SHRI NATHJI AND THE HIGHWAY ROBBERS

 

From the memoirs of HH Shri Bhola Nathji (1902-1992) The Founder of the World Prayer Day for Peace.

The year was 1955. Shri Nathji and his family were going all the way from Bombay to Mussoorie by road. Shri Nathji always rode in a 1947 British Made Standard Car, which was driven by a chauffeur.

Something was always going wrong with the car and it was frequently seen stranded on the roads. Passers by would come and lend a helping hand by pushing the car. This was Shri Nathji's way of interacting with the poor of the streets and blessing them.

There were times when the car was stranded and Shri Nathji would be seen sitting in the shade of a dhabaa, a small village tea stall, drinking Coca Cola. It was an awesome sight, indeed. God drinking Coca Cola!

The jourrney from Bombay to Mussoorie was to be a long one through dusty roads. It was only to satisfy the whim of the two children that Shri Nathji had undertaken this arduous journey by car, because the boys enjoyed car rides.

Very soon Shri Nathji was in the Chambal Valley notorious for its highway robbers – dacoits.

People had warned Shri Nathji about this route. Dacoits would often waylay cars and murder or kidnap the occupants. Shri Nathji’s dress and bearing gave the impression of royalty, and he would have been fair prey for the dacoits.

The powers of evil that doggedly kept at the heels of Shri Nathji made one more attempt. The tyre of the car punctured, and the car skidded to a halt. The chauffeur sought for a jack. There was none. He had left it behind in Bombay.

The car stood on the jungle road for a long time. The driver was in a grim mood as he knew that suspicion would fall upon him for having left the jack behind.

Evening had just begun to give way to night. Shri Nathji had his gun with him, which had been presented to him by a Maharaja. But it was meant more as a show-piece than anything else. The children were still young. They carried the gun around the car in a brief display. Shri Nathji did not have any bullets for the gun. He had another gun with him–a Divine Weapon that shot an arrow of Love directly into the hearts of his adversaries.

Just then several tall, formidable dacoits made their appearance. They stood in the fields on either side of the road and watched the stalled car as well as the figure of Shri Nathji standing on the road, outside the car.

The dacoits were fully armed. They wore large Rajasthani turbans, and carried guns and spears. Shri Nathji saw them. He knew they were dacoits come to waylay the car.

Before his wife, Mateshwar,i could stop Shri Nathji, he got out of the car and went towards them.

They were surprised at the sight of the Royal, Majestic Being who walked so fearlessly towards them. His spiritual radiance touched their hearts. He was unlike any other passenger they had ever seen before, or unlike any other human being they had seen before. He appeared to belong to another world with the divine radiance on his face, exuding an aura of Love that filled the hearts of the dacoits.

Shri Nathji spoke to the dacoits:

"The tyre of our car has punctured. The driver has left the jack behind at home. We need your help!"

The dacoits were deeply touched. And the next instant they were seen applying their shoulders to the back mudguard of the car, lifting it inches above the ground, while the chauffeur changed the tyre.

Shri Nathji thanked them. They simply stared at him without uttering a word, and waited till he had got inside the car and left.

The inner chords of the dacoits had been touched by Shri Nathji.

In later days there was news that more and more dacoits were heard to have surrendered themselves voluntarily before the government and given up their bad ways. It was all the effect of the touch of Divine Love that Shri Nathji had left behind in their hearts and indeed in the notorious jungle area itself.

SHRI NATHJI AND THE TRAIN MASSACRE OF 1947

From the memoirs of HH Shri Bhola Nathji ( 1902-1992) the Founder of the World Prayer Day for peace.

Those were turbulent times. In 1947 the partition of India had taken place, dividing the Hindus and Muslims into two separate countries. Pakistan was the the home of the Muslims as a Muslim State and India remained a secular country with Hindus and Muslims both still living there.

Rawalpindi was a large city in Northern India which had become a part of Pakistan.

The Hindus were fleeing from the city because of the rampage of slaughter between the Muslims and Hindus there.

Shri Nathji had visited Rawalpindi in past times when the city was peaceful. But he was not there at this time in 1947.

His devotee Sri Ram Saran Das and his family were residents of the city who were on the verge of fleeing. They had great faith in HH Shri Nathji that he was their saviour and protector and would not let them come to harm.

Time came when Sri Ram Saran Das sent his wife and daughters out of Rawalpindi by train and remained behind to wind up his large business and shop in the city.

The next day there was news that the train carrying Ram Saran Das's family had been waylaid and stopped at Lahore the Muslim Capitol of Pakistan, and all the passengers inside had been slaughtered because they were all Hindus.

The shock was devastating for Ram Saran Das. He fell down weeping on the ground saying repeatedly: " O Nathji! You have forsaken us! We were depending on you!"

Ram Saran Das tried to get out of the city by another train but was pushed out by the crowds. His hopes of escaping from the city dwindled.

He returned to his shop - only to find a stockily built Muslim Pathan with a sword in his hand. Ram Saran prayed and prayed to Shri Nathji to save him.

Quite suddenly a miracle occurred as the Pathan said to him:

"Ram Saran! Take these 60,000 rupees as payment for your shop. You are a good man. I know you! Get out of the city fast!"

Ram Saran thanked Shri Nathji in his heart for the miracle, at a time when all other shops were being looted and burnt.

Later Ram Saran Das was miraculously able to get a flight that took him out of Rawalpindi to the city of Amritsar in India where all the Hindus had fled.

When he reached his home in Amritsar he found his wife and daughters waiting to receive him at the gate!!

He could hardly believe his eyes. They had been reported to have been massacred in the train from Rawalpindi.

They said to him: "Nathji was with us ! He protected us and saved us! When the marauders were hacking people to death with their swords and there were shrill cries in the train we were crying out loudly: "Nathji! Nathji!".

"Suddenly we found ourselves under a pile of dead bodies. The marauders did not notice us and left the train!! Later we somehow managed to get to Amritsar."

Ram Saran Das started crying in loud sobs: "O Nathji! You were protecting us all the time without our knowing it! Forgive me for having doubted you!! You always come to the aid of those who call out to you!"

WHY DID GOD CREATE THIS WORLD? SHRI NATHJI'S INTERESTING THEORY

 

From the memoirs of HH Shri Bhola Nathji ( 1902-1992) the Founder of the World Prayer Day for Love and Peace in the world.

Shri Nathji once made this interesting observation on why God created the world.

Much before the creation of this Universe, in the very beginning, all the souls were together with God in Heaven.

They were experiencing untold bliss and happiness, love and peace. They were at peace with each other and loved each other and were overwhelmed by the presence of God in their midst, till their joy knew no bounds.

Years passed in this way, and then eons and ages, and millenniums.

But then a strange thing happened. The souls who were experiencing bliss all the time, forgot what bliss was all about!! They got so used to being in bliss all the time, that it lost all meaning for them. It was like eating sweets all the time till one forgot what the word sweet meant. It was like living in light all the time so that one forgot what light was all about.

It was only sorrow that had made the souls appreciate bliss, it was only darkness which had made them appreciate light.

And so the souls lost all joys of living in heaven. Even the presence of God amongst them all the time made them take him for granted. They ceased to experience the joy of being close to the Source of all Bliss in the world- God.

And so God thought: "These poor souls have lost the joy of being in heaven, they are no longer experiencing the bliss that they had experienced. So I must bring this bliss back to them - and the way to do that would be to put them on a planet called earth where this bliss will be missing, where they will experience temporary sorrows and joys of the world, the darkness there will make them appreciate this Divine Light all the more.

"And once they have experienced sorrows and darkness. They will then crave for this Heaven once again. And then I will bring them back here to Heaven with myself -- so that they can experience that untold, unfathomable bliss which they had initially experienced when they had first come here!!"

It is only the experience of sorrow that makes one appreciate happiness.

Human nature is such that if it gets too much happiness for too long it becomes bored with the happiness itself! In fact if it got God for too long and too much of God in their midst they might become bored with Him as well!! Sitting close to God and playing the harp till eternity might make even the harp music sound insipid and discordant!!

And so God created this earth on which he placed these souls and let them be called human beings. And this world was filled with contrasts, in which sorrow and happiness, darkness and light existed together and man began to appreciate what he had lost. And then these souls began to crave for that peace and love and divine bliss that was engraved in their very hearts and began to yearned to be with God again!!

It is only separation that enhances the joy of union.

DEATH OF BHOTU MY PET DOG

Today, my adorable pet dog, Bhotu , passed away at the age of 13 years-- which is the equivalent of 90 years of a human. He died while still moving around. In fact he was standing and simply turned to look at something behind him, and then collapsed of a heart attack. He had successfully fought chronic kidney failure for six months and the disease was very much under control.

Up to the last he was serving his Master, prepared to bark at any strangers that intruded. While I slept in peace inside the house in the darkness of the mountains, he was awake and alert preserving my house and myself.

It has been said that a dog is a man's best friend. Today morning, when everything was all right I had found myself repeatedly in tears, and I did not know why the tears were flowing. It was only in the afternoon that the dog died and I knew why the tears had flowed so copiously.

I still prefer to remember him as the little pup when I had first got him in 2000 A.D. and I have posted the picture of him as a pup rather than the elderly dog that he was now. This is how I prefer to remember him, rather than the elderly Bhotu we buried in the Himalayan Mountains, where he shall lie forever, while his soul has gone on to regions beyond to Heaven.

As a matter of fact in my opinion a dog has qualities that far supersede the qualities of human beings.

If you are angry with your dog, if you even slap him or kick him, he will still hold no grudge against you. The next time you call him he will come running to you with a wagging tail as loving as ever. No revengeful feelings, no resentment, only love and loyalty. Even if you go out for a short walk and return home your dog leaps with love all over you as if you had been away for ages. No human being is capable of such love!

He is one guard who cannot be bribed by your enemies ever. Money means nothing to him. His life centers around his love for you his Master. Indeed those who have experienced the love of a dog can never live without one. And the dog is living only for you and for no one else, with no deceit no betrayals, no treachery which are the hallmarks of humans.

In my opinion dogs are angels of a kind, sent down upon earth to teach the lesson of love and loyalty to humanity. If a human can learn to love even as much as a dog can love his Master he will have learnt a lot and the face of the world can be changed.

My Father, HH Shri Bhola Nathji (1902-1992) the Founder of the World Prayer Day loved dogs and called them the epitome of loyalty, sincerity and love.

He would tell this tale of a Holy Man who kept a dog at his gate. Once the Emperor came to visit the Holy Man, and the dog did not allow him inside and might even have bitten him. It did not matter to him that the visitor was an Emperor. Status meant nothing for the dog, who lived only for the love of his Master, the Holy Man.

The Emperor said in a fit of rage: " There should not be any dogs at the gates of Holy Men!"

The Holy Man replied back from inside: "There should!! So that the dogs of the world may not enter within!"

By "dogs of the world" the Holy Man meant greedy, selfish, violent folk who lived only for their own sake and to harm others, like the Emperor.