Shri Nathji was fond of telling the following parable:
There was a King who exhibited a beautiful bazaar containing numerous beautiful objects. It was announced to the public that anyone could take any one object free, but having taken that, he was to take nothing else.
Crowds thronged to the bazaar. Men, women and children rushed into the shops and grabbed whatever they could. Each object appeared prettier than the others. The decision was difficult.
An old woman went around the bazaar. She would extend her hand to pick up one object but would stop suddenly as her eye caught another object more beautiful. She wandered from shop to shop. She could not make up her mind. The conditions were clear – one could take only one object by placing one’s hand on it, and nothing else.
The old woman reached the end of the bazaar. There were no more shops there. There was a man who sat, in utter loneliness and despair.
Who are you? the old woman asked, and why aren’t you picking things for yourself in the bazaar? The king has asked people to select anyone object.”
“I am the king,” said the man on the chair.
The king!” said the startled woman, “ then why are you looking so sad?
I am sad because nobody wants me–they are all after the things I have laid for them! Anyway, why aren’t you amongst them, choosing something for yourself?
The old woman pondered for a while, and then said: Tell me, the rule is that I can select anything I like by placing my hand over it, and it will be mine, yes?
Yes, said the King.
Then, O King! I place my hand on you! You are mine!The King was taken aback.
You are mine, said old woman, and since this bazaar belongs to you, it has become mine as well. And all the things in the bazaar are mine!
It was thus that Shri Nathji explained the deepest of spiritual mysteries. Man had but to establish a relationship with God first, and the world would be his to pick and choose from.
How easy life would become for a person who lived in a kingdom where the King was his friend! Shri Nathji said, how easy life would become for a man who lived in a world where its Creator was his friend! Have we established any relationship with the Creator or are we totally ignorant of His existence?
“Man is like a guest who arrives one day, stays for a while, and then leaves. Has he established any relationship with the Divine Host or is he simply using his host’s things without even knowing Him?