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it were, become a part and parcel of his body, he was as dignified and
resigned, as in the hours and intervals of temporary relief. Yes, he
knew how to suffer like a true Aryan that he was. He knew how to be
resigned to the Will of his great Master and Maker, the more so as he
had seen the
rishily
conduct of Dayananda in his last moments, over
which he was wont to so rapturously and reverentially dwell
whenever he found an opportunity. Who would not covet to be in death
and suffering as thou wast, Guru Datta Vidyarthi!
The moment the noble soul had quitted the mortal coil, the sad
news, that our dear brother was gone to his Great Father, was known
in every quarter and street of the town, where an Aryan lived, and in
a couple of hours it had travelled like wild fire all over the city.
Notwithstanding that it was not a Sunday, or any other holiday, some
five or six hundred men had gathered before the house of our departed
brother before it was nine, all sad and gloomy — some dumb founded
and lost in thought at the greatness of the loss, some weeping the tears
of bitterness in silence, while others, taking on the accomplishments,
many and great, of the noble young man. Oh! who could hear unmoved
the heart rending cries of his aged mother! Of all her sons, Guru Datta
Vidyarthi alone had been spared to her, and he was her last child, the
child that she had obtained in her declining years! The depth of a
mother's love is unfathomable, but her love for a child she has obtained
in her advanced years, especially when he is honored of the honored,
is still deeper and diviner! Oh! mother—yes, thou art to us more than
that, thou, who gayest birth to a noble child like Guru Datta
Vidyarthi, — thine has indeed been a loss whose value no one can
realize and feel but a mother! But rest assured that thy son is not lost,
he is happy in the bosom of his Creator, or if it is for him to return to
the world once again to be entitled to his bliss interminable, he will be
a veritable Rishi, who will be the saviour of millions.
At about ten preparations began to be made for conveying the
body to the burning ground. A good many men in the gathering started
the proposal that the deceased might be photographed in his death
slumber, urging that a photograph taken at this time would be pregnant
with an invaluable lesson to all, as showing that all human greatness
has an ending and that God and His greatness alone are for ever and
ever! This proposal was objected to on many important considerations.
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