Then there was the miraculous appearance of a certain nuclear scientist, Dr. Winick, who offered to play host to Priya Nath for a month, till the Harvard University’s dormitories opened. He took care of Priya Nath with the utmost of love and affection
and did everything in his power to entertain him and to be helpful to him. His wife would cook all manner of foods for Priya Nath and his children would play with him. He even had a dog, named Sweetie, who jumped with joy every time she saw Priya Nath. Dr. Winick was to remain constantly at the side of Priya Nath all throughout his stay in America. It was as if he had been especially deputed by Shri Nathji to look after Priya Nath.
When Priya Nath had joined the Harvard University dormitory, he found students who were so astonishingly good that they were virtually devtaas, angels, in human form. Priya Nath’s roommate, Kenneth Friedman, would urge Priya Nath to write letters home frequently, to mitigate homesickness.
Priya Nath was living on the 4th floor of Perkins Hall dormitory, and the telephone was on the ground floor. There was no lift in the building. Every time there would be a phone call for Priya Nath, a student on the ground floor would run up four flights of stairs to inform Priya Nath. This happened so many times that Priya Nath became convinced that the student was not moving of his own volition but was being made to do so by a higher power–that of Shri Nathji.
Priya Nath had never seen so many good and helpful people before, all working for his benefit. Priya Nath knew that behind the working of each and every favourable event, behind the kindly smiles of each and every friend, behind the musical notes of every symphony orchestra, was the love of Shri Nathji.
Shri Nathji was looking after Priya Nath in an invisible way. It was the first time in his life that Priya Nath had been separated from Shri Nathji across oceans, and Priya Nath was feeling with great intensity the meaning of Shri Nathji’s verse:
Jidhar dekhtaa hoon jahaan dekhtaa hoon
Main teri hee hasti ayaan dektaa hoon
No matter where I look, no matter what I see,
It is Thy Existence, and only Thee
It took some time for Priya Nath to adjust himself to living without Shri Nathji and Mateshwari in America. For a long time after he had come from London, the thought of Shri Nathji and Mateshwari brought an ache to his heart. Mateshwari’s weak health filled him with great worry. He could neither eat nor sleep with ease. Shri Nathji’s loving voice kept on echoing in his mind, calling out to him with great affection: “Piyaji!”
Priya Nath was very concerned about the conditions in which he had left Shri Nathji behind at London. He had hoped to earn in America and send money to Shri Nathji, but he discovered that the assistantship that he had been given by Harvard University was a mere pittance, barely sufficient for him to pay the fees. There was nothing that he could send Shri Nathji just then.
Priya Nath would be possessed with worry for Shri Nathji. Karai was living with Shri Nathji in London, and doing whatever he could, but he was unreliable and susceptible to sudden brain waves. What if he, too, deserted Shri Nathji, just like K.L. Jalie had done? All these thoughts would not let Priya Nath rest in peace. He would often take up a pen and paper and begin writing to Shri Nathji and Mateshwari. Since Priya Nath had always lived with Shri Nathji and Mateshwari all his life he had never had an occasion to write a letter to them, and did not know how to begin, apart from saying “Dear Pitiji and Mo”.