Shri Nathji often told the story of the two artists who were provided two opposite walls on which to exhibit their art. One of them painted on his wall. The other rubbed his wall contin¬uously, polishing it till it shone like a mirror. In this mirror was reflected the handiwork of the other artist. Whilst the first had laboured and toiled at his art, the second had cleaned and polished his wall. The net result of the two was the same.
When a man so purifies his heart that it becomes as clean as a mirror, when it is freed of all desires, anger, greed, hatred, lust, fear–when man has the Glory of God within it, then all the knowledge of the world appears in it like the reflection within a mirror.
Since Shri Nathji was God Himself, this came very easily to Him. God was All-Knowledge.
Shri Nathji frequently said to his devotees,
“Do not beg of the world for your needs! If you are in want, come to me! If you desire something, come to me! If you are in fear, come to me! And when you are neither in need nor in fear–then come to me for my sake, for my love!
He would also say:
All relationships in the world contain selfishness. No person will call you unless he wants something from you. This innate selfishness exists even amongst the nearest of relationships–even between husband and wife, father and son, and mother and child! But God says–when I call you to myself, it is only that I wish to give MYSELF to you.”
His exact words in Hindi were:
Duniyaa men jo bhee aapko bulaayegaa uskaa gupt yaa pragat koyi swaarth hogaa. Magar main jab aapko bulaataa hoon to meraa koyi swaarth naheen hota.
Sirf aapko oonchaa karna chaahataa hoon.
God is an Ocean of Love, Shri Nathji said, and He placed one drop of His Love inside the heart of a mother.
Whenever families or groups of friends would come to visit Shri Nathji, they would all lose their separate identities in the ocean of Shri Nathji’s Love Divine.
Who is he before whom a father forgets his son and a son his father? Shri Nathji would ask.
You! Nathji! the people would say in an ecstasy of bliss.
“Ishq ki iptadaa bhi tum,
Husn ki intahaa bhi tum
Raihne do raaz khul gayaa,
Bande bhi tum khudaa bhi tum
Thou art the beginning of Love itself and Thou the limits of Beauty, too-
Of a certainty, the Secret must out–
That thou art God, as well as Man!”
What is that which is closest to you? Shri Nathji would sometimes ask, startling his listeners, and he would reply: Your Face! And what is that which is most distant from you? Your Face! It is the one thing you can never see–unless a mirror is brought before you. Similarly, God is within you; when I come before you as a mirror you see His Face and become aware of Him!