CHAPTER VIII
HUBLI
<i)   The Heart of the Mother
Ram das once again started alone on foot. He walked on
and on through fields, meadows and woodlands. Abont
a week's satsung with the village devotees had assuaged his
grief brought on by the incident at the annakshetra at
Pandharpur. The Lord had brought it about in his own
mysterious way. He is truly the great healer of our
sorrows. As he journeyed on, he came upon an elevated
land, cohered with a wild growth of shrnbg. When he was
passing through it a wish to smoke crossed his mind. He
smoked tobacco sometimes but did not carry any with him.
Where was the possibility of having a smoke in the midst
of a jungle* a solitary place far away from the haunts of
men? But, for the Lord nothing is impossible.
Suddenly, a man from behind the hughes came on
towards him. Looking at him, the first thing Eamdas
noticed was a bidi, a country leaf-cigarette, poised on his
ear. The man quietly removed the bidi from the place on
his ear and offered it to Ramdas. He would not touch
Raindas. He dropped the bidi into his hands. Then, taking
out from his pockets two smooth black stones and a bit of
cotton wool, and striking the stones one against the other,
he produced a spark that set fire to the piece of cotton. He
handed the burning cotton to Ramdas on a leaf. Bamdas lit
the bidi and began smoking- All this was the work of a few
seconds. So far, Eamdas had no talk with him. They
walked on the same road, but he maintained a certain
distance.
Raindas broke the silence with the question: "Why
do you, brother, shrink away from Ramdas and walk so far
apart?"
"0 master," he replied,   "I am a pariah by caste*