One night Shri Nathji was writing in his small satsang room, which overlooked the road alongside. Shri Nathji always used reading glasses for his reading and writing work, which was voluminous.
While he was trying to adjust the spectacles on his face one of the screws from the frame fell on the ground. The screw was so small that it could not be easily seen on the carpet below. Shri Nathji tried in vain to serach for it, but soon gave up.
He could not wear the spectacles because the screw that held the sides of the frame had fallen out. It was about 10 p.m. and Shri Nathji had wished to finish the divine revelations that he was setting down on paper in the night.
Just then Shri Nathji heard a knock on the door. He opened the door and found that the visitor was Shri Jagdish Prasad Srivastava. Shri Nathji allowed him in, and then began to speak to him with his usual exuberance. After about an hour had elapsed, Shri Nathji stopped speaking. Just as Shri J.P. Srivastava was about to leave the room, Shri Nathji said to him:
“Jagdish Prasadji, the screw of my spectacles has fallen out and I cannot find it. Do you think you could get the spectacles repaired anywhere?”
It was already late in the night and all the shops were closed. However, Shri J.P.Srivastavaa was fired with the bhaavnaa of devotion, and he took the spectacles from Shri Nathji, promising to get the screw replaced that very night.
He rushed out and went to the residence of an optician, and asked him to replace the screw. The optician opened his shop especially for Shri J.P. Srivastava and replaced the screw on Shri Nathji’s spectacles.
Shri J.P. Srivastava was back within one hour and gave the spectacles back to Shri Nathji. Shri Nathji was intensely pleased. This was the bhaavnaa he had always spoken about. Shri Nathji thereafter blessed Jagdish Prasad and the man went away.
Shri J.P. Srivastava came again the next day and prostrated before Shri Nathji. He had an interesting event to narrate:
“I had not been confirmed as principal of the college since a long time. It appeared that there were certain elements who were inimical to me, who were trying to stall the process. I came for your darshan last night. And today I received a letter confirming my appointment as principal of the college. It is all due to your blessings!”
Shri Nathji laughed and said: “Shri J.P. Srivastava! This is the reward for that service you rendered me last night – getting the screw of my spectacles replaced in the dead of night. Had I not lost the screw you would not have received the divine grace for restoring it! The lost screw was merely an excuse to give you the chance of serving me!
“Raihmate Haq bahaa nami joyad,
Raihmate Haq bahaanaa mi joyad
The Grace of God does not seek a price,
The Grace of God seeks but an excuse!”
Shri Nathji had always said that service to God in any form was always rewarded, on the spiritual plane as well as the material plane. On the spiritual plane it gave the wealth of peace and salvation such as could not be had in the world, and on the material plane it gave prosperity. There were the oft-repeated words of Shri Nathji:
Manushya mazdoori deth hai,
Kyon raakhe Bhagwan!
When man pays for services rendered
Why would God not recompense
Shri Nathji would ever afterwards in his sermons relate the incident of the screw of his spectacles and the service of Shri J.P.Srivastava that night. These small episodes in Shri Nathji’s life carried the same depth of meaning as did the episodes mentioned in the ancient books of religion. It was in this interaction with individuals that Shri Nathji’s divine light and teachings were made manifest.