Over the years of his early association with Shri Nathji, Khanna wished fervently to go from Lucknow to Amritsar to secure the darshan and blessings of Shri Babaji Maharaj. However each time he made plans to undertake the journey something would happen that would not make the trip possible. Khanna was distraught. It was as if the right time had not come for him. The fire of his devotion for Shri Babaji increased as the days passed. It was described by the Urdu verse of Iqbal:
Laaoon vo tinke kahaan se aashiyaane ke liye
Bijleeyaan betaab hon jinko jalaane ke liye
From where can I get the straws to make my home,
Which the lightning flashes will be restless to burn!
The time came when he arrived in Amritsar and entered into the majestic presence of Shri Babaji Maharaj. All at once his eyes were lowered as he beheld the Glory of His Light. Shri Babaji Maharaj looked upon him with great love, and Khanna recited the verse:
Agar bakshen zahe kismat na bakshen to shikaayat kyaa
Sare tasleem kham hai jo mijaaze yaar men aaye
My good fortune if I am forgiven; and I cannot complain if I am not,
My head is bowed in obedience, the will of my Friend be done!
His entire family came along with him and became the recipients of the Divine Grace of Shri Babaji Maharaj. Khanna’s daughter, Kamla, was the first to take a photograph of Shri Babaji Maharaj, who had till that time never allowed photographs of himself to be taken. It was due to that first photograph taken by Kamla, the daughter of Khanna, that Shri Babaji Maharaj later allowed Sardar Sohan Singh the famous photographer of Amritsar to take another picture of his, which was later printed in his biography “Zahoore Haqeequat”. Shri Babaji Maharaj was impressed by the faith of the Khanna family and their abject humility, despite the ornamentations of worldly status.
A man had to give up his pride when he was walking on the path of God. The status and rank of a person were of no consequence before God. This was in consonance with Shri Nathji’s teachings, who used to quote Jaami, the Persian poet, and had used the verse below in his classic book “Payaame Muhabbat”:
Bandaye ishq shudi tarke nasab kun Jaami
Ke dareen raah falaan ibne falaan cheeze nest
When thou hast become a slave of Love, then give up thy pride of birth, O Jaami!
For on this path, so and so, the son of so and so, is without meaning.
Even as R.R. Khanna recited a Persian verse before Shri Babaji Maharaj, Shri Babaji Maharaj filled the man with his Divine Light. Khanna felt a strong power surge through his body. All who saw Khanna felt this divine light in him.
Later when he left for Lahore from Amritsar to attend the wedding of his brother, Mulkh Raj Khanna, he found this divine wave of Bliss within him, engulfing all who came before him. No matter who Khanna embraced, that very person received a measure of the divine light and was intoxicated with divine bliss. At this, Khanna remarked: I had read that Ramakrishna Paramhansa had embraced Vivekananda and given him his light – but here I am so filled with the light of Shri Babaji Maharaj that no matter who I embrace, experiences the same bliss that I am experiencing!
The feeling lasted for a few days after which Shri Babaji recalled it, so that Khanna could do his work in his worldly spheres in his usual normal way.
Shri Nathji described the situation with the verse:
Nashaa pilaake giraanaa to sab ko aataa hai
Mazaa to jab hai ke girton ko thaam le Saaki
It is easy to make a person fall through intoxication
But how glorious to save the stumbling from falling, O Saki!