HH SHRI NATHJI'S PAINTING THE INFERO COULD NOT TOUCH

The year was 1968. A large sized portriat of HH Shri Nathjji painted and carved on wood was placed in the famous Art Gallery of Mussoorie on the Mall Road in the old wooden Standard Building.

The owner of the Art Gallery,-Shri Roop KIshore- had portraits of Gandhi and Nehru and other leaders of the country, apart from beautiful sceneries and fantasies had had painted with oil.

This particular picture of HH Shri Nathji he had taken from the famous Hindi Book of HH Shri Nathji "Daivi Kirney", in 1959 meaning "Rays Divine", which was later named "The First Rays of Dawn" and has enlightened many a person, bringing the living presence of HH Shri Nathji to them.

Ill luck had followed in the footsteps of the Artist. In the past his Gallery was located at Roxy Building at the other end of town but had been destroyed by a massive fire.

This was his second Art Gallery on the Mall Road.

One day this too caught fire. There was an electricity shortcut in the old building, and the fire spread and spread till it had turned into a massive inferno. The skating Hall on the first floor of the building was the first to go and then it collpased on the ground floor where the Art Gallery and other shops were located including a piano shop.

The Mussoorie Fire Brigade could not start their trucks, and many were missing, as was the order of the day. The Fire Brigade was notorious for being asleep, or fiddling like Nero when Rome burnt. The Fire Brigade was called from Dehra Dun a city 20 miles down the hills.

But by the time the Fire Brigade got there the building was reduced to rubble. Huge steel girders lay across the caked and blackend bricks and rocks and burnt tin. Not a wall was left standing. It was one of the greatest tragedies the city of Mussoorie had faced in a long time.

The owner of the Skating Rink was shown in a state of shock roaming the streets calling out to the people that his building had burnt down, and beating his breast with his hands, wailing, "Haaye! Haaye! Alas! Alas! I am ruined! I am ruined!"

A few days later the owner of the Art Gallery, Shri Roop Kishore, was seen walking up the slope of the house of Shri Nathji. He had two men with him. And they were carrying something.

Roop Kishore met HH Shri Nathji and placed his protrait before him, bowing before him and saying:

"I restore your painting to you! It was pulled out from beneath the rubble. There is not even a dark singe of fire on the wood. It is as good as the day it was placed there! How could the fire have touched the painting when your divine power was protecting it!"

Shri Nathji with his characteristic love and humility embraced the artist and commisserrated him for the loss of his Gallery and also added:

"How could the fire have touched my painting when your good wishes were with me!!"

It was a miracle that astounded the residents of the city. Nothing had been left in the building except dried ambers of fire. How the painting hidden beneath the rubble and steel girders and stone walls could have escaped even a spark of fire was nothing but a revelation of divine protection.

The Painting is now housed in my home. in exactly the state it is shown here a reminder of my father's Divine Powers.