38 IH THE VISION OF GOD
immortal. This vision is not circumscribed by tradition and
doctrine because it transcends all limitations. The rules of
life should be so set and adjusted that they might admit of
being outgrown when the keen hunger of the soul seeks
utter freedom in God. If this truth is ignored, life becomes
a complex tangle in which the soul is caught enchained and
helpless—hopelessly struggling to be free from the net of
its own making.
The seed must have a ground so prepared that it might
break through the soil and spring out into growth. Also
favourable conditions have to be provided for the plant to
evolve into a tree, then into flowers and lastly fruits. It
must not be forgotten that fruit is the consummation of the
seed. So an institution is the garden where every facility
for the cultivation of the soul in its march towards its
fruition is provided, so that the soul might ultimately
transcend the institution for the higher, true and complete
vision of life—just as the tree outgrows its fence and
spreads its branches freely in the air, or as the pupil out-
grows the school life for that of the world. Else an institu-
tion becomes at once an organized bondage and an incubus
That warp and crush the healthy evolution of life to its
destined goal of freedom and joy.
Ramcharandas and Ramdas marched onward. Talk
between them was scarc$. Ramdas exhorted the boy to
keep on uttering the Ram-rnantrarn. After some halts on
the way they at last reached Gokarn.
(ii) Guru and Chela
Grokarn is a place of pilgrimage because of its noted
shrine of Mahadev. It is on the seacoast—the temple being
about a furlong from the seashore. The structure of the
temple is extensive and of ancient model. The most
important annual festival of the temple is Shivaratri-
Ramdas had arrived there about a fortnight prior to this