Page:The Autobiography of Maharshi Devendranath Tagore.djvu/57

 DEVENDRANATH TAGORE 9

of their creditors, till all their heavy liabilities were liquidated. The creditors were deeply moved, and one of them, it is recorded, shed tears at the meeting. An arrangement was come to, by which the creditors took charge of the property, and allowed the bereaved sons a subsistence allowance of Rs. 25,000 (about 1600) per annum. My father felt supremely happy in the consciousness of having dealt justly by his creditors, and as he went home he remarked to his brother Girindra that they had performed a Vishvajit Yajna1 by giving away every thing they possessed. My father writes: "What I had desired came to pass. I wanted to renounce the world, and the world left me of its own accord. What a singular coincidence! I had prayed to my God, 'I desire nothing but Thee,' and the Lord in His mercy granted my prayer. He took away everything from me, and revealed Himself unto me. My heart's desire was fulfilled to the letter."The creditors, however, did not long continue to hold the property. They were so convinced of my father's honest intentions, that in two years they relinquished the estate to his management, and accordingly he resumed its charge. It took years and years for him to pay off the compounded debts, but by means of judicious management and exemplary self-denial he eventually succeeded in doing so to the last farthing. It was not only in the

1 A ceremony of public renunciation of all worldly goods.