And thus it was that Shri Nathji sanctified the house of Lala Hargopal, his father-in-law in New Delhi. Those were times when the refugees that came from Pakistan were being re-habilitated, and it was a measure of Shri Nathji’s blessings that they obtained new homes and became greatly prosperous through their hard work in later times.
The house was a double-storeyed house with two rooms on each floor. Lala Hargopal shifted to the first floor and left the ground floor for Shri Nathji and his devotees.
Lala Hargopal was greatly concerned at the manner in which Shri Nathji gave his time freely to all. There were no appointment hours. Shri Nathji would leave whatever he was doing and attend to any visitor who came at any time. Lala Hargopal, being a professional lawyer and legal adviser to the Punjab National Bank, knew the value that the people of the world placed upon time.
No doctor, lawyer, engineer, or businessman would spare even a moment of his time for anyone without taking his fees in return. And here was Shri Nathji meeting everyone with great love and humility as if the sole purpose of his existence upon earth was to serve them, without asking for anything in return. This was at a time when Shri Nathji faced acute financial difficulties in his life and had to maintain his family. The people who came to him derived untold benefits from him – getting from him what they would not get from anywhere else in the world. He gave them peace and happiness – which could not be had at any cost in the world; he alleviated their sorrows and sufferings as no one could have done. Yet it did not occur to most of these persons that it was their duty to do something for him in return, even if Shri Nathji did not ask for anything from them. It was this that irked Lala Hargopal most of all. He would refer to Shri Nathji’s visitors as “Muft khore!”– people who took everything for free.
People would come to visit Shri Nathji at their own self-appointed hours, whenever it was convenient for them to come. Everyone would have a train or a bus to catch, or some important work to do, and would come when they were free. And they would come suddenly, without informing Shri Nathji, who would then leave even his meals and daily ablutions to attend to them.
There was a time when a devotee arrived for Shri Nathji’s darshan at lunch time. Lala Hargopal asked him sarcastically: “Have you had your lunch?”
The man said: “O thank you, but I ate before I came!”
Lala Hargopal shouted at the man: “Well, you can go then! Shri Nathji has not had his lunch yet.”
Lala Hargopal would be very worried about Shri Nathji. His was the love of an elderly person for a young man.
Once he said to Shri Nathji: “ Nathji! If anything ever happens to you, I don’t know of the loss to the world, but we shall have nothing left in the world! Hamaaraa kuchh naheen rahegaa! I pray you to take care of your health, to meet visitors only at your convenience, and to not to give of your time so freely to all and sundry.”
Shri Nathji used to say:
“I have become as freely available as the air. The air remains around you all the time, but do you ever think of it? No. What if the air started asking for a price for every breath! We must not make God so cheap that we forget his importance and dignity altogether!”
There would be the familiar scene at the house, of Shri Nathji bowing low to touch the knees of Lala Hargopal, and Hargopal shying away from it with protestations saying: “ O Nathji! Mujh par paap charraate hain! You are making me sin!”