By Shastriji Maharaj’s grace, I had the chance to study, serve in the mandirs and serve him personally. When I travelled with Swami in those days, I would help to bathe him, cook, serve food and in other ways. We all slept in one room. In the summer, there was little electricity and few fans, so, when Shastriji Maharaj was resting, we fanned him by hand all afternoon.
We all slept in the room, but I slept the nearest. Swami did not normally get up in the night to use the bathroom. Even when he sometimes did, he would not wake me.
He would call me ‘Naranda’ or ‘Narayanmuni’. I spoke little from the beginning, so he called me ‘Muni’. When he wrote letters to me, he would address me as ‘Shastri Narayanswarupdas’.
When serving him, I would get ready before him. I would awake at 5.30 a.m. Go to mangala arti and get ready. By then, Swami would wake up. In his later years, we arranged for his bath. Swami’s room was here and we had to go all the way to the kitchen to get hot water. Sometimes I had to kindle the stove. Often it happened that somebody else would take the water heated for Swami.
When Swami performed puja, we sat for darshan. At that time, there was no tradition of singing bhajans in puja. We cooked for Swami in the kitchen, where all the other cooking was also done. In his later years, we made dal, rice, shak and rotli separately for him. He rarely ate sweet items. If there was mesub, jalebi or puranpoli, he would take a little. He ate only a little food. He would take a little from Thakorji’s prasad at 4.00 p.m.
When he fell ill, he preferred the treatment of traditional vaidyas. Only towards the end did he take other medicines.
Truly, all of Swami’s actions were divine.