“Apne Khub Khub Nasibdar Chiye!!”
This is a statement that Pujya Jasuben always makes in all her discourses. We may not have understood the meaning of this in the early days, but as we have evolved within the satsang and gained spiritual experiences, we all truly understand and appreciate these words and how lucky we are to have been chosen by our Divine Holiness Param Pujya Pappaji.
As P. Jasuben continues her sadhna, let’s take a quick look at her incredible journey to date!
Pujya Jasuben was born in Amreli, Gujarat on 1 Nov 1933, to P.Ambaben and Maganjibhai within a Jain family. She was the youngest of seven children and was loved by all. She was truly someone special as on the night of her birth, the divas in the mandir were alight without anyone having ignited them, a sign that a great soul was being born. From an early age she had a lot of bhakti bhav and when doing aarti and puja would pray to God that one day she would realise God in human form.
She entered her married life on 14 Feb 1952, and the only thing she asked of from P. Jayantibhai, was that even if they should find God in a Muslim then they would change their religion and become Muslim themselves.
P. Jasuben had come into contact with the Swaminarayan religion through her maternal grandmother when she was younger and after marriage through her sister-in-law P.Ichhabhabhi. One day Param Pujya Yogiji Maharaj was at Kapodwadi and on seeing him something changed inside P. Jasuben and she thought that there must be something in this saint, only then would so many people be following him. She prayed that if you are truly God then forgive me for my negative thoughts. Afterwhich P. Jasuben would constantly keep asking herself, is He God? P.P. Bapa answered her prayers and appeared to her in a dream. In her dream she asked P.P. Bapa, ‘if you are a sadhu who does not look at a woman’s face how come you are sitting and talking to me, is that not sinful?’ P.P. Bapa replied, ‘I am not a sadhu, I am “Akshar” and you are not a woman, you are “Atma”. P. Jasuben at that moment understood that God resided within her and as she had now found The Supreme Lord in human form. She then changed her faith to Swaminarayan without a thought to how society would perceive her. She had found God and that was her only truth!
Her first meeting with Param Pujya Pappaji took place in 1962, when she came for blessings from Param Pujya Kakaji prior to taking her Hindi exam. However, P. Kakaji was not present and so P.P. Pappaji blessed her and gave her prashad. Everyday P. Jasuben would go to Tardev for seva and each time she would feel a divine force pulling her to P.P. Pappaji. So she prayed constantly from September to December 1962 to understand what was happening to her and on 5th December 1962, her soul was enlightened and she realized God in P.P. Pappaji. The very next day she went to Tardev and decided to test P.P. Pappaji, that if he truly is the One then he will open the front door to me, I will not knock but he will hear the call of my soul and open the door. P.P. Pappaji not only opened the front door but also the door to P. Jasuben’s spirituality.
Once she realized God in P.P. Pappaji’s form, she felt like she had wasted the last 10 years. One day P. Jyotiben did a discourse that if you feel that you have been left behind and you want to be one with God, then do more seva than others, pray harder than others and keep more faith in Him then others, and P. Jasuben took this up with zeal, and every free moment she had she would be at Tardev doing seva. In Tardev there were 4 flights of stairs made up of 84 steps. For P. Jasuben this was her spiritual yatra signifying the overcoming of Nat, Jat, Vasna and Swabhav. As She would climb the steps she would pray and take the dust from each step and put it over her head as these steps were used by P.P. Pappaji and all of his bhaktos.
Her faith in P.P. Pappaji grew with every experience one such example is that one day when she went to Tardev for seva, she left her youngest son P. Mahendrabhai, sleeping in his cot at home alone. Above the cot was a shelf with pots and pans on it, and whilst she was away one of the pots fell but it didn’t touch P. Mahendrabhai and he carried on sleeping! P. Jasuben had left him at home with complete faith that P.P. Pappaji would take care of him and He did! P.P. Pappaji through tests and experiences ensured that P. Jasuben and P. Jayantibhai though outwardly married lived a saintly life with their whole world revolving around the satsang. The bond between P.P. Pappaji and P. Jasuben was so strong that He would never start a pravachan until P. Jasuben arrived.
In 1965 P.P. Pappaji decided that the benos would move to Vidyanagar to continue their sadhna. On hearing this, P. Jasuben was devasted and wondered how she would survive without the benos and P.P. Pappaji. P. Jayantibhai and P. Jasuben both started praying that they may be granted to continue doing their seva. It was decided that a grahastha family should accompany them and P. Jasuben and P. Jayantibhai were selected to go with them. On 30th April 1966 together with their 4 children they left Mumbai for Vidyanagar amidst alot of opposition from their families. From 1966 to 1970 P. Jasuben served P.P. Pappaji and the benos with a lot of “ khap and garaj” She aspired to reach the same level of spirituality as Pujya Taraben, Pujya Jyotiben, Pujya Didi and Pujya Deviben and on 1st June 1970 she was ordained with the ‘bhagva vastra’ and given the number 41.
Param Pujya Pappaji had many tests for P. Jasuben. Not least that once she was ordained a Jyot sister, she had four young children whom she had to leave in another’s care. I believe for a mother, the hardest thing must be to see their children suffering or sad. If she saw one of them crying and felt maternal or said something to P.P. Pappaji then, P.P. Pappaji would say, ‘Where did the mother come from? I thought she had died’!! Her sadhna was very difficult and she was faced with many tests, but with all of them, she used prayers and her absolute faith in P.P. Pappaji, and passed all of them with flying colours and she is now regarded as Sadguru A and has reached the same spiritual level as the six motera sadgurus.
P. Jasuben today has many followers and has touched the hearts and souls of so many haribhaktos and changed their lives instilling unfaltering faith, devotion and mahatmya towards Param Pujya Pappaji and His muktos.
If you were to praise her today, she would say that I am nothing but a servant of his lord Param Pujya Pappaji Maharaj. May we all have the same strength, courage and faith in reaching our goal!
Author: Pujya Jayshreeben Vaghela