From the memoirs of
HH Shri Bhola Nathji ( 1902-1992) The Founder of the World Prayer For peace.
The year was 1938.
Shri Nathji was living in the foothills of the Himalayas in the city of Dehra
Dun. Exactly oppposite the road lived the Chaube Family. Mr. Chaube was a
retired Deputy Collector, of the rank of a Magistrate. He had five sons and a
very devoted wife, Mrs. Chaube.
Every morning Shri
Nathji would go out for a walk along the road between the houses. Mrs. Chaube
would stand at the gate of her house and watch this incredibly handsome prince
walk briskly, dressed in the neatest of clothes, his black shoes shining, his
white chooridars dazzlingly white, and his dark black sherwani, long coat and
golden silk turban, making him appear a maharaja.
There was always an
attendant with him walking along with him, umbrella in hand, shielding Shri
Nathji from the sun.
Shri Nathji's face
itself was not only the handsomest human face that she had ever seen it was
also aglow with a strange heavenly light, so that merely on beholding his face
the onlooker found all his worries withering away and his heart filled with an
undefinable love and peace. The aura of love around Shri Nathjji was so great
that the entire neighbourhood felt as if peace had descended upon it whenever
Shri Nathji walked along the road amongst the houses.
Even the birds would
appear to stop their clamour and settle down in their trees to watch this
divine being stride past them.
Mrs. Chaube had to
find out who he was. He was too humble to even have a name plate on his gate!
All that people knew was that he called himself Ghulam Rue Zameen, - the
servant of the earth.
One day Mrs. Chaube
was visited by her friend, Mrs. Gangabai Bhutt from Central India who was the
wife of a judge. She congratulated Mrs. Chaube on living next to such a grand
personality whom she known since years, and who she had come to visit.
"Oh, he is
certainly a very majestic personality, the handsomest man in the world! A great
maharaja!" said Mrs. Chaube.
Mrs. Gangabai was
aghast!
"Is that all you
have been able to understand about him? Havent you seen that divine glow on his
Face? That is the Glory of God! I believe him to be God himself!"
Though Mrs Chaube
begged her friend, Mrs. Bhutt, to introduce her to Shri Nathji she refused. She
was returning to Central India and she also added:
"You must go
there with a true yearning and belief in your heart and with Faith, and find
out for yourself who he is!"
The day came when
Mrs. Chaube went inside the house of Shri Nathji. She waited in the drawing
room. He was writing something in his own room. She waited for a long time, and
then gave up hope. Perhaps it was not her destiny to meet him now. Just when
she got up to go away - Shri Nathji entered the room!
The sight that met
Mrs. Chaube was so overwhelming that she screamed once and then fell
unconscious. Shri Nathji's countenance was glowing with a divine light and the
Glory around him was one which one expected only around God. She had been a
worshipped of Narayana- God - all her life. And the sight she saw of Shri
Nathji in that drawing room was that of her Narayana!
It was quite
different from the sight of that royal prince she used to see every morning
when he was out walking. This was because she had come with Faith this time and
not out of curiosity.
Very soon she and her
family became greatly devoted to Shri Nathji. Even though her family were not
to have the insight granted to her, she rejoiced in the fact that they all
accepted Shri Nathji as a great divine being.
On their day of
worship when they used to worship the idols of Laxmi and Narayana, they
replaced the idols with Shri Nathji and carried out his worship in the same
manner an the same place in their home.
Shri Nathji with his
usual humility said to her:
"Mataji,
(Mother) what are you doing? Won't you annoy the gods?"
Mrs. Chaube replied:
" No, I wont, I am simply worshipping them in your form!"
Time came when after
a long association with Shri Nathji, one night Mrs. Chaube passed away. Her
husband knocked at Shri Nathji's door and gave him the sad news:
"My wife is no
more. She had supreme faith in you. The doctors have declared her dead at
midnight. It is about 2:30 in the morning and we are preparing for her funeral
rites at about 9 am or so. Will you be kind enough to come and bless her body.
We have brought it to the ground in preparation, but her face is still left
uncovered".
Shri Nathji who loved
her like a son would love his mother, rushed over in the biting cold in his
slippers with a blanket wrapped across his shoulders.
There was the sound
of loud weeping even as the five sons of Mrs. Chaube gathered around her and
wept. Mrs. Chaube's cold body lay on the ground, her face uncovered.
Shri Nathji called
out to her: "Mataji! (mother)!" But there was no answer from the dead
and cold body. He called out "Mataji!" a second time. But again there
was no answer. He called out "Mataji!" a third time, and then he
raised his hands and blessed her in the silence.
Thereafter he left
the house, while Mr. Chaube escorted him to the gate of the house over the long
pathway.
Hardly had they
reached the gate when one of the sons of Mrs. Chaube came running after them,
shouting in loud words:
"Nathji! Nathji!
Come Back! Come Back! Mother has come back to life! She is sitting up and
calling out your name repeatedly!"
Shri Nathji rushed
back to the house. And there was Mrs. Chaube sitting up on the ground, alive
and well! She bowed low and touched his feet and then she said:
"O Nathji! I had
gone very far away. It was your voice that brought me back!!"
She added:
"Promise me two
things: the first is that you will come running to the aid of anyone who calls
out to you, like you came running to save me! And secondly, bring that golden
age into the world of which you spoke when there shall be peace and only love
and the entire world shall experience a golden age!"
The old lady lived
for six months more and then passed away peacefully with the name of Shri
Nathji on her lips and the image of Shri Nathji in her heart, clasping close to
her breast a photo of Shri Nathji.
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