From the Memoirs of
my Father, HH Shri Bhola Nathji ( (19021992) the Founder of the World Prayer
Day for peace.
There was a very rich
businessman who had a holday home in Mussoorie, the small city in the
Himalayas. He had built a large villa by hiring Italian architects and placed
roofs of Aluminium instead of the traditional tin roofs that people used. His
name was Seth B.D. Meattle. Seth is a title used for milionaires
It was the 1950's.
Whenever he walked on the Mall Road of the city, shopkeepers would come running
out of their shops to pull him inside. There were times when he would purchase
their entire goods. He had a large entourage with him which consisted of his
servants and Alsatian dogs, a German Homeopathic doctor, a personal lawyer and
a secretary.
He had a large cinema
theatre inside his mansion in which he entertained the rich and the elite of
Mussoorie with the latest Bombay films which his producer friends sent him as
complimentary copies.
Everyone thought he
was the happiest man in the world, and wishes they possessed wealth like his.
The Maharajas of Mussoorie were jealous of the man's wealth, which they scarce
possessed. One Maharaja even went so far as to tell him:
"Mr. Meattle!
You have so much money, you made a mistake of putting Aluminium roofs on your
house you should have used gold instead!"
When it rained, the
hailstones tore large holes in the Aluminium roofs in any case. Maybe the tin
roofs of ordinary folk were bettter suited for the weather.
One night at about 8
pm he came for an audience with HH Shri Bhola Nathji. He came alone with his
entourage.
AS he sat down before
HH Shri Nathji he said to him:
"I have heard
people say that you have the power to grant them whatever desires they have in
life! I too have come to ask you for something!"
HH Shri Nathji smiled
and said: "Sethji! After earning practically half the wealth of the
country is there anything else that you would still desire?"
The Seth replied:
" I have come to ask you for Death! For two years I have been yearning for
death but it does not come to me! I am the most miserable man upon earth.
People look upon my wealth and think of me as the happiest man upon earth, but
they do not know of the fire of sorrow and suffering burning inside me! There
are so many illnesses, so many family problems, so many court cases. etc. my
material wealth is like a palace shaking and about to collapse upon me!"
HH Shri Nathji added:
"Yes. Sethji, I can understand your problem. You are like a man wearing a
beautiful silk handkerchief made of an beautiful expensive cloth and the
pulblic are admiring your beautiful handkerchief. But little do they know that
it covers a terrible wound inside!"
Then Shri Nathji
added in the silence of the night:
"Sethji! YoOu
have come to the wrong place! I do not have Death! I have only Life! If you
want it, you can take it!"I wish to give that to you!"
The rich man suddenly
found a feeling of peace flood the innermost depths of his soul.
He went away that
night. In the morning there was a phone call from him in which he said:
"O Nathji! I
want to live! I no longer wish to die! Ever since the time I met you a sudden
peace has entered my heart! All my problems exist as they were. But I feel so
strong and so much at peace that the problems dont appear to matter any longer!
It is your miracle!"
And HH Shri Nathji
said: "Sethji! You are going out in the scorching heat of the world. I
cannot turn off the hot weather but I can give you my umbrella which will
protect you from the heat and at the same time allow you to walk in it!"
The Seth left for
Bombay a very different and happy man. In that one moment that he had spent
with HH Shri Nathji he had regained his zest for life. It was not the mere
force of Shri Nathji's words, rather it was a feeling of undefinable peace
which had entered within him, for which he had no explanation except his Faith
in HH Shri Nathji who had saved his life.
Shri Nathji not only
had the power to raise the dead back to life, but also the power to give back
the lives of those who were still living.
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