Bhagatji Maharaj
Bhagatji Maharaj (20 March 1829 – 7 November 1897), born as Pragji Bhakta,[1][2] was a householder devotee in the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, a Hindu denomination.
[3]: 100 Through his discourses he was instrumental in propagating the belief that Swaminarayan was Purushottam, the Supreme Being, and that his own guru, Gunatitanand Swami, was Akshar, the divine abode of God.
[7]: 56 The extraordinary spiritual service and unflinching devotion towards his guru elevated him to an exalted standing among devotees of the Swaminarayan sect both past and present.
He would often indulge in childish pranks like selling an ornamental portion of his mother's sari, on one occasion, to feed a group of swamis, that were evidence of his spirited good nature.
Due to his devotional nature, the young Pragji was chosen to perform the welcoming pujan rites of the two eminent spiritual leaders.
[3]: 238–241 In addition to his dedication to obtaining spiritual knowledge from his new guru, Pragji implicitly obeyed Gunatitanand Swami's every command, living with great humility and devotion.
[6]: 12 Pragji's talents as a tailor also came to the fore in the course of his spiritual service, most notably when he stitched together sheets of cloth during a thunderstorm to create an umbrella for Gunatitanand Swami.
[6]: 13 On another occasion, Gunatitanand Swami asked Pragji to make a large cloth canopy to cover the assembly hall, without providing him any funds for the project.
These tests always carried an underlying spiritual message and would usually end in an apothegm from Pragji that was indicative of his superior understanding of Gunatitanand Swami's teachings.
[6]: 10 For instance, when Gunatitanand Swami bestowed upon him a boon to attain wealth, Pragji responded that there was no happiness to be derived from worldly or material pleasures.
[6]: 10 Through other similar experiences, Gunatitanand Swami slowly revealed to Pragji that he was the manifest form of God's divine abode (Mul Akshar).
Yagnapurushdas, already surprised upon seeing this feat, was further impressed when Bhagatji Maharaj spontaneously addressed his incredulity and unspoken question with the phrase, "One who is wise has innumerable eyes".
[6]: 65 Bhagatji Maharaj's life epitomized that liberation was not dependent on caste or social status, but rather on detachment, devotion to God, spiritual realization and the grace of the God-realized guru.
[6]: 13–14 Despite a simple background and minimal formal education, Bhagatji Maharaj attained a spiritually elevated state that was widely recognized amongst both his followers and his antagonists.
[4] For the followers of BAPS, Bhagatji Maharaj serves as an ideal for attaining a heightened spiritual state, which was possible due to his devoted service to please his guru Gunatitanand Swami.
