CHAPTER XXIX
VASISHT ASHRAM
(i) The cup of milk
Now the sadhu looked at Ramdas and asked: "What
brought you here ?"
"Ram has brought Ramdas here to see the cave and also
for your darshan," replied Ramdas.
"Have you had any food during the day?" he enquired.
"Yes" said Ramdas, "the guides who escorted him
hither have been kind enough to feed him on the way."
Now staring at Ramdas more closely, he asked:
"Is this all you have got about you? Do you possess
any money?"
"No, Ramdas has no command from Ram to carry
money with him," answered Ramdas.
"In that case, you have come here to starve," said the
sadhu deliberately. "Now listen," he continued, "I shall
tell you how matters stand with me. I am neither a sadhu
nor a mahatma. I am a simple vaishya merchant. I occupy
this cave for three or four months in the year. It is not
possible to remain here during the rains when the river
swells and her water inundates the cave. The rest of the
year I spend in my native place, in the plains. There I
engage myself in some trade and collect profits amounting
to about two hundred rupees with which I come here.
I am not beholden to anybody for anything. I spend my
own money to meet my wants. For a month past I have
been living merely upon milk diet. I take daily not more
than three-quarter seer of mil k which I procure from the
villages on the mountains.
"A man from the village brings me milk at noon every
day and I pay him down cash for it- Do you understand ?
If you would have any food you ought to climb up the "hills
and get bhiksha from the villages. To go up and down for