284 IN'THE VISION OF GOD
alone, God only should be your guide. I can only show yon
the direction in which you have to go."
(ii) Pamelas' chat with Ram
The old man pointed out with Iris forefinger the direc-
tion, and Eamdas tramped on. After walking about a mile
he found himself in a dense jungle, the ground being
covered with dry leaves—almost knee-deep; he waded
through them. He was in fact going on at random and he
was in a conversational mood.
He addressed Earn: "Divine mother, it is yourself who
has brought this child here to roam on these sacred hills,
It is up to you to lead and guide him."
As he walked on, he came iipon a sloping hill. Here he
discovered, at the edge of a cliff, a cave—a deep hollow
in a rock. He peeped into it. It was utterly dark inside. He
had heard that such caves were usually lairs of wild beasts.
He thought that he had now an opportunity of getting
darshan of Ham in the form of a tiger or lion. He jumped
into the cave and shouted out "Hari Om" three times and
awaited the result. None came out of the cave. It was
Ram's will that he should not come face to face with wild
beasts. He came out.
There was yawning before him a deep precipice. This
had to be climbed down.
"Now, Earn, what do you propose?" asked Eamdas.
"Fear not, child, descend," was Eam's cool reply.
Eamdas turned round and slowly lowered himself and
began to crawl down. The chinks on the rough crag serving
as foot-supports and hand-holds he descended. A slight slip
meant a fall of over two hundred feet and certain destruc-
tion of the body. But there was Ram's assurance. Fear had
taken leave of Eamdas once for all. Slowly and steadily,
step by step, he got down. The body of Eamdas seemed to
be like an inflated rubber doll, so light and so buoyant.
Breathing had automatically stopped. The fragile foot-