Offering my respect at the feet of Shri Guru Shri Nathji Maharaj, I am making an attempt to say a few things. Ever since I’ve gained my conscious, I’ve found Shri Nathji Maharaj all around me. I was extremely fortunate to be born of a mother, who, in spite of fulfilling all her duties towards the family, lived a saintly life and inspired the whole family to be disciples of a great Guru like Shri Nathji Maharaj and to serve him. Today I am paying my homage to my mother late Mrs. Triveni Devi Khemka and presenting you with some of her reminiscences. My mother used to say that three of my elder sisters were born before me and yet there was no son. My grandmother used to be very sad and expected a grandson. During those days, our family used to live in Churu (Rajasthan), where the most venerable Shri Jyotinathji Maharaj used to visit at times to see my mother. One day my grandmother fell at his feet and pleaded with him, “Your disciple (my mother) doesn’t care about a son, but I do long for a grandson.” Then Babaji Maharaj smiled and said, “Go old lady, your wish shall be fulfilled.” It was due to the power of his words that we, the 4 brothers were born one after another after that. My mother used to say that her life was full of such blessings, but it was not possible to describe all of them. Then our family had come to Calcutta and I was around 10 years old at that time. Our father, late Ramgopal Ji Khemka used to be sick pretty often. Destiny snatched away our father one day from us. At that time my elder brother Ramavtarji was 15 years old and my younger brothers Mayapati and Chetan were 8 and 6 years old respectively. There was no one to look after our business. But even at that difficult time my mother didn’t lose her heart and gave us the love of both a father and mother at the same time. Shri Nathji Maharaj was with us. Shubhnathji, the great yogi, kept his divine hand on our head. He came to our wood godown in Neemtalla and the business started off again. He used to be pleased to see us as children, and used to inspire us a lot. He used to say in front of everybody, “See what these little guys do when they grow up.” He used to very kind and loving towards us, a description of which could be matched with no words. Our family has business and houses in Siliguri too. Once when Hanumannathji, the epitome of kindness, was visiting our home in Calcutta, my elder brother Ramavtarji expressed his wish to expand our business beyond Calcutta to Siliguri. He was pleased and asked my brother to go. Then he made me write a letter addressed to Shri Mahavir Prasad Dhanuka, an old disciple of his, signed it himself and gave it to brother Ramavtar, who took it to Siliguri. It was due to his blessings that with little capital in a new place against several odds our family got success in business in Siliguri.

Shri Mahavir Prasad Dhanuka too always supported us by Guruji’s inspiration. After that our revered Guruji visited Siliguri on a few occasions and in spite of our meager resources there, stayed with us. It was because he had endless love for us. I would definitely like to relate an incident. When the great yogi Shubhnathji Maharaj left the earth, our financial condition was not too well. But my mother wanted that the tomb on his cremation ground should be erected by our family. When my mother pleaded with Guru Shri Hanumannathji Maharaj that this opportunity be given to our family, he hesitated at first due to our condition. But looking at my mother’s firm belief, he said; “Now it will definitely be done. You have 4 sons. I am your 5th son. Why do you worry?” in spite of having several affluent disciples, he gave our family this opportunity and helped us get success in it. It was all due to his kindness.

You all know in how difficult a situation our Babaji Friar Narharinathji Maharaj ascended the chief’s position. My mother always said about him that his gurus have been molded by their seniors whereas he has been molded by the world. He has been molded into pure gold. Ever since my mother left the earth, he has taken care of our family in every possible way. He has protected us in every moment of trouble. Now in every situation of difficulty, we relate things to Babaji and leave the rest upon him. After a few days of giving birth to her son, my niece Daya Poddar’s mental balance was disturbed. We were all very worried. Her in-laws provided full support, but she recovered slowly only due to the blessings of our Guru.

He protects us in every step and teaches us to be practical. He has tried to break the old conventions and have put the children of our family under good grooming so that they stay away from superstitions. He inspires them to go abroad for education, but at the same time reminds them of the bad elements there which they should not be affected by. I would say that such a guru is rare to get these days, who is with us in every step and shows us the right path. He says things of great significance and importance in very simple language, sometimes even amidst jokes. I have seen several times that he says something or does something which seems to be irrelevant at that moment, but after a while when the truth is revealed, we wonder how farsighted our guru is that something which we could not have imagined has already been accomplished by him. He hasn’t really gone far in academic education, but we have seen that he has all the qualities of a yogi along with profound and practical knowledge in subjects like agriculture, architecture, cooking, engineering, electronics, electrical applications and all other necessary disciplines. An assembly of so much knowledge at one place is a miracle itself. But his behaviour never shows it. I would definitely want to say a special thing, that is, whenever we come back after seeing our guru and spending time with him, a new energy is generated within us and its effect remains there for a long time. We are again instigated to go to him in such a way that it’s really difficult to describe. One more thing I have noticed, that wherever Guruji sits, a divine glow can be seen, which vanishes after he leaves his seat. These are things to be felt which one can only see with a pure mind. He always says that those who believe in their gurus, the great guru and all other gurus are always there for them whereas those who don’t believe, they were never there for them.

Glory be to Shri Nathji Maharaj

Ratanlal Khemka
Kolkata