Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/393

 no means the last in doing so.

But the time was fast approaching when there was to be a sudden and thorough change in Chaitanya's life; when, so to speak, the scorning Saul of the Vaishnavas was to be regenerated into the enthusiastic St. Paul of Vaishnavism. An epoch of religious indifference was to be followed by an epoch of religious ferment. Chaitanya, along with some of his pupils, visits Gaya, to a place long renowned for the countless pilgrims that constantly resorted to it and for its magnificent temples dedicated to Vishnu. Here he encounters a recluse named Eswarapoorie, whose elequent words and austere life convert Chaitanya Vishnavism. Edified by the burning words of the anchorite, Chaitanya forgot the world with all its charms and fascinations; and would fain have spent the rest of his life at Gaya; but a second thought recommended a return to his native place.

Fanned into enthusiasm by his conversation, Chaitanya was, after his return, always in the company of Vaishnavas,