Yogiji Maharaj used to eat only once a day. Moreover, every third day he observed a fast. Even when fasting in the scorching heat of the summer, he would carry all the luggage on his head while visiting villages in the company of Shastriji Maharaj. He would spend the whole day in the service of others. Owing to such incessant heavy work he developed a hernia.
In the year 1937 CE (V.S. 1993), Dr. Aspinol, an English surgeon at Rajkot Hospital, was consulted. After examining Yogiji Maharaj he said, “Swamiji, you will have to undergo an operation.” And so, on the instructions of Shastriji Maharaj, Hirjibhai reserved a special room in the Rajkot Hospital for Yogiji Maharaj.
At the time, Shastriji Maharaj was also under medical treatment in Gondal. Still, he came to Rajkot before the day of 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 he put on his pagh and went to the hospital without delay. As he entered the hospital premises the attendants were taking 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 blessed him and Yogiji Maharaj was taken into the operating theatre. The doctor performed the operation very skilfully. 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 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 was chanting with a mala in hand. After about two hours the effect of the anaesthetic 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 a low voice, “Has milk been served to Shastriji Maharaj?”
The question came as a surprise to the devotees and to Dr. Aspinol. They felt, “This sadhu was not unconscious. This yogi must have been in a divine trance. Only then is it possible to remember the guru on waking.”
Yogiji Maharaj was, at the time, the personal attendant of Shastriji Maharaj at Gondal. There he served him milk and medicine daily. When he awoke the first thing he remembered was his duty to his guru. How unique was his devotion to his guru!