As time elapsed, the land of Shri Nathji’s birth began advancing more and more towards materialism. No more would genuine seekers after truth give up material pursuits in search of God; no more would the caves and hermitages of the land produce saints and sages that existed only for the sake of God.
Shri Nathji would say to himself:
Khair too Saaki sahi
Magar pilaayegaa too kisse?
Ab naa vo maikash rahe baaki
Naa maikhaane rahe
Yes, thou art the Saki, still-
But who willst thou give to drink?
Gone are the lovers of wine,
And gone the drinking taverns!
The gurus of latter-day India fitted the materialistic aspirations of the people beautifully. But even these gurus were settling abroad.
Shri Nathji had become more and more withdrawn from public life as the years had passed. Instead of exploiting his popularity, he had begun to hide himself. He had stopped giving public lectures, and his movements would remain confined between Mussoorie and Delhi. He had stopped travelling to far off places. It was as if God had withdrawn Himself from the world and waited only for genuine seekers to find Him.
Shri Nathji never desired to collect a large number of followers around himself. He often used to quote Shri Babaji Maharaj:
Beta, khurgeen ki bharti kaa kyaa laabh? Of what use gathering together crowds of followers who are unenlightened?
Time and again, Shri Nathji would say:
One genuine seed is better than thousands of roasted seeds! The genuine seed contains within itself the power to produce an infinite number of seeds.
“When the genuine seed is sown, it will produce a tree with numerous fruits; and each of the fruits will have the seed within it. And then each of these seeds in turn will produce numerous other seeds. The process will go on and on, till an infinite number of seeds will come from that one seed sown in the beginning.”
Shri Nathji said: “When mahatmas are busy speaking to large crowds, here I am sitting alone with one person! It makes no difference to me whether thousands come to me or only one man!
“Sometimes, I must leave thousands and go to one man, and, at other times, I must leave one man and go to thousands.
“Kabhi main ek ko chhorr kar laakhon ke paas jaataa hoon, aur kabhi main laakhon ko chhorr kar ek ke paas aataa hoon!”
“If no one comes to me I shall sit alone and look at the reflection of my own face in a mirror!”
Shri Nathji continued:
“I ask those mahatmas who measure their worth in the world on the strength of the numbers of followers they have. What will their worth be if these followers disappear? A mahatma must seek to please only God and not run after name, fame or followers.
“The mahatma must ever be cautious and think of the time of death when these crowds will not go with him, when he shall be all alone, and shall have to cross the Bhavsaagar on the basis of his own devotion which must not be diluted by pride or ego.
“A real mahatma must not look at the recognition accorded to him by the world but must seek to please only God with his devotion, even if he have no followers at all.”
Shri Nathji said:
“Main mahatmaaon ko warn kartaa hoon ke pranaam karvaanaa mat seekhen–pranaam karnaa seekhen!
“I warn those mahatmas who want people to prostrate before them, that they must instead learn to prostrate before others!
“A guru, who cannot see God in his followers and prostrate before them, is not a real guru.
“Maine to sab ke aage ek hee pranaam kar chokaa hoon! I, myself, have prostrated myself before all, in one single prostration!”