It was in the last week of December 1947 that Shri Nathji, Mateshwari, Pran Nath and Priya Nath, Lala Hargopal, along with Shri Bhutt and Gangabai Bhutt, Jagdish and his friend, Rajjan, as also Shyam Lal Kasera, arrived in Harda in the Central Provinces, hundreds of miles away from Mussoorie.
Bhutt always used to say to Shri Nathji:
“Whenever you go out on a mission of Lok Kalyaan – for the salvation of mankind– your countenance changes! The divine light that shines forth at such a time is beyond compare! One can scarcely look at your face at such a time. It is like a blazing sun!
And Shri Nathji said:
“Bhutt Sahib, I can explain this. Think of a warrior. When he is at home, the children play all around him, his wife argues with him, and he sits idle and listless in the house. But when he is to go to war, his countenance changes, his dress changes, and his face assumes a bold and determined look! It is the same with me. When I go out on a mission for the salvation of mankind, my countenance assumes an expression suited for my work!”
And it was not a mere change of countenance. The divine power of attraction increased manifold and all who came before him were totally overwhelmed. It was a time of special divine grace.
At Harda, unprecedented crowds came for the darshan of Shri Nathji. They had heard that someone who was called God was coming to their town, and they came thronging in the hundreds and thousands. The Divine Glory on Shri Nathji’s face was so dazzling that many a person lost consciousness of himself; people saw him in His Universal Form. He appeared before each person in accordance with the belief of that person. People experienced an ineffable peace and an indescribable bliss before him. All their sorrows and sufferings appeared to dwindle away like the evaporation of clouds before the sun. It was difficult to imagine that this was the very same person who had a few days earlier been attending government offices, visiting chemists shops and been leading the life of a householder. Yes, these were the two faces of Shri Nathji. He was finite and infinite at the same time.
People had not come to listen to his sermons; they had come to have his darshan, to set their eyes upon him. People could not get enough of his vision within their eyes. No one had seen such divine beauty before in his entire life.
Truly, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, God in all His Truth, Power and Beauty was manifesting himself before their eyes. And yet the eyes that saw him were not the eyes of the body alone, they were the eyes of the soul. People were seeing Shri Nathji with the inner sight he had granted them. It was the belief of many that if they set eyes upon the incarnation of God upon earth they would be assured of heaven and salvation.
But, when people came before Shri Nathji they forgot all thought of their own selves or of attaining salvation or heaven. The people who came to him had not come out of curiosity. They had come out of faith. They were special souls who had been destined to see God on that day and at that time in their lives.
And, yet, some were affected more than the others. Each received what he had to receive in accordance with his own level of receptivity. Those who came with empty cups received their share in cups, those who came with empty spoons received their share in that measure. The sun was shining and reaching out to every eye. But if the eye were diseased it would close in the light of the sun. Shri Babaji Maharaj had often said: “There are some people who will not be affected by God even if he were to appear before them in the full majesty of his form as Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh!”
Shri Nathji said:
“There is a hidden thirst for God within every soul. This thirst has been there since ages. When God comes before the soul in any form, the soul recognises Him instantly and spontaneously. There is no simple explanation for it. The recognition is like the recognition between an iron and a magnet. It is a relationship that has existed since the beginning of time. God is the ocean and the human soul is like the drop of water. There is an eternal relationship between the whole and its part.
Har juz men mujhe kul kaa tamaashaa nazar aayaa
Katraa leeye paihlu men dariyaa nazar ayaa
In every part I saw the drama of the whole,
In the fold of every drop, I saw the ocean
“Look at the birds. When they are beset upon by thirst for the first time in their lives, they fly to water, wherever it is, and instinctively recognise that it is meant to satiate their thirst. Nature has placed this instinct within them. In a like manner the laws of creation have placed an instinctive recognition of God within the human soul. But for the recognition to come about, there must be a thirst for God. If you are not thirsty, water will have no meaning for you!”