Satish

“ We had never been able to fathom how deeply Satish loved his uncle. Jagamohan was alike father and friend to him,—and, it may be said, son as well; for the old man had been so regardless of himself, so unmindful of worldly concerns, that it used to be one of the chief cares of Satish to look after him and keep him safe from disaster. Thus had Satish received from and given to his uncle his all. ”

“ III For some days Satish clanged his cymbals and danced his kirtans with added vigour. Then one day he came to me and said: ‘We cannot keep Damini with us any longer.’
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘We must free ourselves altogether from the influence of women.’
‘If that be a necessity,’ said I, ‘there must be something radically wrong with our system.’
Satish stared at me in amazement.
‘Woman is a natural phenomenon,’ I continued, undaunted, ‘who will have her place in the world, however much we may try to get rid of her. ”

“ I had been arguing with my fellow-students that Satish could not possibly be an atheist.
I had received two severe blows at the outset of my short acquaintance with Satish. I had imagined that he was a Brahman, but I had come to know that Satish belonged to a Bania family, and I in whose veins flowed a bluer blood was bound duly to despise all Banias. Secondly, I had a rooted belief that atheists were worse than murderers, nay, worse even than beef-eaters. ”

“ Jagamohan started up from his chair and bellowed out:
‘You want to throw me your dirty leavings, as you throw a dog a bone! I am an atheist—remember that! I am not a pious man like you! I neither take revenge, nor beg for favours.’
Harimohan hastened round to Satish’s lodgings. He cried out to him:
‘Satish! What in the world are you going to do? Can you think of no other way of ruining yourself? Are you determined to plunge the whole family into this hideous shame?’
Satish answered: ‘I have no particular desire to marry. ”

“ Satish was almost beside himself. ‘Will you never understand,’ he groaned, ‘that I am not running after any geographical truth? ‘The Dweller within can only come to me along my own true path. The path of the guru can only lead to the guru’s door.’
What a number of opposite principles have I heard enunciated by this same mouth of Satish! I, Srivilas, once the favourite disciple of Uncle Jagamohan,—who would have threatened me with a big stick if l had called him Master,—had actually been made by Satish to massage the legs of Lilananda Swami. ”

“ But what in the world was it all about?
‘He loves form,’ Satish went on, ‘so He is continually descending towards form. We cannot live by form alone, so we must ascend towards His formlessness. He is free, so His play is within bonds. We are bound, so we find our joy in freedom. All our sorrow is because we cannot understand this.’
We kept as silent as the stars.
‘Do you not understand, Damini?’ pursued Satish. ‘He who sings proceeds from his joy to the tune ; he who hears, from the tune to joy. One comes from freedom into bondage, the other goes from bondage into freedom ”

“ Having matriculated, we came to the College at Calcutta; but from that time our lives began to diverge. Satish tried in every way to adopt the manners of Europeans; while I became devoted to my mother-tongue. Satish jeered at me for constantly reading and writing Bengali; while I lost no opportunity of having a fling at him for imitating Europeans. Later Satish went to England and returned a barrister, having completely adopted English ways. ”

“ Satish said to me: ‘Those who libel me do so, not because they love to know the truth, but because they love to believe evil of me. Therefore it is useless to try to prove to them that the calumny is untrue.’
‘But,’ I said, ‘the liars must be——’
‘They are not liars,’ interrupted Satish.
‘I have a neighbour,’ he went on, ‘who has epileptic fits. Last winter I gave him a blanket. My servant came to me in furious temper, and told me that the boy only feigned the disease. These students who malign me are like that servant of mine. They believe what they say. ”

“ How others felt, I know not, but a growing pain gnawed at my heart. Sometimes I thought that this constant ecstasy of emotion was proving too much for me. I wanted to give it all up and run away. The old work of teaching the leather-dealers’ children seemed, in its unalloyed prose, to be now calling me back.
One afternoon when the Master was taking his siesta, and the weary disciples were at rest, Satish for some reason went off into his own room at this unusual hour. His progress was suddenly arrested at the threshold. ”

“ That they should be held unfit even to cultivate atheism made their minds all the more bitter against Satish.
II Jagamohan was Satish’s uncle. He was a notorious atheist of that time. It would be inadequate to say that he did not believe in God. One ought rather to say that he vehemently believed in no God. As the business of a captain in the navy is rather to sink ships than to steer, so it was Jagamohan’s business to sink the creed of theism, wherever it put its head above the water. ”

“ III Two years had passed since we lost sight of Satish. My mind revolted against harbouring the least thing evil against him, nevertheless I could not help suspecting that the high pitch at which he used to be kept strung must have been flattened down by this shock.
Uncle Jagamohan had once said of a Sannyasin: ‘As the money-changer tests the ring of each coin, so does the world test each man by the response he gives to shocks of loss and pain, and the resistance he offers to the craze for cheap salvation. Those who fail to ring true are cast aside as worthless. ”

“ Wikipedia:Yogananda Image Gallery (My sister Uma, as a young girl) "Sister, cheer up!" I whispered. "Don't give your husband the satisfaction of believing that we take his mockery seriously."
"Mukunda, how can you admire worthless humbugs?" Satish was saying. "A SADHU'S very appearance is repulsive. He is either as thin as a skeleton, or as unholily fat as an elephant!"
I shouted with laughter. My good-natured reaction was annoying to Satish; he retired into sullen silence. As our cab entered the Dakshineswar grounds, he grinned sarcastically. ”

“ He must come up for the free breath of life. If you would live, you must now come up to the light, out of the depths of your learning. You have enjoyed the fruits of your scholarship, now try a taste of the joys of its renunciation.’
Satish handed his Master the lighted pipe and sat down on the bare floor near his feet. The Swami leant back and stretched his legs out towards Satish, who began gently to massage them. ”

“ Was Nirmala's love for literature so great? I thought if Nirmala wrote herself, I would not mind printing the article in The Light of Bengal, after necessary corrections.
Satish had much to relate about her. The happiness of these two young lovers renewed the youth in my mind also. Satish said—"Now I am going. I just looked in to see if the rooms suited you. We shall meet at tea time. You are coming, I hope?" ”

“ Satish’s refusal was equally laconic. ‘I have work to do here,’ he replied.
‘As pall-bearer to the leather-dealers, I suppose?’
‘Yes, sir; that is, if my services be needed.’
‘Yes, sir, indeed! You scamp, you scoundrel, you atheist! If need be you're quite ready to consign fourteen generations of your ancestors to perdition, I have no doubt!’
Convinced that the Kali Yuga [1] had touched its lowest depth, Harimohan returned home, despairing of the salvation of his next of kin. ”

“ You can take it away now, as I have finished."
"The review is finished?"
"Yes; I despatched the order proofs by post some minutes ago." Seeing Satish concerning himself with Bengali literature, I asked myself, "What can have happened?" ”

“ Satish was perhaps better off when his days were passing in one round of excitement,—singing, dancing, serving the Master,—the whole of his spiritual effort exhausting itself in the output of the moment. Since he has lapsed into outward quiet, his spirit refuses to be controlled any longer. ”

“ If your spiritual welfare depends on ignoring her existence, then its pursuit will be like the chasing of a phantom, and will so put you to shame, when the illusion is gone, that you will not know where to hide yourself.’
‘Oh, stop your philosophising!’ exclaimed Satish. ‘I was talking practical politics. It is only too evident that women are emissaries of Maya, and at Maya’s behest pły on us their blandishments,—for they cannot fulfil the design of their Mistress unless they overpower our reason. ”

“ Sati was undoubtedly a rite sanctioned by the Hinduism of the day, with which according to the principle they had adopted they should not interfere, yet it was impossible for them to stand by and see human life, as they considered it, wantonly sacrificed. ”

“ The story alluded to by the poet is this;—"Daksha was the son of Brahma and father of Satí, whom, at the recommendation of the Rishis, or Sages, he espoused to Siva, but he was never wholly reconciled to the uncouth figure and practices of his son-in-law. Having undertaken to celebrate a solemn sacrifice, he invited all the Gods except Siva, which so incensed Satí, that she threw herself into the sacrificial fire."— (Wilson, Specimens of Hindu Theatre, Vol. II. p. 263.) The name of Satí meaning good, true, chaste woman, is the modern Suttee, as it is pronounced and corruptly written. ”

“ The custom of Sati has been outlawed; but the spirit of Sati still dominates the womanly heart of the Hindu wife.
It is this beautiful blending of piety and wifely devotion [258] which has been the song of Hindu poets, and the admiration of the Hindu community, from time immemorial. It is true that a wife dare not utter the name of her husband. The name of the husband of a Hindu woman was Faith. ”

“ The beautiful and faithful soul of Sati had indeed fled.
Then Nandi, her old attendant, set out swiftly for Kailash, to report to Siva what had happened. But as he did so, shaking in every limb, he turned round in the doorway and said, "If you, O Duksha, survive these deeds at all, may it be only with a goat's head on your human body!" In such great moments men see truly, even into the future. ”

“ The idea that the house he had entered as an honored guest would see him depart in shame had already brought the blood to his cheeks. And that blood now was leaving a stain that years would not efface. "I must write," he decided; "I must write some word." And he was about to seat himself at the table, when Atcheh appeared.
"Tuan," he murmured, in the soft vocables of his tongue. "The gharry waits your lordship."
At this Zut, who was surprisingly polyglot of ear, yelped with renewed delight. Tancred pointed to his effects, and waited until they had been removed. ”

“ When the purpose of an evil man is revealed to thee, pull him up by the roots, otherwise will he not desire that thou shouldst live. The alarm being raised, I fled quickly from the land. When thou settest fire to a forest of canes, beware of the tigers, if thou art wise.
Whenever I supplicate at the shrine of the Knower of Secrets, the Indian puppet comes into my recollection—it throws dust on the pride of mine eyes. I know that I raise my hand, but not by virtue of mine own strength. Men of sanctity stretch not out their hands themselves: the Fates invisibly pull the strings. ”

“ And Satni, gazing upon the witchery of her bosom, curved like ivory carving, rounded like the eggs of the ostrich, forgot his loving children; and the deed was written.... Even at that moment a messenger came, saying: "O Satni, thy children are below, and await thee." And he said: "Bid them ascend hither."
Then said Thoutboui: "Still will I test thee, since thou dost so desire. If thou wilt have my love, let thy children be put to death, lest at some future time they seek to claim that which thou hast given. So that the house in which I dwell may be thy house!" ”

“ One day, whilst out hunting, he happened to pass a funeral pyre, upon which a Brahman’s widow had just become Sati (a holy woman) with the greatest fortitude. On his return home he related the adventure to Sita Rani, his spouse, and she at once made reply that virtuous women die with their husbands, killed by the fire of grief, not by the flames of the pile. To prove her truth the prince, after an affectionate farewell, rode forth to the chase, and presently sent back the suite with his robes torn and stained, to report his accidental death. ”

“ In Hindu mythology she is once described as Adya Sakti, Primæval Energy, Primum Mobile of the Gods, again she is said to be Sati, the daughter of Daksha, Cœlum, and next as the progeny of Himavat and consort of the Kailasian Siva, in which last attribute she is compared with the Olympian Juno, consort of Jove of the Greek Pantheon, and with Isis, Isi, the wife of Osiris, Isvara, of ancient Egypt, as also with the Holy Virgin, Alma-mater of Christian theology, with Allahat of the idolatrous Arabs, and with Astarte or Ashtaroth of the early Assyrians. ”

“ A perfect battery of deadly gleaming eyes was opened upon Seth, but he stood it unflinchingly. The Indians would have relished well, the idea of venting their baffled vengeance upon the helpless captive in their hands; but the commanding presence of their chief restrained the slightest demonstration, and they contented themselves with meaning looks. ”

“ I have left to the last the witnesses who might otherwise have been suspected—I mean the Hindus themselves. The whole of their literature from one end to the other is pervaded by expressions of love and reverence for truth. Their very word for truth is full of meaning. It is sat or satya, sat being the participle of the verb as, to be. True, therefore, was with them simply that which is. The English sooth is connected with sat, also the Greek ὄν for ἔσον, and the Latin sens, in præsens.
We are all very apt to consider truth to be what is trowed by others, or believed in by large majorities. ”