There was a Ramji temple in the village where Nilkanth Varni(Swaminarayan) rested. In the village, there were two daughters who would learn about Ramayan. One day the bawa who had requested Nilkanth to stay in his village could not answer the daughters’ questions. Nilkanth stepped in and satisfactorily answered their questions. The girls were pleased and went home to tell their parents. They wanted to invite Him to their house for dinner. Their father persuaded Neelkanth to come. Neelkanth came and ate dinner. Their father requested Him to stay longer to teach his son, Jairamdas since he wasn’t educated. Nilkanth agreed to stay for a few days and He taught Jairamdas scriptures and yoga.
Jairamdas’ friend, Krishna Tamboli, would come to have darshan of Nilkanth every day. He would often bring lotus fruits to Nilkanth. Nilkanth asked him, “From where do you bring these lotus fruits, they are sweet indeed.” Tamboli replied, “There is a lake near my house.” Nilkanth wanted Tamboli to take Him there, so that evening Nilkanth and Jairamdas met Tamboli at the lake and Tamboli had a raft ready for them. As they were sailing, Nilkanth asked if He could steer the raft. While He was steering, the wind changed direction and was headed toward the forest with the wild animals. Nilkanth told them that they should all get off and rest, but Jairamdas and Tamboli were scared.
As they entered the forest, they heard a loud noise and a black bear came running toward Nilkanth . As soon as Nilkanth looked into the bear’s eyes, it calmed down and bowed to Him. Tears began rolling down from its eyes. Nilkanth told the bear, “You will be redeemed, You shall attain Akshardham in a few days. Nilkanth explained that the bear was Jambavan in a previous life and could not recognize Ram so had to pass through cycles of births, but that today, he recognized Him as the supreme Lord.
