As the doctor was preparing to leave,
Rajendra and Auddy appeared at the door. The resentment in their
faces changed into sympathy as they glanced at the physician and
then at my somewhat wan countenance.
"We were angry when you didn't turn up as agreed at the Calcutta
train. You have been sick?"
"Yes." I could not help laughing as my friends placed the luggage
in the same corner it had occupied yesterday. I quoted: "There was
a ship that went to Spain; when it arrived, it came back again!"
Master entered the room. I permitted myself a convalescent's liberty,
and captured his hand lovingly.
"Guruji," I said, "from my twelfth year on, I have made many
unsuccessful attempts to reach the Himalayas. I am finally convinced
that without your blessings the Goddess Parvati {FN20-2} will not
receive me!"
{FN20-1} Although Master failed to make any explanation, his
reluctance to visit Kashmir during those two summers may have been
a foreknowledge that the time was not ripe for his illness there
(see chapter 22).
{FN20-2} Literally, "of the mountains." Parvati, mythologically
represented as a daughter of Himavat or the sacred mountains, is
a name given to the SHAKTI or "consort" of Shiva.
CHAPTER: 21
WE VISIT KASHMIR
"You are strong enough now to travel. I will accompany you to
Kashmir," Sri Yukteswar informed me two days after my miraculous
recovery from Asiatic cholera.
That evening our party of six entrained for the north.
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