Page 53 - Silence Speaks
P. 53
Silence Speaks
bead of their rosary with a heart wandering quite away from it.
The majority of people you will find singing songs of devotion, shouting ̳Jai, Jai'. Worshiping pictures and images ceremoniously is a hobby for them. To them, stories and illustrations are the means of bhakti, recitation of sacred books is worship; and discussions and discourses, the attainment of jnana. Teachers and preachers too are not wanting. Go to anybody and he will tell you something or the other to follow. Their hue and cry is so great that the whole firmament is resounding with the noise. But the wonder of wonders is that even then it never is reflected in their hearts, and in spite of all the clamour they remain where they have ever been, neither gaining what they have to gain, nor even losing what they have to lose. In demonstration of their worship they have cried, chanted, flattered and wept, but all to no purpose at all. Yet they think themselves to be bhaktas, and are admired as great souls. Thus in a way they get their due remuneration for all their acting. They acquire a position and are
46
