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for some time
and then slowly raised my thin cane
over
him,
and the bear ran away terrified. So loud was its roaring, that
the
villagers
whom I had just left, hearing it, ran to my assis-
tance and soon appeared armed with large
sticks
and followed
by their dogs. They tried hard to persuade
me to return with
them. If I proceeded any further, they said. I would
have to
encounter the greatest perils in the jungles which in those
hills
were
the habitat of hears, buffo -Ices,
elephants,
tigers and
other
ferocious beasts. I asked
them
not to
feel
anxious for
my safety,
for I was protected. I was anxious to see the
sources of the Nerbuddah
and
would not change my mind for
fear
of any
peril.
Then seeing that their warnings were use-
less,
they left
me after having made me accept a stick I
immediately threw
away.
Forest
Life
On that
day I travelled without stopping until it grew
quite dusk.
For
many hours I had not perceived
the slightest
trace
of human habitation
around me. no villages in the far
off, not even a solitary hut,
or a human being. But what
my
eyes met
the most
was
a number of trees, twisted and broken,
which
had
been
uprooted by the wild
elephants,
and, felled
by
them to
the ground,
further
on I found
myself in a
dense and
impenetrable jungle
of plum trees and
other prickly
shrubs
whence, at first I saw
no means
of extricating myself. However,
partly
crawling on the belly, partly creeping on my knees, I
conquered
this new obstacle and after paying a heavy tribute
with pieces
of my clothes and even my own skin, bleeding and
exhausted I got out of it. It had grown
quite dark
by that
time. but even this—if it impeded did
not arrest my progress
onward, and I still proceeded.
until
I found
myself
entirely
hemmed in by
lofty rocks
and hills thickly grown
over
with
a
dense vegetation, but with
evident
signs cf being inhabited.
Soon I perceived
a few huts,
surrounded
by heaps
of cowdung,
a flock of goats
grazing on the
banks
of a small stream
of clear
water
and a few
welcome lights
glimmering
between the
crevices of the
walls.
Resolving to pass the night
there,
and
go
no further till
the next
morning, I took shelter
at
the
foot
of
a large tree which
overshadowed one of the huts. Raving
washed my bleeding
feet, my
face and hands
in the
stream, I
had bandy sat to tell my prayers, when I was suddenly dis•