There was Shri Nathji waiting to bless the children as they went to school, every morning. Shri Nathji would stand at the top of the stairs in the first floor of Savitri Nivas, and embrace the boys as they went out, and pat them on their heads saying: “First-first-first-first! May you come first in the class!” And that was exactly what happened.
However, far from appreciating their achievements, the masters at Allen sought to downgrade everything they did, and, despite the fact that they were coming first in their classes, the headmaster read out their reports in the school assembly saying: “Both the Mehtas are slacking!”
The boys enjoyed the early morning assembly in the prayer hall, the readings from the Bible, and especially the hymns, which they sang with great enthusiasm along with the Christian boys there. It was not the words of the hymns that moved them, but the soulful tunes in which they had been composed. They found the marching-tune rhythm of the hymn: “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!” very exhilarating, and Priya Nath often marched to the tune in the verandah of Savitri Nivas!
Shri Nathji would anxiously wait for the boys to return home from school every evening. He would stand at the iron gate of Savitri Nivas in his dressing gown and a cloth loosely wrapped around his head, thinking of the mountains of Bala Hissar far away, waiting for the children to return, even as the sun was about to set into the West. There would usually be the dog, Neeli, standing by Shri Nathji’s side, wagging her tail and waiting for the children to appear at the bend of the road at Sarila Lodge.
On one occasion when the children were returning home with a Chinese friend, Peter Yepson, the latter spotted Shri Nathji in his loose cloth headgear and asked the boys: “Is that your mother?”
Reverend W.J.Biggs and his wife had developed a great fondness and respect for Shri Nathji. Biggs knew that there was nothing in Shri Nathji’s teachings that opposed any religion in the world, and, he, as a Christian, found himself perfectly at home with Shri Nathji. Both Mr. and Mrs. Biggs would visit Shri Nathji’s house at Savitri Nivas whenever invited by Shri Nathji and Mateshwari. Shri Nathji would lay out the dining table in the dining room very carefully on these occasions, calling for tea and pastries from Hakman’s Hotel for his English guests and engaging a waiter from the hotel to serve the tea.
Often during prayer time in the morning school assemblies, Mr. Biggs would ask the school gathering to pray for the recovery of the ailing wife of a loved friend. He would be referring to Mateshwari who was ill at the time.
Both the boys had an unusual career at school. They were always at the top of the class in each monthly test, in almost all of the subjects, and first, in the final examination. This continued over the years. It was due to the unusual blessings they derived from Shri Nathji each morning they went to school; and also due to the enormous amount of hard studying they did, till late hours in the night.
Why do we have to study so hard to come first in the class, if Pitaji is God? the children would innocently ask their mother. And Mateshwari would laugh: God helps those who help themselves!
It was obvious that Pran Nath and Priya Nath were not going to derive any special benefits from their father’s divine powers–they would have to struggle for success like any other person in the world. Shri Nathji would not be favouring his own family, in preference to the families of the world.
The children appeared to be endowed with this knowledge from the very beginning, that their father was God. At no time in their entire lives did Shri Nathji or Mateshwari ever ask the children to accept Shri Nathji as God. On the contrary, they rarely mentioned spiritual topics to the children and let them lead their own lives of fun and study. Yet the children knew, as if from birth, that Shri Nathji was God upon earth, and they would openly say so to their friends.
Where is his Flute? asked a fellow student in school, if he is Lord Krishna?”
Why should he show you? said the youngsters, he shows it only to those who deserve to see God!
The children were voicing a great spiritual truth. Indeed, people could only understand God through the Grace of God.