Part 15 (1/2)

Here in Karwar I wrote the _Prakritir Pratishodha_, Nature's Revenge, a dramatic poeain a victory over Nature by cutting away the bonds of all desires and affections and thus to arrive at a true and profound knowledge of self

A little girl, however, brought him back from his coe of hu back the _Sanyasi_ realised that the great is to be found in the small, the infinite within the bounds of form, and the eternal freedoht of love that all lied in the limitless

The sea beach of Karwar is certainly a fit place in which to realise that the beauty of Nature is not a ination, but reflects the joy of the Infinite and thus draws us to lose ourselves in it Where the universe is expressing itself in the e if we ets into immediate touch with is, is any rooument?

Nature took the _Sanyasi_ to the presence of the Infinite, enthroned on the finite, by the pathway of the heart In the _Nature's Revenge_ there were shown on the one side the wayfarers and the villagers, content with their ho beyond; and on the other the _Sanyasi_ busy casting away his all, and hiination When love bridged the gulf between the two, and the her triviality of the finite and the see emptiness of the infinite alike disappeared

This was to put in a slightly different forht which found its way into the depths of the cave into which I had retired away from all touch with the outer world, and ain This _Nature's Revenge_ may be looked upon as an introduction to the whole of my future literary work; or, rather this has been the subject on which allthe Infinite within the finite

On our way back froe_ on board shi+p The first one filledon the deck:

Mother, leave your darling boy to us, And let us take hiraze our cattle[52]

The sun has risen, the buds have opened, the cowherd boys are going to the pasture; and they would not have the sunlight, the flowers, and their play in the grazing grounds empty They want their _Shyam_ (Krishna) to be with them there, in the midst of all these They want to see the Infinite in all its carefully adorned loveliness; they have turned out so early because they want to join in its gladsome play, in the midst of these woods and fields and hills and dales--not to admire from a distance, nor in the htest A siarland of wild-flowers are all the ornans on every side, to hunt for it arduously, or amidst pomp and circumstances, is to lose it

Shortly after my return froe

(38) _Pictures and Songs_

_Chhabi o Gan_, Picture and Songs, was the title of a book of poems most of which ritten at this tiarden in Lower Circular Road

Adjoining it on the south was a large _Busti_[53] I would often sit near aand watch the sights of this populous little settlement I loved to see theoings and co story

A faculty of htedness possessed ed round with the light of ination and the joy ofvariously coloured by a pathos of its own The pleasure of thus separatelyit, both being the outcome of the desire to see with the ines

Had I been a painter with the brush I would doubtless have tried to keep a permanent record of the visions and creations of that period when my mind was so alertly responsive But that instrument was not available to me What I had was only words and rhythms, and even with these I had not yet learnt to draw firins Still, like young folk with their first paint box, I spent the livelong day painting aith the many coloured fancies of ht of that twenty-second year of h their crude drawing and blurred colouring

I have said that the first book of s_ The sa Many a page at the outset of this Book, I ainning one through Had these been leaves of trees they would have duly dropped off Unfortunately, leaves of books continue to stick fast even when they are no longer wanted The feature of these poe things _Pictures and Songs_ seized every opportunity of giving value to these by colouring theht from the heart

Or, rather, that was not it When the string of the mind is properly attuned to the universe then at each point the universal song can awaken its sympathetic vibrations It was because of thisthen felt trivial to the writer Whatever my eyes fell upon found a response within me Like children who can play with sand or stones or shells or whatever they can get (for the spirit of play is within the of youth, become aware that the harp of the universe has its variously tuned strings everywhere stretched, and the nearest may serve as well as any other for our accompaniment, there is no need to seek afar

(39) _An Intervening Period_

Between the _Pictures and Songs_ and the _Sharps and Flats_, a child'sup and ended its brief days like an annual plant My second sister-in-law felt the want of an illustratedpeople of the family would contribute to it, but as she felt that that alone would not be enough, she took up the editorshi+p herself and asked me to help with contributions After one or two nuo on a visit to Rajnarayan Babu at Deoghur On the return journey the train was crowded and as there was an unshaded light just over the only berth I could get, I could not sleep I thought Iout a story for the _Balaka_ In spite of et hold of the story it eluded me, but sleep came to the rescue instead I saw in a dream the stone steps of a temple stained with the blood of victi there with her father asking him in piteous accents: ”Father, what is this, why all this blood?” and the father, inwardly ruffness to quiet her questioning As I awoke I felt I had got iven stories and other writings as well This drea Gobinda Manikya of Tipperah and made out of it a little serial story, _Rajarshi+_, for the _Balaka_

Those were days of utter freedo in particular sees I had not yet joined the throng of travellers on the path of Life, but was a mere spectator from my roadsideMany a person hied by onor Autumn, or the Rains would enter unasked and stay with me for a while

But I had not only to do with the seasons There wereabout like boats adrift froe, occasionally invaded ht to further their own ends, at the cost of my inexperience, with many an extraordinary device But they need not have taken any extraordinary pains to get the better of me I was then entirely unsophisticated, uishi+ng between good and bad faith I have often gone on i with their school fees students to whom fees were as superfluous as their unread books