Page:Anandamath, The Abbey of Bliss - Chatterjee.djvu/224

196 have sacrificed your body in the service of your mother- land. If you can serve her still, your expiation be- comes nugatory. To be deprived of the pleasure of the service is the greater part of the expiation. For the rest, it is not a very great thing for anybody to give up the trifle that life is." " Santi, yours it is to dive into the essence of things," said Jivananda ; " I shall not leave my sacrifice incom- plete. My greatest joy is in my noble creed and I will deny myself its pleasure. But where can I go ? It is out of question to renounce the Children's mission only to enjoy the pleasures of home life 1" " That's not what I should ask you to do," she replied. " We can no more be householders. We shall be ascetics like this for ever and keep for ever the vow of virginity. Come, let us now go about visiting the shrines." " What when we have done that ?" enquired Jivananda. " After that we shall build ourselves a hut on the Himalayas, worship our God, and ask for the blessing that good may be our Mother's share." Then the two rose and departed, hand in hand, — to eternity it would seem — in the dead of thatjmoonlit night. Oh Mother ! would they come again ? Would you ever bear again a son like Jivananda and a daughter like Santi ?