The history of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya is decorated with the stories of many devotees who dedicated their lives to fulfill Maharaj and Swami’s wishes. One such devotee during Shriji Maharaj’s time was Sundarji Suthar. Sundarji Suthar was the secretary to the King of Kutch. He was a devotee of Ramanand Swami, who had helped him understand the greatness of Shriji Maharaj. Once he had understood this, he never wavered in his devotion for Shriji Maharaj. He became a staunch devotee and would follow every agna of Shriji Maharaj.

Once, Sundarji Suthar was assigned to take the marriage party of the Prince of Kutch to Gondal. Upon arrival at Gondal, he found out that Maharaj was staying at a nearby village called Bandhia at the house of Mulu Khachar. So Sundarji Suthar asked the king’s guards to take care of the marriage group. When Sundarji arrived at Mulu Khachar’s house, Maharaj asked, “Who is it?” Sundarji replied, “Maharaj! It’s your servant.” So then Maharaj asked, “What are the qualities of a servant?” Sundarji said, “To act as per the wishes of his master.” Hearing this, Maharaj decided to test Sundarji Suthar’s devotion. Maharaj asked him to renounce everything and be initiated into the sadhu-fold. So accordingly, Sundarji became a sadhu. Thereafter, Maharaj commanded him to go on a pilgrimage to Kashi and Sundarji left for Kashi without any hesitation.

Once he had left, Shriji Maharaj said to Muktanand Swami, “What a wonderful thing I’ve done. I’ve made a king’s minister renounce.” Muktanand Swami explained to Maharaj that we already have enough people giving us trouble in and now you’ve made the king’s secretary who is in charge of the prince’s marriage party  go to Kashi. This will leave a very bad impression of us on the king.” Hearing this, Maharaj sent Mulji Brahmachari to call Sundarji Suthar back. When he returned Maharaj instructed him to  go back to the marriage.

When Sundarji rejoined the marriage party, people questioned his looks and many considered it to be inauspicious. Sundarji explained to them that, “I had gone to do darshan of my family deity and the Brahmins told me that if I remove my hair, moustache and beard, the family deity will be pleased and bless the wedding.” They were satisfied by his explanation.

In essence, Sundarji Suthar did whatever Maharaj asked him to do without question. He had complete faith in Maharaj, since he understood that whatever Maharaj asked him to do was for a good reason. Just like Sudarji Suthar pleased Maharaj, we should try our best to please our guru, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, by following his wishes.