Prasang 47

Sixty-Eight Places of Pilgrimage at Thy Feet

After the Annakut festival in Junāgadh, Bhagatiji was washing the large, greasy pots used for cooking. The dirty water from the washing area flowed into a pit near the chowk (courtyard).

At that moment, Gunatitanand Swami arrived and stood near the pit. As the dirty water, flowing from the washing the utensils touched his feet and trickled down into the pit, Swami turned to Bhagatji and asked, “Pragji, where can one find all the sixty-eight places of pilgrimage?”

Bhagatji immediately grasped the deeper meaning behind Gunatitanand Swami’s words. He realized the water touching Swami’s feet was gathering in the pit. With the firm conviction that ‘All sixty-eight sacred pilgrimages reside at the feet of my Sant,’ Bhagatji Maharaj immediately leaped into the pit!

Overcome with joy, he poured the dirty water all over himself, bathing in bliss. The onlookers were stunned. Some murmured, “Pragji is foolish! That’s dirty, greasy water. He has no sense!”

Seeing their ignorance of not understanding the true glory of the Satpurush, Swami smiled and said, “Only one who has truly realized the glory of the Satpurush would act in this way.” Swami then lovingly addressed Bhagatji Maharaj, “Pragji! That’s enough now. Go bathe in clean water. Such an opportunity doesn’t come often, and you seized it!”

Such was Bhagatji Maharaj’s understanding of the Satpurush’s mahimā. When every action of the Satpurush is perceived with an understanding of his mahimā, the barriers of the senses and conscience break, and nothing remains except the Satpurush. By understanding such mahimā of the Satpurush, our affection towards him keeps increasing (Vachanāmrut Vartāl 11).