Binoy, having made up his mind beforehand that a quarrel with Gora was inevitable to-day, had hardened his heart, but wheri he saw how gloomy he was looking and felt the note of injured affection in his voice, in a moment the resolution with which he had been bracing himself vanished, and he said: “ Brother Gora, you must not misunderstand me. Many changes come in our lives and we have to give up many things, but is that any reason why I should give up friendship? ” “ Binoy,” asked Gora after a moment’s silence, “ have you become a member of the Brahmo Samaj? ” " No, Gora, I have not, and I am not going to,” answered Binoy. “ But I don’t want to lay much stress on that fact.”
“ what does that mean? ” asked Gora'.
" It means,” answered Binoy, “ that I no longer think that it is a matter of such tremendous importance- whether I take initiation into the Brahmo Samaj or not.”
“ I want to ask you,” said Gora, “ what your idea was before and what it is now.”
On hearing the tone of Gora’s voice in this question Binoy girded himself for the conflict again, and said: “ In the past, whenever I used to hear that any one was becoming a Brahmo, I would feel very angry, and I devoutly hoped that some sorb of punishment would follow. But nowadays I do not think like that. I feel that you- can meet an opinion by another opinion, or one argument by. another, but in matters in which the understanding is concerned it is barbarous to try and use anger as a punishment.”
“ Now when you see a Hindu become a Brahmo you will no longer feel angry,” observed Gora, “ but if you were to sec a Brahmo doing penance to become a Hindu your whole body would bum with indignation, that’s the only difference between your present position and your former one.”
GORA CHAP.
“You are saying that merely out of anger, not after due deliberation,” observed Binoy.
“ I tell you with the greatest respect for you,” continued Gora, “ that you ought to have done like this— if it had been my case I would have done so. If we had had something in our skins by which we could change our religious views as a chameleon changes its colour that would have been another matter— but I cannot make light of a thing that belongs to the heart. If no kind of opposition existed, and if you did not have to give toll in some form of punishment, then why, in such a serious matter as accepting or changing religious opinions, docs a man arouse his whole intelligence? We must undergo some test os to whether we accept truth genuinely or not. Its consequences and penalties must be accepted. In the commerce of truth you cannot obtain the jewel and avoid the price."
The argument now went full speed ahead, and sparks began to fly as words clashed against words like arrows against arrows.
At last, when the war of words had gone on for a long time, Binoy stood up and said: “ Gora, between your nature and mine there is a fundamental difference. Up to now that has been suppressed — whenever it wanted to raise its head I used to repress it, because I knew that where you saw any difference you did not know how to make a truce with it, that you always came running to attack it sword in hand. Therefore, in order to preserve my friendship with you I have all along been doing violence to my own nature. Now at last I have come to realise that no good has come of this and no good can come “ Well then, now tell me openly what your intention is,’ said Gora.
" To-day I stand on my own feet! ” exclaimed Binoy. ‘ I can no longer admit the right of society to bo pacified like a demon by daily human sacrifices. And whether I have to live or die, I am not going to wander about with the noose of its injunctions fastened round my neck.”
“ Are you going to come out to slay the demon with a piece of straw like the Brahmin boy in the Mahabharala? ” sneered Gora.
'* Whether or not I shall succeed in slaying him with my straw I do not profess to know,” answered Binoy, “ but I at least refuse to admit his right to seize and chew me to pieces, — no, not even when he has begun chewing.”
LXIV GORA “ It is becoming difficult to follow you now that you have begun to talk in allegories! ” exclaimed Gora.
“It is not difficult for you to follow me,” replied Binoy. “though it may be hard for you to accept what I say. You know as well as I do how meaningless are the bonds with which our society tries to fetter us in matters of eating, and touching, and sitting, where man has a natural freedom based on religion. But you want to admit this high-handedness by being high- handed yourself. Let me tell you though that in this matter I will not submit to any one’s tyranny 1 I will admit the claims of society upon me only so long as society admits my claims upon it. If it refuses to regard me as a man, and wants to fashion me into a puppet of a machine I too will not worship it with my flowers and sandal paste — I will regard it as a machine of iron! ” “In other words, in short, you will become a Brahmo? ” queried Gora.
“ No! ” replied Binoy.
“ You will marry Lolita? ” inquired Gora.
“ Yes,” answered Binoy.
“ A Hindu marriage? ” asked Gora.
“ Yes,” replied Binoy.
“ Has Paresh Babu given his consent? ” inquired Gora.
“ Here is his letter,” said Binoy, handing Gora a letter which the latter read through twice carefully. At the end Paresh Babu had written: “ I do not intend to discuss whether this is good or bad for me personally; I do not even wish to raise the question as to whether it is likely to cause you both inconvenience or not. You both know what my faith and my opinions are, and what my community is, and it is not unknown to you what sort of teaching Lolita has received from her childhood and amidst what kind of social customs she has been brought up. You havo chosen your path after due consideration of all theso matters, and I have nothing to add. But do not imagine that I am surrendering the helm without any thought or because I am not able to come to any conclusion. I have considered the matter to the best of my ability, and this much I have realised, Binoy, because I have a deep regard for you personally, that there is no obstacle to your union from the standpoint of religion. Under such circumstances you are not bound to observe an obstacle which is raised only by society. I have only one thing to say to you in this connection— if you want to transcend the limitations of your societies then you must GORA CIIAP.
make yourselves greater than any society. Your love and your united lives must not only denote the beginning of some power of dissolution, but must show also a principle of creation and stability. It will not do merely for you to exhibit a 6udden rashness, you must afterwards meet with daily heroism all the tasks of your united lives— for otherwise you will merely deteriorate. Society will no longer carry you along from outside on the level of ordinary life, and if you do not by your own strength become greater than ordinary people then you will simply fall behind them. As for your future weal and woe I am full of apprehension, but I have no right to hinder you by these fears of mine, because those in this world who have the courage to try and solve in their own lives new problems of life are the ones who raise society to greatness! Those who merely live according to rule do not advance society, they only carry it along. Therefore I will not obstruct your path by my own anxiety and timidity. Follow what you feel to Be right in the face of all obstacles, and may God help you. God never under any conditions binds His creation with fetters; He awakens it through constant changes to ever new life. Like messengers of that awakening of His you have set out along that difficult path, kindling your lives like torches. He who is the world’s guide will show you the way. I can never admonish you to follow always along the path I have taken! One day, when I was your age, I too unloosened my boat from the ghat and floated it out to meet the storm, and I would listen to no one’s warnings. Up to now I have never regretted it, and even if I had had cause to regret it, what of that? Man will make blunders, will be baffled, and will meet with sorrows, but he can never stand still; he will sacriGco his life for that which he believes to be his duty. It is thus that the sacred waters of the river of society aro kopt pure by being carried along in a never-ceasing current. This means that occasionally, for a short time, the banks of the river are broken and suffer loss, but to try and dam the current perpetually in fear of this would only be to invite stagnation and death. This I know for certain, and therefore I can surrender you both into the hands of that Power which is drawing you with irresistible force outside the rules of society and away from ease and comfort, and, making ray obeisance to that Power with full devotion, I can pray that He may compensate you in your lives for all the slander and abuse you may suffer from and for the separa¬ tion from your dear ones. It is He who has summoned you lxiv GORA 323 to take this difficult path, and He it is who will take you to your destination.”
“ Just as Paresh Babu has given his consent from his point of view,” said Binoy, after Gora had read the letter and pondered over it in silence, 14 so you too, Gora, must give your consent from your point of view.”
“ Paresh Babu can give his consent,” observed Gora, “ because he is in that current which is breaking the banks of the rivor. I cannot give mine because the current in which we arc is that by which the bank has to be preserved from destruction. On this bank of ours it is impossible to say what vast relics of past centuries stand, but now let us carry on the work according to the laws of nature. You may abuse us or do anything you like because we build up our bank with stones, but on this ancient and holy place on which new silt has accumulated year after year it is not our intention to allow a lot of agriculturists to drive their plough^ through it. If that means loss to us then let it do so! That place is for our dwelling, not for ploughing. And when your agricultural department begins to slander us because of the hard stones we use we arc not going to feel any heartfelt shame! ” 44 In other words, in short, you do not give your assent to this marriage of mine? ” exclaimed Binoy.
44 Certainly I will never do so! ” answered Gora.
“ And - ” Binoy began, but Gora interrupted him with: “ And I will have nothing more to do with you all.”
44 And if I had been one of your Mussulman friends % ” asked Binoy.
44 Then that would have been another matter,” said Gora. 44 When one of its own branches is broken from a tree and falls, then the tree can never take it back again as before as part of itself — but it can give shelter to a creeper that climbs up it from outside, and even if the creeper is torn from the tree in a storm there is no obstacle to its being gathered up to the tree again. When you drift away there is no other path for us than to separate ourselves entirely from you! It is for that reason that society has such stringent rules and prohibitions.”
44 That is why the reasons for separation ought not to have been so slight, and the rules for separation so easy,” replied Binoy. “ The bones of the arm arc strong because, if they get broken they take a long time to heal again, and so fractures of the arm arc not common. Will you not see how many obstacles there arc to working and coming and going easily GORA CHAP.
GORA CHAP.
m a society in which a trifling blow causes a fracture which can never be healed? ” “ I don’t have to worry about that,” answered Gora. “ Society takes the burden of thinking so fully and completely on itself that I am not even conscious that it is thinking. Mv hope is that not only has it been considering this for thousand’s of years, but that it is still preserving its integrity. Just as I have never given a thought as to whether the earth is travelling round the sun straight or crooked, whether it is making errors or not, and so far my lack of thought has not landed me in any difficulty, so also is my attitude towards society.”
“ Brother Gora,” laughed Binoy, “ I have been saying all that for a long time past — who could have suspected that to-day again I would hear these words from your lips? I see that I have to enjoy the penalty of having fabricated such long speeches. But no good can come of arguing ubout it, for to-day I have seen something at close quarters which I had not realised so clearly before. I have understood to-day that the course of human life is like that of a great river which, by the force of its own swiftness, takes quite new and un¬ foreseen channels where before there was no current — such varied currents and unpremeditated changes arc part of God’s Sose for our lives. Life is not an artificial canal to be ned within prescribed channels. When once this is clearly seen in our own lives then we shall not be able to be misled by any mere fabrications.”
“ When a moth is about to fall into the flame,” observed Gora, ‘‘it uses just the same kind of argument us you are using — but to-day I am not going to wustc time in trying to make you understand.”
“That is a eood thing,” exclaimed Binoy, getting up from his chair, “ then let mo go, and see mother for a little.”
When Binoy had gone Mohim came slowly into the room chewing as usual his betel, and asked: “ So I suppose it’s not to come ofF? Not convenient? For long enough I have been warning you to be careful— there have been signs of mischief for some time— but you would not listen to me. If only somehow at that time we had had the courage to force him to marry Soshimukbi then we should have had none of this worry. But who cares? In whom can I confide? That which you will not see for yourself you will never com¬ prehend, even if I bore a hole in your skull. Is it a matter lxiv GORA 325 of little regret that a boy like Binoy should break up your party like this? ” “ So there is no hope of getting Binoy back! ” went on Mohim, seeing that Gora was silent. “ However that may bo. we have had worry enough through him in the matter of Soshimukhi’s marriage. It will not do to delay any longer over this matter — you are aware of the nature of our society, if once it gets any one into its clutches then it has no pity on him. So a bridegroom is — no, you need not be afraid, I’m not going to ask you to be a matchmaker. I’ve settled everything myself! ” “ Who is the man? ” inquired Gora.
“ Your Abinash,” answered Mohim.
“ Has he agreed? ” asked Gora.
“ Abinash not agree indeed! ” cried Mohim. “ He’s not like your Binoy. No, whatever you may say, it is easy to see that amongst all the members of your party Abinash is the one who has a real devotion for you! Why, when ho heard the proposal that he should become a member of your family ho fairly danced with joy. He said, 4 What good fortune for me, what an honour! ’ When I raised the question of the amount of the dowry he put his hands over his ears, and exclaimed: ‘You must excuse me, but do not speak to me about all that business! ’ I replied, ‘ Very well, I will discuss everything with your father,’ and I went to him also. But I noticed a great difference between the father and the son. The former did not make the least attempt to stop his earn when the question of money was raised, rather as soon as he started to talk he began in such a strain that my hands became too paralysed to raise them to my ears. I saw too that in all such matters the boy showed the greatest respect for his father— altogether as if his father were the chief means of grace — I could see that it would be useless to employ him as a go-between. Without turning some Government securities into cash it will not be possible to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion. But, however that may be, you must say a little to encourage Abinash. One or two words from you - ” “ Would not reduce the amount of the dowry by a single rupee,” interrupted Gora.
“ That I know,” assented Mohim, “ when respect for one’s father brings with it some profit then it is hard to check it! " 44 Is the matter definitely settled? ” asked Gora.
“ Yes,” replied Mohim.
GORA CHAP.
“ Has the day been actually fixed? " “ Certainly it has,” said Mohim. “ The day of the full moon in Magh. That is not far off cither. The boy’s father says that it is no use having diamonds and jewels, but he wants very heavy ornaments. So I shall have to consult the goldsmith as to the best way to increase the weight of gold without increasing its cost.”
“ But what need was there to hurry things on at such a esc? ” asked Gora. “ Abinash is not likely to become a ahmo soon, there’s no fear of that.”
“ That is true,” replied Mohim, “ but haven’t you noticed that father’s health has been getting very bad lately. The more the doctors object the more does ho merely increase the stringency of his rules. Nowadays that sannyusi with whom he has become intimate makes him bathe three times a day — and over and above that ho has prescribed a form of yogic Eractice which is very nearly turning him inside out. It will e a great boon if Soshi’s marriage can be celebrated while father is alive — I shan’t have to worry much if I can accom¬ plish the business before all the savings from my father’s pension fall into the clutches of Oshkarananda Swami. 1 mentioned the subject to him yesterday, but I see that it won’t be an easy matter. 1 am thinking that I shall have to drug this wretched sannyasi well for a few days and work the oracle through him. Be sure of one thing, that those of us who are family men and whose need of money is greatest, will not enjoy father’s money! My difficulty is that another man’s father is calling upon me without pity for cash, and my own father, the moment the question of money is raised, resorts to meditation and holding his breath. Am I to drown myself with this eleven-year-old girl tied round my neck? ” CHAPTER LXV “ Wiry didn’t you take your food last night, Radharani? ” inquired Harimohini.
“ Why, what do you mean? I took my evening meal 1 ” exclaimed Sucharita in astonishment.
“ What did you eat? Here it is untouched 1 ” said Harimohini, pointing to the previous night's meal with its covers still on.
txv GORA 327 Then Sucharita understood that she had forgotten all about her meal the previous evening.
“ This is very bad! ” pursued Harimohini in a harsh voice.
So far as I know Parcsh Balm I am sure he will not like your going to such extremes; his very appearance gives peace .to one. What do you think he would say if he were to know fully your present tendencies? ” There was no difficulty in Sucharita realising what Ilari- moliini was hinting at, and for the first few moments her mind shrank within itself. She had never for an instant thought that the relationship between herself and Gora could be touched by the breath of scandal, as though it were nothing move than the most ordinary relationship between the sexes. So Harimohini’s insinuation made her afraid. But the next momeut she put aside her work, and sitting down with a determined air looked up at Harimohini. She decided, there and then, that she would not harbour in her mind the least feeling of shame with regard to Gora before any one.
“ You know, auntie, that last night Gourmohan Babu came here,” she began. “ The subject of my discussion with him took such a firm possession of my mind that I entirely forgot about my meal. If you had been there yesterday you would have heard a lot of interesting things.”
But Gora's conversation was not exactly what Harimohini wanted to hear. Her desire was to listen to words of pioty, but when Gora discoursed on matters of faith his words did not sound so sincere as to be palatable to her. It always seemed as if there were some adversary in front of him, and as if he were merely fighting against this opponent. Those who did not agree he simply wanted to force into acquiescence — but what had ho to say to those who agreed with him? Hari¬ mohini was completely indifferent to the excitement Gora exhibited in argument. If the people of the Brahmo Samaj chose to follow their own opinions and did not mix with the Hindu community she was not in the least distressed at heart — so long as nothing occurred to separate her from those who were dear to her she was quite free from care. Therefore she did not get the least pleasure out of conversation with Gora, and when she further felt that he was getting an influence over Sucharita’s mind his conversation became to her even more repulsive. In money matters Sucharita was entirely inde¬ pendent, and when it was a question of opinions, or faith, or conduct, she was quite free, so that from no point of view was Harimohini able to exercise any sort of control over hex.
GORA chap- GORA chap- And yet Harimohini, having no other support in her old age, was always much disturbed if any one, except Paresh Babu, seemed to be getting any kind of influence over her. Ilari- mohini’s idea of Gora was that he was thoroughly insincere, and that his real object was to attract Sucharita to him on any sort of pretext. She even suspected that his primary object was to get hold of the property which Sucharita had in her own right. So, regarding Gora as her chief enemy, she braced herself to the task of thwarting him in every way she could.
There had been no mention of Gora coming again that clay, and there was no particular reason why he should do so, but in his nature there was very little hesitation. When once lie had set out to do a thing ho never so much as gave a thought to the consequences, but went straight ahead like an arrow.
When Gora called early that morning Harimohini was at her devotions, and when Satish came to Sucharita, as she was busy arranging her books and papers, to tell her of Gora’s arrival she was not greatly surprised. She had felt sure that he would come again.
“ So Binoy has at last forsaken us,” remarked Gora when he had taken a seat.
“ Why? ” asked Sucharita. “ Why should he forsake us? He has not joined the Brahmo Samaj.”
“ If he had gone out into the Brahmo Samaj,” answered Gora, “ he would have been much closer to us than he is now. It is his holding so tightly to our Hindu society that hurts most. He would have done much better to have cleared out of our community altogether.”
“ Why do you regard society as of such excessive import¬ ance? ” inquired Sucharita, feeling much pained. “ Is it natural for you to place such implicit faith in society? Or is it rather that you force yourself to do so? ” “ It is perfectly natural for me to force myself to do so under such circumstances as the present,” said Gora. “ When the earth under your feet begins to move then you have to apply greater force at every step! Now that opposition is coming from every side we naturally show some amount of exaggeration in our speech and conduct. That is nothing unnatural.”
“ Why do you think that the opposition you are meeting with from every side is wrong and unnecessary from start to finish? ” asked Sucharita. “ If society puts obstacles in the way of progress then it will have to receive some blows.”
“ Progress is like the waves in water,” observed Gora.
LXV GORA “ By them the banks are broken— but I don’t think it to be the chief duty of the banks to accept that breaking. Do not imagine that I never consider what is good or bad for society. Why, a sixteen-ycar-old boy of the present day can do that, it is so easy. But what is difficult is to see things in their completeness with the vision of faith.”
“ Is it only truth that we gain through faith? ” asked Sucharita. “ By faith we also sometimes misjudge things and get hold of what is false. Let me ask you one thing, can we have faith in idolatry? Do you believe in that as true? ” “ I will try my best to tell you the truth about my attitude,” answered Gora, after remaining silent for a moment. “ At first I accepted all these things as true. I did not hastily oppose them because they happened to be contrary to Euro¬ pean customs, and because there were a few very easy argu¬ ments which could be brought against them. In religious matters I have not myself realised anything very special, but I am not prepared to shut my eyes and repeat, like a lesson learnt by rote, that the worship of forms is the same as idolatry, or that the worship of images is the chief end of religious devotions. There is a place for imagination in Art, in Literature, and even in Science and History, and I will never admit that only in religion it has no place. The perfection of all man's powers is revealed in religion, and do you mean to say that the attempt made in our country to harmonise imagination with wisdom and devotion in idol worship does not reveal a truth to mankind greater than that of any other country? ” “ In Greece and Rome also there was idol worship,” argued Sucharita.
“ In the idols of those countries,” answered Gora, “ there was not so much religious sense as a sense of beauty, whereas in our country imagination is very intimately interwoven with our philosophy ana our faith. Our Krishna and Radha, and our Shiva and Durga, are not merely objects of historical worship, they arc forms of the ancient philosophy of our race. Therefore the devotion of our Ramprushad, and our Chaitanyadev manifested itself by claiming the support of all these images. Where in the history of Greece or Rome do you see such an extreme devotion revealed? ” “ Arc you unwilling to admit that along with the changes of the ages some changes take place also in religion and society? ” asked Sucharita.
“ Why should I be unwilling? ” exclaimed Gora. “ But it won’t do for those changes to be absolutely crazy ones— a GORA CHAP.
child gradually grows up to be a man, but man does nob suddenly become a cat or a dog. I want the changes in India to be along the path of India’s development, for if you suddenly begin to follow the path of England’s history then everything from first to last will be a useless failure. I am sacrificing my life to show you all that the power and greatness of our country have been preserved in our country itself. Can’t you understand that? ” “ Yes, I can understand that all right,” answered Sucharita, “ but all these ideas are so new to me that I had never given any thought to them before I heard them from you. Just as it takes some time before you get used to your surroundings in a new place so is it with me just now. I suppose it is because I am a woman that I haven’t the power of realisation.”