Shri Kasturilal of Delhi used to tell Shri Nathji:
Now-a-days it has become the fashion for mahatmas to travel abroad as if in search of a certificate of recognition, and then to flaunt their ‘success’ abroad before their fellow Indians at home. In the past, we had only foreign-returned graduates, now we have foreign-returned mahatmas as well. It has become a common feature for a mahatma in India to proceed abroad, to give a stunning performance at some world religious conference or another, to establish a following and an ashram there, and to return to India with funds, advertisement and multiplied pomposity. Shri Shri 108, so and so, has a tendency to turn into Shri Shri 1008 overnight!
They only added another zero to their titles, said Shri Nathji, laughingly.
Shri Nathji never said anything about any other mahatma, good or bad; though he would be greatly amused by the antics of many, who had turned spirituality into a farce.
Let each man follow his own path and do you follow yours, was his message, those who hunger after the limelight come into it. I have no desire for it. The whole world belongs to me!”
Shri Nathji was like an artist who had hidden himself after exhibiting his art. And now, he was wondering in the visitors’ gallery, mingling with the visitors, viewing his own art.
In a sense, it was a great joke on the world. God created the world and disappeared from sight. Only the world was visible. And later, he stepped into the world, and mingled with mortals to look at his own creation, like a stranger.