Shri Nathji and Sir Abdul Qadar

While Shri Nathji was in Lahore, in the 1930's he met Sir Abdul Qadar, a Judge of the High Court, a Muslim by faith, who began to have great respect for Shri Nathji, and felt greatly attracted to him. The love of Sir Abdul Qadar for Shri Nathji was so great that he would not lose a moment of life if it could be spent in the company of Shri Nathji. The divine powers of Shri Nathji attracted the Judge, and his intellectual powers astonished him. One day Shri Nathji said to him in Urdu, using words that have become legend:

“Sir Abdul Qadar, insaan zindagi kaa mazaa naheen letaa.

“Jab tak jeetaa hai maut se dartaa hai–jeene kaa mazaa gayaa.

“Aur jab marne lagtaa hai to jeene ki kwaahish kartaa hai–marne kaa bhee mazaa gayaa!

“Sir Abdul Qadar, man does not enjoy life.

“For as long as he is alive he is afraid of death–that takes way of joy of living.

“And when he is dying he wishes to live–that takes away the joy of dying!”

The Judge was wonderstruck by the stark logic of Shri Nathji's statement and said:

"That is quite right, Hazrat, but is there no way out?"

"Yes, there is a way out," Shri Nathji said,

"man can be happy in both states if he can learn to accept life as an order of God, and death as another order from Him. Thus, by surrendering his will before the Will of God, man can accept life and death with equal contentment and happiness."

Shri Nathji's exact historical words in Urdu were:

"Na zindagi hai na maut hai.

Uskaa ek hukum hai jo duniyaa men le aataa hai.

Aur uskaa doosraa humkum duniyaa se le jaataa hai!"

Shri Nathji then recited the verse he was very fond of:

Mussavar khench laa tasveer jo aisee banaayi ho

Udhar talvaar khenchi ho idhar gardan jhukaayi ho!”

“O Artist, make thou a painting which is like this-

A sword upraised on one side and the neck bowed on the other!”

Shri Nathji would recall how in the early 1930's Sir Abdul Qadar, had come to Shri Nathji at the beginning of his sermon at a hall in Lahore, and said:

"Hazrat, please do not mind if I sit at the back of the hall. I am afraid I will have to leave in the middle of your sermon. I have an important meeting to attend."

Shri Nathji had been courteous enough to suggest that he could very well excuse himself from the entire sermon, but Sir Abdul Qadar insisted on listening for the duration of the little time he had, saying: "Let me derive as much benefit as I can!"

Shri Nathji finished after two hours. The audience was bathed in a divine glow. Shri Nathji was surprised to find Sir Abdul Qadar inside the hall.

"Sir Abdul Qadar! Did you return here from the meeting you had to attend?" Shri Nathji asked him.

"No, Hazrat," said the judge, "I haven't left the hall since the time you began speaking. It was impossible to leave. I became unconscious of space and time, when words began flowing from your mouth!"

Shri Nathji's verse on the theme of self-forgetfulness in love was:

Kaun kaihtaa hai ke rindon ko tere hosh naheen

Inko jo hosh hai vo hosh ko bhee hosh naheen

Who says thy lovers have lost their consciousness?

The consciousness they possess is greater than consciousness itself!

Indeed all who came to Shri Nathji found themselves in another world, where space and time ceased to exist, and where the cares and worries of the world were drowned in an ocean of divine bliss. It was a consciousness that superseded every other consciousness in the world. 

People who merged into the Divine Beauty of Shri Nathji found the world around them becoming beautiful. Those who met him found him in their hearts all the time, and the feeling of divine bliss persisted within them even when they were physically away from him.

It was a happiness that could not be obtained from any other object of the world, a happiness that was the biggest proof of the existence of God.

Shri Nathji had often said that the proof of God could be found in the hearts of his devotees, just like the proof of intoxication could be found in those who had drunk wine.

It could not be said that those who had merged into a world of God realisation were less conscious than those who were not. As a matter of fact those, who had God realization within them, found themselves performing their tasks better in the world because of the greater peace within them. 

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Sir Abdul Qadir was born in Ludhiana on 15 March 1872. He was the editor of The Observer, the first Muslim newspaper published in English in 1895. In 1901, he launched the magazine Makhzan, an Urdu language publication. This magazine published the early works of Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

In 1904, Qadir went to study law in London, and was called to the bar in 1907 after which he returned to India, where he served as a member of the Punjab Legislative Council and the minister of education in Punjab, British India in 1925.

Qadir was knighted by the British in the 1927 Birthday Honours and in 1935 became a member of the governing council of India. He died on 9 February 1950 at the age of 77 and was buried in Miani Sahib Graveyard, Lahore.