Introduction to The Gnani
One June evening, in 1958 at around six o’clock, Ambalal
Muljibhai Patel, a family man, and a contractor by profession,
was sitting on a bench on the busy platform number three at
Surat’s train station. Surat is a city in south Gujarat, a western
state in India. What happened within the next forty-eight minutes
was phenomenal. Spontaneous Self-realization occurred within
Ambalal M. Patel. During this event, his ego completely melted
and from that moment onwards, he became completely detached
from all of Ambalal’s thoughts, speech, and actions. He became
the Lord’s living instrument for the salvation of humankind, through
the path of knowledge. He called this Lord, ‘Dada Bhagwan.’
To everyone he met, he would say, “This Lord, Dada Bhagwan
is fully manifested within me. He also resides within all living
beings. The difference is that within me He is completely ex-
pressed and in you, he has yet to manifest.”
Who are we? What is God? Who runs this world? What
is karma? What is liberation? Etc. All the world’s spiritual ques-
tions were answered during this event. Thus, nature offered
absolute vision to the world through the medium of Shree Ambalal
Muljibhai Patel.
Ambalal was born in Tarasali, a suburb of Baroda and
was later raised in Bhadran, Gujarat. His wife’s name was Hiraba.
Although he was a contractor by profession, his life at home and
his interactions with everyone around him were exemplary, even
prior to his Self-realization. After becoming Self-realized and
attaining the state of a Gnani, (The Awakened One, Jnani in
Hindi), his body became a ‘public charitable trust.’
Throughout his entire life, he lived by the principle that
there should not be any commerce in religion, and in all com-
merce, there must be religion. He also never took money from
anyone for his own use. He used the profits from his business
to take his devotees for pilgrimages to various parts of India.
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