A Buffalo is Granted the Ability to Recite the Vedas

After remaining in Vadtal for two days, the supreme Lord Shree Swaminarayan went to the village of Umreth and remained at the temple of Jagannath Mahadev. The faith had not yet spread to this region. Furthermore, the population of the part of the state comprised mainly of staunch Brahmins. When the Brahmins saw Shree Hari at their village temple, they got together to decide what they should do. They concluded that only if the Lord showed some kind of miracle, they would consider Him to be God. They went to the Lord and sat down before Him. Shree Hari started talking to them all about what one should do in order to be granted salvation. Somebody then spoke out, “Salvation can only be granted by Shankar Swami because he was able to make a buffalo recite the Vedas. If You do the same, we will believe that You are God.”

Shree Hari replied, “It is impossible for a buffalo to recite the Vedas. However, someone who is a complete simpleton is referred to as being like a buffalo. If you want to hear the Vedas being recited by a buffalo, then bring such a completely illiterate Brahmin to Me.” Everyone agreed to Shree Hari’s compromise. They decided that the most appropriate person to bring to Shree Hari was a Brahmin by the name of Harishankar. He was a completely uneducated simpleton. Furthermore, he stuttered when he spoke and his pronunciation of words made it near impossible to understand what he was trying to say. The Brahmins brought Harishankar to Shree Hari and said, “Here! Make him recite the Vedas.”

Shree Hari’s compassionate gaze fell upon Harishankar and He commanded, “Scholar Harishankar! Recite the Vedas.” As soon as Shree Hari spoke these words, Harishankar started to recite verses from the Vedas. In the same manner that the River Ganges flows continuously, a constant, fluent flow of verses emitted from the mouth of Harishankar. His pronunciation of each syllable was flawless; in fact, he could have been mistaken for a great scholar of Kashi. Not even they could recite the Vedas so clearly and eloquently. The Brahmins were completely astounded. Many of them were eminent scholars in their own rights, but they had to confess that not even they could recite the Vedas in the way that Harishankar had just done. This illiterate simpleton, Harishankar had indeed put them to shame.

Recognising Shree Hari’s incomparable prowess, the Brahmins fell at Shree Hari’s feet and pleaded, “Oh Maharaj! You are indeed the supreme Lord. We did not realise Your immense greatness. Have mercy on us and accept us as Your disciples.” News of this miraculous event swiftly spread throughout the village. Consequently, many people came for Shree Hari’s darshan and were pleased to become His disciples. It was impossible to perform the Vartman ceremony to all these people individually, so Shree Hari asked for a pot of water to be brought to Him. He then sprinkled the water over everyone and declared, “I have given initiation to everyone upon whom this water has fallen. From now on, you must abide by the five sacred commandments. If you do, I will grant you salvation.”

These stubborn Brahmins had a nature of not relenting about anything. However, seeing the unsurpassed prowess of Shree Hari, even they became convinced of His supremacy. They all requested Shree Hari to visit their homes. Seeing the sincere sentiments of all these Brahmins, Shree Hari remained in Umreth for seven days.

After convincing the Brahmins of Umreth about His divinity, Shree Hari went to Vadtal, Changa and then reached the village of Moraj. Here, Shree Hari remained at the home of Gokaldas Gadhvi. Gokaldas had an addiction to opium. From the moment that Shree Hari set foot in his home, Gokaldas stopped taking the drug and hid the narcotic in such a place that no-one would even be able to smell its presence in the house. The disciple was a decent man, but unfortunately, he had become addicted to this drug. Shree Hari remained at his home for five days. For the duration, Barot Amthabhai, Jekaranbhai and some others were given the opportunity of serving Shree Hari. On the fifth day, when Shree Hari prepared to leave, Gokaldas performed adoration to Him with fragrant sandalwood paste, auspicious coloured powder and flowers. Furthermore, he presented Shree Hari with a donation of 500 rupees. Shree Hari thought, ‘this man is a genuine disciple, but he just has one minor flaw; his addiction. I will free him from his inappropriate compulsion’.

Shree Hari placed His hand on Gokaldas’s head and said, “Gadhvi! You have served Me well. Now it is My turn to serve you.” This startled Gokaldas. He pleaded, “Maharaj! It is our duty to serve You, but it is inappropriate for You to serve us.” Shree Hari replied, “You are a decent disciple. However, there is one flaw in you, which will cause a hindrance in your attainment of salvation. That is, your addiction to opium.”

Shree Hari explained the dangers of taking opium and other drugs. “No-one trusts a person who has addictions because such a person will do anything to fulfil his compulsions. They are renowned as people who steal to provide for their addictions. Even if someone else commits a crime, it will be the addicted person who will be blamed in the first instance. People will say that they have stolen from us to buy the drugs that they are addicted to. Opium makes people’s mouths smell foul; even their blood becomes vitiated. In simple terms, opium is a kind of poison. In the long term, it has a severely deleterious affect to one’s health.”

Gokaldas realised that as a consequence of such an addiction, his health will be ruined, his money will be wasted and most importantly, he will be prevented from attaining salvation. He fell down at Shree Hari’s feet and said, “Maharaj! From now, I will never consume opium.” The Gadhvi had a genuine love for the Lord and from that day, he stopped taking drugs. Seeing the unreserved compulsion of the disciple to abide by His wishes, Shree Hari became extremely pleased.