Gopal Krishna Gokhale had spent his childhood in abject poverty. With great difficulty he managed to complete his schooling. All seemed to be lost when it was time to get into a college. His family had no money to pay for the expenses of his higher education.

Seeing his keen interest in studies, his elder brother Shri Govind Rao gave him courage to apply to college. Brother's wife was even more benevolent. She went ahead and paid for the initial college fees by selling some of her gold jewellery. Govind Rao used to earn Rs 15 a month but he was determined to provide for his younger brother's higher education. He would keep Rs 8 for himself and send the remaining Rs 7 to Gokhale ji.

When Gokhale ji completed his education he got a job for Rs 35 a month. He was filled with respect for his elder brother's sacrifice and love for him. So he also used to keep Rs 11 for himself and send off Rs 24 to his brother. Elder brother used to tell him again and again to keep all the money and live comfortably. But the money Gokhale ji used to send was not for paying back the money he received but was an offering of affection towards his loving brother and his family.

Whom the Lord himself goes to meet

"Arjuna! We need to go and meet a great spiritual sadhak today", said Shri Krishna while boarding the chariot. Arjuna asked, "Who is this great being in this wilderness whom you wish to meet so eagerly? Isn't that person sage Shakalya, who has earned fame for his sincere, intense penance?"

Sage Shakalya used to live in a cave in deep jungle. An old forester used to spend a lot of his time in the upkeep of the sage's cave. Every day he would gather fruits and woods around the jungle for the sage and clean the premises. Then he would pay obeisance to the sage and leave. This would go on day after day irrespective of whether it was hot or cold or raining heavily. The earnest efforts of the old forester was not unnoticed by the sage. One day he had finally asked the old man, "Why do you do this service for me so devotedly?" The old man had replied, "My father on his death bed had told me that to be able to serve a great spiritual saint is a great fortune; never let that opportunity go by. I am fortunate to find you, I am sure God would be happy because of my sincere service." The sage had then asked, "What would you ask for if God were to  appear before you?" "Whatever I want I already have. There is no dearth for fruits and food to eat in this jungle. I do a lot of hard work and so I am perfectly healthy. My sons are very devoted to me. I earnestly help the needy and the sick, so I am very happy, I don't need anything."

Today sage Shakalya saw this old forester again. He told him that Lord Krishna is in the jungle along with Arjuna. The old man was delighted to know and said, "You are a great saint, I am sure they would be visiting you. Please allow me to come, I desire to see them." The sage smiled and told him, "It is not for me but for you that Lord Krishna is coming to the jungle. He would be visiting you in your small hut. Please do me a favour, request the Lord to come to my cave also while returning!"

When Lord Krishna told Arjuna that he planned to visit a simple old forester and not the sage, he was simply taken aback. Krishna smiled and said, "Man has three means for spiritual upliftment, his intellect, his heart and feelings, and his physical body. Those who have attached their intellect to me come to visit me at Indraprastha. Those who have attached their feelings to me by becoming my sincere devotees, I go running to them. Today we are going to meet a very rare person who has perfected the sadhana of the physical body. He is not very intelligent, nor has any evolved feelings, but he has deployed his body into labour - intense physical labour. That is his sadhana. His one aim in life is to help the needy and serve the suffering men. When the physical existence has been completely trained, would the evolution of consciousness and attainment of bliss be too far behind?"

When the two reached the old man's hut they saw the wonderful scene of the old forester serving a suffering man. Lord Krishna became his assistant in the great humanitarian work. When he realized that none other than the Lord himself has come to visit him, he could not believe his eyes. Lord Krishna blessed him and said go to the sage Shakalya and tell him I would visit him. The old forester ran to the sage's cave to convey the message. What else could the sadhak of the physical body ask for other than the task for his physical body assigned by the Lord himself!