People who came to Shri Nathji found their troubles disappearing miraculously and spontaneously. The people of Lucknow were witnessing the presence of a Messiah in their midst whose loving voice filled their entire beings with a new life, and whose mere presence healed them of all their infirmities, mental or physical.
Once when Shri Nathji was in Lucknow at the house of R.R.Khanna, there was an urgent knocking at the door. A servant had arrived with a note from a Rai Bahadur, an acquaintance of Shri R.R.Khanna. The note was a desperate plea. The Rai Bahadur’s son lay dangerously ill. The doctors had given up all hope. He would not survive the night, they said. The Rai Bahadur had never met Shri Nathji personally but had only heard about his spiritual powers. The note was a prayer to Shri Nathji to save the boy. R.R.Khanna was irritated at the manner in which the note had been sent at the dead of night, but Shri Nathji came out and calmed him.
This is the only door left to the world, when all other doors are closed. What will they do if even this door closes upon them? The man is in suffering, and his hasty action can be excused.
The boy recovered miraculously during the night. The doctors were greatly surprised and the Rai Bahadur rushed to Shri Nathji’s house in the morning, carrying a garland of ‘Gota’, tinsels.
Thereafter, he visited Shri Nathji every day and derived spiritual solace from him. Very soon his visits became less and less frequent. Mr. Khanna said to him: When you were in trouble you took the liberty of waking up Shri Nathji in the middle of the night! And now that Shri Nathji has saved your son’s life you find it difficult to visit him every day!
The Rai Bahadur was greatly ashamed of himself. Such are the weaknesses of human nature, he said in remorse, the moment our troubles are over, we forget God again!
He returned to the darbaar frequently after that, and brought his son to Shri Nathji when he had become well enough to walk: This son is your gift to me, he said.
It was very common for Shri Nathji to find people who would come to him when in misery, and later, when their sufferings were removed, disappear altogether.
Son! Shri Babaji Maharaj had said to Shri Nathji, God you are, but you must now learn to experience the world! Bhagwan to aap hain hee, ab zaraa duniyaa dekh lo!
Here was a materialistic world in which people only came to God for the things of the world. Genuine lovers of God were rare. Very few wanted God for the sake of God, Himself.
As Shri Nathji used to say in Punjabi:
Leyi daat visreyaa daataa.
The donor is forgotten when the donation has been obtained.
It was easy to forget God once His world had been obtained from Him.
Shri Nathji would often say: Real devotion only begins when we ask nothing from God except God Himself.
Faith was not something that man could acquire by himself, or adhere to by his own efforts – it was a gift of God, and only God could sustain it and preserve it. Such was Shri Nathji’s message.
The faith Khanna had acquired had been given to him by Shri Nathji, it was not his own possession.