Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/338

 to chess. He never handled a bat. All these accomplishments were antagonistic to his nature. We know how Mazzini did not consider himself to be free to indulge in his natural taste for music, painting and poetry; we are not, therefore, surprised to find Mr. Tilak neglecting them. He lacked not only the time but the necessary inclination also.

He rarely stood in need of physical recreation; and when he wanted rest, he repaired to his favourite sanatorium Sinhgad and there spent three or four hours daily in long morning walks, in swimming and in Indian gymnastics. Latterly, when the strain of public work and the exhaustion due to diabetes worried him, he was required to take longer spells of rest there.

As regards mental recreation, he had it in the diversified pursuit of knowledge. The immense vitality of his brain, his powers of endurance, coupled with his interests in the various branches of learning, enabled him to relax hs mind by going from one subject to another, from politics to metaphysics, thence to science or law or mathematics. When extremely tired, he used to amuse himself with his favourite book — the Maha-Bharat. The distractions of his political career and the worries of public and private persecutions which tormented him till the last, only confirmed his love of learning and scholarship and indeed, the happiest and proudest moments of his Hfe were those, when deliberately laying aside the burden of his anxieties, he flew to Uterature and philosophy with the eagerness that bespoke his preference.

Mr. Tilak, however, was not the master of his time and his philosophical or political meditations were daily