C.F. Andrews visit to gurukul and friendship with swami Ji brought him contact with Rabindranath Tagore and especially Mahatma Gandhi. When in 1913-1914 Gandhi asked Gokhale to collect funds to support South Africa Satyagraha, the gurukul has responded admirably, by foregoing some extra food and doing manual work at dam construction site students collected 1500 rupees for the fund. Gandhi wrote a personal letter of thanks to Munshiram, telling him how C.F. Andrews description of the gurukul and its principal made him want to visit him soon. When the pupils of the phoenix ashram came to India, they spent several months at the gurukul, and in April 1915 Mahatama Gandhi himself arrived of his first visit. He said,’I am worthy of teaching anybody, but I yearn to learn myself from any one who is a servant of his country. (BIO p-368-373)