Shri Nathji said humorously one day:
“There was a time when all the human souls were with God in His Heaven. They remained there for so long that they began to take the joys of Heaven for granted. They stopped experiencing the bliss of Heaven because it became so commonplace for them. And so God cast them to the earth to experience the sorrows and suffering of the world. When the human souls experienced sorrow and suffering they began to yearn for the bliss of the heaven that had been lost to them!”
“It is the sorrow and suffering of the world that drives a man to seek a release from it. And in this lies the quest of science, the search of religion. It is through misery that man evolves to higher and higher states. If there were no misery in the world, man would have been content with his lot there and not have sought for anything higher.”
Shri Nathji explained the mysteries of creation beautifully and simply with the following example:
“The drop of water that had been evaporated from the ocean flew upwards as a vapour into the clouds, and from there it came down upon the earth. It lay as a dew-drop on the petal of a flower. For a while it was very happy with its state. The petals of the flower were soft and fragrant, and everything around it was full of the beauty of the garden. It forgot itself in the comfort and beauty that surrounded it.
“Then, suddenly, one day, there came a gust of wind that shook the flower. The dew-drop trembled with fear. It found itself slipping from the flower. It saw the dust below, and it saw its death in the dust. It was filled with despair. The beauty of the garden ceased to hold its heart any longer.
“After a while, the wind stopped blowing, but the dew-drop was filled with a perpetual fear. It knew then that its home on the petal of the flower was only a temporary one, and that one day it would fall and perish in the dust below. A restlessness entered its very being. The objects of the world ceased to attract its heart any longer.
“And in this fear it began to feel a separation from Something. That Something was the ocean. It yearned for Something after reaching which all its fears and restlessness would cease. It realised it was imperfect and it wished to take refuge in the Perfect. It realised it was a part and it sought to unite with its Whole.
“But where was the Whole? What was that something that the dew-drop yearned for? The dew-drop could not recall. But its heart yearned for it. There was an instinctive thirst within it for the ocean, placed there by Nature.
“Look at the birds. When they are thirsty, they instinctively fly towards water. Nobody teaches them how to find a means to satisfy their thirst. The answer comes from within them, where it had been placed by Nature from the beginning of time.
“The attraction between the human soul and the Universal Soul God is like the eternal attraction between an iron and a magnet.
“Yet, simple yearning was not enough for the drop of water. It also needed some means to reach the Ocean. It was too tiny and fragile to brave the elements of the earth around it and to reach its goal. And its voice was heard saying:
‘Makaane yaar door az man, na par daaram na paaye dil
Ajab dar mushkil uftaadam chunaa tai saazam een manzil
The House of my friend is far, I have neither wings nor feet with which to go,
It is a strange dilemma this, how to reach the goal’
“The intensity of its desire to reach the ocean had become so great that it moved the forces of Nature to help him.
“The sun came out in the sky and a ray of light fell upon the dew-drop. The light of the ray made the dew-drop glisten like a diamond for a while. And then the heat of the ray caused the drop of water to evaporate. It flew upwards into the sky, helped along by the winds of the atmosphere. And finally it reached the clouds.
“From its height in the skies it saw the vast ocean below. And instantly it recognised its goal. It was eager to plunge down into it. “The ocean on its part was anxious to bring the drop of water back to itself. Soon, thereafter, it rained and the drop of water fell downwards and plunged into the ocean.
“For a very short time it saw its own shape and form inside the ocean. This was the time that it was conscious of its union with the ocean. But, then, even this consciousness vanished as its boundaries disappeared and there was only the ocean. The voice that came from the drop and said; ‘I am the ocean!’ was then the voice of the ocean.
“In a like manner the human soul is separated from the Universal Soul, God, but gradually evolves towards God through a process that takes it through the sorrows and joys of the world. At some point along its journey it receives an awakening. It realises that its life upon earth is perishable and that there is a greater life beyond. The sorrows of the world push the human soul to search for God. This is the natural thrust of the forces of evolution. And when an intense craving develops with the soul for God, Divine Help comes. The Grace of God draws the soul to Himself, and there is the ultimate union in which the human soul realises its own essence, which was in fact, God Himself.
“O He, after whom I ran from place to place, Suddenly I found him in my heart, face to face!”