At age fifteen, he married Hiraba. Soon after,
Hiraba lost one of her eyes due to an infection. Several years
passed and people would goad Ambalal into remarrying since Hiraba
had a defect, and also because they did not have any children.
Ambalal was very categorical in his response: " No! I have
vowed to take care of her in the presence of the sacred fire!
I will keep that promise until my last breath. I would care
for her even if she lost both her eyes!"
He was a remarkable husband to Hiraba and never once did they
quarrel or have a dispute in all their years together.
He lived a very simple life. Despite
running a successful business, he took home an amount equivalent
only to a salary of a non-matriculate person ! He left the profits
untouched and told his business partner that he was free to take
the profit to pay towards expenses of his daughter's marriage and
his other needs. He would also take people on pilgrims at his own
expense; he never took a single penny from anyone for his
personal use.
His awareness about his practice of ahimsa was so
profound that whenever he came home late at night, he would remove
his shoes and walk bare feet so as not to startle and wake the
sleeping dogs in the alley.
He viewed the worldly life in a very different
light. "From a very young age, I could see the world's
horrible nature. Danger lies in every moment, and there are
problems and miseries every moment. That is why I do not become
overly zealous or interested in anything. You never know when you
will die, do you?". He was constantly preoccupied with
virtuous contemplation and spiritual higher thinking. In his search
for eternal truth and Self-realization, he read extensively
scriptures of all the worldly religions. He was very impressed by
all the writings of the Gnani Purush Shrimad Rajchandra. He
said that had he would have made Shrimad his guru, had he met him
in person.
In
search of the Self, he endured much penance:
"I used to let even the bed bugs bite me. I would tell the
bug, ' Now that you are here, eat a full meal. Do not leave
hungry'. This body of mine is a hotel; It is such that all must
feel comfortable and none be hurt through it. This was the business
of my 'hotel'. Thus, I have even fed bed bugs. Would anyone fine me
if I did not? No! My sole intent was to attain the Self. I
constantly observed the rules of not eating after dark, not eating
root crops and drank boiled water. I had left no stone
unturned in my spiritual efforts and therefore
Akram Vignan came forth, a science that will purify the whole
world. "
