In the Samvat year 1876 on the thirteenth day of the bright half of the month of Magh at the time of sun-set. Swami Shree Sahajanandji Maharaj was seated facing the west on a wooden bedstead laid on the platform under the neem tree in front of the temple of Shree Vasudev Narayan in the Durbar of Dada Khachar in Gadhada. He had put on all white garments. Saints and devotees from various places had gathered before him in an assembly. Two torches were lighted before Him. The evening prayer was over and chanting of the name of Narayan was also finished.
Then Shreeji Maharaj said, “Listen to me carefully. I want to tell you something.” Thereupon all the saints and devotees said, “Please tell us Maharaj.”
Then Shreeji Maharaj said. “A devotee of God after finishing the pooja [formal worship] of God must always pray to Him. ‘0 God, my Lord. O inexhaustible ocean of mercy. O savior of those who seek your shelter, kindly save me from the company of evil persons.’ Now who are the evil persons? There are four kinds of evil persons : 1. Kundapanthi [followers of a sect which propagated debauchery]. 2. Shaktipanthi [followers of a sect devoted to goddess of Shakti – power], 3. Shushka Vedanti [followers of the barren Vedant philosophy] , and 4. Nastik [atheists]. The Kundapanthi causes a person to fall from the path of virtue by tempting him to break his sacred vows. The Shaktipanthi makes a person eat meat and drink wine, and thus causes him to fall from the path of moral integrity. The Shushka Vedanti tries to falsify, the divine abode of God and His divine image, and His other images of His various incarnations and thus makes the devotee to falter from his devotion and service unto God. The atheist tries to disprove the very existence of God, Bhagawan Shree Krishna. He tries to establish the supremacy of Karma (the actions and the consequences of one’s past deeds]. He will make the person alter from the path laid down by the holy scriptures. Therefore you must pray to God. ‘O God, please save me from the company of these four kinds of evil persons. You must also pray to Him. ‘O God. please save me from the antahshatrus [enemies within] like lust, anger, avarice. infatuation, ego. jealousy and attachment to the physical body. Please grant me forever the company only of your devotees.’ You must .always pray to God like this, and always be afraid of evil persons and the internal enemies”.
