Seth Govind Das

  Seth Govind Das, who was the senior-most Member of Parliament during those days, and who lived in Jabalpur, had lost his son who was very dear to him. He had been in a state of acute depression which nothing in the world could cure.  He met Shri G.P. Bhutt and Gangabai Bhutt who were in Jabalpur, and heard about Shri Nathji from them. They told him that if there was any place in the world where he could get solace it would be from Shri Nathji.

Shri Nathji could restore to the grieving their loved ones in a single glance. Grief would give way to happiness and peace, as Shri Nathji brought their loved ones closer within their hearts and souls, so that they no longer felt the separation. It was a great miracle. No medicine on earth could cure such sorrow.

He came to the residence of Shri Nathji at South Extension Part I in 1968. The moment he sat before Shri Nathji, something happened to him.
 He found an inner peace filling him for the first time in days. Very soon he found the peace change to a feeling of bliss within his heart. The feeling surprised him, because only moments before there was nothing but sadness and depression within him.
 The healing touch of Shri Nathji’s words affected the man’s body and soul. It was not a temporary feeling but rather one which became a permanent state. He remained radiant with happiness on the second day after his visit and in subsequent days to come as well. The feeling had become a permanent one. Thereafter he developed intense faith in Shri Nathji and became a frequent visitor at Shri Nathji's residence at South Extension.

 "To give up all opposition to sorrow is to acquire happiness and to find salvation," Shri Nathji said, "it is easy to be happy when sorrow has been removed. But real happiness lies in being happy in sorrow!"
 Seth Govind Das’ good wishes to Shri Nathji were always expressed in the following words:

 "May you live for a hundred years and more, and may your work go on enlightening mankind!"

 Shri Nathji always quoted these good wishes of the elderly statesman for him. He had often said to people:
 “Come and take my blessings. But leave your good wishes with me so that I can complete the work for which I have come into this world.”
 Once Seth Govind Das brought a friend to Shri Nathji's darbaar and said to the friend. 
 “We are intellectuals; we do not bow readily before anyone. But before Shri Nathji our heads bow all by themselves! Yahaan aakar to sar khaamakhaa jhuktaa hai!”

 "Do you know why people bow before me?” Shri Nathji asked, and then added, "I am so small, that they have to bend down on their knees to catch a glimpse of me!"
 Shri Nathji also said: “I am not that light which rests only upon your heads. I am that light which rests upon your feet as well!”

 Whenever some of his devotees would worry, he would say:
 "Do not let your hearts be shaken by worry. Remember, I am sitting within. And when your hearts shake, I can feel the jerks!"

 Seth Govind Das was not given the same inner sight that was given to Bhutt Sahib by Shri Nathji. Even though Govind Das revered Shri Nathji as the holiest of the holy, it did not strike him that Shri Nathji was God, Himself. Neither did Shri Nathji give this revelation to him.
 One day he came before Shri Nathjji and said to him: “I have one very intense desire left in my mind – that of Prabhu darshan! To get a glimpse of God!”
 Shri Nathji smiled to himself, and blessed him without telling him who he was.

Paas kharro nazaron men na aave
Aiso Nath hamaaro re

Though standing beside us, He may not reveal Himself
Such, indeed, is our Nath

There was the time when Lord Rama had passed in front of his great devotee, Tulsidas, without granting recognition of himself to him. Such was the leela of the Lord that he could hide himself from those closest to him and reveal himself to those far away, in a moment.
Seth Govind Das came to Shri Nathji again after some days, and said that he had gone to a Temple in Brindavan where he had bowed before the idol of Lord Krishna, and suddenly he had heard a sound come from the idol. He could not decipher what the words were, but a thrill had gone through his heart and soul that he had caught a glimpse of God. It was thus that Shri Nathji fulfilled his desire for God. Little did he know that the voice of Shri Nathji which he had been listening to was in fact the voice of God.

In Later days when there was trouble at Mussoorie as the forces of evil there sought to harass Shri Nathji, Seth Govind Das became very concerned and wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of the State urging him to take steps for Shri Nathji's protection.
 "A great Enlightened Soul lives in the hills of Mussoorie," Seth Govind Das wrote to the Chief Minister, "it is our duty to see that his safety is ensured in every way." 

Seth Govind Das (16 October 1896 – 18 June 1974) was an Indian independence activist and parliamentarian. He belonged to the rich merchant family of Raja Gokuldas of Jabalpur. He joined the Non Co-operation Movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920 and was jailed five times for a total of eight years. He became a member of the All India Congress Committee since 1920 and served in the Congress Working Committee of the Tripuri Session of the Congress in 1939. He was the President of the Mahakoshal P.C.C. during 1928–1934 and 1946–1957, and the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee in 1957.

 He was also a writer and  wrote more than a hundred plays, a novel "Indu-mati", five travel books, a three volume autobiography, four biographies, mostly in Hindi.

 He represented Jabalpur in the Indian Parliament from the first to the fifth Lok Sabha, continuously, from 1957 to 1974 when he died. He was appointed Speaker protem (prior to the formal election of a speaker) by the President for the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Lok Sabha and administered the oath of the office to all the rest of the Lok Sabha members.

The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1961