In later years Shri Nathji would often, in his sermons, fondly recall his visit to the Maharaja of Panna at Raj Pipla House in Mussoorie. Panna State was famous for its diamonds.
Maharaja Panna showed one such diamond to Shri Nathji, and said: This is the largest diamond found in our state. It is worth more than a crore of rupees!
Shri Nathji used the diamond as an example in his sermon that evening, even as all the royalty gathered there listened in pin-drop silence.
Shri Nathji said:
Why is this diamond so expensive? Of what use is it? Can a man eat it to satiate his hunger? Can it satiate his thirst? Can it give him comfort and warmth in any physical way? No! The diamond by itself has no practical use. Then why is it so expensive?
It glitters beautifully, the Maharaja said.
And yet, Shri Nathji continued, if we were to shut off the light, it would cease to glitter. It is the light that glitters in it!
“And if there were light but no eyes, the diamond would not be worth anything. It is only the eyes that see the diamond and give it its worth.
“The eyes, on their part, can only see because of the mind, and the mind exists on the foundation of consciousness.
“And the foundation of all consciousness is God!
“Therefore, what is beautiful in the diamond is only the Glory of God! What a wonderful thing it would be if the diamond were to remind us of the Real Diamond – God!
Shri Nathji’s verse on the theme would ever ring out:
Uss Gul kaa aks hai ye saare chaman ki raunak
Jis Gul kaa gulsitaan men koyi nishaan naheen hai
The Glory of this Garden is a reflection of that Rose,
Of which there is not a sign in this garden
In this verse Shri Nathji explained that the beauty and grandeur that one sees in the world comes from that one Great Reality – God –who remains hidden behind the veil of worldly objects, and who lends a transient reality to them and gives them their worth. Without Him the world is like a body without a soul.