Shri Y. L. Taneja

 

In 1954, while in Delhi Shri Nathji, Mateshwari, Pran Nath and Priya Nath got their passports made. Shri Y. L. Taneja of Delhi was instrumental in getting their passports made. Shri Y. L. Taneja of Delhi had been a Sessions Judge and Settlement Commissioner. He had first met Shri Nathji in Lahore and had retained a lasting devotion for him. He would keep Shri Nathji’s photograph with him and say:
 "All I have to do is to meditate upon your photograph and I obtain a lasting peace–param shaanti."
 Once he was returning from a pilgrimage to Badrinath. Quite suddenly he had the feeling that Shri Nathji was walking behind him. He turned around to find Shri Nathji there, smiling.
 "It was the most blissful moment of my life," he wrote later to Shri Nathji, "but the moment I ran to touch your feet, you disappeared! Why did you hide yourself from me?"
 Shri Nathji received his letter in Mussoorie, where he was staying at the time, and he wrote back:
 "Tanejaji, if I show a diamond to you, and then place it in my pocket later, you would know that it continued to exist inside the pocket. Similarly, I was with you!"
 There was a time when Shri Taneja’s brother was getting married in Mussoorie. Judges and lawyers and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. Shri Taneja had been a barrister himself, and all his associates were there. He had invited Shri Nathji to grace the wedding and to bless the couple. Not everyone in the world was fortunate enough to have God as a wedding guest!

Shri Taneja spotted Shri Nathji bending down to tie his own shoelaces. He ran forward and tied Shri Nathji’s shoelaces himself in the midst of the gathering. For a brief moment he had hesitated: what would the people say if they saw him tying Shri Nathji’s shoelaces? And then, again, what would God say if he found him shirking his duty as a devotee?
 Though Shri Nathji had tried to stop him, he felt that the task was his duty; and he performed it boldly before everyone. His duty to God was more important than considerations of worldly prestige.
 "I was faced with a very difficult task, today," said Taneja to Shri Nathji.
 "The embarrassment of having to tie my shoelaces before the assembled guests?" Shri Nathji asked.
 "No," said Taneja, "the difficult task was how to tie the shoelaces. I was worried lest I make them too tight or too loose!”
 "Tanejaji–you tied them perfectly! It was not you who did the tying! I sat inside you and tied the shoelaces for you!" said Shri Nathji.
 The people who witnessed the scene developed a great respect for Shri Y. L. Taneja thereafter. He had shown the world that real great­ness lay in bowing low before God, and not in the false pride of worldly status.

In later years, Shri Nath ji also attended Shri Taneja’s son wedding in New Delhi. He had invited Shri Nathji especially. The lights had gone off in the area. Everyone was in distress. As Shri Nathji arrived, Shri Taneja ran to touch his feet, and said: "Now that you have arrived, every­thing will be all right!"
 No sooner had he said this, than the lights came on.

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I am not able to find any photograph of Shri Y.L. Taneja. If some one can provide then please reply to the blog and I can add it. From online research we can conform that Shri Y.L. Taneja.  was Judge at Small Cause Court in Delhi  and latter become Additional Sessions Judge at Delhi (1953) and Additional District Judge in Delhi (1954). Historical court judgments from the Punjab and Haryana High Court and other tribunals confirm Y.L. Taneja's service in several judicial roles in Delhi during the 1950s and 1960s. He was also a Settlement Commissioner with powers delegated from the Chief Settlement Commissioner