At Tiruvannamalai in 1944, he sat before Ramana Maharshi expecting a vision of God. Instead the sage turned his attention inward, asking who it was that wanted to see God. He said he recognized the Self in that meeting and never doubted it again.

He returned to householder life, working for decades to support an extended family, and did not retire from that work until 1966. He held no following and gave no public teaching during these years.

Through the 1990s, Western seekers began arriving in Lucknow in growing numbers, drawn by word of mouth to sit with him. He offered no ashram, no organization, and no teaching beyond pointing them back to themselves.

Visitors including the future teacher Mooji sat with him in the early 1990s. He taught, as the tradition holds it, that freedom needed no practice or path — only direct recognition of what was already true, here, now.

He died in Lucknow on 6 September 1997. Some of those close to him later wrote that many visitors’ glimpses faded within days — and how easily a glimpse was mistaken for lasting awakening.