul, they would have either been of these sins or unethical activities.
Shastriji Maharaj used to mention Gurukul on so many occasions and said, ‘You have not yet understood Gurukul completely. Have I done this Gurukul only to educate boys? This Gurukul had to be done because there are no places to study anywhere else in society. It is not only our duty to educate these boys, but we also insist that they recognize God. By installing the rites of Satsang in these young children, we mould them as virtuous human beings. so that they will be useful to society in the future. Today, there is a huge lack of honest and dedicated people in society, so we have set up a man-making factory called gurukul.’
Shastriji Maharaj chanted 11,00,00,000+ chants of Swaminarayan Mahamantra by himself.
These are a few more activities that cannot be done without Shastriji Maharaj.
Devotion by Students & Devotees
Social Welfare By Shastriji Maharaj
If Shastriji Maharaj hadn’t come on this earth then there would be no one who had vision like him. We might have good educational institutions but we won’t have institutions of sanskar, which give more preference to cultural values and morality than just simple book education.
Let us pray in the pious feet of Bhagwan Swaminarayan that as he filled the life of Shastriji Maharaj with the colours of unshakeable faith and moral life values, so should fill ours.