Mateshwari came to the bus stand at Naini Tal to see Shri Nathji board a bus for Lucknow. It was a painful experience. As Shri Nathji embraced the children lovingly and coddled them, Mateshwari had tears in her eyes. The Emperor of her heart, her God, was going away. The very thought had been agonising for Mateshwari. However she took consolation in the thought that Shri Nathji was going to receive medical treatment for the arm trouble at last–a trouble that had long been ignored, with the pain reaching excruciating heights.
As Shri Nathji raised his hands in a gesture of farewell and blessings, Pran Nath began to cry. Pitaji bus men chale gaye! Pitaji has gone away in a bus! he was to say many times in the days that followed. Mateshwari returned home, sorrowful, to an empty cottage. Now that Shri Nathji was no longer there, the place seemed barren, bereft of all life. Indeed the entire city of Naini Tal appeared to be robbed of its soul with the going away of Shri Nathji. As the bus wound its way down the Himalayas, Shri Nathji looked back at the city but once and blessed its denizens. He would never again be returning to it with Mateshwari and the children.