Acharya Maharaj was then in Ferozabad. The programme of his daily discourse and its subject were announced in advance. One day, the organisers put up a notice that the topic of the next day's discourse would be 'Atithi’. The next day, when people reached the meeting hall at the hour appointed for the discourse, they found that Maharaj had moved on.
People ran after him, using whatever means of transport they could find. When they caught up with him two or three miles from the town, they remonstrated with him, "Maharaj, you were scheduled to speak on the subject 'Atithi, but you have moved on without notice!" Maharaj had a good laugh and then said, “My dears, that is exactly what I am doing. ‘Atithi means one who has no predetermined dates of arrival and departure."
This explanation made people realise that by conducting himself like an 'atithi", Maharaj had shown them that there should be no gap between practice and precept. A true sermon has to be lived.
Ferozabad (1975)
- Atithi - A guest; one who arrives unannounced; tithi :date; atithi : without a date