On June 23, 1977, there was the scene of a rickshaw racing down the Mall Road, Mussoorie, Shri Nathji and Priya Nath reclining in the seat, four coolies pulling, and a lone figure running down the road, ahead of the rickshaw–Shri K.H. Chati.
They reach Savoy Hotel. There are Raja Kasmanda, Maharaja Sarila, old neighbours sitting next to Shri Nathji. There is the veteran Sikh leader of Mussoorie–Sardar Harnam Singh, sitting with his friend, Sardar Inder Singh. A western orchestra is in attendance, playing:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, DEAR BHOLA NATHJI MAHARAJ.”
It is the first time in Shri Nathji’s life that such lines have been sung for him on his birthday.
There is tea and delicious food. There are the devotees from Punjab, Delhi, and Maharashtra, saying together in unison: Bhola Nathji Bhagwan Ki Jai!
There are the eatables, and everyone partaking of them. The rich and the poor sit together and partake of a material food become spiritual. It is an unusual birthday celebration. A strange combination of the East and the West.
Priya Nathji is celebrating Swamji’s birthday, says Maharaja Sarila to Raja Kasmanda.
Shri Gopi Nath Kunzru, the renowned advocate of U.P., arrives for Shri Nathji’s birthday and recites the Urdu verse:
Muddat se muntazar thhee nigaah jiske noor ki,
Ab aa gayi hai shubh gharri uske zahoor ki
He, whose Glory the eyes had awaited since long,
Has been revealed in a moment of Glory sublime
And then there is the powerful lecture in the large hall of the hotel–where the gentry of Mussoorie combine with the devotees of Shri Nathji to listen in enthralled silence. At 75, Shri Nathji is as active as he was as a youth. His body appears frail, but there is the same fire of youth in his voice, the same magnetic charm in his personality. The divine glow on his face is as powerful as it was in the days of his youth.
The celebration is over. And there is that eternal wave of happiness at Savitri Nivas.
Five days of heavenly bliss showers down upon the devotees of Nagpur. There is the ebullient Dr. Garg and his daughter, there is the Raut family from Nagpur, the poor postmaster Deo who wants to donate his land for Mahamateshwari’s temple, and, indeed, others lost in a land of spiritual enchantment, amongst which are Mrs. Vig of Allahabad, Mr. and Mrs. Talwar and Mr. and Mrs. Bahl of Delhi. Each one of them has a history of association with Shri Nathji.