Despite being the president of a large worldwide organization and being the guru for over a million devotees, Swamishri does not have one single rupee or cent to his name.
Once Swamishri and some sadhus were traveling on a train from Anand to Bombay. A devotee had purchased tickets for the journey but did not notice the extra fare for booking reservation seats. In time, the ticket inspector arrived, he politely asked for the remaining fare. Swamishri and the other sadhus looked at each other blankly, what could they do, they didn’t carry any money at all. They promised the ticket inspector that at Dadar station a devotee will come and pay for the extra fare because they don’t carry any money at all. This shows how firm Swamishri is in his discipline to follow the rules laid down by Maharaj. He does not carry a single rupee with him at any time. Of course, as promised, once they reached Bombay, a haribhakta paid the ticket inspector the remaining fee.
Swamishri often tells the sadhus why it is important to practice what you preach. Once he was asked by a reporter, “Why don’t you allow your sadhus to see women? If you looked at women then your religion would grow a lot more.” Swamibapa said, “We will never break our niyam of following in the stri-purush maryada.” He went on to explain that Maharaj has said that His sadhus should never keep the company of women. Since Maharaj has laid down that rule, they have always followed it. Swamishri told the reporter that if no one followed the religion because they didn’t look at women, then he and his sadhus would sit alone in the corner and do Satsang by themselves. From this we can see how firm Bapa is in following the rules laid down by Maharaj.
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