{FN43-10} “Him that overcometh will I make a
pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no
more out (i.e., shall reincarnate no more). . . .
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me
in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down
with my Father in his throne."-Revelation 3:12,
21.
{FN43-11} Sri Yukteswar was signifying that, even
as in his earthly incarnation he had occasionally
assumed the weight of disease to lighten his disciples’
karma, so in the astral world his mission as a savior
enabled him to take on certain astral karma of dwellers
on Hiranyaloka, and thus hasten their evolution into
the higher causal world.
{FN43-12} Life and death as relativities of thought
only. Vedanta points out that God is the
only Reality; all creation or separate existence is
maya or illusion. This philosophy of monism
received its highest expression in the upanishad
commentaries of Shankara.
WITH MAHATMA GANDHI AT WARDHA
“Welcome to Wardha!” Mahadev Desai, secretary
to Mahatma Gandhi, greeted Miss Bletch, Mr. Wright,
and myself with these cordial words and the gift of
wreaths of Khaddar (homespun cotton). Our
little group had just dismounted at the Wardha station
on an early morning in August, glad to leave the dust
and heat of the train. Consigning our luggage
to a bullock cart, we entered an open motor car with
Mr. Desai and his companions, Babasaheb Deshmukh and
Dr. Pingale. A short drive over the muddy country
roads brought us to MAGANVADI, the ashram of India’s
political saint.
Mr. Desai led us at once to the writing room where,
cross-legged, sat Mahatma Gandhi. Pen in one
hand and a scrap of paper in the other, on his face
a vast, winning, warm-hearted smile!
“Welcome!” he scribbled in Hindi; it was
a Monday, his weekly day of silence.
Though this was our first meeting, we beamed on each
other affectionately. In 1925 Mahatma Gandhi
had honored the Ranchi school by a visit, and had
inscribed in its guest-book a gracious tribute.
The tiny 100-pound saint radiated physical, mental,
and spiritual health. His soft brown eyes shone
with intelligence, sincerity, and discrimination;
this statesman has matched wits and emerged the victor
in a thousand legal, social, and political battles.
No other leader in the world has attained the secure
niche in the hearts of his people that Gandhi occupies
for India’s unlettered millions. Their
spontaneous tribute is his famous title-mahatma,
“great soul.” {FN44-1} For them alone
Gandhi confines his attire to the widely-cartooned
loincloth, symbol of his oneness with the downtrodden
masses who can afford no more.
[Illustration: Mahatma gandhi, I enjoy
a quiet lunch with India’s political saint at
his hermitage in Wardha, August, 1935.—see
gandhi.jpg]
