Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 3.djvu/481

 ( 2 )

( 1923 )

Sisters and Brethren,

According to the Calendar in vogue among us, it is four years since that thrice-solemn day — the day of anguish with the tear-filled eye and yet the day of trust with the prayer-ful heart — when the grace-gifted soul that made this town, this district, aye, the Andhradesa radiant with the example and fruitful with the benevolence of a life lived under the ‘witness’ of the Supreme Judge and devoted to the glory of the Sovereign Lord, concluded the pilgrimage here below and was translated, as we believe, to a higher — serener and holier — plane in the vast Hereafter. The hoary custom is, indeed, a very wholesome practice, which, in this country, enjoins on the survivors the sacred duty of recalling and re-cherishing the hallowed memories of the revered dead, once a year. This sanctified duty it is that we are met here this evening to discharge in the true reverent spirit.


 * Based on the opening and closing speeches, as President, at the fourth Anniversary celebration at Rajahmundry (29-5-23).