The pujaari-priest, who stood before the idols of Laxmi and Narayan at Birla Mandir was so startled at the appearance of Mateshwari and Shri Nathji, that he turned involuntarily towards the idols and then towards them, exclaiming loudly:
Main iddhar dekhoon ya uddhar dekhoon!
“Where should I look–towards the idols or towards you!”
The pujaari was struck at the resemblance of the moorti, the idol of Narayana, with Shri Nathji. This was a feeling many persons were to have whenever they visited the Temple.
Shri Nathji often used to tell his devotees: The idols in the Mandir cannot speak or eat or walk–but the idols you worship do all this for your sake!
Shri Nathji once said:
If the idol in a temple were to suddenly step down and draw a line on a sheet of paper, hundreds would come to stare at it! And the world would begin to worship the line because it came from God–though the line would have no significance in itself. Similarly, man must accept whatever comes from God as divine, and worship it.”
Shri Nathji also said:
“It is necessary for God to come down in human form so that he can be understood by humans.
“If I had come into this world with a body of steel, which was not subject to human feeling, not subject to hunger or thirst, impermeable to pain or suffering, people would have been afraid to come before me. They would say: ‘What kind of a man is he! He is not even human!’
“If the idol in a temple were to suddenly step down and start walking towards the people they would all run away with fear!
“It is only in a human form that the love of God can make itself manifest. It is only from a human form that you can receive such love. Truly has the poet written:
Na too phool ban ke chaman men aa
Na to maah ban ke falak pe aa
Ye tamaam jalve samet kar
Kissee aam faim phaban men aa
Come Thou not as a flower in the garden
Come Thou not as the moon in the sky
Setting aside all these glories,
Come Thou in a form we can understand!
Shri Nathji would say:
“God is already present even in the tiniest of atoms in the Universe, therefore his appearance in Human Form is nothing to be surprised at!
“God is present in the flower, but when we look at the flower we see only the outer shape of the flower and not God.
“God is present in the moon as well, but when we look upon the moon we see only the moon and not God.
“The Avatar of God is someone in whom you can see and feel the presence of God in a form that you can identify with! Satyam Shivam Sundaram–God is Existence, God is the Universal Soul, and God is Beautiful.”
All these qualities found expression in the personality of Shri Nathji.
In his middle age he had begun to look even more like God than ever before! It was in this decade of life that he had begun to look like the Moorti of Naraayana at the Birla Mandir.