Shri Nathji had encouraged Priya Nath to write a humorous novel, because he had seen how adept Priya Nath was at making people laugh. He knew of a certainty how often Priya Nath would make him laugh.
When Priya Nath was in America, he had kept vast audiences regaled with his sense of humour and was known as a “spontaneous entertainer”. Humour seemed to flow out of him as if it were a part of him. It was just another aspect of Shri Nathji’s personality. Priya Nath always thought of humour as a divine gift. The world was full of sorrow and misery, and humour gave people a brief respite from it, and so was indirectly the work of God.
Priya Nath would often say in a light vein: “Happiness means showing your teeth in a smile. Temporary happiness means showing your teeth for a short while. Permanent Happiness or Eternal Happiness means showing your teeth all the time till eternity. Those who have attained salvation go about with a permanent smile on their faces!”
Shri Nathji and Sahadeva would laugh for hours at this simple definition of eternal happiness.
And it was thus encouraged by Shri Nathji, that Priya Nath wrote a full length humour novel which he called “ Rigmarole” and which dealt with all manner of funny traits of character in people, particularly in India. The word Rigmarole meant a confusing array of events. The reader felt as if the humorous face of the world had come up before him in full force. Events of everyday life, which he had taken for granted, suddenly became the funniest things on earth.
Sahadeva Tayal would be found frequently chanting in good humour:
“Nathji, Nathji, Nathji bol – Rigmarole, Rigmarole!”
Priya Nath had also said:
“God played a big joke on the people of the world by creating the world and hiding himself! He is the Supreme Humorist! And salvation is His ultimate in humour wherein people laugh with Him forever!”
There was a picture of Shri Nathji lying at Mussoorie which he had autographed as: “May you smile with me!” It had been meant for Basant Singh, but since it was still lying in the house, it was apparent that Shri Nathji had forgotten to give it to him!
A Sikh Brigadier, who came frequently for Shri Nathji’s darshan, would say to him:
“I always keep your smiling portrait with me. In moments of great distress I look at the picture and I find you smiling. I wonder: ‘Why is my master smiling when I am in trouble?’ And the answer comes to me: ‘He is smiling because there is no trouble in reality, – and how can there be any trouble when he is with me!’
The printing of these two books marked a tryst with the printers and paper sellers of Delhi for Shri Nathji and Priya Nath.