'Keep the 'i' Small'

Once, a sadhu gave a notepad and pen to Swamishri and requested, "Swamishri, will you please write in English, 'I bless you'."

Swamishri normally writes only in Gujarati but on this occasion he put pen to paper and wrote the words as they were being spelt out by the sadhu. When Swamishri finished writing, he pulled the piece of paper and gave it to the sadhu. Swamishri had written: i BLESS YOU.

The sadhu said to Swamishri, "Swamishri, in English we use capital letters only for the first letter in a sentence or for 'I'. But you have written all the letters in capitals and left the 'I' small!" Swamishri looked at the sadhu and said, "In Satsang, we must always keep the 'i' small."

The incident tells us a lot about Swamishri's deep felt emotions. Though he is the President of Shri Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha and has a spiritual following of thousands of people, in his every action he is ego-free. Egoless-ness is the hallmark of a great sadhu.