Around that time there was a renowned Vaidya in Jabalpur. When Shri Bhutt Sahib’s mother and her family had visited Raipur for the darshan of Shri Nathji, he had felt the urge to go as well. God was on earth, and only a little distance away by rail! Surely such an opportunity was not to be missed. All those who believed, went to see Shri Nathji.
The Vaidya was preparing to leave, when he received a call from one of his patients in a nearby farm. He was in two minds, whether to attend to his rich patient or to go to Raipur.
He decided to attend to his patient and went to his farm. The patient was a landlord, and the Vaidya was asked to stay for fifteen days at the farm.
But the Vaidya’s mind was uneasy. He had given up God for the greed of money. He tossed around restlessly in bed. His conscience would not forgive him; his soul rebelled and became like a thirsty drop of water, restless for the ocean.
At two in the morning, there was a knock at his door. A Divinely Handsome Stranger entered the room. The Vaidya felt an inner peace come over his soul. He asked with awe: Who are you?
I am the person you were thinking of!
But I was thinking of God.
I am He!
You! said the Vaidya, can you prove it? Reveal your divine strength to me, and I will believe you!
Suddenly the ground appeared to crack, and his bed appeared to hurtle down into a vast crevice. Stop! he screamed, Stop! Enough! I don’t want to see more! I am convinced!
The bed returned to the room. The figure in the room had vanished. The Vaidya was trembling, and in tears.
He rushed to his host and told him he was leaving the farm that very morning. He left for the city in a bullock-cart. In the cart were two muneems-clerks of his patient, who engaged the Vaidya in conversation:
Surely you don’t believe such things! they said, there are many frauds these days who are going around calling themselves God!
Not wishing to listen to their words, the Vaidya got off the cart and said he would walk. And as he walked some distance behind the cart, he came across a child on the road.
Stop him! Please! He will come under the cart! He doesn’t listen to me! screamed a woman from a mud-hut.
The Vaidya sought to catch the little boy, but he crossed the road and ran into the fields. The Vaidya gave chase, but the boy was too fast. Just as the Vaidya was about to give up, he saw the same Divinely Handsome Person he had seen in the farm house standing before him, smiling.
The ache in his heart disappeared at the sight. His soul started, as if in expectation of something unimaginably great. The figure disappeared and God stood before him in all his glory, as the four-armed Lord Vishnu.
The Vaidya fell down upon the ground, blinded by the effulgence of spiritual radiance. He was later brought to Jabalpur in the bullock-cart carrying the muneems, who had come back for him.
In Raipur he was to identify the handsome figure of Lord Vishnu as that of Shri Nathji. It was the fulfilment of a long quest. Shri Nathji, perhaps, had a special relationship with the people of Madhya Pradesh, whose tradition of devotion had depth and sincerity, and went back centuries.
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