This is the office of the Shri Nathji’s devotee Shri R.R. Khanna, who served as the registrar of Lucknow University. The Registrar Office still runs from the same building as it used to, during the time of R.R. Khanna. His name can be seen in the display board at the office, which shows the names and tenure of all the registrars of Lucknow University. These photos are provided by Shri Abhishek Nagar, Shri Nathji’s devotee for Allahabad.
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Following is a brief about R.R. Khanna's association with Shhri Nathji –
During the early days of his stay at Mussoorie in August 1929, when Shri Nathji met Wali Muhammad and Istafa Khan, Shri Nathji was residing in a house near Himalaya Club.
It was there that Wali Muhammad came to him with a strange request. He wished to make an appointment for a friend of his, who was a confirmed atheist who defied the world of religion. No one had been able to convert him to a believer.
Professor Wali Mohammad gave private tuition in music to the children of Ram Rattan Khanna at Mussoorie.The man, also known as R.R. Khanna, was the Registrar of the Lucknow University.
He had come to Mussoorie along with his family for the summer vacation. He was a first rate intellectual and scientist. He had a Master's Degree in science at a time when few people in India had degrees of any kind, and most were content to remain as matriculates. Though the man originally hailed from Lahore, he had settled down at Lucknow.
He was about as materialistic as materialistic could be. “Eat, drink and be merry,” was his hedonistic motto in life. He led a thoroughly modern life - cocktail parties, western dances, etc. His daughters had cut their hair short at a time when most Indian girls wore the traditional long hair. The entire family was westernised and Khanna scoffed at religion and spirituality.
Professor Wali Mohammad told him about Shri Nathji. "He is genuine," said the professor, "his spiritual power is very great and very real."
"I have seen him walking on the Mall," Khanna said, "he is very young and very attractive, and there is always a crowd of admirers around him. But what can this young man give me? I have encountered many old and learned mahatmas, and they have not been able to convince me. I do not wish to meet him. Vo mujhe kyaa de sakte hain! What can he give me?”
Professor Wali Mohammad was saddened at the man’s attitude. He tried very hard to persuade him, and said finally with some vexation:
“Agar vo tujhe kuch naheen de sakte to teraa kyaa chheen lenge!
“If he cannot give you anything, then he will not take anything from you either!"
The words of the professor struck a note in Khanna’s heart. He relented, and agreed to visit Shri Nathji. A letter was sent asking for an appointment, and a reply received.
Wali Mohammed saw Shri Nathji alone first, and said, “Hazrat, I am bringing this man here, but I am afraid he might not be receptive to you. Please do not sever your relationship with me for any lapses on his part. Kaheen uss se naaraaz hokar mujhe bhee darbaar se na nikaal deejiyegaa!"
Time came when R.R.Khanna arrived with Professor Wali Mohammad at Shri Nathji’s residence. Khanna was a man much older than Shri Nathji in age. He was wearing a typical British solar hat and was dressed in a western suit.
He came before Shri Nathji and barely saluted him. “I am Khanna,” said Khanna, introducing himself.
"In the Punjabi language, Khanna means incomplete," Shri Nathji said, "but today you have attained completion!!
“Aap ikraar karte ho aap khanna ho ? Aaj aapko poora kar diya gayaa hai!"
And then Shri Nathji began speaking. His words flowed out like the nectar of life. They reverberated deep down into the depths of Khanna’s soul, illuminating, reviving, and besieging. Khanna sat and listened in stunned silence. Far from asking any questions, he felt the ultimate question in his life answered all by itself –he had found God. By the time Shri Nathji had finished speaking, Khanna had been spiritually drenched, his ego drowned in an ocean of Love Divine.
"Wah! Wah! Wonderful! Wonderful!" was all that Khanna could say when he emerged from the bliss of self-forgetfulness.
Professor Wali Mohammad was amazed at the sudden transformation of his atheist friend. The "Wah! Wah!" was coming from the mouth of a man who, only minutes before, had negated God and everything Shri Nathji stood for.
When I heard his voice," Khanna said later,
“I realised that it was the same voice that had been coming down to mankind through the ages. Ye vohi aavaaz hai jo yug yug men aati rahi hai!"
A staunch atheist had become a staunch believer in one brief encounter with Shri Nathji. There could not have been a stronger proof of Shri Nathji’s divinity than this. It was a miracle that astounded the world of atheism.
The spark of devotion was burning fiercely in the heart of Khanna. He came to the residence of Shri Nathji and said to him with great reverence and humility:
"Huzoor, mere ghar kab aayenge? Huzoor, when will you grace my home?”
"Mr. Khanna," said Shri Nathji, " you are inviting me to your home- but is there a place in it for me?
“Ghar khaali hai jo mujhe bulaa rahe hain?”
Khanna understood. Shri Nathji was referring to a place in his heart. Tears came into Khanna’s eyes, and he said:
"No, Huzoor, there is no place in it for you. Ghar to khaali naheen hai!"
“It is a strange invitation, this,” Shri Nathji smiled, " you are inviting me to your home, and there is no place in it for me. Would you have me stand in the street outside?"
"I have a request," said Khanna, " make a place in my home by yourself, and come into it.
“Ghar khaali bhee kar deejiye aur aa bhee jaayiye!"
Shri Nathji was pleased with the man's humility and consented to go to his house. Khanna insisted that Shri Nathji stay at his house for a few days, and Shri Nathji, after some reluctance, accepted his invitation.
After his thirteen-day stay with Istafa Khan on his first visit to Lucknow in 1929, Shri Nathji was brought by Khanna to his home in the city at No. 1 Rai Prag Narain Road. The entire Khanna family served Shri Nathji heart and soul. They felt themselves blessed beyond measure. God had come into their home.
At the house of Khanna, he and his family members performed an Arti of Shri Nathji, thus paying him worshipful homage as God upon earth. All his family members, without exception, began to have great faith in Shri Nathji.
There was Khanna's wife, Gyan Devi, also known as Jaano, and his daughters, Kamla and Minnie, and sons, Gopalkrishna and Bimalkrishna, all of whom became greatly devoted to Shri Nathji. Khanna's wife began referring to Shri Nathji as "Ramji" – Lord Rama. In later days Shri Nathji would lovingly call the two boys, “Karnail Sahib” and “Jernail Sahib” meaning thereby “Colonel “and “General”.
The tender care that the Khanna family took of him brought him back to good health again at Lucknow. It was a service for which Khanna would be rewarded richly in the years to come, not only spiritually but materially as well.
During the first few days of Shri Nathji's stay at Khanna's house, Khanna served him in the typical western style he was accustomed to. He laid out the dinner table before Shri Nathji and sat on the table along with Shri Nathji. While Shri Nathji was served vegetarian food, Khanna took meat himself. However, something within Khanna told him it was not proper to eat meat in the presence of Shri Nathji and especially not on the same table as he. Thereafter, from the next day, Khanna began to eat meat in a separate room while Shri Nathji ate alone at the dining table.
One day, while Khanna was eating meat in his room, he suddenly heard the voice of Shri Nathji come from within him:
"Khanna! Too mujhe meat khilaataa hai!
“Khanna why must you force me to eat meat!"
Khanna came and narrated the incident before Shri Nathji; and even though Shri Nathji urged him to carry on with his earlier life style, and to eat whatever he desired, Khanna was so moved that he gave up eating meat altogether, and became a vegetarian. Those who were closely associated with Shri Nathji quickly engrained his habits, even though he never asserted his will upon anyone.
During the first few days of Shri Nathji's stay at Khanna's house, Khanna served him in the typical western style he was accustomed to. He laid out the dinner table before Shri Nathji and sat on the table along with Shri Nathji. While Shri Nathji was served vegetarian food, Khanna took meat himself. However, something within Khanna told him it was not proper to eat meat in the presence of Shri Nathji and especially not on the same table as he. Thereafter, from the next day, Khanna began to eat meat in a separate room while Shri Nathji ate alone at the dining table.
On those occasions when Khanna was with Shri Nathji at Mussoorie he would urge Shri Nathji to go for horse rides during the monsoon season, as he said this was good for the digestion. Khanna laid great emphasis on Shri Nathji exercising and walking about, since most of the time Shri Nathji was closeted in the house with visitors, speaking to them from a chair or sofa.
Sometimes Khanna would even go so far as take the liberty of entertaining Shri Nathji, after a fatiguing day of lecturing to multitudes. After dinner, Khanna would don a comical taihmat–a loose cloth wrapped around the waist and legs– and would play the clown before Shri Nathji trying to make him laugh, saying in Punjabi:
"Huzoor, main aapdaa Maajaa Gaamaa haan! Huzoor, I am your Maajaa Gaamaa- the Circus Joker."
Khanna made the following important announcement before the people:
"Whenever I was in any difficulty in life, I prayed to Shri Nathji, and the difficulty was removed. This happened so many times that it became an established fact. I would recommend this formula to all: Whenever you are faced with a difficulty in life which you cannot remove, place Shri Nathji’s photo before yourself, take his name and pray to Shri Nathji, and he will remove it for you.”
His exact words in Hindustani were:
“Jab jab mujhpar zindagi men koyi takleef aayi main ne Nathji kaa naam liyaa; aur meri takleef jaati rahi. Aur main kyaa chaahataa thhaa!
“Main sab se kahoongaa ke aap bhee iss nuskhe ko aazmaan leejiye. Jab jab aapkar koyi takleef aa jaaye jisse aap door na kar saken to Shri Nathji kee photo saamne rakh kar inkaa naam len aur inse praarthnaa karen; takleef fauran gaayab ho jaayegi!”
It became the mission of Khanna’s life to tell as many people as he possibly could, that God had come down to earth. And he began doing this with a frantic zeal.
When Khanna's friends found him absenting himself from their parties and clubs, they complained to him, but Khanna had become a different man, his life had become one of devotion to Shri Nathji.
One day Shri Nathji asked Khanna why he was not entertaining his usual friends and visitors and why his drawing room remained mostly empty.
To this, Khanna replied: "Huzoor chandan pe makkhi naheen baithtee. Sir, a fly cannot sit upon sandalwood!"
He would be frequently seen lifting the dust of the earth where Shri Nathji had walked, and smearing it upon his forehead. He would say:
"When I apply this sacred dust to my eyes, I see in it the vision of God.
“Ye pavitra matti vo surmaa hai jisse jab main aankon men lagaataa hoo to mujhe Bhagwan ke darshan hote hain!”
He did not care for jibes or taunts: "When I lived the life of a materialist I didn't care for the world. Why should I care for the world now?"
Mr. Khanna would throw parties at his house – spiritual parties, this time – in which he would invite different religious groups at different times. Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, Parsees, Buddhists, all would come to hear Shri Nathji at his house. The invitation cards would invite people to tea for an “At Home with Shri Nathji”.
And Khanna proclaimed openly before all:
"Shri Nathji is the Avatar. He was Rama. He was Krishna. He was Muhammad. He was Nanak. He was Christ. He was all the great Souls who had come to enlighten the world in the past! Shri Nathji is Saakshaat Bhagwan -God Incarnate."
Khanna would painstakingly make notes of Shri Nathji's sermons and later get their synopses printed in pamphlet form. These pamphlets gave great solace to people in their lives, for which they were ever grateful to Khanna. The most important amongst them were: " The Secret of Success" and " What do we need and how can we get it".
Khanna also went to Amritsar to meet Shri Babaji Maharaj and his entire family came along with him and became the recipients of the Divine Grace of Shri Babaji Maharaj. Khanna's daughter, Kamla, was the first to take a photograph of Shri Babaji Maharaj, who had till that time never allowed photographs of himself to be taken.
Even as R.R. Khanna recited a Persian verse before Shri Babaji Maharaj, Shri Babaji Maharaj filled the man with his Divine Light. Khanna felt a strong power surge through his body. All who saw Khanna felt this divine light in him.
Later when he left for Lahore from Amritsar to attend the wedding of his brother, Mulkh Raj Khanna, he found this divine wave of Bliss within him, engulfing all who came before him. No matter who Khanna embraced, that very person received a measure of the divine light and was intoxicated with divine bliss. At this, Khanna remarked: "I had read that Ramakrishna Paramhansa had embraced Vivekananda and given him his light – but here I am so filled with the light of Shri Babaji Maharaj that no matter who I embrace, experiences the same bliss that I am experiencing!"
The feeling lasted for a few days after which Shri Babaji recalled it, so that Khanna could do his work in his worldly spheres in his usual normal way.
Khanna was greatly concerned at the manner in which people took advantage of Shri Nathji’s good nature, and would not allow people to disturb Shri Nathji more than was necessary. However, people began to resent the appointment hours that Khanna had set down for them.
Khanna would make Shri Nathji play tennis with him so that Shri Nathji could exercise his body.
He would be dressed in white tennis trousers and a white woollen sweater, and he would play tennis with the perfection of a champion in the game.
Later Khanna would massage Shri Nathji's body with his own hands. This was a duty he had taken upon himself as a part of his service to his Lord and Master, Shri Nathji.
There was the time when R.R. Khanna came to Shri Nathji and said to him:
"Huzoor I'm sick and tired of office chores. They leave me in a thoroughly exhausted state! You do my work for me, please!"
The next few days found Mr. Khanna in an exuberant mood. He would return home from the University, untired and relaxed, after a hard day's work.
Shri Nathji, on the other hand, appeared exhausted most of the time. It was obvious he had taken upon himself the fatigue of his devotee.
"It is I who do the work at the office," said R.R. Khanna to Shri Nathji, "and it is you who bear the fatigue!"
On one such occasion, the Vice Chancellor of Lucknow University - R.R. Khanna's boss - arrived at his house and insisted that he see Khanna.
R.R. Khanna was in a quandary. Should he halt the game of his master and meet his university boss? He took a bold decision.
"Tell the Vice Chancellor, I'm playing tennis with my Lord and Master, and can't see him today!" he said to his servant.
Shri Nathji immediately understood the gravity of the situation. The Vice Chancellor was not one to forgive Khanna this slight. He could even impede Khanna’s promotion on any pretext. Khanna on the other hand appeared not to care for anyone in the world other than his Lord and Master, Shri Nathji. However, Shri Nathji was concerned for the career of Khanna and his worldly disposition. He was also concerned for the Vice Chancellor. Shri Nathji made the decision in an instant. He immediately put down the tennis racket.
"Khannaji, " he said, " Main thhak gayaa hoon! I am tired. The game is at an end. Go and meet the Vice Chancellor!"
Shri Nathji often narrated this incident to show that he was more concerned for a devotee’s worldly affairs than even the devotee himself. His aim was to add himself without subtracting.
Khanna also took Shri Nathji to the Holy city of Mathura.There was a time in Lucknow when R. R. Khanna had sought a better job. He had approached Shri Nathji and said: "Huzoor, many people of status come to you, which include Maharajas and businessmen and Ministers of the government. Can you recommend me to any of them?
Shri Nathji said: "They come to me to take something from me. Would it not be strange if I were to ask them for something, even for you? You must ask only of God!"
Khanna imagined that Shri Nathji was probably not interested in recommending him for a job. "No matter, then," he said, "I have a large circle of acquaintances, I will be able to find something, I'm sure."
Khanna went around to all his influential friends asking for help, but none of them came to his aid. He was tired. In frustration and despair he sat down under a tree in a garden. Shri Nathji's words echoed in his mind, that one must ask only of God. No sooner had this thought entered his mind when a man approached him: "Are you Mr. Khanna? I have an interesting offer of a job."
When Shri Nathji first went to Khanna's house at Lucknow, Khanna had been living at No. l Rai Parag Narain Road. However, as the years passed, Khanna built his own house at Lucknow and named it Nath Niketan, after the name of Shri Nathji. He placed a photograph of Shri Nathji in the foundation of the house when it was being built. Various saints and sages who had a deep reverence for Shri Nathji helped lay the foundation of the house with their own hands.
After Shri Nathji had spent the summer with Khanna at his house in Mussoorie, Khanna would take Shri Nathji to live with him at Lucknow, and later Shri Nathji would return to Amritsar. Khanna’s Lucknow address at No.1 Rai Prag Narain Road thereafter became an address for Shri Nathji for several years.
Khanna lived at Silverwood Cottage at Charleville en route to Company Garden, and Shri Nathji found a very peaceful atmosphere there, which was conducive to writing. He wrote part of the biography of Shri Babaji Maharaj in 1932, while living at Silverwood Cottage at Mussoorie, and the remainder at Lucknow. It was a divine thesis of spirituality that ran into 400 pages in Urdu and Persian. Khanna got that book and some other bools of Nathji printed in Lucknow. Khanna was also able to get a book, "Rays of Light" published at Lucknow through the Newal Kishore Press. In the introduction to the book, “Rays of Light” R.R. Khanna expressed his feelings about Shri Nathji in the following words, which became legend with the passage of time.
When Khanna came to know of Shri Nathji's desire to shift from his house to Kahkashan, which was below Savoy Hotel, Khanna's despair knew no bounds. The news came as a thunderbolt to him. The very thought of separation from His Lord and Master became unbearable.
The shock was so great for him that he ran from his house to the edge of the mountain on which the house had been situated. His wife ran after him to stop him.
Shri Nathji immediately went to Khanna and restrained him from jumping over the edge of the mountain cliff, and brought him back.
Shri Nathji temporarily gave up his desire to shift to Kahkashan. However, in the days to come, he gave Khanna such great inner peace that Khanna accepted Shri Nathji's change of residence to Kahkashan. Kahkashan was very close to Khanna's house in any case.
The association with Khanna was to last over a period of twenty years, during which time his faith became only stronger and stronger in Shri Nathji. It was a faith that surprised the world of materialism.
Khanna acquiesced to Shri Nathji’s new residence at Mussoorie and would visit him there for the time that he was at Mussoorie, and later invite him to Lucknow.
Even though Shri Nathji had stopped living with Khanna at Mussoorie after 1933, he still resided with Khanna at Lucknow each time he returned from Mussoorie during the years 1933-1937. And it was in Lucknow that Khanna published most of Shri Nathji's written works of the time, including Zahoore Haqueeqat” The book ran into 400 pages and was a divine revelation as the name itself proclaimed
During those days of 1947, after the partition of India, R. R. Khanna met Shri Nathji in Mussoorie.
Khanna showed Shri Nathji his empty purse and said: “O Nathji! This is the state of my finances today! I lost everything that I had in Lahore. There was a time in Lucknow when I had a bungalow and servants, but today I am looking for a place to hide my head. I had received eighty thousand rupees as provident fund after retirement from Lucknow University, but I lost it all in Lahore!”
"Do not worry," said Shri Nathji, "Bhagwan phir degaa. God will give again!"
Khanna’s face was expressionless.
"Do you doubt my words?" Shri Nathji asked him.
"No Sir, I can never doubt your words, it is only my mind which keeps coming in the way of faith. Akal tang kar rahi hai!
“My sons have not received higher education, they do not have any jobs, and there is no hope of my securing a job at my age. I don’t see how..." he replied.
Shri Nathji said:
"If there are clouds in the sky and I tell you it is going to rain, you will agree with me, but if there are no clouds in the sky and I tell you it is going to rain, and you believe me, – that is faith. He, who can bring rain after bringing the clouds, can also bring rain without any clouds, if He so desires!"
When Shri Nathji met R. R. Khanna after another lapse of time, the man was rolling in wealth. He and his sons had earned two crores of rupees! They were millionaires. They had entered into a business deal with an American agency for the import of tractor equipment.
"Mr. Khanna," Shri Nathji said to him, "tell me – did it rain with the aid of clouds or without them! Ye baadal aakar barse yaa bin baadal aaye barse!”
Mr. Khanna’s wife had frequently complained to Shri Nathji during those earlier days at Lucknow that Khanna was neglecting the education of his sons because of his engrossment in spiritual work. Later, when she met Shri Nathji, she asked for his forgiveness for having doubted the designs of God.
"If your sons had received further education," Shri Nathji said, "they would have entered into the field of education like their father, and would probably have retired like their father did, on a similar salary. But today they are millionaires. God’s ways are mysterious but always for the betterment of man."
"Tell me, Khanna!" Shri Nathji said to him, "for how long did you serve the university?"
"For over thirty years," said Khanna.
"And what did you get at the end of the service?"
"Eighty thousand rupees."
"And for how long a period did you serve me?"
"Over my twenty year association, you gave me an opportunity to actually serve you for only about two years."
"Your salary for the two years of service was two crores of rupees!"
It was a measure of Shri Nathji's greatness that after he had given Khanna two crores of rupees he ceased to give him a chance to serve him. When someone asked Shri Nathji why he was not taking any service from Khanna now that he had given him two crores, Shri Nathji said: “Auron ko bhee to denaa hai! I have to give to others also!”
Whenever R. R. Khanna would walk on the Mall Road at Mussoorie he would take his solar hat off and bow down low at the foot of the hill on which St. Andrews was situated. He would say: “Ye meraa mandir hai! This is my Temple!”
In later days, he rented a house at Mussoorie, which was situated at the start of the road that led up to the residence of His Lord and Master, Shri Nathji.
Hi, this is Mohita Tewari from The Times of India . I was researching about RR Khana for a news article and found this blog. I am writing an article on longest serving VC, registrar and proctor of Lucknow University. Will be happy I you will like to do a value addition
ReplyDeletemy email id is -mohita.tewari@timesgroup.com
tiwarimohita29@gmail.com
Hi. Sorry for the late reply. I saw your comment today only. Please let me know what more you what to know about RR Khanna for your research and what information you can provide to add in the blog. you can email me at siddharthgaur@hotmail.com
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