SHRI NATHJI OWNER OF THE WORLD

(Memoirs of my Father, HH Shri Bhola Nathji 1902-1992, Founder of the World Prayer for Peace.)

There was a time in1937 when Shri Nathji was in the the city of Dehra Dun at the foothill of the Himalayas.

There he met a Seth, a millionaire, who owned an entire colony of houses.

"All these houses belong to me!" said the Seth with some pride to Shri Nathji, waving his finger in a circular motion in the air.

"And all the houses in the world belong to me!" said Shri Nathji waving his walking stick in a circular motion in the air.

"How can you say that?" said the amazed Seth.

"Just like you waved your finger in the air, I waved my stick in the air! And claimed the homes to be mine!" said Shri Nathji with a smile.

"You are joking! Do you have any proof that all the houses in the world belong to you?" said the Seth to Shri Nathji.

"What proof do you have that all the houses in this colony belong to you?" Shri Nathji said in the same light vein.

"I have a document on stamp paper that proves all these houses are mine!" said the Seth.

"If a document is all that is necessry to prove one's ownership, I can bring a document stating that all the houses in the world are mine!" sais Shri Nathji.

"But I have further proof that these houses belong to me. They are all occupied by my tenants!" said the Seth.

"All the people in the world are my tenants!" said Shri Nathji.

"How can you prove they are your tenants?" said the Seth.

"And how can you prove that all these people in these houses are your tenants?" Shri Nathji asked him.

"I can remove them, give them a notice for eviction, to prove my ownership!" said the Seth.

"You wil give them a notice for eviction or evict them only if they are undesirable, is it not?" said Shri Nathji, "otherwise they can remain!"

"Yes, " said the Seth.

"Well, all my tenants of the world are desirable for me. I have no reason to evict them to prove my ownership! They can remain!"

And then Shri Nathji added:

"Sethji, tell me which house in this colony belongs to you?"

The Seth pointed to a large twenty roomed mansion, telling Shri Nathji that it had 20 rooms.

Shri Nathji said: "Do you live in all twenty rooms at the same time?"

"No," said the Seth, I Must live in only one room at a time"

Shri Nathji continued: " And how much space do you occupy when you are in any one particular room?"

"The space that my feet take up on the ground when I am standing, and the space that the length and width of my body takes up when it is standing or lying down!"

Shri Nathji said: "Listen, O Seth! More than that you cannot take, and less than that you cannot get!"

"Furthermore, that is the space that I take up also when I am on the earth!"

"So- as much is in my possession as is in yours! And if using that gauge makes you the owner of this entire colony, I can claim with equal authority that using that same gauge the entire world and all its houses belong to me - and all the people therein are my tenants!"

The Seth received enlightenment. A new world had opened up for him with Shri Nathji as the landlord!!

It was this aspect of Shri Nathji that endeared him to the intellectuals of the time. His logic was so irrefutable and so appealing that people found themselves drawn to him spontaneously and realised the power of the divine behind such a powerful logic.

It was small wonder that the judiciary and lawyers of Dehra Dun flocked to Shri Nathji to listen to him and more to be lost in the Divine Bliss that surrounded his personality, which brought to them the living presence of God with all his authority and power.