Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06

before crossing the threshold, that
| he might tread the strangers
house with naked feet. He had no oc-
casion to stoop. The shoes, saffron in
color, were as easy to remove as SAN
dals and seemed to slip off as If by
magic.
When 1 learned his age, was amazed
at the youthfulness of his looks. This
appearance of youth did not solely de-
pend upon the fact that he was clean
shaven and had very narrow face.
Contributory causes were the slender
| ness of his figure and the grace of his
movements.
| The first time my gaze encountered
his 1 was overwhelmed by a rush OF
qualification and pride. 1 sensed the
presence of the spirit of the ages, which
seemed to have crowned the temples OF
this latter-day descendant with the halo
of its own culture.
Youthful dreams in which the name
of India had conveyed mysterious
charm were blissfully reawakened, and
my feeling was that today, at long last,
the door of midas secrets was to be
opened to me.
The sunlight was playing with the OBJ
je :; in the quiet room My guest sat
in a shady corner, and as watched him
I was full of the genial pride of one
who is entertaining a distinguished
stranger A blue curtain had bought
on the previous day now decked the
wall of the room. It served as back
ground to the visitors figure, setting off
his shoulders, his glossy black hair and
the dull yellow of his silk turban in a
manner that conveyed a strange i'm
preston of unreality, so that at times
l felt as if I were contemplating pic
ture from the fabulous world Of the
Arabian Nights.
Now Panya silently entered, bringing
| tea and tobacco. / was positively star
tied to note the boys profound and
ceremonious obeisance to the Brahmin.
| When I got to know Mangeshe Rao
better candor proved more natural to
him than diSsimulation. but at this
early stage of our acquaintance he was
continually scrutiniZing my observa-
tons in search of a hidden meaning.
This was still in the days of the
"Prabuddha Bharata," India Awakened
The harbingers of the great spiritual
current, moving far and wide through
out the land, had aroused in the minds
of the Indians new faith in the unfit
cation of the peoples under the light OF
their ancestral creed.
But adherents of the various trends
|
had begun as movement for unifica-
ton under the sign Of reinvigorated
national religion degenerated into eXhl-
billions of quarrelSome SectionaliSm.
Herewith the essence of the whole
matter was fatally corrupted, and moth
ing was left but the futile multiplicity
of nationalist movement rent by pas
Sionate dissensions.
1 first learned of these things from
Mangeshe Rao the Brahmin, whose sim
cere belief in the possibility of a united
India fascinated me. Our intimacy
progressed; he grew ever more open in
the expression of his feelings.
I found his love for India most in
youthful in their vigor, contrasting
strangely with the indifference and
self command that it suited him to dis
play toward the world.
Now that I shared his hopes, I was
inspired with the wish that the ancient
spirit Of the Hindu religion might free
itself from the trammels of pagan per-
versions and regain its primitive free
dom.
ION one occasion we had walked far
+ beyond the town limits along an
avenue of palm trees until we reached
the shore, conversing as we watched the
naked Hindus, their brown skins glis-
tening in the sunlight while they fished
in the shallow waters. AS so often hap
pened, our conversation had turned
| from the secular domain of politics to
religious questions. Hoping, perchance,
to gain once for all clear light as to
the meaning of Hinduism, asked
MangeShe Rao: ..-,,
What is Brahman? I listen to pro-
with beauty, to ideas of salvation filled
with bright faith in freedom. But
the central notion of Brahman Is
still yelled in mystical obscurity."
The Brahman answered:
THE heart alone can understand
the divine nature, but will answer
| you in the words of the earliest We
dantic priests. They tell us that
! Brahman is the light of the spirit and
the blessedness that knows nothing OF
sorrow. Brahman is JOY primal
understanding compact of beatltude,
accessible through the consciousness.
and equipped with supreme insight
He spoke gently but solemnly. /
| felt as If millenniary spiritual realm
were recalling its vanished glories, and
I was filled with dark and mourn
full sense of the India that had passed
I out of ken. With secret anxiety /
realized the futility of the struggle
in which my friend was involved as
if in an overwhelming doom, and my
the values of the old world and the
new. Mangeshe Rao apparently
guessed my thoughts, for after a brief