Mahamateshwari had left her mortal frame in London, and, thereafter, Pran Nath had continued to stay on there. But there was a greater significance in his stay there. He was Shri Nathji’s divine ambassador to the western world. For as long as he was living in the West, the world would remain free from the threat of war. Every devastating war that had occurred in the past had been born in the West.
Shri Nathji had said:
The western nations are not aware of this, but they are living under the sheltering umbrella of Pran Nath.
Shri Pran Nath was the living epitome of honesty, goodness, righteousness and courage in the world. It could be said of him without hesitation that he was the one man in the world who had never told a lie. There was a divine light upon his face that was found only upon the face of Shri Nathji.
Shri Nathji had often said:
Shri Pran Nathji ke to darshan maatr se hee shanti miltee hai! A mere glimpse of Pran Nath is enough to bring peace to the heart of the beholder!
When Pran Nath had been born on the 22nd of February 1940 at Lahore, Shri Babaji Bhagwan was present. He was so overjoyed at the birth of Pran Nath that he had laddoos distributed to the entire city of Lahore. Shri Nathji would often say fondly:
Pranji ke janam par Shri Babaji ne saare Lahore men laddoo batvaaye!
Shri Nathji would often narrate how Pran Nath, as a babe, had once tipped Shri Babaji over, while playing in his lap, and how Shri Babaji had said: Pranji aap to mujh se bhi taakatvar ban gaye! Pranji you have become even more powerful than me!
Apart from the divine power which was Pran Nath’s birthright, he had also developed an uncanny knowledge that astonished the world. He could speak with the exactness of an expert on any subject in the world. It was inconceivable that so much of knowledge could be contained in the brain of one single human being.
He knew of the history of each and every street, road and building in London, he knew of the history of England and Europe and indeed of all the countries in the world as if he had been living there all his life. The sciences and arts were at his finger tips.
He could discuss nuclear physics with a scientist with just as much ease as he could discuss the methods of oil drilling with any specialist in the field. He could speak to children on the history and development of Walt Disney’s cartoons with just as much ease as he could speak to a clothes designer on the latest fashions of the world.
He could discuss Shakespeare with full authority and simultaneously know of the writings of the most contemporary of authors.
He was a living encyclopaedia of knowledge. The people of the west were overawed by his knowledge and intellect. His complexion was pink and rosy enough to match that of any westerner, and he was handsome beyond compare. Above all there was the feeling of absolute purity and innocence that at once accompanied him.
He was living in the world of stark materialism in London, holding the banner of Shri Nathji’s spirituality aloft, living in the midst of temptations and being far removed from them. And yet he preferred a life of solitude. Had he been ambitious or had the desire, he could have projected himself before the western world as a great messiah of peace and taken them by storm.
His impeccable western manners and western attire and his perfect English accent and culture all at once distinguished him from all Indian sadhus, mahatmas and saints who travelled abroad to spread their brand of spirituality. He could have earned millions in London on the strength of his technical and scientific knowledge alone. New inventions of science and technology seemed to flow out of him all the time, but he never capitalised on them.
Pran Nath lived in a world of his own in his small apartment in London, seldom venturing out, seldom meeting people, being absorbed in the infinity of his own thoughts in which divine bliss filled him all the time, and the discoveries of science appeared before him as divine inspirations sent by God. In the purity of his soul divinity had manifested itself as knowledge.
Shri Nathji had often said that the discoveries of science were in fact divine inspirations sent by God to help mankind, just like the revelations of religion. And that when a person’s heart became absolutely pure, God manifested Himself therein in the infinity of His Knowledge, with which he had created the Universe.
Pran Nath was the humblest of persons and never forced his will upon anyone. He was filled with a natural and spontaneous love for the humanity around him and could not bear to see the sufferings of people. He would shed tears whenever he saw the poor and the hungry in India.
Whenever he was in India, he would have the car stopped and pursue beggars to give them alms. There was a time when he had taken a poor man in rags into a posh restaurant and quarrelled with the establishment who wished to throw the man out.
Pran Nath could not tolerate injustice. He had fought hard for India and Indians when he was in England but he was greatly disheartened by the scenes of corruption and inhumanity that he saw in India.
Sorrow and suffering could not shake Pran Nath. He was the bravest person alive and could live absolutely alone in London with no one to look after him except God. He laughed at dangerous illnesses and the prognoses of doctors, and did not care for his body in the least. And yet he remained the healthiest of all, for he derived his health from a heavenly source. In many respects he was like Shri Nathji and yet, in many respects, he was like Shri Babaji Bhagwan, in his absolute fearlessness and forthrightness.
He had no attachment to money or material possessions. Pran Nath was the perfect Karma Yogi, the perfect Gyaan Yogi living in the world of materialism and being totally unattached to it.
Once he had said to Shri Nathji: I am not attached to anything or to anyone in this world. If at all I am attached to anyone, perhaps it is a little to you!
Pran Nath had left the shores of India in July 1969 and was returning after a gap of over ten years. He was coming for the Christmas holidays. His plane was arriving in Bombay, and, therefore, Shri Nathji and Priya Nath decided to go to Bombay where they could meet him and bring him to Nagpur.
Since the time was very little, Priya Nath decided to take Shri Nathji to Bombay by plane. This was the first time ever since their return from London in August 1967 that Shri Nathji and Priya Nath were going to travel by plane. They decided to take their loyal, but aging, devotee Shri Sahadeva, along with them.
Shri Urhekar and his son, Venu, were sent ahead to Bombay by train so that they could arrange for Shri Nathji’s stay there, with a relative of theirs. Shri G.G. Urhekar had just then retired as postmaster and had wished to devote the rest of his life to the service of Shri Nathji. How long he would be able to carry through that resolve, only Shri Nathji knew. He had seen many a devotee resolve to give up his life to God, and falter later on the path, when a conflict arose between the spiritual world and the material world.