THE CHILDHOOD YEARS…Pramukh Swami Maharaj

 
THE CHILDHOOD YEARS…Pramukh Swami Maharajwas born in a very small village called Chansad on 7 December 1921 (Magshar sud 8, Vikram Samvat 1978). His father’s name was Motilal Prabhudas Patel, and his mother’s name was Diwaliba Patel, who came from the village of Menpur. Motibhai was in regular contact with Shastriji Maharaj, while Diwaliba’s family had been satsangis since the time of Bhagatji Maharaj. Motibhai and Diwaliba decided to name their child Shantilal, meaning peace. Shantilal had nine siblings, of whom four passed away at a young age. Shantilal was the youngest. Shantilal started doing daily puja from the age of seven. His first puja was presented to him by Nana Akshar Swami.
As a child, young Shantilal excelled in his studies. When he began studying in Padra, a village 6 km from Chansad, he would insist on lgetting there early. After school hours, Shantilal spent his free time at one of three mandirs: Hanuman Gadhi Mandir, Satyanarayan Mandir and Swaminarayan Mandir. It was at the Swaminarayan Mandir that Shantilal would sit and listen to Haridas Bawaji’s tales of Haridwar and Rishikesh. Listening to these tales made Shantilal want to go to these places with his best friend, coincidentally also called Shantilal.
As well as studies.

singing bhajans and offering bhakti, Shantilal loved sports. Cricket and swimming in particular were his favourite. Cricket was introduced to the village of Chansad by a government worker called Ramlal. He had bought a bat, ball and stumps and taught the children how to play. Roughly a year later, Ramlal was transferred elsewhere and he took the equipment with him. The children decided to get together and raised Rs. 500, quite a substantial sum in those days, for new equipment. All the children appointed Shantilal and Shankarlal to go to Vadodara.