4.2. Arrival in Gujarat

[Full title: Bhagavān Svāminārāyaṇa and His Tradition (2): Arrival in Gujarat]

Trudging northwards, He arrived in Saurāṣṭra, Gujarat, on Śrāvaṇa vād 6, Saṃvata 1856 (21.8.1799 CE), after seven years and over 12,000 km of arduous traveling. In the village Loja, He finally received a satisfactory explanation about the five realities, from a humble sādhu named Muktānanda Svāmī. He was the acting head of an ashram (monastery) belonging to Svāmī Rāmānanda, a notable religious leader in Saurāṣṭra.^[1] Nīlakaṇṭha’s heart finally warmed on observing the purity and the strict disciplinary codes of brahmacārī of the sādhus. Joining this sādhu order, He served humbly by washing clothes, utensils, collecting cow dung for fuel, and begging alms. He also taught aṣṭāṃga-yoga to the sādhus including Muktānanda. The young Brahmacārī’s divinity affected them profoundly.

Nine months later, Rāmānanda Svāmī arrived from his touring. To his followers, he had long proclaimed himself as a drumbeater in a play, heralding the chief player's arrival. That player had arrived in the form of Nīlakaṇṭha. Rāmānanda Svāmī initiated Nīlakaṇṭha, renaming Him Sahajānanda Svāmī and Nārāyaṇa Muni. One year later, in 1802 CE, Rāmānanda Svāmī, ceremoniously appointed twenty-one-year-old Sahajānanda Svāmī as the Head of the Fellowship.^[2]