Nilkanthvarni meets his guru Shree Ramanand Swami

Shree Ramanand Swami was Shree Muktanand Swami’s guru. He returned from Bhuj, Kutch and met Shree Nilkanthvarni for the first time at a village called Piplana.

At that time, a merchant from Sindh was just entering the village. He felt an amazing sense of peace in his heart and was convinced that this was because within the village either God himself or a divine being was there. He decided he would find out, and entered the village and asked around. The merchant hurried to the assembly and saw Shree Ramanand Swami seated and next to him, Shree Nilkanthvarni seated on the ground.

As soon as Shree Nilkanthvarni looked up at the merchant, the merchant fell into a trance. In this trance, the merchant saw Shree Nilkanthvarni seated upon His divine throne, with Shree Ramanand Swami bowing and praying to Shree Nilkanthvarni. When the merchant awoke from the trance, he said “You Hindus are very strange. The one you call God is seated on the floor, while his disciple sits on a throne!”. Shree Ramanand Swami replied that it is a Hindu tradition that God sits on a throne, but at this time, Shree Nilkantvarni is acting as a devotee and behaves just like a devotee. The merchant understood, and bowed first to Shree Nilkantvarni, then to Shree Ramanand Swami, then left the assembly.

It was here, that Shree Nilkanthvarni was initiated as a Sant. Shree Nilkanthvarni was given the names Sahajanand Swami and Narayanmuni by Shree Ramanand Swami.

Shree Ramanand Swami and Shree Sahajanand Swami spread religious teachings together for over a year travelling from village to village in Northern India.