Yet another tragedy was in the offing. Jabbar Singh took the car and disappeared for many days. Later, news reached Shri Nathji that the car had been thrown into a river near Rishikesh by the driver and that the man had simply run away. Shri Nathji had to find another driver and then go all the way to Rishikesh to retrieve the car and have it brought to a garage for repair. Much of Shri Nathji’s precious time was spent in this work. The venture of the taxi had turned out to be a total loss. The beautiful Standard Car itself never recovered fully from the accident and was never the same again.
The very thought of the gentle body of Shri Nathji enduring so much hardship was enough to bring tears to the eyes of many.
His right arm had never fully recovered from the operation of 1943, and Shri Nathji had always to be careful to not to injure it. His food habits were so delicate that it was unthinkable to imagine him eating outside home. And yet he had to eat in restaurants and shabby halwai shops by the roadside when he was out on such ventures.
Shri Nathji confided in Mateshwari:
“Mujhee ko pataa hai main iss shareer ko kiss tarah chalaa rahaa hoon!
“Only I know how I manage to keep my body going.”
The close devotees of Shri Nathji who heard of the incident were deeply distressed. Shri Bhutt, Sardar Harbhajan Singh Chopra, the Kasera brothers and Sardar Mohinder Singh Sodhi of Calcutta sent some amounts for the repair of the car. Perhaps Shri Nathji had endured these hardships only to give these devotees yet another chance to serve him.
Mohinder Singh Sodhi had seen God in Shri Nathji in 1937, when Shri Nathji had gone to Calcutta; his daughter had been miraculously saved by Shri Nathji when she fell down three stories, and his wife had heard the voice of Shri Nathji calming her fears in the ambulance. His faith in Shri Nathji was unshakeable no matter what worldly leela Shri Nathji would indulge in. In the letter in which he sent his offering to Shri Nathji for the repair of the car he addressed Shri Nathji as:
“Shri Sarv Shaktimaan Prabhuji Maharaj! O Almighty God, Prabhuji!”
Shri Nathji had frequently said to his close devotees:
“Maine jo zarooraten banaayi hain vo aapki zarooraton ko door karne ke liye banaayi hain!
“The needs that I have created for myself are meant for the fulfilment of your needs.
“In order to give man a chance to serve Him, God has to assume a form of helplessness in the world.
“Bhakton ko sewaa dene ke liye Bhagwan ko swaiyam asmarth banke aanaa parrtaa hai!
“If Lord Rama had not gone into the forests and felt the need for help, how would the people associated with him have had the chance to serve him? It was in their service that their salvation lay!”
“If Lord Krishna had not allowed his finger to be cut, how would Draupadi have been able to serve Him?”
Every movement of Shri Nathji had a godliness associated with it. Perhaps it was to give his darshan and blessings to the people of Rishikesh that he had to go there. The labourers and mechanics, the halwais and dhaabaa vaalaas, were destined to receive his benedictions in this way.
In the midst of such turmoil, Shri Nathji’s divine glow would remain as bright as ever, his love for humanity as powerful as ever, and his loving, soothing voice as touching as ever. People who saw him suddenly for the first time in their lives were ever to wonder afterwards who the Divine Being was and where he came from. Almost all thought that he was a Maharaja. Little did they know that it was to bring a glimpse of God into their lives that he had come to them and that they were perhaps never to see him again.