While the above spiritual scene was in progress, there was the sound of weeping. R. R. Khanna entered the room along with his wife and an old lady who was in tears. The old lady fell at Shri Nathji’s feet and wept copiously while R. R. Khanna explained.
They had just come from King George Hospital. The old lady’s son, Raja Jagat, lay lifeless in the hospital with a host of doctors attending upon him. Friends and relatives of the Raja had converged upon the hospital. The old lady had been at the side of her son whilst doctors searched for signs of life. The body had lain unattended on a lonely road for several hours after an accident. Raja Jagat had been knocked down from his motorcycle. Doctors feared that there might have been concussion of the brain.
R. R. Khanna was also at the Hospital enquiring after Raja Jagat. There he had met the distraught mother. He had said to her: Mataji! I can take you to a place where you might be granted your sons’s life! Catch hold of Shri Nathji’s feet and don’t leave them until he says ‘Yes’.
R. R. Khanna prayed to Shri Nathji to listen to the old lady’s prayers. The woman would not leave his feet, nor would she stop weeping.
Say that he will live! she cried.
Shri Nathji spoke to her for a while, and a peace descended over her.
Tell me, Mataji, Shri Nathji said, do you not feel at peace within?
The old lady appeared surprised: You are right! A sudden peace has flooded my soul! O Nathji! Grant me the life of my son! I will do anything for you! My wealth, my estate, my family, all are at your feet!
Shri Nathji said: “Go to the hospital. Your son is well. The peace you have just experienced is a forerunner of that news.
When Mr. Khanna and the old lady returned to the hospital, they heard people congratulating each other. The Raja had regained consciousness and had even uttered a few words. The doctors had pronounced him out of danger. He was to stay in hospital for a few days only.
The old lady returned to Shri Nathji’s darbaar in the morning in a state of great happiness. She brought with herself a box of cardamoms and placed them at Shri Nathji’s feet, bowing low before him and thanking him for saving her son’s life. She touched Shri Nathji’s feet and said:
What may I do for you now that you have saved the life of my son?
Shri Nathji said smilingly: Mataji, yesterday you were saying that everything that you owned belonged to me, and today you are asking me what I would require of you! Surely he who could give you the life of your son could also give you a greater wealth and a greater estate than what you possess. I have no need for these!
The old lady realised how thankless she had been, and immediately said: O Nathji! Everything that I own is yours! I am offering my entire State to you just now! I will write this on a piece of paper! Please accept it! Not even my entire State could have brought my son back to life. What you have given is priceless! Please do not refuse my offering or I shall never forgive myself!
Shri Nathji, who had been testing the old lady, immediately said:
Mataji, I accept the State you have offered me! Now I wish to give it back to you–with the injunction that you should rule it for me! Use everything that you own with the thought that it all belongs to God.
Raja Jagat never tired of telling people that it was Shri Nathji who had saved his life. Later when he got married, his wife, Rani Pritam Kaur, became one of the greatest of Shri Nathji’s devotees.
Shri Nathji had illustrated one of the most important principles of a spiritual life. A person had to live in the world, accepting it as a gift from God, and using the world as if it were given to him by God to use.
Shri Nathji used to say:
If you love this world as a gift from God you will see God in all its phases, but if you love this world as your own possession, it will only bring you grief. Storms and infernos shall appear to come your way, and threaten your very existence, in a world which you see as your own, bereft of God.
Shri Nathji would also say:
Yaa to iss duniyaa se dil hataa kar Bhagwan se lagaa lo –
Aur yaa iss duniyaa men Bhagwan ko dekh kar iske har paihlu se muhabbat karnaa seekh lo.”
“Either take your heart away from the world and give it to God–
Or else try to see God in the world, and love every face that it presents
Shri Nathji had illustrated the above saying in his meeting with Barrister Dwarka Nath at Jullunder in 1929, when the barrister had offered him roses, and Shri Nathji had said: “I am looking upon you and your roses with one glance! Similarly, man must look upon God and His world with one-sightedness!”