Shri Gopal Swami

Shri Gopal Swami was a great devotee of Shri Nathji. He was born in a Brahmin family in Ambala, Haryana. He was the second of three brothers. His father was a very rich railway and road contractor who had undertaken many famous projects like the Ambala Kalka highway. He had three palatial mansions in Ambala. Gopal Swami was spiritually inclined from birth and was attracted towards meditation. He first started to worship Hanumanji. He did it so intensely that Hanumanji appeared and said that "I am always busy in service of Shri Ram. So it is best that you worship Shiva". Then for a long time Gapalji meditated of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva also appeared and said that He remains in Meditation so now you should worship His consort, the great Mahamayi (Mother Goddess).  It was then that Gopalji started to worship the Goddess. Mahamai appeared before him and he becomes a staunch devotee of the Goddess. In his youth he met many Hindu mystics and Muslim fakirs. He tried to learn different aspects of spiritualism, astrology and tantra from them and continued his worship of the Goddess. Later in life when Gopalji met Shri Nathji, Shri Nathji told him that you were able to come to this Darbar due to the blessings of Mahamai.

  Now as fate would have it, Gopal Swami’s father, become addicted to gambling. He become a great gambler and ventured to far off places like Mumbai to gamble. Once is Mumbai he lost several lacs of rupees in one day. It was a shocking loss for him and he went mad. For many days he roamed aimlessly in the jungles of Nasik. After many months he regained his senses and returned home but his addiction to gambling didn’t stopped and he lost all his wealth. The family suddenly became poor. Gopal Swami’s mother died of this great shock. After that Gopalji, took the affairs of the household in his own hand as his father had given up all work, his younger brother was still studying and elder brother was a man of low virtue, who didn’t contributed to the family in anyway. Gopalji took up a job as a clerk in the irrigation department of Punjab. Now that he also got married, he somehow tried to support his family, with his meager income.  Those were the days when the Bhakra Nangal dam project was underway. Gopal Swami was posted at Nangal and soon rose to higher ranks in the department due to his intelligence, honesty and hard work and he contributed immensely to this prestigious project. He was so honest that many of his colleagues were afraid of him.

  While in Nangal his wife, Raj Bala developed serious gas trouble and she was not getting much relief from any medicine. It was then that they happen to visit Shri Nathji’s devotee, Shri C.L. Khosla. Khoslaji was working in the office of the Auditor General of Punjab at Nangal. After office he used to practice homeopathy. He was well known as a successful doctor. Khoslaji’s medicines worked positively for Raj Bala and as with homeopathic medicines the course was very long and they had to come every week to take new doses. Thus there was frequent interaction between Khoslaji and Gopalji.  During the several meeting that Gopalji and her wife had with Khoslaji, a mutual bond developed between them and Khoslaji told them about his association with Shri Nathji. Gopalji was reluctant initially as he was a staunch devotee of the Mother Goddess. Gradually as Gopalji continued to hear about Shri Nathji from Khoslaji and an intense desire awakened in him to seek Darshan of Shri Nathji. Underneath are given some experiences of Gopalji, of the Divinity of Shri Nathji, which are not recorded in the Mahagranth.

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Gopalji’s questionnaire

First meeting of Gopal Swami and Shri Nathji took place in 1976. Khoslaji send a telegram to Shri Nathji is Mussoorie and told Him about Gopal Swami. He seeks permission to bring Gopalji and other devotees from Nangal for His Darshan. The next day itself, he got a reply from Shri Nathji, where he was allowed to bring Gopal Swami to the Darbar. Early next morning Gopalji and family and some friends accompanied Khoslaji to Mussoorie to seek Shri Nathji’s Darshan. They were total of 12 people who started from Nangal. They had planned to return by nightfall. They first reached Saharanapur. From their they took a bus to Dehradun and then to Mussoorie. Though he had heard a lot about the greatness of Shri Nathji from Khoslaji, Gopalji had his reservations. So he had prepared a questionnaire comprising of 56 questions for Shri Nathji. When Gopalji and his family came before Shri Nathji they were overwhelmed by Shri Nathji’s persona and sat there for many hours in self forgetfulness. Shri Nathji then said “ Gopalji! I have answered all your questions, now see if there is any question left in the questionnaire you brought for me. Gopalji suddenly realized that all his questions were answered unasked. They have planned to leave by 5 in the evening as after that there is no conveyance available from Mussoorie after that. But Shri Nathji's discourse had lasted many hours and now it was 10 in the night. They all were thinking how they will go back now. Shri Nathji told them to go to Nangal after giving His blessings. They all packed their bags and ran towards the Library bus stand. From the mall road they saw a brand new bus standing at the bus stand below. To their surprise the conductor told them that it was heading for Saharanpur and has 12 seats vacant in the bus. This was exactly the headcount of this group from Nangal. He told them to climb down comfortably and there is no need to rush. On reaching Saharanpur they got a direct train to Nangal at 2 .30. They reached Nangal comfortably early morning.

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Signatures without ink

Gopal Swami tested the divinity of Shri Nathji on many occasion. Like In 1976, when  Shri Nathji gave the newly published book, Daivi Kirne to Gopalji. Gopalji requested Shri Nathji to sign the book. He deliberately gave a pen without any ink. Shri Nathji took the pen and whispered to Gopalji. “Is there ink inside?” Gopalji said nothing. Shri Nathji signed with the pen. And after that HH Priya Nathji also signed. The pen flawlessly recorded their signatures in blue ink. Then when Gopalji got it back, he observed the pen was dry as before and there was no ink.

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Sari in Nangal

Raj Bala, wife of Gopalji,  also has faith equal to that of her husband. In 1977 Gopal Swamiji got invitation to attend the marriage of HH Priya Nathji in Mussoorie. Raj Bala wished to give a sari as wedding gift to the bride, Priyavariji. Now Nangal where the Swami’s used to stay, is a town on border of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and in this part of India, no one wears a Sari. All ladies exclusively wear salwar kamiz.  So none of the shops here ever had any sari put on sale. So Raj Bala was wondering how she could get a sari as a wedding gift. No shop had it in Nangal and they were to leave for Mussoorie tomorrow. She was engrossed in such thoughts when suddenly she saw a beautiful sari being displayed by a shop keeper outside his shop. This was the only one sari that he had for sale. This shop and no shop in Nangal, for that matter ever kept saris. It was a beautiful light green colored sari with a red border. Raj Bala liked it very much and was overjoyed to see it. She purchased it immediately and asked the shop keeper how come today he has put up a sari for sale. He said that he had ordered a fresh stock of lose cloths for his supplier in some other town. When the parcel arrived today, he found this sari also as part of the consignment, though he had not ordered for it. May be it was accidentally send by the supplier. Since the sari was there, he put it on sale.

 Raj Bala presented the sari as a wedding gift. On the second day after the wedding ceremony when devotees gathered for Shri Nathji’s discourse, Raj Bala saw Priyavariji wearing the same sari that she had presented, which was looking very beautiful. Shri Nathji pointed to Raj Bala that this is your sari. Raj Bala was overjoyed that Shri Nathji has acknowledged her gift and miraculously procured this beautiful sari for her in Nangal to give as a wedding present.

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Knee pain disappeared

Gopal Swami and family accompanied Shri Nathji to Nagpur in 1978. There they stayed in a very large house. The landlord stayed on the ground floor and Shri Nathji and His entourage had the entire first floor. This was rented by Dandewali for Shri Nathji. Every day Gopalji was given the seva to fetch vegetables and grocery from the main market which was situated about 5 kms away. He used to cover the distance walking. It proved to be a continuous stain on his knee. Every day his knee pained due to the long walks. One day when he could no longer bear it and addressed his plight to Shri Nathji. That night Shri Nathji had pain in the knee. Next morning Gopalji felt no pain or discomfort in his knee and he never had any knee related problems all his life since then. 

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Pangs of Separation

  

 After returning from the Nagpur trip there was a time when Gopalji and his family had not visited Shri Nathji for a long time. They wanted to meet Him and one day they felt uncontrollable separation grief. There was a phone in Gopalji’s office which was accessible to him. Since morning he kept trying Shri Nathji’s phone numbers of Mussoorie and Delhi, but there was no response. He went back in evening and tried many times, but no one picked up. Then finally at night he said to his wife, Let us go to office and try the number again. The urge to know about Shri Nathji had become intense in them. They tried the numbers again but still there was no response. At about 9’ o clock they decided to go back home. When they reached the house it was about 9.30 in the night. They saw a post man leaving their house. The post man stopped when he saw Gopalji approaching towards the house. He said that he has brought a telegram from Delhi. He had finished his duty but then decided to deliver this telegram also which had arrived just then. He came to the house and as no one was there, decided to go after waiting for some time. He handed them the telegram. Gopalji had an aunt in Delhi. They thought that she had sent the telegram. But when they saw the telegram they were overjoyed to know that it was from Shri Nathji. It was an invitation for them to attend a function at the Darbar.

Chief Justice Iqbal

Chief Justice Iqbal was one of the judicial luminaries who was devoted to Shri Nathji. He used to come for Shri Nathji’s darshan in Allahabad and Mussoorie. His full name was Hon'ble Iqbal Ahmad. He did his L. L. D. from Allahabad University. In the year 1932 he was appointed as an Additional Judge of the High Court. Later on he was appointed a Puisne Judge of the High Court in 1933. He was Judge of the Allahabad High Court from 1933 to 1941. He later become Chief Justice from 1941 to 1946. He was also Ex Officio President of the Bar Library. 

On top is the photograph of the Allahabad High court, whose many lawyers and judges like Uma Shanker Bajpai and Raghubar Dayal were devoted to Shri Nathji. Allahabad High court was built by Khan saheb Nizamuddin of Loha Mundi, Agra, when the location High Court for the North-Western Provinces was shifted from Agra to Allahabad in 1869.

 

Justice Bajpai

Justice Bajpai was one of the judicial luminaries who was devoted to Shri Nathji. In one of his sermons at Allahabad in 1942, Shri Nathji said: "Whenever a good impulse comes to you, act upon it immediately." After the sermon, he found Justice Bajpai of the Allahabad High Court waiting to say something.

"Huzoor," said Justice Bajpai, "I wish to invite you to my house, and to take you there–now." "But isn't it all very sudden ?" Shri Nathji asked.

"You just said in your sermon that a good impulse must be acted upon at once!" said Justice Bajpai, "my car is waiting outside! Let us go!" "Justice Bajpai," said Shri Nathji, "at the moment, there is no thought within me to go to your house."

"Then is there a thought within you that you must not go to my house?" Justice Bajpai asked. "There is no feeling either way," said Shri Nathji, "it is neither negative nor positive." "What would you order me to do?" Justice Bajpai asked.

"I have told you of my own position," said Shri Nathji, "and I leave you to be your own judge."

Justice Bajpai thought for a while, and then he bowed before Shri Nathji and took his leave, saying: "I have come to a decision." Later that night, at around 10.30 p.m., Shri Nathji called for a car, and said to his attendants: "Justice Bajpai is calling me. I must go to him!"

"He must be sleeping at this time," they said, "he goes to sleep promptly at nine."

But Shri Nathji would not be dissuaded. As Shri Nathji's car reached Justice Bajpai's bungalow, Shri Nathji saw Justice Bajpai standing in the portico.

Justice Bajpai bowed before Shri Nathji and welcomed him into his house with a beaming smile on his face.

"Did you come out into the portico upon hearing the sound of the car?" Shri Nathji asked Justice Bajpai.

"No, Maharaj," Justice Bajpai said, "I had been waiting in the portico from a long time for your arrival! Some inner voice was telling me that you are coming. You had told me to be my own judge. And my judgment was that you would fulfil my desire."

"Every true desire must find fulfilment,"

Shri Nathji had said very frequently. No better example of this maxim could have been found anywhere else than in the episode above. Justice Bajpai awakened his children and asked them to seek Shri Nathji’s blessings. He also brought Narcissus flowers for Shri Nathji

"These flowers," said Shri Nathji, "are like eyes wide open. What a wonderful thing it would be if man could look at God with such eyes that never close! The eyes of man shut and open with each twinkle. Thus his eyes are shut for half the time he is awake. Would that man could acquire the eye of the Narcissus to see God! And not lose Him even for one moment!"

"Nazzaare ko ye jumbishe mizgaan bhi baar Hai, Nargis ki aankh se tujhe dekhaa kare koi.

The twinkling of the eyes is a burdenWhen there is a vision of beauty before them! Would that one could look upon Thee with the eye of the Narcissus!"

Full name of Justice Bajpai was Uma Shanker Bajpai. He was Judge of the Allahabad High Court from 1937 to 1943. He used to dress in very elegant western suits.  He is remembered for his decisions on what is known as the “Special Judges cases”. In the wake of the Quit India Movement, country wide disturbances took place in August 1942. Police stations and treasuries were stormed by certain sections of the public. Police personals in some cases lost their live while defending themselves. The Governor General propagated the special courts ordinance, which set up special courts for the trial of these cases. They had stated to give court sentences ranging from capital punishment to life imprisonment. A re appeal court was also formed under these spatial courts. There was growing disagreement among the lawyers who wanted the special powers of this court abolished and re appeal of such cases in federal courts. Justice Bajpai  made important judgments in this regard, which are recorded in books like “My Owm Boswell” by M. Hidayatullah – who was former Vise President and Chief Justice of India. 

He was contemporary of great judges like Sir Noshirwan Engineer, Dr. Narayan Prashad Asthana, Sir Brojendra Mitter, and was held in high esteem in the judicial circle of India.   

Logan Airport

These are the photographs of Shri Nathji’s first day in America at the Logan Airport in Boston. This is where Shri Nathji landed on His arrival to America and also departed back to London. Shri Nathji boarded a Pan American plane from London to Boston in America. The date was June 3, 1964. The plane landed at Logan Airport in Boston, and Shri Nathji stepped on to the soil of America. The Greatest Being on earth had arrived in the greatest nation on earth.

Inside the customs lounge, where visitors were not allowed and no porters were available, Shri Nathji was confronted with the difficult task of raising his large blue suitcase from the ground. Immediately, his fellow-passenger came forward and lifted Shri Nathji’s suitcase. Shri Nathji thanked him and embraced him in a gesture of love. He had carried the burden of Shri Nathji’s suitcase on earth, and Shri Nathji would have to carry the burden of his soul across the waters of the bhavsaagar. The man gave him his card. He was a well-known industrialist of America.

It was this aspect of humility in Americans that Shri Nathji liked the most. No seth or businessman in India would have carried a stranger’s suitcase himself. From the airport, Shri Nathji was driven in a car by Priya Nath and some others to the house of Professor Euston Smith of M.I.T.,

Shri Nathji left the shores of America also from Logan Airport in Boston. As his plane soared up into the skies, the teeming populations of Boston and New York appeared to look up at him; the skyscrapers appeared to reach out to him. Shri Nathji had entered and left the country like a breeze that came and went, stirring only gently and imperceptibly the hearts and souls into awakening.

General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport  is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, US (and partly in the town of Winthrop, Massachusetts). Originally called Boston Airport, Logan opened on September 8, 1923, and was used primarily by the Massachusetts Air Guard and the Army Air Corps. At that time, it was known as Jeffery Field. The first scheduled commercial passenger flights were initiated by Colonial Air Transport between Boston and New York City in 1927. Since then this airport has become an important civilian airport. As of now, the airport covers 2,384 acres (965 ha), has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. The largest airport in New England, as of 2010, Logan is the 19th busiest airport in the United States with about 13.5 million boardings a year and over 29.3 million passengers overall. It serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways, and as a hub for regional airline Cape Air and for commuter airline PenAir. Delta Air Lines and US Airways also carry out many operations from the airport, and all major U.S.-based airlines fly to Boston from all or the majority of their primary and secondary hubs. It is also a destination of many major European airlines. The airport has service to destinations in the United States, as well as Canada, the Caribbean, the Cape Verde islands, Europe, Mexico and Asia.

Himalaya Club

When Shri Nathji Came to Mussorie in 1929, one of the first places where He stayed was located near Himalaya Club. This was a historic club build by the British in the year 1840. Besides the club many guest rooms and residential quarters were later build as part of the Club. Perhaps Shri Nathji stayed in one of those. This place went on to become one of the landmarks of Mussoorie. It was on the road leading from Picture Palace towards Landour. Shri Nathji met, Wali Mohammed, Istafa Khan and R.R. Khanna for the first time when He was residing near Himalaya Club. Before Shifting to Himalaya Club area Shri Nathji stayed at the Sanatan Dharam Mandir in Landour. From Himalaya Club He later Shifted to the Mall Road.

Himalaya Club is now a heritage hotel. It has two wings, divided by a road, which are separately owned by two brothers.

Lahore Railway Station

Of all the railway stations, Lahore Railway Station perhaps had been the most eventful in the lives of Shiri Nathji, Babaji Maharaj and Nath Bhaktas. It was here that many of Shri Nathji devotees would come to see him off to other destination like, Lucknow, Amritsar, etc. In 1937 Sohan Singh had come to see Shri Nathji off at Lahore Railway Station. A large crowd had gathered. Upon a sudden impulse, Shri Nathji said to Sohan Singh, "Sohan Singhji come with me." The faithful Sardar jumped into the train with only the shirt on his back. Shri Nathji was on his way to Calcutta.

Lahore Station was the place where many a Nath Bhaktas like Justice Rangilal would assemble to greet Him.  It was here that a tongawalla would miraculously appeared to take Ganga Bai Bhatt, Dr. Purekar and Bal Ojarkar and his mother to Shri Nathji’s house in Anarkali, and disappeared much before they could pay him.

The Lahore Junction railway station in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, was built by British between 1859-1860 at the cost of half a million Rupees. It is the most important junction of Pakistan. This is where the railway line from Delhi bifurcates to Peshawar and Karachi. Also it is the headquarters of the Pakistan Railways. It is of typical grand British architecture in South Asia during the British Raj period. The railway network established by the British was extensive and is one of their lasting contributions to the culture and infrastructure of this region.

The railway station has 11 platforms (1 to 9, with 2 extra platforms, 3A and 6A). Platform No. 1 is of special importance, as this platform is the destination of "Samjhauta Express", the train service between Pakistan and India.

Lahore Junction railway station was commissioned by the British Government and construction was contracted to Main Mohammad Sultan Chagatai, a formal prince of the Royal Mughal Empire. The front portion was disliked by the government (as seen in older photographs) and was subsequently rebuilt by Sultan Mohammad from his own pocket.

Shri Diwan Chand

One of the admirers of Shri Nathji was Shri Diwan Chand of Lucknow, a famed intellectual and philosopher, who was a leader of the Arya Samaj, and had been a Vice Chancellor before he retired. He met Shri Nathji in Mussoorie in the 1930’s.

"How are you?" Shri Nathji asked him.

"Like a bird in a cage," said Shri Diwan Chand, "fluttering to get out!"

"Is that your concept of life, then?" Shri Nathji said to him.

And Shri Dewan Chand asked Shri Nathji: “Maharaj, do you ever feel like that?”

Shri Nathji replied: "I, too, am in the same cage but:

“Jee kafas men lag gayaa apnaa chaman se bhee sivaa

Hamko ai sayyaad parvaaye rihaayi kyaa rahee".

“The cage captivates my heart even more than the garden,

O Hunter! What care I for freedom now?"

"A bird wishes to get out of a cage. The more it flutters its wings, the more it hurts itself. It is the relative comparison of the cage with the garden that makes it restless. But, then, realisation dawns upon it. The garden outside–was it real or unreal? If it was real, why did it vanish? If it was unreal, of what use yearning for it? It was like a dream. The present is a reality. Why must the bird destroy reality in pursuit of an illusion?"

“The hunter opens the cage, but the bird refuses to fly away. It has found contentment inside the cage.

“There are no fears within the cage, no storms, no arrows, no fear of nets. The bird has found the secret of life. The absence of contradiction in the present is another name for peace!”

Shri Nathji had further elaborated on the theme of a bird in cage by two other Urdu Verses:

The bird inside the cage finds contentment within the cage when he finds that he is secure therein and he says:

"Na tezeeye sar-sar hai na sayyaad kameen men

Goshe men kafas ke mujhe aaram bahut hai".

Here there is no storm nor a hunter with arrows drawn

In the corner of the cage I am greatly at peace.

Then again there is the bird inside the cage giving consolation to its companions who, too, have been caught and placed there:

"Ham bhee kafas men aaye khaamosh ho rahe,

Faayedaa hamsafeero naa haq ke shor kaa".

I, too, have come into the cage, but have become silent,

Of what avail, O friends, the noise of piteous wailings.

If people could fathom even a tiny bit of the philosophy expounded by Shri Nathji in these verses they would learn to be content in whatever circumstances life placed them.

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Lala Diwan Chand Chaddha was a renowned scholar. Educationist, social reformer and a great freedom fighter. His inspiration was a boost for the people associated with this noble cause of education. He was the Founder President and principal of D.A.V. college Kanpur, founded in 1919. Since the inception of D A V College - Kanpur (Whose photo is given here) he strove untiringly to provide quality education for young people.

In 1887, Lala Dewan Chand Chaddha travelled to Jodhpur in Rajasthan and organized famine relief camps their set up by Arya Samaj, which was the first non-Christian private agency, to a non-official movement for the relief of distress caused by famine in India.

Lala Divan Chand also published an article in the English Newspaper “Leader” in 1921, to address the issue of violence against Hindus and forceful conversion of Hindus to Muslim religion by Muslim Fundamentalists in Malabar during the Malabar Rebellion (also known as the "Moplah Rebellion) which was an armed uprising in 1921 against British authority and upper class Hindu landowners by Mappila Muslims. As per Arya Samaj estimates about 2500 Hindus were forcefully converted to Islam. Lala Divan Chand was instrumental in arranging financial aid and in sending volunteers to Malabar, who helped the Hindus affected by violence and arranged reconversion of Hindus who had been forcefully converted to Islam.

Shri Nathji and Omar Khayyam

Shri Nathji would often refer to the verses of the Persian poet, Omar Khayyam. He would sometimes read the verses of Omar Khayyam, in the solitude of the winter evenings at Mussoorie. He would have his own interpretation of Khayyam, which was quite different from the conventional interpretation of the English translator, Edward Fitzgerald.

According to Shri Nathji, Khayyam was not an agnostic or a hedonist as Fitzgerald had made him out to be. Rather, he was a genuine seeker after truth. The wine he spoke of was a spiritual feeling, a divine intoxication experienced only through communication with God.

Several different authors and philosophers have given different versions of what they thought Khayyam really stood for. But Shri Nathji’s version must have been the most accurate, because he was, amongst other things, the Creator of Khayyam.

Perhaps, Khayyam died too early. What a thrill would have run through his heart to have seen the God he was addressing in his poetry, reading his poetry in human form, in the twentieth century. His prayers, supplications and queries had finally reached God.

Shri Nathji would sometimes quote Omar Khayyam’s verse in Persian:

"Aamad saihare nidaa za maikhaanaye maa

Ki ai rinde kharaabaatiye deewaanaye maa

Barkhez ke pur kunem paimaanaa zamai

Zaan pesh ke pur kunand paimaanaye maa."

Early in the morning from within the tavern, came a cry,

’O thou, ever-wandering, lover, mine,

Arise, that I might fill thy cup with wine!

Ere my cup of life be filled, let me fill thine.

Shri Nathji’s interpretation of this verse was a spiritual one. The voice from within the tavern was the voice of the Perfect Master, calling out to his loved one, his devotee, who often erred and wandered but never left the lane of God. The wine the Perfect Master had, was the bliss of a divine ecstasy–the bliss of God-realisation. And his cry was:

"O man! Let me fill the cup of your heart

with the wine of divine intoxication, before

the cup of my life is filled, and I must be gone!"

Shri Nathji was fond of narrating the following verse of Khayyam to his devotees to illustrate the importance of reverence on the spiritual path:

"Abreeke mai maraa shikasti rabbi

Bar man dare aish raa babasti rabbi

Bar khaak barekhti mai naab maraa

Khaakam ba dahan magar to masti rabbi."

O God, thou hast broken my cup of wine,

And shut the door of intoxication upon me,

Thou hast thrown this precious wine on dust,

And the dust is in my mouth!–but wert thou intoxicated Thyself, O God!

According to Shri Nathji, Khayyam was referring to a spiritual state. God dashed to pieces his hopes of realising Him; he stopped him in his progress, and scattered the spiritual bliss he had been experiencing into the dust of his body. This was the complaint of a seeker after truth to God: wert thou intoxicated Thyself to have done such a thing? It was an impudent rebuke to God, and Khayyam never forgave himself for the impertinence.

It was a verse that was to cause infinite agony to the soul of Khayyam. He would not forgive himself. He – a mere poet! And he had dared say to God that He was drunk! Khayyam became a man in despair, like a lost soul seeking shelter. His face turned an ashen grey, and his body trembled and shriveled with fear. Tears streamed from his eyes. The agony of repentance tore at his soul.

Shri Nathji had frequently warned seekers after truth to proceed on the spiritual path with care. "The moods of Emperors are unpredictable," he would say, "sometimes a salute may offend them, and an insult please them! A devotee of God must be ever humble before that Supreme Power, ever repentant for follies and impertinence, real or imagined."

"Never say you have not done wrong," said Shri Nathji, "for that would be a great wrong in itself! Before God, one can only say ‘Bhalaaji’, or ‘Bhoolaji’ i.e.– ‘Thou art right’, or ‘I have erred’.

Shri Nathji added:

"Your devotion must be so perfect as to agree with everything that your Master says. If your Master calls day night, then you must not contradict him, but rather agree with him and say, ‘Oh, what beautiful stars are in the skies, what a beautiful moon!" Shri Nathji quoted another verse that Khayyam wrote to cover the folly of the first:

"Naa kardaa gunaah dar jahaan keesth bago

Vaankas ke gunaah na kard choon zeesth bago

Man bad kunamoh to bad makaafaat dahi

Pas farke miyaane mano to cheesth bago."

Who is there in the world that hath not sinned?

And how has he lived – he, who has not sinned?

If I do wrong, and thou dost answer likewise,

What difference then, between thou and me?"

There was only one way left to God – and that was to forgive Khayyam. And it is said, that the light of God came back to the poet. There was the verse that Khayyam wrote, of a potter thumping clay, and the clay saying:

"Gently brother, gently, pray!" It was

Khayyam’s description of man being

buffeted by the hands of Fate.

Shri Nathji would say:

"Afsos Khayyam mar gayaa, varnaa main

usse bataataa ke kumhaar matti ko torrne ke

liye naheen thhapkaar rahaa, balki ussko

sundar shakl dene ke liye!”

“It is said that Khayyam died before this,

otherwise I would have told him that the

potter was thumping the clay, not to destroy

it, but to mould a beautiful shape out of it!

“This hope must remain with man. The hand of God appears to be harsh and heavy, but it is, in fact, the hand of an artist seeking to bring perfection to his art!"

Shri Nathji had also said:

“Agar aapko jyotishi kaihtaa hai ke kal kaa

din aap par bhaari hogaa, to fikar kyon karte

hain? Abhi to kal aur aaj men raat baaki hai!

“If the astrologer tells you that tomorrow is

going to be a bad day for you, then why

worry? There is still the night left between

tomorrow and today!”

The Persian poet, Omar Khayyam, had written:

The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on

Nor all thy piety nor wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a line Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it. But the moving finger was the finger of God, who was not only All Powerful but also All Merciful. If he were sufficiently moved by the prayers and supplications of anyone He could alter what he had written and write it afresh.

This was the message of Shri Nathji. While Omar Khayyam, was a mere human who was speculating on the Divine Will, Shri Nathji was the One who had the pen in his hands.

Shri Nathji often recited the words of Omar Khayyam, in Persian:

"Aamad saihare nidaa za maikhaanaye maa

Ki ai rinde kharaabaatiye deevaanaye maa

Barkhez ke pur kunem paimaana za mai

Zaan pesh ke pur kunand paimaanaye maa."

Early in the morning I heard a voice within the Tavern cry,

O thou sinful seeker, thou who art my lover,

Arise! Let me fill thy cup with wine,

Ere my cup of life be filled!

When a man came to Shri Nathji and said: " Sir, if we have to suffer as a consequence of our Karmas–the actions performed by us, what can God do for us? The suffering that we have to endure is then the Will of God in accordance with His Laws."

Shri Nathji said: " Have you seen a potter beat a lump of clay into the shape of a vessel? He beats the clay with one hand, while he places the other hand inside the vessel to soften the impact of the blows. Even if man must undergo suffering, the Hand of God comes to give him comfort from within. Either you will be released from the suffering or you will be given strength to bear it!

"Omar Khayyam, the famous Persian poet, was greatly distressed upon seeing the scene of the potter thumping the clay. And he wondered why the potter was so harsh on the clay. It was sad that Khayyam died before I came on the scene, or else I would have told him: 'The potter is thumping the clay not to break it, but rather to make a beautiful shape out of it!'

Shri Nathji had said that there was just a silence–the silence of the ages; which was why the Advent of the Avatar had become so important. Otherwise the world would have turned to Omar Khayyam's verse in despair; those who received no consolation from an invisible God would have said:

"And that inverted bowl we call the sky,

Wherein crawling coopt we live and die

Lift not thy hands to it for help –

For it rolls impotently on as thou and I!"

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Omar Khayyám (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) was a Persian polymath, philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, and Islamic theology.

Born in Nishapur, Iran at a young age he moved to Samarkand(Uzbekistan) and obtained his education there. Afterwards he moved to Bukhara and became established as one of the major mathematicians and astronomers of the medieval period. He is the author of one of the most important treatises on algebra written before modern times, the Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra, which includes a geometric method for solving cubic equations by intersecting a hyperbola with a circle. He contributed to a calendar reform.

His significance as a philosopher and teacher, and his few remaining philosophical works, have not received the same attention as his scientific and poetic writings. Persians referred to him as “the philosopher of the world”. Many sources have testified that he taught for decades the philosophy of Avicenna in Nishapur where Khayyám was born and buried and where his mausoleum today remains a masterpiece of Iranian architecture visited by many people every year.

Outside Iran and Persian speaking countries, Khayyám has had an impact on literature and societies through the translation of his works and popularization by other scholars. The greatest such impact was in English-speaking countries; the English scholar Thomas Hyde (1636–1703) was the first non-Persian to study him. The most influential of all was Edward FitzGerald (1809–83), who made Khayyám the most famous poet of the East in the West through his celebrated translation and adaptations of Khayyám's rather small number of quatrains in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Omar Khayyám died in 1131 and is buried in the Khayyam Garden at the mausoleum of Imamzadeh Mahruq in Nishapur. In 1963 the mausoleum of Omar Khayyam was constructed on the site by architect Hooshang Seyhoun, the photo of which is given here.

Dharamshala

Shri Nathji had been to the hill station of Dharamshala sometime in 1926. There He was going for a walk in the hills when he met a group of people coming towards his house.

"Let us walk together on this hill," he said. As they walked on the slope, he said to them: "Is this an ascent or a descent?"

"Quite positively an ascent," they said, "we are running short of breath walking up the slope."

Just then, a man came from the opposite direction, his feet slipping beneath him as he hurtled downwards.

"It appears to be quite positively a descent, for him," said Shri Nathji.

And then he pointed to a little ant that moved horizontally on a rock: "For the ant, there is neither an ascent nor a descent."

Shri Nathji elaborated: "Just like this slope has no inherent attributes in itself–it becomes an ascent for one per­son, and a descent for another–similarly the material objects of the world have no inherent attributes. It is we who either derive happiness from them or else experience sorrow in them. In themselves, they contain neither happiness nor sorrow. A change in the angle of vision is all that is required.” 

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Dharamshala or Dharamsala is a city and a municipal council in Kangra district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the district. It was formerly known as Bhagsu. In May 1960, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) was moved to Dharamshala. The Dalai Lama's residence and the headquarters of the exiled Tibetan government are situated at McLeodGanj, within the Dharamshala municipality. Dharamshala is the centre of the Tibetan exile world in India. Following the 1959 Tibetan uprising there was an influx of Tibetan refugees who followed the 14th Dalai Lama. His presence and the Tibetan population has made Dharamshala a popular destination for Indian and foreign tourists, including students studying Tibet.

Sohni and Mahiwal

Shri Nathji would narrate two parables of the legendary lovers Sohini and Mahiwal. Devotion to God must be perfect; only then can it be real. To illustrate this, Shri Nathji used to tell the legendary story of the lovers–Sohni and Mahiwal. Theirs was not an ordinary love; it had the element of the divine in it. Sohni would cross the dark and dangerous waters of a river each night to reach her beloved, Mahiwal, on the other shore. She would carry an earthenware pot, a matka-with her, to help her float across the river. Her jealous sister-in-law replaced the matka with one made of weak clay. Sohni went across the river using this matka. In the middle of the river, she saw the vision of her beloved, Mahiwal. She saw the mole on his face. And it struck her that the mole should not have been there. At that very instant, the matka sank, and with it, Sohni.

The saints and sages were shaken in their meditation. Why did real love sink? Was it not God’s injustice? And the revelation was flashed across to them: Real Love had ceased to exist when Sohni saw the imperfection of the mole in her lover! Real love saw only perfection. The lane of love was a difficult one. It would not brook any insufficiency– not even of the width of a hair. A devotee had to see perfection in God. It was only thus that he could retain a lasting relationship with Him.

Whenever Shri Nathji gave examples of the lover and the beloved–like that of Yusuf and Zulekha, or Laila and Majnu, or Shereen and Farhaad–he would be referring to Divine Love.

"It was God that put the divine beauty into Laila, which attracted the heart of Majnu,"

he would say.

"The difference between ordinary love and divine love is that ordinary love takes one to a consciousness of the body and the senses, while divine love takes one above such a consciousness. Ordinary love is physical in nature, divine love transcends the physical. It is spiritual in nature. It is like the love between Radha and Krishna."

Shri Nathji would give the following definition of a genuine lover in Persian:

"Aashikee raa shash nishaan baashad ai pissar

Aahe sardo rang zardo chashm tar,.

There are six signs of Love, O Son!

Cold sighs, a paleness of the face and eyes wet with tears;

Gar turaa pursand cheh deegar kudaam

Kam khuro, kam guftano guftam haraam."

And if thou ask for the other three–

These are a giving up of food and talk,

And a giving up of sleep!

Shri Nathji would narrate another parable of the legendary Sohni going her way, lost in the thought of her beloved, Mahiwal. Along her path there was a Maulvi offering namaaz –prayers to God. Sohni was so completely absorbed in the thought of Mahiwal that she did not see the Maulvi and passed close to him. The Maulvi was at once enraged. The woman had disturbed him when he was in communion with God. He got up and shouted angrily at Sohni, telling her of the great sin she had committed by breaking his communion with God.

He said to her: “ I was absorbed in the thought of Allah but you passed close to me and disrupted my prayers. Woman you are surely accursed and deserve the fires of hell!”

Sohni was very apologetic and begged for forgiveness from the Maulvi. She said to him:

“ Maulvi Sahib, please forgive me for disturbing your prayers. But the fact is that I was so absorbed in the thought of my beloved that I did not even see you.”

But the Maulvi would not be placated. He continued shouting at her much to her great distress. Just then a thought occurred to Sohni and she said to him: “Maulvi Sahib, I was so absorbed in the thought of my beloved that I failed to notice you along my path– but, tell me, was your absorption in God so weak that you noticed me?”

The Maulvi was taken aback. He realized then how correctly the woman had spoken. He lacked the concentration and love for God which the woman had for her beloved. His was a life of mere preaching and moralizing, but the life of a woman was one of steadfastness and real devotion to the object of her love.

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Sohni Mahiwal is a tragic love story. Here, the heroine Sohni, unhappily married to a man whom she despises, swims every night across the river where her beloved Mehar grazes buffaloes. One night her sister-in-law replaces the earthenware pot, which she uses to keep afloat in water, with a vessel of unbaked clay, which dissolves in water and she dies in the whirling waves of the river.

Around the 18th century (late Mughal period), the beautiful girl Sohni was born to a potter named Tulla They were from the Kumhar caste, and lived in the town of Gujrat now in Pakistan Punjab (Not to be confused with the state of Gujrat in India.) At the time, Gujrat, on the river Chenab, was a caravanserai on the trade route between Bukhara and Delhi.

Shahzada Izzat Baig, a rich trader from Bukhara (Uzbekistan), came to Punjab on business and halted in the town of Gujrat. Here he saw Sohni at her shop selling earthenware and was completely smitten. The song goes that instead of looking after the 'mohars' (gold coins) in his pockets, he roamed around with his pocket full of love. Just to get a glimpse of Sohni, he would end up buying all  the water pitchers and mugs everyday. Sohni too lost her heart to Izzat Baig. Instead of making floral designs on earthenware, she started building castles of love in her dreams. Instead of returning to Bukhara with his caravan, the noble-born Izzat Baig took up the job of a servant in the house of Tulla, Sohni's father. He would even take their buffaloes for grazing. Soon, he came to be known as Mehar or "Mahiwal" (buffalo herder).

When the people got to know about the love of Sohni and Mahiwal, there was a commotion within the Kumhar community.It was not acceptable that a daughter from this community would marry an outsider, so her parents immediately arranged her marriage with another potter. Suddenly, one day the "barat" (marriage party) of that potter arrived at Sohini's house. Sohni felt helpless and lost. She was sent off to the husband's house. Izzat Baig renounced the world and started living like a faqir (hermit). He eventually moved to a small hut across the river from Sohni's new home. The earth of Sohni’s land was like a shrine for him. He had forgotten his own land, his own people and his world.

In the dark of night the lovers would meet by the river. Izzat would come to riverside and sohni would come to meet him sitting in an inverted hard baked pitcher (inverted so that it would not sink) . He would regularly catch a fish and bring it for her. It is said that once, when due to high tide he could not catch a fish, Mahiwal cut a piece of his thigh and roasted it. Sohni didn't realise this first but then she said izzat that this fish tastes different and keep her hand on his thigh then she realised it was a piece of his thigh and cried.

Meanwhile, rumours of their romantic rendezvous spread. One day Sohni’s sister-in-law followed her and saw the hiding place where Sohni used to keep her earthenware pitcher inside the bushes. The next day, the sister-in-law removed the hard baked pitcher and replaced it with an unbaked one. That night, when Sohni tried to cross the river with the help of the pitcher, it dissolved in the water and Sohni drowned. From the other side of the river, Mahiwal saw Sohni drowning and jumped into the river and drowned as well.Thus their union was effected.

Legends has it, that the bodies of Sohni and Mahiwal or Mehar flowed down stream and were recovered from the River Indus near Shahdadpur, Sindh, some 75 km far from Hyderabad, Pakistan. Sohni's tomb is to be located in Shahdadpur. A photo of that is given here.