While Shri Nathji was staying at Mr. Chopra’s house, a relative of his arrived at Allahabad. The man was a hardcore materialist addicted to the principles of eat, drink and be merry.
He refused to come to Mr. Chopra’s house because Shri Nathji was there, but later consented, adding:
All right I will visit you, but on one condition – I will not meet Shri Nathji, because I have an aversion for holy men.
He came to Mr. Chopra’s house. Shri Nathji’s sermon was in progress to a large gathering in the drawing room.
As he was passing by in the verandah outside the room, he caught a glimpse of Shri Nathji. He stopped, suddenly, gripped by a powerful magnetic force.
And then he tore through the crowd and ran towards Shri Nathji, falling at his feet in prostration!
He acquired a powerful devotion in Shri Nathji. The divine vision revealed to him had become engrained in his heart.
The next day he was seen sitting at the feet of Shri Nathji, singing:
“Jeenaa teri gali men, marnaa teri gali men, Live, I will, in Thy lane; and die, I will, in Thy lane.”
Mr. Chopra was surprised: Nathji, you have given him something which you never gave us all these years!
The relative said to Shri Nathji:
The divine intoxication I have derived from you exceeds anything that I ever derived from wine! I have found my real father!
It was this aspect of Shri Nathji’s divinity that was bewildering. He could change the greatest agnostic in the world to a believer with a single glance. And more often than not, the glance was cast by the person concerned. It was an inner recognition of the soul.
Thhaa kucch na kucch jo phaans see iss dil men chubh gayee
Maanaa ke uske haath men teero sanaa naa thhaa
There was something, of a certainty, that pierced the heart
Though his hand carried neither a bow nor an arrow!
And the moment of inspiration was not a temporary one. It was one of abiding faith.