Slow Signal Fade ebooks

{FN27-10} My meeting with Keshabananda is described in chapter 42.

CHAPTER: 28
KASHI, REBORN AND REDISCOVERED
"Please do not go into the water. Let us bathe by dipping our
buckets."
I was addressing the young Ranchi students who were accompanying
me on an eight-mile hike to a neighboring hill. The pond before
us was inviting, but a distaste for it had arisen in my mind. The
group around me followed my example of dipping buckets, but a few
lads yielded to the temptation of the cool waters. No sooner had
they dived than large water snakes wiggled around them. The boys
came out of the pond with comical alacrity.
We enjoyed a picnic lunch after we reached our destination. I sat
under a tree, surrounded by a group of students. Finding me in an
inspirational mood, they plied me with questions.
"Please tell me, sir," one youth inquired, "if I shall always stay
with you in the path of renunciation."
"Ah, no," I replied, "you will be forcibly taken away to your home,
and later you will marry."
Incredulous, he made a vehement protest. "Only if I am dead can I
be carried home." But in a few months, his parents arrived to take
him away, in spite of his tearful resistance; some years later, he
did marry.
After answering many questions, I was addressed by a lad named
Kashi. He was about twelve years old, a brilliant student, and
beloved by all.
"Sir," he said, "what will be my fate?"
"You shall soon be dead.


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