While Shri Nathji continued to live in London, Priya Nath pursued his studies at Harvard University for a doctorate in Nuclear Physics. He discovered that his training in the subject at Allahabad University had been grossly inadequate, and that the courses he was taking at Harvard appeared to be beyond his ken. Just when he thought things were hopeless, he found himself passing with flying colours in the ‘A’ grade. This too was yet another miracle of Shri Nathji.
Harvard contained some of the most brilliant scholars and scientists of the day, and Priya Nath had an opportunity of mingling with them. What struck him at the outset was the absolute righteous lives these scientists led. They were so absorbed in their work that the so-called temptations of the world had no meaning for them. Their absolute sincerity and dedication to their work, and their total lack of pride were qualities that were altogether spiritual. It did not appear that these people were capable of sinning in the conventional sense of the word.
Humility was a feature that characterised many of these great men. Priya Nath found this feature common in America. Whether it was assumed or natural, was another matter–but it was very apparent. For example, when the students and the teachers were gathered together at a welcoming party for the new-comers, the President of the University, Mr. Pusey would be seen moving around in the midst of students, introducing himself with a simple: I am Pusey.
When Priya Nath went to the office of the Chairman of the Physics Department, the latter immediately got up from his chair and offered a seat to Priya Nath. No head of the department would have done as much for a student in India.
These men of science, scholars and intellectuals, were remarkable for their simplicity in dress, manner and habits. They were unassuming, congenial and very, very humble. One could not imagine any of them being haughty or arrogant or dishonest. They were attached to their work–but with a strange air of detachment. It appeared that they worked for the joy of working. They would neither be overjoyed by success nor depressed by failure.
These men, who were silent about God, had all the qualities that religions advocated. Here were men for whom greed, avarice, hatred, pride, lust did not exist. Goodness, honesty, and, most of all, humility, marked their lives. They were latter-day Saints without knowing it.
And that was as it should have been, for scientists were closest to God. They were discovering the secrets of His Creation, unveiling His knowledge, uncovering His greatness. Each and every discovery they made only revealed the greatness of the Creator’s Knowledge. Scientists were not creating the laws of Nature, they were merely discovering them.
It was they who revealed to mankind how vast and infinite the Universe was. Only an Infinite, All-Powerful Being was capable of such a massive creative feat.
Scientists were closest to God without their being aware of it. Perhaps it was just as well that scientists had not turned to formal and orthodox religion. If they had, this might have intensified rivalries in the world and led to greater strife and war.
Yes, scientists had discovered atomic energy, but it was not they who actually dropped the bomb. When Oppenheimer, the famous American Nuclear Physicist, saw the first atomic test, he said:
The powerful release of energy which went up in a huge flaming cloud altogether terrifying and beautiful was as if God had said: ‘I have now become war’!
Priya Nath saw a programme on television in which all the nuclear scientists, who had participated in the making of the atomic bomb, were interviewed. Professor Bainbridge of Harvard was the most vocal.
Professor Bainbridge, asked the interviewer, what did you feel when you saw the first atomic test?
I felt, now we are all sons of bitches, said Professor Bainbridge.