Shri Nathji always called Priya Nath: “Piyaji” with great affection as if he were yet a child. The suffix of “ji” would always be there. Before other people he would call him “Priyaji” or “Priya Nathji”. In later days he would refer to him as “Param Pujya Shri Priya Nathji Bhagwan” before the devotees.
Shri Nathji was ever the protective father and “bodyguard” of Priya Nath. Though to outward appearances, it seemed that Priya Nath was taking care of Shri Nathji, yet the real fact was that it was Shri Nathji who was taking care of Priya Nath, each and every moment of the day.
Shri Nathji would be most concerned, even alarmed, if Priya Nath even so much as coughed or sniffed, and would say:
“Piyaji, sab theek hai naa? Khaansi aa rahee hai? Garam kaprraa paihan lenaa chaahiye, pataa naheen lagtaa kab tthand lag jaati hai. Ye cold barri treacherous hoti hai!
“Piyaji are you coughing? Wear some warm clothes. One does not know when one may catch a chill. This cold weather can be very treacherous.”
He would never let Priya Nath go out of the house alone and would accompany him wherever he went–only to act as his protector.
There was a time when Priya Nath had gone out alone to the nearby post office in their colony to mail some letters. He had been delayed at the post office because of a long queue there.
Finally, when he began to walk back home, he met Shri Nathji rushing towards him swiftly on the road, dressed in his orange turban hastily tied, his light golden silk achkan and white chooridars and black shoes, a divine light radiating from his face as always, and an umbrella in his hand.
Shri Nathji said to Priya Nath; “Piyaji you had taken so long that I was worried about you. The sun is very hot today. Here, I brought this umbrella!”
Whenever Priya Nath would become vexed with Shri Nathji for being so over-protective towards him, and engage in one of his childish tantrums, Shri Nathji would pacify him with the words:
“Piyaji yaad rakhna, duniyaan men mujh jaisaa aapkaa hitaishee koyi naheen hai!
“Piyaji, always remember that no one in the world is so full of concern for you as I am!”
At times when Priya Nath would embrace Shri Nathji and tell him how sorry he was for quarrelling with him, like a son quarrelling with his father, Shri Nathji would embrace him and say:
“Piyaji! So what if you quarrel with me! You also love me so much! You care for me more than any son would care for his father!”
Priya Nath had said to Shri Nathji on many occasions: “I do not love anyone in the world as much as I love you!”
No one in the world could fathom the intense love and concern that existed in Shri Nathji’s heart for Priya Nath, which was but an extension of his love for the people of the world, who were all his children.
Priya Nath and Shri Nathji were a whole world in themselves. Only the most discerning amongst the devotees knew that they were essentially one and the same. Two bodies with one soul.
Shri Nathji would often say:
“Shakuntala frequently says about Priyaji:
‘Whatever Priya Nathji says is either happening or else is destined to happen!’
‘Priya Nathji jo kaih dete hain vo yaa to ho rahaa hotaa hai aur yaa hone vaalaa hotaa hai!’
“Even I cannot set aside what he says.
Inkee baat ko to ham bhee naheen taal sakte!”
And then Shri Nathji would add humorously:
“Even I have to suffer the consequences if I do not listen to what Priyaji is saying.
Priyaji ki baat ko ham bhee na maanen to sazaa mil jaati hai!”
The house would be echoing with Shri Nathji’s voice calling out day and night, in a voice full of the greatest love in the world for Priya Nath: “Piyajee! Piyajee!”
Indeed history had no such parallel. How fortunate was Priya Nath to have been born into a house where his father was not only God, but also the most loving father in the world.