While Atma Vijaya I and II were philosophical and spiritual treatises, Atma Vijaya III was a masterpiece in parable writing.
One of the most striking parables in this book which amply explained the concept of God upon earth was the parable of the hill villager-the Gaddi, who yearned for the day when he could serve God in human form.
Every time the Gaddi ate or drank or wore any good clothes he thought of God and wondered whether he could share his earnings with him, whether he could cherish and nurture the body of God in human form.
And, in answer to his prayers, there appeared a man in rags, ill-nourished and weak, who came to him and asked for food. The villager was filled with joy. He knew at once deep down in his heart that God had come down in the form of the poor man before him. All at once the villager bowed before him and washed his feet. He then offered him milk from his small katori and watched with fascination as the poor man drank his milk and allowed him to minister to his weak and impoverished body.
The villager was besides himself with joy. He was deriving the greatest bliss of his life in serving this being who had appeared mysteriously before him. The poor man finally took his leave and promised to come the next day.
This continued day after day, each day bringing greater and greater happiness to the villager, who waited eagerly for the poor man to put in his appearance so that he could feed him, clothe him and massage his feet.
One day a learned mahatma – a holy man – passed by. He greeted the villager and was astonished to hear what the villager had to say to him.
O foolish villager! said the mahatma, you are being deceived by some clever charlatan. He is not God. Do you know what God is? God is Infinite, Invisible and All Powerful. You cannot even conceive of the greatness of God. This weak, impoverished, poor man who comes to you to partake of your milk and food is a fraud of the worst kind! Don’t waste your time on him! Pray to the Eternal, Invisible, Almighty God who alone can give you peace and happiness! The apparent happiness which you think you are experiencing today is a delusion. You are hypnotised by your madness! Forget him! Don’t let him come near you!
And saying this the mahatma went away, greatly satisfied that he had done his good deed for the day by saving an innocent soul from the clutches of a trickster.
The villager was struck dumb with shock. He could not believe that his own heart would so betray him. But, from long habit, he had to believe in what the mahatma had told him.
To make matters worse, the poor man in tatters did not come to him that day, or in the days that followed.
The villager tried to pray to an Invisible God, but the face of the poor man in tatters would keep on coming to him each time. He found no satisfaction in the Invisible God of the mahatma, and wept day and night in anguish, waiting every moment for the poor man to appear so that he could offer him his katori of milk, massage his feet, give him his coat to wear.
The mahatma was going along his way when a voice rang out from the heavens above:
O Mahatma! This is the voice of God speaking to you! Today you have committed a great sin against man and God! You have separated me from my devotee! You have broken the heart of the poor villager before whom I used to go out everyday as a poor man so that he could serve me and derive happiness!
“You have destroyed his peace of mind and filled him with doubts! He cannot understand your Invisible God–which is enough for you–and you have taken away his God from him and plunged him in an abyss of misery! Surely you will go to hell for this act!
The mahatma realized that it was the Voice of God, and he trembled with fear and said:
Forgive me, O Lord! I never imagined that the villager was telling the truth and that it was Thee who went out as the poor man to meet him! Alas, I in my orthodoxy could never have imagined that Thou would appear before him in human form–and that, too, as a weak and frail person. Please forgive me, O Lord, please forgive me! I have sinned against Thee and the villager!
And God said to him:
Despite your learning and your austerities, you failed to realise that I am not bound by any religious dogmas, and that I am free to appear before anyone in any form that I may choose.
“There is no one who may place a restriction upon me. There is no man-made religious dogma that may bind me. I am free even to change my mind and to change the edicts laid down by me.
“For those who desire an invisible God, I remain Invisible, and for those who wish to see me in a visible form I become visible.
“I answer the feelings of every person in the way that he wants me to answer them. I am as much a God, in the form of the poor man, to the villager, as I am a God to you in my Invisible form. If you are free to worship me in this form, he is free to worship me in the form of his choice! Remember the words of Lord Krishna in the Geeta, which are so universal as to apply to any person having any faith or belief in the world:
‘Ye yathaaa maam prapyadante tanstathaiv brijaamyham,
Maam vartmaanuvartante manushya paartha sarvasha
No matter what path a man may choose to come to me
I go to meet him along that very path!’
Go, now, to that villager and beg forgiveness of him and tell him you were wrong! Also give him the assurance that I am going to meet him soon, so that he may take the joy of my presence again and be filled with happiness at my coming!
The mahatma ran, stumbling over the hilly tracts until he had found the villager. He fell at his feet and wept, and told him everything the Lord had said to him.
The villager’s happiness knew no bounds. Besides himself with joy, he said, Will the Lord really come to me again? Will he drink milk from my katori? Will he allow me to touch his feet and to give him my coat?
The mahatma said, Yes, yes, the Lord will come to you! He has promised!”
The villager began dancing with joy. The entire wealth of the world appeared to have become his.
And, then, God appeared before him as before, as a poor man, weak and frail, in tattered clothes, and He embraced the villager, and the villager fell at his feet and wept for a long time.
The Lord said to the villager: “Pray for any boon and it shall be granted unto you!”
And the villager said, Promise me, O Lord, promise me, that you will never go away again!
And the Lord said: I am pleased with your devotion! I shall never leave you. It is my promise that for as long as the world remains, I shall never be separate from you, nor you from me!
The actual language, Hindi, in which Shri Nathji wrote the story was so touching that it brought tears to the eyes of the readers. This was true of all of Shri Nathji’s writings, which were full of emotion and love, and a divine touch that accompanied them, as also astonishing revelations that embraced all of spirituality.