Page:Karl Gjellerup - The Pilgrim Kamanita - 1911.djvu/262



came a day when a feeling of discomfort, the consciousness of a void, arose in Kamanita.

And involuntarily his thoughts turned to the hundred-thousandfold Brahma, as the source of all fullness. But the feeling was not thereby removed. On the contrary, it increased almost perceptibly with the passing of the years, from one decade of thousands to another.

For from that awakened feeling, the tranquil stream of time, which had hitherto flowed imperceptibly by, encountered resistance as from an island suddenly risen in its midst, on whose rocky cliffs it began to break in foam as it flowed past. And at once there arose a "before" and an "after" the rapids.

And it seemed to Kamanita as though the hundred-thousandfold Brahma did not now shine quite as brightly as formerly.

After he had observed the Brahma, however, for five millions of years, it seemed to Kamanita as though he had now observed him for a long time without reaching any certainty.

And he turned his attention to Vasitthi.

Upon which he became aware that she also was observing the Brahma attentively.

Which filled him with dismay. And with dismay came