One day as Shri Nathji was going for a walk early in the morning in Model Town, in Lahore, a car drove up to him and stopped. A Chief Engineer of Lahore, Rai Bahadur Sant Ram, came out of the car and said to Shri Nathji:
Huzoor, Sir, may I respectfully request you to grace my car with your holy feet?
Shri Nathji agreed to the request of the Chief Engineer and got inside his car. As the two were proceeding down the street, the Chief Engineer turned and said to Shri Nathji:
Sir, tell me of some easy way to reach God.
“Bhagwan se milne kaa koyi saral saa raastaa bataayen!”
Rai Bahadur, said Shri Nathji, how long did it take you to become a chief engineer?
“Aapko kitne saal lag gaye Chief Engineer ban ne men?”
About thirty five years. Practically a whole lifetime, the Chief Engineer replied.
And Shri Nathji said: It took you about thirty five years to become a Chief Engineer –and you wish to know how to reach God during the brief ride in this car?
“Aapko Chief Engineer ban ne men paintees saal lag gaye–aur Bhagwan se milne kaa raasta aap car hee men poochh rahe hain?”
The Chief Engineer said: I am sorry, Sir, I should not have asked the question in the car. Let me take you home where I can ask it at length.
Sant Ramji, Shri Nathji said humorously,
life is very uncertain. One does not know what the next moment may bring. What if there is a car accident on the way to your home? How will you ask the question, then!
“Kyaa pataa raaste men accident hee ho jaaye!”
The chief engineer was thoroughly confused and said: Maharaj, what must I do then? At least show me some way.
Shri Nathji said:
Go and knock at His door!”
“Uskaa darvaazaa khatkhataayaa karen!”
The Rai Bahadur said:
But the door is locked from inside is it not? It is up to the person inside to open it or not as He wills!
“Will the person outside have to go on knocking forever or will the door ever open?
“Kyaa darvaazaa khatkhataane vaalaa darvaazaa khatkataataa hee raihtaa hai yaa darvaazaa kabhi khultaa bhee hai?
Shri Nathji laughed: Rai Bahadur, now I am beginning to doubt whether you are an engineer or not.
“Rai Bahadur Sahib! Mujhe to ab shak hone lagaa hai ke aap Chief Engineer bhee hain ke naheen!”
The Rai Bahadur said: Huzoor, but what has engineering got to do with it?
Shri Nathji said:
You want to know whether the door will ever open or whether one will have to go on knocking on it forever.
“As an engineer, you ought to know–that if the door were never to open, there would have been a wall there, instead.
Agar darvaaze ne naa kulna hotaa to vahaan deevaar hoti!
Shri Nathji continued:
Go on knocking. The door shall surely open. It shall open for you because it has opened for others!
Don’t go away from the door! If He does not allow you to enter within, don’t let Him come out!
Remember, darvaazaa hee ek hai! There is but one door open to mankind when all the doors of the world have closed–and that is the door of God. If that, too, is closed where will man go? That is why His door must always open!
“He will never show His door to one He does not wish to give.
And if He shows the door to anyone, He will never send him away empty.
Jisse Bhagwan ne kuchh denaa naheen hotaa usse dwaar naheen dikhaate.
Aur jisse dwaar dikhaate hain usse phir khaali naheen bhejte!
“It is the voice of a devotee:
Mujhe dar pe too apne hee raihne de
Na uthhaa too baihre Khudaa mujhe
Jo uthhe to darde jigar uthhe
Bhalaa mujh men utthne ki taab hai
Let me remain at Thy Door
Lift me not up from there, O Lord!
If anything must rise, let it be the pain of my heart,
How canst I have the strength to get up and go!
Shri Babaji Maharaj used to say:
Agar koyi bhoolaa bhatkaa Bhagwaan ke dwaar pe aa jaataa hai to usse Bhagwan kahaan phenkenge?
“If some lost soul stumbles upon the door of God, how can God cast him away!”
Shri Nathji was the door himself, as well as the one who dwelt inside the door.