368 IN THE VISION OF GOD
bungalow, discussing the genuineness and value of some
precious stones which Gopalrao had recently purchased.
Ramdas approached them. Durgadas handed to Ramdas an
opal and exclaimed:
''What a beautiful stoncl"
Ramdas at once bent down and picked up a stone from
the ground and holding it up said : "Why can you not see
the same beauty in this stone aud majesty in the yonder
mountain? Everything is God's creation, everything is dis-
playing beauty. Why speak only of that particular stone?"
They smiled and kept silent.
Kabir and Uddhav were as loving and kind as ever.
At this time Ramdas, in the company of Gopalrao, his
wife and a guide, went on a visit to the famous silk factory
of Srinagar. The Mahammadan manager of the factory,
who was very kind and obliging, took the party round the
works. He explained to them the various processes through
which the raw silk passed before the finished product, in
the shape of twisted hanks of glossy yarn, could be obtained.
When he was dilating upon the boiling of the silk larva by
steam, in front of the contrivance intended for it, lie could
not help remarking with a tinge of regret: "I am, sorry, but
I have the ill-luck to become the means of destroying every
day thousands of innocent worms." After the visit they
returned to the residence of Durgadas.
Before the party broke up, Sadashivarao desired that
Ramdas should pay him a visit at Rawalpindi where ho was
posted, if Ramdas happened to go down to the plains
through that city. Ramdas, Gopalrao and Oirijabai returned
to the house-boat.
Ramdas1 daily wanderings on tho Shankaracharya hill
drew him often to the cave on it. It appeared to bo exert-
ing on him a strange fascination. In the moon-lit nights
Gopalrao would take him and Girijabai for boating on the
lake. The glory of those nights in tho midst of the bo-
witching charms of Kashmir does not lend itself to doscrip-