Guru Bhakti

Yogiji Maharaj used to eat only once a day. Moreover, every third day he observed a fast. Even on days of fasting, he would carry his luggage on his own head while visiting villages in the company of Shastriji Maharaj, whether it was in the scorching heat of the summer or the biting cold of the winter. He would pass the whole day in the service of others. Owing to such incessant heavy work he developed a hernia.
In the year V.S. 1993, Dr. Aspinol, a surgeon attached to the Rajkot Hospital was consulted. After examining Yogiji Maharaj he said, "Swamiji, you will have to undergo an operation. This cannot be cured by medicine." And so on a request from Shastriji Maharaj, Hirjibhai reserved a special room in the Rajkot Hospital for the operation. At the time, Shastriji Maharaj was also under medical treatment at Gondal. Still, he came to Rajkot the day before the operation. Though it was winter and very cold, Shastriji Maharaj as usual, got up early in the morning, and after finishing his morning puja went to the hospital without delay. As he entered the hospital premises the attendants were carrying Yogiji Maharaj on a stretcher to the operating theatre.
On seeing Shastriji Maharaj, Yogiji Maharaj was overcome with joy. He folded his hands in reverence. Shastriji Maharaj then blessed him. After this, Yogiji Maharaj was taken to the operating theatre. The doctor conducted the operation very skillfully. When the operation was over, Yogiji Maharaj was carried back on a stretcher to his room in the hospital. Yogiji Maharaj had brought the murti of Shri Harikrishna Maharaj to the hospital and had placed it on a table in front of his bed. The devotees were all sitting on the floor around the bed. Shastriji Maharaj was sitting on a chair in front of the bed and chanting with rosary in hand. After about two hours the effect of the anesthetic subsided. Yogiji Maharaj stirred in his bed and opened his eyes. Shastriji Maharaj was sitting right in front of him and smiling softly. Immediately Yogiji Maharaj folded his hands in reverence and asked the devotees sitting nearby in low voice, "Has milk been served to Shastriji Maharaj?"
The question came as a surprise to the devotees. They all felt that Yogiji could not be said to have been unconscious during the operation, but in a trance. It was a state in which he remembered the Guru always, and at all times!
Yogiji Maharaj was, so to say, the personal attendant of Shastriji Maharaj at Gondal. There he served him daily with milk, medicine, etc. When he awoke the first thing he remembered was his duty to his Guru. How unique was his devotion and kinship with his Guru!