NILKANT HILL 299
him in the vast assemblage. He insisted upon Ramdas*
shifting to the double kuti which had been reserved
during his absence.
"Ram, you had no business to lock up the room,1' re-
marked Bamdas to him, "The room is the property of all
sadhus. During your absence so many sadhus were in search
of kutis. Your reservation of the tuti was against the
principle of sadhuism."
Ramdas did not wish to give up the company of the
Maharashtra sadhu who had afforded him shelter for so
many days. The sadhu also pleaded with Ramdas not to
part with him. So for a day or two Ramdas continued to
stay with him in spite of the repeated pressure of Ram-
charandas who even tried to take him to his kuti by force.
At last, finding Ramcharandas greatly upset by his
unwillingness to share his kuti, Ramdas shifted to his
room. Here Ramdas met two sannyasi disciples of Swami
Akhandanand of Ghitrakut. Ramdas again thought of
going up the Nilkant hill. The Nepali sannyasi had left
the ashram soon after his return from the disappoint-
ing trip.
Now a party consisting of Ramdas, Ramcharandas, the
Maharashtra sadhu and the two sannyasis started on the
adventure. But one of the sannyasis knew the route that
led up to the Nilkant shrine as he had an occasion to visit
the place before.
At this time Ramdas had come into contact with a
sincere sadhaka from Nagpur, Ramchandra Timande, and
the manager of a Marwadi annakshetra who were both very
kind and loving to him. Ramchandra had begun to took
upon him as his spiritual guide.
Before setting out on the Nilkant journey Ramcharan-
das had replenished his joli with food-stuffs from the
Marwadi annakshetra. He possessed already two aluminium
vessels and procured from the kshetra a hand hatchet for
cutting firewood.
38*