After staying at Kahkashan in Mussoorie over the summers of 1933, 1934 and 1935, Shri Nathji went to stay at Dilaram Estate in 1936 on Camel’s Back Road. The estate was owned by a famous barrister of Lucknow, Chaudhri Hyder Husein. The barrister had developed a great devotion for Shri Nathji, and would always say: Shri Nathji radiates Love – nay, Shri Nathji is all Love from head to foot!
Once, when dark clouds had gathered at his farewell party at Dilaram Estate, he said to Shri Nathji: Hazrat duaa farmaayiye! Sir, give your blessings so that it does not rain! And the rain was halted miraculously.
It was at Dilaram Estate that Shri Babaji Maharaj had also come and resided for a short while in 1936 before returning to Lahore with Shri Nathji.
While Shri Nathji was at Dilaram Estate at Mussoorie, he was visited by the princes of Nepal who lived in Fairlawn Estate in Barlowganj, Mussoorie, which was at a great distance from Dilaram Estate. However they would walk up the large distance to receive the blessings of Shri Nathji and to listen to his words which filled them with great bliss.
On one occasion they brought with them a foreigner, Paul Brunton, by name. He was a famous author and theologian and had travelled all over the world, meeting holy men and writing about them. It had been said that he had earned two crores of rupees through the sale of his books alone.
Paul Brunton had been visiting the princes of Nepal at Mussoorie when they told him about Shri Nathji.. He had expressed a desire to meet Shri Nathji. He had thought that holy men in India lived only in the forests and caves or else in ashrams in seclusion. It was a surprise to him that a holy personality like Shri Nathji happened to be living permanently in the cities.
When he asked Shri Nathji why he lived in the cities instead of hermitages and ashrams in the forests, Shri Nathji replied:
A doctor should live where his patients are! Doctor ko vaheen raihnaa chaahiye jahaan mareez hon!
Paul Brunton then asked Shri Nathji:
If all the souls in the world were to gain salvation–what would become of the world?
Shri Nathji laughed and said:
Paul Brunton you have asked a very difficult question. It is like asking: what will become of the hospital if all its patients are cured?
Paul Brunton then asked Shri Nathji: If there is God-Realisation everywhere, what would become of the progress of science and material advancement?”
God-Realisation and material advancement do not contradict each other, said Shri Nathji, and he gave an example:
Suppose there are illuminations and decorations to welcome the King. Of what worth would these be if the King were not to come? On the other hand, would the King not be disappointed if he were to come and there were to be no illuminations and decorations to welcome him?
”A happy state would be a combination of the two–like a well-balanced combination of the body and the soul. Spiritual realisation brings peace. And material advancement brings prosperity. One cannot enjoy prosperity unless there is peace within as well.
Paul Brunton went away, greatly satisfied by Shri Nathji’s answers. For long now confusion had prevailed in his mind about the apparent contradictions of the world of material prosperity and that of spiritual advancement. These contradictions had been made all the worse by his experiences with holy men who preached a life of complete renunciation of the world. It was a novel experience for him–finding a holy person living within the material world, like any other man of the world, but with full control over his mind as well as the minds of others.
Shri Nathji had expressed very beautifully how man was to live in the world, in his verse which had become legend, and which was written in his book,“Payaame Muhabbat”–“A Message of Love”, by him at the age of fifteen:
Deedaye zaahir men mere ye jahaan bastaa rahe
Deedaye baatin men lekin kuchh sivaa tere na ho
Let the world remain before my eyes to see,
But within me let there be none else but Thee
Shri Nathji had also expressed the same theme in his illustration of the gift of roses, which was presented to him by Barrister Dwarka Nath at Jullunder. This was an example that had gone into the hearts of his audiences so well that they had at last understood the combination of a material life with a spiritual one.
Paul Brunton was an honest seeker after truth and understood whatever part of himself Shri Nathji chose to disclose upon him. Perhaps it was not Shri Nathji’s wish to disclose the full extent of his divinity upon the man. If Shri Nathji had disclosed his real divine form to Paul Brunton, the man would have informed the whole world about Shri Nathji, for he was to become a renowned author. But it was not Shri Nathji’s will that he be made known to the world just then. A seed must take time to grow, and the time was not then ripe. One can recall how Lord Rama came before Tulsidas without granting him recognition of his human form.
Paas Kharro nazaron men na aave
Aiso Rama hamaaro re
Standing beside thee, he is ever hidden
From thy sight–such is our Rama!