There came the moment of the fateful parting of the devotee from his loyal Master. Shri Nathji had tears in his eyes as he came to the door to see Basant Singh off. He said to Basant Singh:
“Basant Singhji, you have served me so loyally for almost twenty years. Now that you are going away, what can I do for you?”
Basant Singh said to Shri Nathji with great devotion, in Punjabi: “Bas ainaa kaih deyo ke Basant too meraa! Only say: ‘Basant, you are mine!’”
Shri Nathji was to repeat these parting words of his dear devotee, Sardar Basant Singh, to thousands of people in the years to come, in his sermons. No one could ever leave Shri Nathji’s heart no matter how far away he would go physically.
Over the years that followed, whenever Shri Nathji would send elaichi-cardamom prasaad to Basant Singh through a messenger, Basant would prostrate full length before the messenger who brought the cardamoms as a homage to his Lord and Master Shri Nathji.
Sardar Basant Singh never survived the separation from Shri Nathji and left the world after a few years.
Shri Nathji would always be seen praising his devotees, even those that had left the world. This had led Mateshwari to say:
“When you care so much for those devotees who have gone, how much more will you care for those who are before you!
“Jo chale gaye aap unkaa itnaa dhyaan karte hain to phir jo saamne baithe hain unkaa kitnaa dhyaan karenge!”
Shri Nathji often said this Urdu Verse:
Apnaa ye davaa hai ke dil men naheen koyi tere sivaa
Unkaa ye shikvaa ke achhee qaide tanhaayi huyi
It is my assertion that there is no one else in my heart but thee,
And it is his grievance, ‘Oh, but what a solitary confinement!’