A Fine Family: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

journey because your mind is pure. A pure mind is like a beautifully arranged table before dinner, with clean plates and silverware. Now you must place food in them. Your hunger will not be satisfied merely with plates and spoons, just as the soul’s hunger for the Infinite cannot be satisfied purely by virtuous living.’
    Bauji thought about what the guru had said. He was struck by the logical strength of the guru’s arguments; however, his heart shied from commitment. Religious faith was too far away from his worldly temper.
    ‘Why don’t the two of you go for a walk in the morning?’ suggested the guru to Seva Ram and Bauji. ‘Shall we say at 5. 30. The day breaks early nowadays.’
    The next morning Bauji was woken up at four when a gong went off. It was the start of the day at the ashram, beginning with a bath and followed by meditation. The two men, so unlike in physique, met as planned. The boy, shorter and slimmer, wore the working dress of a Punjabi peasant—a thin long shirt and baggy pants held up by a drawstring. Bauji again noticed the boy’s large hands and curly hair. His eyes were innocent and sincere, thought Bauji, but they were also remote.
    There was an awkward shyness between the two. Bashfully Seva Ram led Bauji up the river.
    ‘I suppose you sleep late in Lyallpur.’
    ‘No, as a matter of fact, I’m usually in my office by eight.’
    The boy smiled, and with a laugh Bauji added, ‘Yes, I suppose that is late by your standards.’
    Bauji saw a hazy mist rising from the water. The air was not yet warm, and the sun was ascending behind the main dome in the east. The boy led the way and they walked on, making small talk, until they reached a clearing, from which they could see the railway bridge in the distance.
    Bauji wanted to ask Seva Ram about his job, his career prospects, and other things appropriate of a future son-in-law. Instead they talked about the guru and the spiritual life.
    ‘What does the guru teach?’ asked Bauji.
    ‘To seek the truth,’ replied the boy.
    ‘And how do you find the truth?’
    ‘Through meditation.’
    ‘How do you know when you have found it?’, asked Bauji.
    ‘When I have become free from the demands of my ego and from the control of selfish longings which bind me to my body and other daily concerns.’
    The boy had a natural grace, decided Bauji. It seemed that he had also thought about what he was saying.
    After the walk Bauji went to listen to the guru’s discourse. He sat cross-legged on the ground in the impressive hall, which had minarets at each corner. The guru was dressed in a loose and comfortable white
kurta.
He sat slightly higher on a platform, so that he could be seen by everyone. At his side sat another bearded old man, who chanted verses of the medieval saint, Nanak, which the guru elaborated and commented upon. Everyone’s eyes were adoringly fixed on the guru and they listened in rapt attention.
    In a low and clear voice the guru explained that the purpose of human life was to merge with the Infinite. He likened Infinite to an ocean and the human soul to a drop of water, which has a natural urge to merge with the ocean. ‘Fortunately,’ he added, ‘the Infinite is within each of us, and by emptying our mind of all thought and concentrating attention at the eye centre, one can journey inwards towards the Infinite. The journey begins with meditation, when the five senses and the mind are stilled and the intellect is silent. Meditation helps the mind to become free from the awareness of subject and object and attain one-pointedness.’ To help quiet the mind, the guru offered a mantra. The mantra, he explained, was merely a set of words, whose meaning was not relevant, but it had to be repeated quietly in order to divert one’s mind from the restless chain of thoughts. The practice of meditation, he added, was helped by living simply, eating only when hungry, drinking only when thirsty, and reducing living to essentials. The guru