Shri Nathji would take the children for a walk on Marine Drive along with Mateshwari. People would stop and gaze at Shri Nathji long after he had passed them by on the pavement by the side of the ocean.
All of a sudden they would feel a wave of undefined love and bliss; a feeling of great devotion would wrench their hearts.
They would look upon the incredibly beautiful face of Shri Nathji, behold an unearthly glow on the face, sense the presence of Divine Glory without understanding it, and then think of Shri Nathji as someone very big.
“J K?” the people would ask those accompanying Shri Nathji, “is he the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir?”
Others would call him the “Gaekwad of Baroda” and yet others refer to him as Raja Sahib or Sethji. It was to give his darshan to all and sundry that Shri Nathji would venture out of his abode at Mayfair Building.
Shri Nathji, Mateshwari and the children would buy the fresh green coconuts that the coconut vendors on the pavement sold, and enjoy eating the soft kernel inside, and also drink the cool coconut water within.
As they would stand on the pavement and eat the coconuts, the humanity passing by would stop and stare at them, and try to be as close to Shri Nathji as possible. There were even times when a small crowd would gather around Shri Nathji just trying to decipher who he was, while he ate the coconut kernel and drank the coconut water. Shri Nathji would smile with love towards all, and something would happen to them. Many would have tears in their eyes as if they were looking upon their nearest and dearest loved one.
Shri Nathji spoke to the people of the world as he were their servant, their slave–ghulam. He had not a trace of pride in his bearing or his voice.
No one in the world could speak with such great love as Shri Nathji to the poor on the streets, whether these were coconut vendors or strangers. People felt tears come into their eyes when they heard him speak to them in his loving voice. It was as they had found someone who cared for them in the wilderness of the world full of strangers, where no one had a kind word for another.
Shri Nathji would also take his family to Chowpatty where they would all eat chaat. The poverty at the spot was very distressing for Shri Nathji and Mateshwari and they could barely eat the chaat. They would see little ragged children and beggars rush to lick the discarded leaves that people threw away. It was to give his darshan to this part of humanity that Shri Nathji would choose to come to these places. He would be very generous when it came to giving money to beggars, and as a consequence, would have a swarm of beggars running after him all along the pavement on Marine Drive.
Shri Nathji would take Mateshwari and the children to a vegetarian restaurant just across the road from Mayfair Building, “Purohit Restaurant” where they would have an occasional lunch. Mateshwari particularly liked the place and the children were very fond of the Maharashtrian food they made. It was their first tryst with Maharashtrians, with whom Shri Nathji was going to have a long and lasting relationship in the years to come.
Then there were the car rides on the road that went up to Malabar Hill, which the children especially enjoyed. Some devotee would send his car and Shri Nathji would use it to give a ride to his children along the sightseeing spots in Bombay.
Malabar Hill was the place the children enjoyed the most and it was there that Shri Nathji took them. There was a small restaurant on the hill that overlooked the city of Bombay. Shri Nathji and Mateshwari and the children usually sat there and had tea. The restaurant owner never forgot this divine visitor, without understanding who he was. Shri Nathji rang the bell of familiarity, of recognition, in the heart of every human soul that he met, of which he was a part.
The children had become very fond of cars. A car was a novelty for them since they had been brought up in the isolation of the hills and the only cars that they had seen were the little Dinky Toy models that Shri Nathji purchased for them from the toyshop, Kareem Bax, in Mussoorie. Now that Shri Nathji had purchased the toy models for them, the boys pestered Shri Nathji to get them real cars. Shri Nathji who was the ever-loving father, and who never said “no” to anyone in the world, seriously began to think of getting a car for the children.
Even in the midst of his pre-occupation with the devotees and the humanity who were always around him, Shri Nathji found a Hillman car and then a large black Master Buick, which were for sale. Shri Nathji would take the children for rides in these cars over Malabar Hill and the children were thrilled at the thought that Shri Nathji was going to buy a car for them. Shri Nathji even wrote out a telegram to Devki Nandan Kasera and Shri Bhutt telling them to arrange for two thousand rupees with which a car could be purchased for Pran Nath! However much before the telegram could be sent, the cars had been sold to other buyers. The owner of the Master Buick, a certain Shri L.G. Khare, advocate, who had developed deep reverence for Shri Nathji, wrote a very apologetic letter to Shri Nathji saying that he had waited for a while but as there was no response from Shri Nathji the car was sold. The car was being given very cheap by Khare to Shri Nathji for a mere two thousands rupees, and Shri Nathji and Mateshwari always regretted having lost the bargain in Bombay. However in that lost bargain, Shri Nathji had given his blessings to Shri Khare, which perhaps was the only purpose of the aborted transaction.
Shri Nathji’s Persian Verse would come true whenever he interacted with the humanity around him:
Raihmate Haq bahaa nami joyad
Raihmate Haq bahaanaa mi joyad
The Grace of God does not ask for a price,
The Grace of God only seeks an excuse!
All the interactions of Shri Nathji with the humanity around him, whether on the spiritual plane or the worldly plane, were a mere excuse for him to give his blessings and divine Grace to them.
Shri Nathji had always said:
“The relationship between the human soul and God is like the relationship between an iron and a magnet which has existed since time immemorial. The moment the iron comes before the magnet it feels a force of attraction spontaneously. In a like manner the moment the human soul comes before God it feels a spontaneous attraction, which is the attraction of the ages, of God calling his creation to Himself.”