Amongst those who came for Shri Nathji’s darshan at Bombay there was a certain Captain Sukhdev Vats, an officer of high rank in the Royal Indian Air Force of that time. He was a man with an excellent record in combat and a heart hardened by many a battle. Here was a man not amenable to spiritual influences.
When Sukhdev came before Shri Nathji, he said somewhat impolitely:
“Mere dil men aapke liye jagah naheen hai! There is no place in my heart for you!”
Shri Nathji immediately replied:
“Magar mere dil men aapke liye jagah hai! But there is a place in my heart for you!”
The man stood dumbfounded before Shri Nathji. He looked at Shri Nathji’s face and saw the Divine Light with which it was filled. But he was a man with a heart of stone. Referring to his status as an Air Officer Officer accustomed to throwing bombs on people in combat, he said to Shri Nathji:
“Log hamen heartless kaihte hain! People call us heartless!”
And Shri Nathji said:
“Aur main ‘heart-less’ kar detaa hoon! And I make people ‘heart-less’ i.e. I take away their hearts!”
Shri Nathji had penetrated deep into the man’s heart and soul. Devotion entered into him all of a sudden and he said to Shri Nathji:
“Mere ghar kab chalenge! When will you come to my home?”
Now it was Shri Nathji’s turn to give a rejoinder. He said smilingly:
“Jiske dil men mere liye jagah naheen hai uske ghar men main kaise jaa saktaa hoon! How can I go to thehouse of someone who has no place in his heart for me?”
Sukhdev thereupon said: “Itni jagah to ban gayi hai! This much of a place has been made!”
And Shri Nathji said: “Phir chaliye, baaki main khud banaa loongaa! Come, then, I shall make the rest myself!”
And it was thus that Shri Nathji went to the house of Sukhdev Vats. The man had invited Shri Nathji to live with him for the duration of his stay in Bombay. Shri Nathji, Mateshwari, Pran Nath and Priya Nath, and Lala Hargopal all went to live with him at his large and spacious flat at Marine Drive.
During the night, a spiritual transformation came over Sukhdev. His heart and soul thrilled with the presence of Shri Nathji in his house. The Divine Light of Shri Nathji had lit up his heart. The gates of the individual soul had opened, and God had entered within.
Sukhdev was convinced that his honourable guest was Someone Special. Shri Nathji had revealed his Inner Self to him.
The next morning, when Shri Nathji came out of his bedroom, he found Sukhdev sitting on the floor outside the door of his room, polishing Shri Nathji’s shoes.
Shri Nathji said to him:
Sukhdevji! Why must you clean my shoes! Use the effort to clean your heart instead!
That is what I am doing, said Sukhdev, I am cleaning my heart with your shoes!
Sukhdev had begun to believe in the divinity of Shri Nathji. He had come to accept him as God Incarnate upon earth. It was not a faith that stemmed from his own mind and intellect. It was a faith that had been granted to him by Shri Nathji.
Sukhdev saw Shri Nathji’s divine form with the sight granted by Shri Nathji. It was like Arjuna recognising Lord Krishna with the inner eyes that Lord Krishna gave him, or like the eyes seeing the sun with the light of the sun.
Sukhdev Vats was an officer of high rank, with several Englishmen under him. He had lived in London, and had once had a very beautiful British wife who had left him. He had later married a Sikh lady in India.
There was a restless search within his mind for spiritual truths. This search found fulfilment in Shri Nathji. All at once his mind was filled with a spiritual peace. A divine calm seemed to descend upon his soul, as it merged into Shri Nathji. The restlessness of the ages vanished in a moment. It was the greatest miracle of his life. The drop had come to the ocean and merged itself into the ocean.
Shri Nathji often used to say:
The ocean said to the drop of water: ‘Give yourself to me!’ And the drop of water replied in astonishment: ‘Why would you want me? You have an infinite amount of water, whilst I have so little? Of what use will it be to you?’ And the ocean said: ‘I wish to bring you to myself, not to take your existence from you, but rather to give myself to you!’